I was just reading about this actual medical condition that occurs in women who rush around day after day, doing too much, too fast, for too long and neglect to rest and take care of themselves.
The symptoms of Hurried Woman Syndrome are high stress and anxiety, physical exhaustion, mild depression, weight gain, low self-esteem, and digestive disorders.
Sound familiar?
It seems to me that our culture puts many expectations on us, but we put even more pressure on ourselves by constantly comparing ourselves to each other. It's a never-ending-self-defeating-uphill battle this trying to "have it all together."
I struggle with trying to do everything and do it perfectly and do it right now. But, I'm proud to say, I have made some deliberate life changes in the past couple years because I realized how exhausted and miserable I was becoming. Over time, I have been intentional about drastically reducing my commitments and simplifying my home and slowing down.
So, I was thinking through what I did today. How much of it was
REALLY necessary and how much of it was
added busyness I could have avoided? How much time did I take
for myself? Here's the color-coded lowdown:
6:30
wake up, shower, get ready, get girls ready, get everyone breakfast7:45
need to leave for work because I am substituting in the morning from 8:30-11:00
8:00
finally leave for work because Cutie needed extra cuddles and comfort8:25
arrive to work in the nick of time11:00
talk to Lisa on the phone, pick up 40 lb bag of dog food, grab fast food for lunch12:00
back to work2:45
pick up dry cleaning, get yummy frozen yogurt3:15
straighten house, check email and blogs3:45
nap :)4:45
pick dogs up from groomer5:00
make dinner5:45
sit down to eat6:15
clean up dishes, spend time with girls7:45
put on jammies, read Bible and pray with girls8:15
tuck girls into bed8:30
relaxI'm surprised, after writing out my schedule, that I did pretty well today. I did some restful things for myself-frozen yogurt, nap, a sister chat. I worked hard on the things that needed to be done around the house and for our family, which alleviates my stress in the long run.
BUT, maybe I shouldn't have agreed to substitute. It put a lot of stress on the morning and I had to sacrifice 2 1/2 hours.
Also, I shouldn't have stopped to get fast food when I had already packed myself a healthy lunch. I just didn't feel like heating it up (lazy.) So I ate high-fat-yuck instead. Not good.
And there are other things that didn't get done today. There is laundry to be done and the floor needs to be vacuumed. But those can wait for another day. Today has been productive enough, and it's time to rest.
How was your day? Rushed or restful?
