Cover Story - Daily rites: Celebrating the mundane

Avia Ustanny, Freelance Writer

DON'T SWEAT the small stuff. Celebrate them.

So you like to spend the odd 15 minutes gabbing by the water cooler at work. So, you sneak a game of football with the fellas before heading home for the homework patrol. So, none of this will get you anywhere, fast. But, you just might be saving your sanity.

Anthropologists and psychologists, in their study of the mundane and the ordinary, but pleasure-filled activities we pursue day by day, have concluded that these are vital to social cohesion and personal balance. The mundane keeps your world on an even keel.

That thing you do every day that makes your day, that one activity which causes the mind to forget its troubles, is perhaps the most significant thing you will do today.

So, you are a house-cleaning fanatic. Washing your windows (at 8 in the evening because it's the only time you have to do it) will not help you to solve that problem between yourself and the boss at work, will it? Neither will walking in the park, and eating ice cream when the time would be better spent catching up on that project which is running late.

Who cares!

Those who take the break or do the dishes know the value they are adding to their lives. For Melony, one single mom and student who is currently fretting about her PHd dissertation, there's still lots of time every day for going for walks with her two-year-old son, "especially now that he is talking...I cannot get enough of the ­ 'Mommy, look! look! birdie, Mommy'." It is a stress-free time, and although he asks even more questions than he normally does, this provides an opportunity for her to teach him things: such as about nature, colours, responding to people's greetings (Good Morning/Even-ing as the case may be), looking both ways before crossing the road and then doing so quickly, among other things.

"Bath time is also wonderful because that time usually extends into playtime (not on week day mornings obviously when time is limited)."

Try not to forget the small blessings in our race to the big goal posts.

When they read your obit, they will not describe your destination, your achievements. Instead, they will speak about the man you were, the fun you had, the character that you developed on the way to wherever.

Take five.