It's like...

I believe in metaphors.  English majors, by nature and training, must.  It is worse than the average metaphor belief rampant and embedded in our culture (see Metaphors We Live By).  This gives meaning to mundane tasks.  I am not simply moving boxes; I am clearing a way through the jungle for intrepid exploring.  That is not just laundry; it is love expressed through care and cleanliness.

But.  (There is always a but.)  Sometimes tasks are just tasks.  That there is dirt to be dealt with does not imply a general slothfulness in my soul, nor some sort of inherent evil at my core.   The state of my basement is not a referendum on my very self.  I will not be transformed into a new and shiny being by completing my list of things to do.  Metaphorically speaking, the map is not the territory, as they say.