Does anyone else feel overwhelmed with the day to day tasks of living?
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Yes, I also feel that way sometimes, but less than I used to.
Do you think you may be depressed or are you just maybe 'over-extending' yourself in terms of work, your yard, your husband and your home?
It is hard to have such a full plate. I too am married without kids and usually I work and go to school full time (we're moving across the country soon so both things are on hiatus for me right now. I always thought, jeez, where can I even find the time to sleep, let alone take care of the housework, the groceries, the cooking, school, homework and a part time job - do it all and still miraculously be in a good mood during the little time I have with my husband. It can be very overwhelming.
So, I mean yes, to answer your question, someone else feels overwhelmed with the tasks of living. It's kind of hard to give excellent advice to someone in the same boat, but here's a few things that have helped me (I used to be hopelessly sloppy, but my husband is a total Type A neat freak so I learned a lot from him):
Keeping the house neat- Get rid of a lot of your stuff. There's probably a lot of things you don't need/want/like anymore but you are hanging onto. Just get rid of it. Clutter not only makes your house messier, but it also sucks the energy that you need to get through your day because it can actually make you feel overwhelmed and/or depressed.
Keep your knickknacks to a minimum. Limit yourself to two kitchen gadgets at any time. If you see something you have to have, then get RID of something else (don't just put it away somewhere, get rid of it). This rule goes for pretty much _anything_ that isn't living.
Once a week, say, every Sunday go through your refrigerator and throw out stuff that you aren't going to finish or that has gone bad. This will make you feel better every time you open the fridge, and every little bit helps. It'll make the serious fridge cleaning not such a huge PIA.
Get some of those counter wipes and make a habit of using them. You can buy a pack of three containers of them at Costco or probably Sam's Club or something, and I think you can buy them by the two pack at Target. These help a lot. I keep one handy in the kitchen and one in each bathroom under the sinks. Every two days or so, I wipe everything down in the bathrooms and it takes about 4 minutes. And the kitchen, I use them several times a day to keep the counters and stovetop cleaned (crumbs and small spots and spills can really drag a kitchen down fast- if you keep the counters clean it really sets the tone in a kitchen and you'll just automatically be tidier in a kitchen if the counters are clean. Sweep the kitchen floor every night if you can. Pretty much the same thing about kitchen counters can be said about the kitchen floor. Just keep a broom and dustpan handy and it takes about two or three minutes every night and makes a HUGE difference.
All of those things that come in "wipe" form: dusting cloths, disinfectant cloths, windex cloths etc are a HUGE timesaver. That way you don't have to run around with a roll of paper towels and five different cleaners back and forth to the trash and things like a chicken with your head cut off. I'm serious, anything that you need cleaning wise, if you can buy it with the product already in a packages of individual cleaning cloths, do it. You'll just find yourself grabbing one and dusting or cleaning spots of the window or cleaning the counter/sink when you have spare time. Tell your husband how handy they are and tell him where he can find them in the house, too.
It'll help. It is easier to keep a house clean through small, quick maintenance habits than it is to clean a dirty house.
Dirty houses will really make you feel run down.
As far as the yard, I'm not sure what kind of yardwork you are talking about. If you are talking about flower gardening, then maybe cut back a little bit. Plant perennials instead of annuals so you don't need to replant everything every single spring and summer. Plant less flowers and use lower-maintenance shrubs to fill in areas. If you are just talking about mowing, then you need to enlist your husband- if you're both working and you are trying to take care of the house and everything, it isn't like you have any more free time than he does. It's give and take, and he needs to give too. If he truly is too busy, then you both should be working enough to afford paying a neighborhood kid to cut the grass.
Those are things that have helped me. I hope they help you, too.
Yeah, sometimes it is just too much. Perhaps your husband could help you with the housework. Does he know how overwhelmed you feel?
I do... I have no kids either but as it is I am drained and overwhelmed. I went for a family counseling through the employee assistant program with my husband. There the doctor spoke with both of us as to how we can ease each other's stresses and pains. It really helped me. I am taking acupuncture for fertility issues also. It is a holistic method of healing. It is helping me a whole lot. I am also listening to the self hypnosis tape which I downloaded from
www.uncommonknowledge.com
I am now feeling a lot better.
Please do try it... I am sure it will help.
same here...life is boring...all i do is work, eat, and sleep...it sucks!
Yes I feel that way a lot of the time too. Its like a weight pushing on you, everything that needs to be done and you can't seem to find the energy to do it.
I find the best way is to just do it and by the end of it you feel like you've acompished something, and with that you should reward yourself with something. Go out with a friend or do nothing for the rest of the day.
Take it one day at a time. Don't think about it all being one foot pressing down on you, life just IS, you can't predict or change what you've got you'll just have to learn to live with the cards delt you and work your way through it.
Maybe get some counceling or get some help. If you can't do it all by yourself get a gardner, a house-maid and some friends you can really talk to.
The friends will help brighten your spirit too.
Yes. It is a symptom of depression dear.
I have definitely been in your shoes before and I'm sure I will again.
Feeling overwhelmed definitely drives down your motivation because you feel that you can't handle the task that needs to get done and so you put it off which causes you to feel that you constantly have something hanging over you.
http://www.flylady.net is a site that helps you take all of the daily chores you need to do one step at a time. It sounds corny but check it out, this really helped me.
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