Study finds women are putting too much pressure on themselves

Right now feels like a good time for some TMI (that’s ‘too much information’, for those of you who aren’t as abbreviation-happy as I am) in terms of the things I do in my spare time.

I once went to a psychic and she told me that I’m in my own head way too often, and that I need to let go and stop overthinking things. 

And the thing is, she could have been speaking to any of us, because truthfully, we’re all guilty of putting unnecessary pressures on ourselves at one time or another.

Sanctuary Spa recently conducted a study in the UK and found an alarming number of women admit they feel huge amounts of pressure in every aspect of life, and to ultimately keep up with what we think is the ‘ideal’.

Four out of five of women who participated in the survey said they put too much pressure on themselves to be perfect, while 60 percent didn’t believe they were getting enough ‘me’ time. Even worse, a whopping 80 per cent of women said they ‘didn’t feel good enough – despite the fact they’d accomplished an average of 26 tasks a day.

The research discovered the top five pressures for women were balancing everything at once, being interesting, being intelligent, having the perfect body, and having the perfect home (how many can you identify with? Coz I got all five).

Behavioural expert and life strategist Jenni Trent Hughes has coined this the ‘Cult of Never Good Enough’, and it’s this bizarre phenomenon that – despite the fact that we have more help, more information, and more life hacks at our fingertips than the generations before us – we just cannot let go or recognise our accomplishments and achievements.

And the madness has to end. As my psychic so eloquently put it, our brains need to stop or we will explode. Or, as I like to phrase it, check yourself before you wreck yourself. 

Sanctuary Spa is supporting the cause with its new #LetGo campaign – and we’re loving the idea. So, put away your laptop and phone and read a book. Or watch something mindless and silly, like The Bachelor. Or embrace the mindfulness trend that is taking coffee tables by storm – adult colouring. Or just sit and do absolutely nothing for 10 minutes. You might be surprised at how quickly those unnecessary pressures slip away and you begin to feel more like yourself again…

Do you often get caught up in your own thoughts? Are you guilty of putting too much pressure on yourself?