Ironing my way to happiness

I’m sure you all have your own version of this – a task that has just the right elements in it to soothe you and make you feel good.

For me, ironing is one of these tasks. Give me some clothes to iron, and I’ll come out of the other end of the process feeling relaxed, soothed and happy.

Why? Well ironing has a couple of features to it that are great for aspies. Firstly, there is the attention to detail. There is a skill to ironing – making sure you push the iron the right way whilst often pulling the fabric in a different direction. You get instant feedback by looking at the detail of what you are doing – constantly adjusting the strokes of the iron to achieve the best results. Then there is the repetition. If you iron half a dozen shirts, then you are essentially repeating the same job six times. Each shirt will need different tweaks to the technique, depending on the fabric, but each will require the same routine.

With shirts, I iron the underside of the collar first, and then grab an arm which I iron both sides of. I’ll then tackle the other arm, before working around the trunk, from the button side to the other. This is how I’ve tackled a shirt for as far back as I can remember, and I feel comfort in using this same process each time.

Then there is the time to think. There’s something about the repetitive aspect to the process that allows my mind to unwind, forgetting about the troubles of the day, and allowing it to then concentrate on something else. I get some of my best thinking done whilst ironing.

I feel a great satisfaction in producing nicely ironed shirts, and other clothes too. Somehow, the following of the process, and the attention to the detail smoothes the creases out of my mind as much as it does the clothes. Perhaps it’s the concentration on the task in hand and the repetition. Whatever it is, it produces real beneficial effects.

Do you have a similar task that allows you to soothe yourself? I’d be interested to hear what it is.

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