A.D.D. Mothering? A Busy-Mom Epidemic!

Only five weeks and two days until my book Just Too Busy-Taking Your Family on a Radical Sabbatical hits the shelves.

I was at Border's last week and met with their assistant manager. After inquiring about my book being readily available in my hometown area, he went to their computer and looked it up. "Here it is." He smiled. "It's going to be in our "general parenting" section. Overjoyed, I floated home.

My blog family has been with me from the very beginning of this book-journey, so I thought it fitting to share a sneak peek with all of you.

A.D.D. - Activity Denial Disorder

It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept.

Bill Watterson

Addiction. The word means to have a habitual or compulsive involvement in an activity. Or, in my case, over activity which led me straight into the center of a busy-mom hurricane. Busyness is an addiction. I couldn’t slow down no matter how hard I tried. If I did find a peaceful pause in my day it felt unnatural, almost uncomfortable. My body was used to 100mph days, high in busyness and high in stress.

Imagine my surprise when I read this quote in a magazine article, “Because the adrenaline rush from stress creates an unconscious “reward” in the brain, it can become habit-forming,” says addiction specialist John Montgomery, Ph.D.

So, it was true. I wasn’t making this up. Busyness is stressful and stress becomes habit-forming. Like any bad habit, I had to find a way to stop.

The realization I was living on a constant habitual stress-filled adrenaline rush came to me one afternoon. A friend of mine, who was extremely health conscious, encouraged me to begin taking a daily vitamin supplement. I respected her wisdom and began taking them. After the first day, I was immediately on the phone with her.

“Hi Sharon, it’s me. Could you please tell me what was in that vitamin? I have been sitting on my couch all afternoon and I feel like I’ve fallen down Alice’s rabbit hole.”

“What in the world are you talking about Joanne?”

“Wasted. That’s the first word that comes to mind. Like, I’m much too relaxed. I thought you were a godly woman Sharon!” I teased her, but it was true, I felt like a zombie.

“Joanne, I gave you a vitamin B supplement. That’s all you have there. Vitamin B feeds your adrenal glands. If you’re living on a regular dose of adrenaline, I’m guessing the supplement gave your adrenals a good helping of support today. That’s probably why you feel “wasted.” I can assure you everything in the capsule is natural—and legal!”

Living a life of busyness can easily lead to stress and stress was something I was apparently becoming accustomed to. But, even with this new evidence pointing to my mom-addiction of busyness, like every addict, for the longest time I lived in the land of denial.


Want to read more? Head over to my author site and learn what Activity Denial Disorder is and discover if you're a victim of this mom-disorder.

Please help spread the word to all the busy-moms you love, and post this or my Facebook Author page to your Twitter or Facebook.

Hugging you all with my heart, my precious Blessed... friends!