You're listening to Life Kit.

From NPR.

Hey everybody, it's Mary El Segara.

Raise your hand if you think it's a moral failure

to leave dirty dishes sitting in your sink for a day.

It's kind of a funny question, right?

I don't know anybody that would say yes,

but if you ask someone, do you feel shame

if you leave your dishes in the sink for too long?

A lot of people say yes.

I mean, it's true.

Sometimes it feels like the dishes are silently judging me

from across the room.

Same goes for that dusty bookshelf

and the unfolded laundry that's constantly giving me the side eye.

That was Casey Davis, by the way.

She's a therapist and she wrote a book called

How to Keep House While Drowning,

a gentle approach to cleaning and organizing.

She says the problem is that when we think of chores

as a moral obligation, but we aren't doing them,

it's easy to spiral.

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