guilt

You’re at the park with the kids and your Blackberry or iPhone is doing something like an Irish jig in your coat pocket, vibrating every ten seconds with another email or missed call from work. It may be the weekend, but the work emails never stop coming and the question—to reply or not to reply?—looms large.

Sometimes, when I am alone, I will go into the kitchen and begin to eat things that I pretend I don’t eat when I’m among friends, colleagues and family.

How is it that someone who is supposed to help me fix my life is ADDING stress to it? I now finally have an assistant. Whoo-hoo! You’d think it has made my life easier, but, as I’ve said, it’s stressing me out!

Ladies, we tend to beat ourselves up. And our self-loathing extends to all kinds of things — from sleeping with the "wrong" guy (or dating that same guy for a year, despite all possible warning signs) and ordering the flourless chocolate cake for dessert (after two helpings of pie!), to the raise we never asked for or the project we're happy to let others take credit for.