Harried: too many entities vying for your attention and you are sliced and diced too thinly.
Hurried: saying to yourself and others more than a few times a day, "Hurry up!"
Hoarded: when more than one area of your house, car or office is stuffed to the gills with items suitable for discard, and you with no will or energy to streamline and throw away.
I have spent years in the presence of each.
I tried to juggle work, having babies, rearing kids and graduate school--definitely harried.
I rushed my children around so they would have all these incredible opportunities--definitely hurried.
Clutter owned me, and I was so harried and hurried that I had no will to wade through and discard. Today my hoard piles have been reduced but they still exist, and grow back easily when I am not vigilant--I remain a bit hoarded.
If you learn from others' experiences, then I would offer this:
Pare down what you are trying to accomplish. One hundred years from now, you might wonder why you chose harried over delighted.
If you address harried, you will likely be able to reduce hurried. Believe me, your children might not remember their incredible opportunities as much as they remember your aggravation from all that hurried.
Everything you hoard owns you. The crazy thing is that once you throw it away, you don't even miss it--and that ownership you forfeited comes right back to you in a most delightful freedom.In oh, so many ways I didn't do it right. But I can cheer for you and your family to experience a new level of freedom and delight.
Consider this mission of strength.
