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Self Inflicted Stress Induced by Martyrdom
“We cling to our multitasking as much as we bemoan it.”
Amen sister.
Thank you to Ruth Marcus and her article in today’s Washington Post for articulating one of the most powerful WHOLE Truths that a woman could ever reveal. For 10 years we’ve asked women about their multi-tasking lives and usually what you hear is the Half Truth: “I’m so busy and no one helps me.” To get the WholeTruth all we have to do is ask “really?” and then the floodgates open. Women confess they they could have help from their husbands and children but that they don’t take it because they want it done the way they like it or they don’t want to surrender their role as do-er.
In our new book (have I mentioned there is a new book coming???) we explain that the reason women say that their families won’t help them is that they are motivated by, dare I say it, Martyrdom. Women (I’ll include myself) like to talk about how busy we are, not in the hopes that someone will magically fix things but rather so we can get some hard earned empathy.
Marketers (and television producers) keep missing the mark on intepreting this Whole Truth and continue to play into the idea that women are overburdened (true) and surrounded by haplesss men and useless children (probably not true) or they misfire and exagerate empathy in a patronizing way.
BTW, Ruth, when you get bored of your recipe I have a brisket recipe to die for!
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