It’s hard to shave your pits when there’s a toothbrush hanging out of your mouth

In my attempt to maximize efficiency and conserve water I began brushing my teeth while I am in the shower.  For the most part this works out okay but there are some exceptions.  However that’s not really my point.  What I really want to know is who exactly came up with the concept of “multitasking” and does anyone else think that this idea has gone a bit too far?  You know what, forget the last question.  I don’t really care what anyone else thinks.  For me, multitasking has taken on a life of it’s own. 

It has become nearly impossible for me to be doing only one thing at a time – ever.  At first I thought this was a good thing because let me tell ya, I can get a lot of stuff done in a relatively short amount of time.  But it’s gotten to the point where I’m now finding it difficult to relax.  I must always be doing several things at once.  My mother finds this quality to be silly, but then again my mother has raised the act of doing nothing to an artform.  In fact, she’s often said that she would right a book about how to do nothing guilt free – you know, if she weren’t so busy doing nothing.  Not that my mother is lazy, she’s not.  When she’s at work she is completely focused on her job and she works hard.  With her friends, she has a good time and when she’s relaxing, she’s relaxing.  How exactly she leaves her multitasking mental attitude at work everyday when she leaves at 5:00 is a mystery to me.  I, on the other hand, seem to have forgotten how to relax.  My mind has become so focused on getting as many things done (and done right) in the shortest amount of time possible that it’s forgotten how to just be.  Even now, as I’m writing this, I’m also trying to catch the news on TV and make a mental list of all the things I need to get done tomorrow. 

Sure, we all have a lot to get done these days.  But when multitasking doesn’t stay at the office and instead starts spilling over to other areas of our lives, chaos ensues.  We can only do so many things at once before our brains lose track of what we’re doing and mistakes get made.  The never-ending stress of constantly achieving takes it’s toll on our brains and our bodies.  Just take a look at all the ads for prescription sleeping pills and antidepressants.  Our lives have become so riddled with to-do lists that we’ve forgotten how to simply live life. 

Well I’m not really one to make resolutions but I think I’ll make an exception for 2007.  This year I’m going to add “just breathing” to my to-do list and maybe, just maybe, by December someone will say those words to me that most woman never want to her – you’re just like your mother.