Why is it these days that when I talk with girlfriends, they tell me how "frantically busy" they are - you can almost hear them out of breath on the phone. It seems everyone is over-scheduled and over tired from life. Growing up in a small town in Vermont, I can't recall my parents, who both worked and raised me and my sister and were constantly shuffling us from ice skating rink to ski mountain to hockey fields, ever uttering those words. Yes, they were always moving but the movement now seems at an all time frenetic high. Do folks thrive on the constant go, go, go or are they having a hard time saying "no" when another request or favor is asked of them? If suddenly their lives slowed way down, would they feel bored? It's like we've got to have a million plates spinning to feel that our lives have meaning and value. If those plates came crashing down and we were only spinning a few, perhaps we'd feel like we weren't working hard enough? Ever since I quit full time work to be a mom, I know my life has become more simplified. I'm busy but I'm not spent. When one has that much to juggle, ultimately there will be a sector of one's life that gets short-changed. Then the guilt settles in. Maybe if we could all start making that To Do list shorter, we wouldn't feel like we were always trying to play catch up. And don't get me wrong - I miss working at a job that I took a lot of pride in (i.e. managing a B&B etc.), but now that I'm on the other side, the non-stop motion I see in my friends makes me a little queasy. I'm not sure I want to get on that ride again.