relaxing with chores

I went home for a family reunion this weekend. I told my family that I'm taking a vacation soon.

I talked to my aunt about relaxing. She said she relaxes by mowing the lawn. She said this seems like it would be a chore, but she enjoys doing it, and she enjoys the feeling of accomplishment. She said that if she watches TV, then she feels like she's wasting her time.

I have a similar problem. I believe it is good to set aside some time to relax, and I think watching TV is a legitimate form of relaxation, but it's often hard to know how much time I should spend relaxing. When am I really done?

So I've been thinking about chores as a form of relaxation. I enjoy doing little chores around the appartment -- taking out the trash, starting the dish washer, putting things away -- and I often put off doing these things when I'm trying to be efficient because they are not really necessary. But, they do give me a sense of accomplishment anyway (even though perhaps they shouldn't, just like watching TV shouldn't give me a sense of waisting my time), and so I'm trying that out as a way of relaxing.

I'm actually in the middle of it right now. Writing this post is one of my small errands. I'm not sure exactly what things should quality -- I think I want to stay away from things that require too much decision making, since that's stressful.