Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Scrubbing Toilets does NOT suck.

I have a great job doing massage therapy. I love my work. However, the realities of living in this awesome town of Aspen are that the shoulder seasons are DEAD. There is very little work, almost no one here. Its an amazing time to be in town, if you were smart and saved so you can pay your bills.

There are four months out of the year here in Aspen Town when work is very very very scarce, and we are in the last month of one of those times.

So I'm grateful for whatever work I can get, and a friend of mine has a place that he rents out, to renters who tend to trash the place, and when they move out, I get a couple of days work cleaning the house and re painting it and getting it ready for the next tenants.

Here is how I know that I've made the right decision in my life. I am happy to have the work. I found myself smiling today. Up to my elbows in grossness. I don't mind. I mean, yes, cleaning up after a house full of bachelors is gross. Cleaning up after a house full of bachelors that were probably growing and selling weed is even grosser as they tend not to hit the toilet seat, and I had to use a razor to scrape the urine off the floor. Again.

But that's not the point. I own gloves. I have a job, and its gonna help bridge the gap until ski season can start again. And when I am in there, cleaning, I think to myself, I am doing it. I am going to make it to ski season. I am going to make enough money to pay for my training this year. I am smiling, I am happy. Not because this is my job of choice, but because it doesn't really matter. Its work, its a paycheck, and I can use the time that I spend scrubbing the kitchen (three hours so far, just got through the grease layer...) to meditate on my work ethic, to practice dedication, to practice discipline, to practice opening my heart.

"I don't like you scrubbing toilets. You are better than that." Someone said to me the other day. No, I'm not. No one is. If you need to feed your kids and pay your bills and that's the option you have, its what you take. My pride hasn't taken a blow from this, I don't feel like this work is beneath me. I don't think any work should be beneath any person. It is work, a job that needs doing.

I have been fortunate enough to live on both sides of the coin. I'm grateful for the lessons I am learning on this side. 

Orare est laborare, laborare est orare.
(To pray is to work, to work is to pray.)
- Benedictine Order Motto.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I actually love cleaning for that very reason. You get results you feel accomplished it's tangible you can see what you did :)