Are working mothers rushing too much?

By Rebecca Davis

Photo by lululemon athletica

Photo by lululemon athletica

Employers push their staff to work longer hours, to work well into the night and on weekends. If employees don’t respond to employer emails within three to four hours while they’re on vacation, they might be viewed in a negative light. Add to that the push to raise responsible children, keep a stellar home and manage a successful marriage and it’s no wonder that working mothers feel like they’re living in a blender that never turns off.


Does rushing really help you get more done?

The question is whether working mothers — anyone — can juggle so many tasks and stay balanced. Just to get kids ready for school, take a shower at break neck speed and endure a lengthy commute to work only to put in 9 or more grueling hours, working mothers have to keep their eyes on clocks. “I feel like I’m rushing all the time,” Amanda Blakely, a corporate administrator shares.

It’s a common theme among working mothers. Although rushing-rushing may find moms getting a lot done by the end of the day, it has downsides. Simply put, people — regardless of how demanding their schedules are — need to slow down, even sit still regularly.

“Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as ricket,” Tim Kreider shares with Forbes. Idleness or being still can lead to mental stillness and perhaps even mindlessness. These, in turn, can lower blood pressure, strengthen memory and balance a person’s overall mental and physical systems.

To get the most out of mental stillness, working mothers can’t continue to jam their lives with one “to do” after another. They also can’t wait until they take a vacation once or twice a year to unwind and relax.

Signs that mothers who work outside the home are rushing too much include nervous stomachs, anxiety, blurred vision and nagging headaches that, like old trusty friends, show up at least once a week. Memory lapses, irritability, insomnia and constant fatigue are other indications that mothers are rushing too much.


Another way mothers can tell if they’re rushing too much is to consider how many times they look at clocks during the day and feel stressed because they’re afraid they won’t have enough time to complete all of their daily chores. These busy gladiators may find it helpful to write down chores they do (i.e. driving kids to school or daycare, exercising at the gym, taking night classes at a local college, grocery shopping). In looking at the list, they might quickly see that they need to remove certain chores from their schedule. They also might find that they need to ask their spouse and children to help out more and alter their work schedule.

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