A note from the bath

Is it decadence?

Photo by Lisa Moyneur on Unsplash

I’m a bath kind of person. I love a good long soak, usually whilst scrolling on my phone and trying not to drop it into the lavender-scented water. In fact, I’m writing this from the foamy comfort of the bath.

It’s Monday, it’s 2:27pm and I am in the bath. Usually on a Monday I am teaching, but it’s currently half term so I’ve gained some days for writing and, it seems, bathing.

Bathing mid-afternoon feels decadent and I feel a tiny pang of guilt. I’ve just finished writing a guest post for

Ashley Lowe

and one of the questions she asked me was “Why do you think that as women (and perhaps society in general), we are so unable to just be present and enjoy the slow meandering of life instead of hustling all the time?”

We do all (men and women) seem to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to always be productive, but in reality we also need to take time out occasionally in order to let that productivity flow when it needs to. I don’t like the term productivity. It makes us sound like we’re human factories, churning out a product. I prefer creativity.

Why the guilt, I wonder?

It’s weird that I feel guilt for bathing at this time of day. In many ways it’s strategic: I didn’t shower first thing this morning because I planned to go for a long walk and then take a bath this afternoon. That’s simply good time management. Somehow, we’re conditioned to believe that relaxing on a weekday afternoon is not completely acceptable. To be clear, I don’t think anyone is going to come round to my house and tell me off, but there’s just something in the back of my mind, my inner critic perhaps, saying “You’re lazy.”

And yet my inner wisdom says, “No, not lazy. You are managing your time well and taking a short break from an already creative day. This pause will rejuvenate you for the rest of the afternoon and evening, and you will be clean!”

Growing up, I’m not sure my mum would have sanctioned weekday afternoon bathing, although come to think of it, I probably never tried. It’s almost like it’s just inbuilt in us not to do certain things at particular times of the day. Why?

Is it just me that feels this?

Here are some other potentially unacceptable, yet certainly harmless, weekday-daytime activities:

• Watching a film

• Having an extravagant lunch with wine

• Going to a spa when it isn’t a special occasion

• Baking a cake just because you feel like it

• Reading a book

• Taking a nap

I’m pleased to tell you that I would happily do (and have done) everything on this list, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel that tiny whisper of guilt when I do. I’d like to try to eradicate that feeling completely, and perhaps writing this is the first step towards it.

What would you add to the list?

p.s. I have recorded a voiceover for this, mainly because I wanted to say the word ‘bath’ repeatedly in my midlands accent.