Hummingbird Syndrome

I have spoken to many women this holiday season who do not seem to be able to sit down and enjoy their time with their families. They describe watching other people enjoying gifts, tv shows, movies, and video games while they run around washing dishes, doing laundry, preparing food, and cleaning up after everyone else.

When did women become incapable of sitting? The buzz from one activity to another with limbs moving so fast you can barely make them out just like a humming bird. Is it really a crime to stop and enjoy the things that are going on around us. Have we forgotten how to stop?

I wonder if it is that we feel we can not stop because no one else will pick up the slack, or maybe it is just that we want things a certain way and are not willing to compromise. Does the laundry really have to be folded just perfectly? Do the dishes really have to be done just this second? Why do we feel as if the world will collapse if we stop off at the couch for some mindless activity.

I have decided that maybe stopping the flapping of our wings for a few minutes may not cause a cosmic collapse, it just might give us time to experience some of the joy of what we work so hard to build. Having fun with our children and our partners can be part of our job description too. We just have to slow down a little bit to enjoy it.

There are no easy fixes and long term solutions to our frantic pace will require getting others involved to help us with a new game plan. In the mean time if we can just learn to breath (breath in through your nose and then blow out through your mouth like you are blowing through a straw until there is no air left- feel how your body relaxes in spit of its self) we might just feel a little better. Here is to a more relaxed and less "Hummingbird" like 2009. Happy New Year!