Are you a hurried woman? The Daily Mail on Saturday 30th April
reported on the increasing way that women lead a hurried life
which is caused by chronic stresses in life. The article was
based on some work by a U.S researcher, Dr Brent Bost, and
defined the main sufferer’s of the syndrome as “affecting as
many as 30 million women each year, the Hurried Woman syndrome
can drain your energy, cause you to gain weight, (or have
trouble keeping your weight stable) increase your moodiness and
frustration…”
It seems that many factors are adding together to make women in
the 20-55 age group feel over hurried, rushed and stressed in
their lives. You may have a completely different set of life
circumstances to your peers, and yet still have the end result –
tiredness, trouble with sleep and a lack of motivation amongst
other things. How do you put yourself in a position where you
can break this cycle, without adding to the ever-increasing
amount of time that you have to spend doing a thousand and one
tasks each day?
Here are 5 top tips to help you put the hurry behind you and get
that much needed perspective back in your life.
1.Understand where you are now. Create self-awareness of what is
important to you and your life, to help you see if your hurrying
is achieving what you want it to. A great way to do this is to
take a blank piece of A4 or larger paper, and draw a circle on
it that you divide into 8. Name each part of the circle with an
area of your life that is important for you, for instance
health, wealth, fitness, family, friends, career, spirituality,
relationship/ partner, fun, relaxation – whatever best reflects
the different spheres of your life. Think about each area of
your life & rate yourself out of 10 with 10 being you completely
happy, relaxed & confident in that area of your life, 0 being in
that area of your life you feel like you do too much, you aren’t
in control & that you are generally dissatisfied. You could also
rate 0 here if you do not spend any time in this area as you
rush too much in the other area’s to even get round to that part
of your life!
2.Visualise how you would like to be. Check back in here with
yourself that you have 8 areas’s represented that if you were
living a balanced & controlled life that you would want to live
in. Think about what you would be thinking, feeling, doing &
saying if you were living a balanced life that enabled you to
live creatively in each area of your life, without feeling
rushed, pressurized and tired from all the stress. What changes
do you need to make in your life for those things to be a
reality? Which top 5 changes will make a difference & turn you
from suffering hurried woman syndrome to a woman in control &
balance of her life? What’s stopping you taking them? Commit to
at least 1 change that you can start right now – and then get
out there and doing it!
3.Manage your energy levels. This is a crucial one – often we
feel most pressurized and stressed at the times we can least
afford it – I know that I do! Help yourself in this by doing all
you can to effectively manage your energy. This can include
making sure that you are getting the right food to keep you
energized all day, getting regular breaks, sleeping well &
understanding your natural pattern & working with it rather than
against it.
4.Take some time for yourself to smell the roses in life. As you
are getting used to not being a hurried woman, this may be
difficult for you, so start small if this helps you here – the
importance is getting some regular time in your life to
recognize the small, and the large things, that make life
important for you. Do you know what these are? It could be a
walk around the block, a relaxing bath with someone else looking
after the kids, or a night out at salsa dancing!
5.Connect with someone important for you. Sharing your concerns
with someone close to you & taking time to connect can help you
as you build that relationship of connection with them, & also
as they say, a “trouble shared is a trouble halved”! Use the
resources that you have close to you to balance out your life
effectively, and get the support that you need to make sure that
it remains there. Who do you need around you to make that
happen?