The concept of emotional labor is essential to a happy, healthy household ecosystem. When we fail to recognize its importance, we open the door to frustration, exhaustion, conflict, and resentment.
There is a hidden cost to managing a household that once had no name but now goes by many. For today’s purposes, we’re calling it emotional labor. Others have also called it invisible labor or mental load.
The negative effects of unbalanced emotional labor can cause significant psychological distress within a household. When one person bears too much mental load for everyone, they will likely feel emotionally exhausted, overwhelmed, and anxious.
One effective way to illustrate emotional labor is with the Conceptualization, Planning, and Execution (CPE) model, which Eve Rodsky coined in her book, Fair Play. The CPE model breaks the workload of a task down into three components:
Conceptualization: Recognizing or remembering the need to complete a task Planning: Determining how best to meet that need Execution: Following through on the plan and completing the task