Hurried Woman Syndrome

It was a usual busy day. Jumping out of bed, showering, getting the kids ready for school while getting ready for work at the same time. When you arrive at work you have a mess of paperwork left from the day before, you have a whole slew of e-mails and your phone is already showing three messages.

During your lunch hour your have to run to the post office, pick up dry cleaning, and still find time to grab a quick, and I mean quick bite.

As your work day comes to an end you start to schedule your evening in your head, stop at the grocery store, get dinner started, do some laundry and help with homework, all before you drop to bed just to have to start all over the next day.

Every day we become more forgetful, we look for shortcuts and try to find a moment, just a moment of peace. We tried to cram too much into too little time. Very few women today lead simple lives. Most of us are juggling multiple roles with home, work, family, friends and volunteer activities. When I catch up with the women I know and ask how they're doing, the most common response isn't "Fine but I’ve been so busy."

There's nothing wrong with living full, productive lives, and taking on new challenges. Sometimes things can get out of hand. There are different kinds of busy: daily busyness, self inflicted business and unhealthy busyness.

Daily busyness is simply what we need to do to get through each day. This kind of busyness is healthy. Days that are filled with joy and meaning are days that are filled with activity, rest and play.

Self inflicted busyness are the chores we add to the list that are not completely necessary. Projects that we do, errands and volunteer work.

Unhealthy busyness is the kind that can really burn you out. When you are no longer living and enjoying your life, when your lifestyle is controlling you rather than you controlling it, then you know you have a problem. Some experts call this kind of stress and anxiety “Hurried Woman Syndrome”

Too much doing, going, helping and giving can take a toll on us, physically, emotionally and spiritually. When women get really busy, they tend to forget to take care of themselves and usually lack sleep, exercise and healthy eating.

Being too busy can lead to forgetfulness irritability, frustration, anger, bitterness, health problems, burnout and depression. In seeking to serve others, we often neglect our own needs and run out of inner resources from which to draw strength. We get so busy doing that we don't stop to reflect on whether what we're doing is really worth the effort. And we set ourselves up for failure by taking on too much, finding ourselves unable to follow through.

When you find that your schedule is controlling your life its time to take action. If you’re too busy, its time to refocus. You have to remember what is important in life. You have to make some time for yourself to keep your health and sanity.

The easiest way to do this is to remember its ok to delegate. Are the kids old enough to make their own lunches yet? Can they help with the dishes? If they are still to young make sure you and your spouse have divided the housework evenly.

Secondly, its ok to take a time out for yourself. Let the dishes sit and go on a short walk or a bike ride. Read a chapter in a book, take a hot bath or meet a friend for a cup of coffee.

Some other quick tips are:

· Take a vacation day and use it on yourself

· Get a small amount of exercise daily

· Get to bed a little earlier

· Limit fat, caffeine and alcohol

You will find that even with just a few moments a day to yourself will make a big improvement in you well being.

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