Bed making: so much hidden!

Ramesh Kumar

Until recently, I never took bed making seriously. I mean, the morning after a death like sleep on  the floor or cot, one left the  blanket, pillows etc as it is to be attended by the spouse or someone. Not oneself. Not a priority.

However, on visit to relatives' home, I have folded the bed sheets and blankets and stacked them wherever found them they were stacked. Never at one's own home.

This habit changed a few months ago. Post ablutions, I began making the bed: squaring the corners, keeping pillows against the  headrest etc. Why  I did what I did, I have no idea.

In the course of listening to motivational speeches during the 15 km walks four times a week, accidently heard US Navy Seal Admiral William H McRaven's convocation speech at the University of Texas Class of 2014. Listing out his tips to face the real world at his own alma mater, he dug out his own lessons learnt at the six month long Navy Seal tough training stint soon after his graduation.

Bed making was one of the daily check boxes by his supervisors:  ex Vietnam veterans. If one did make beds well, one task completed well and subsequent tasks would be handled with same aplomb. He was proud  of his bed making capabilities.

By the way, it was one of the most wonderful motivational speeches I heard. More about motivational speeches - particularly from the army veterans - George Patton and  Sam Maneckshaw - soon.

Just not Admiral alone espousing bed making as a vital aspect of life. Charles Duhigg, writing in The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do and How to Change, succinctly says: "Making your bed every morning is correlated with better productivity, a greater sense of well being, and stronger skills at sticking with a budget. It's not that a family meal or a tidy bed causes better grades or less frivolous spending. But somehow those initial shifts start chain reactions that help other good habits take hold."

Wikipedia has it that military recruits "are often taught how to make a neat and tidy bed with hospital corners. Military personnel are expected to fold the bed very tightly, in some cases so that a coin can bounce off of it." Wow!

By by the by, there is a world record of bed making. Yes. A Guinness World Record at that. "The team record for making a bed with one blanket, two sheets, an undersheet, an uncased pillow, one pillowcase, one counterpane and hospital corners is 14.0 seconds, by Sister Sharon Stringer and Nurse Michelle Benkel of the Royal Masonic Hospital, London, UK, at the launch of the 1994 edition of The Guinness Book of Records, held at Canary Wharf, London, UK on 26 November 1993."

Here's an interesting rationale from the Art of Manliness website:

"It’s easy to wonder why the heck the military would make such a big deal about how a soldier’s bed is made. But bunk and locker drills are simply a means to an end. And that end is developing a soldier’s discipline and attention to even the smallest details. Plus, it ensures that order is maintained in the barracks, which allows the enlisted man to concentrate on more important matters.

"Discipline and order are both things that can benefit civilians, too. According to ... Gretchen Ruben, author of the Happiness Project, making your bed neatly and tightly every day can actually increase your overall happiness.

"Men looking to get their lives together often want to tackle big goals while the rest of their life is a disorganized mess. Get the little things in your life under control, and the sense of confidence and satisfaction you’ll feel will help you move on the big things. So if you’re looking to move your life out of neutral, making your bed first thing in the morning might be the best way to start."

I leave at this stage for now...