prioritization - the cure for the overcommitted

Why is it that as our sunlit days grow shorter, our list of obligations grows longer? Most working women I know - particularly those with children - have had friends and relatives at some point say faux-sarcastically, "and what do you do with all your free time?" I can't even claim the worst of the lot, as I have had the lovely mixed blessing of a stay-at home husband for the past 1-1/2 years, who is a good cook and even does the dishes. However, Daisy leader he is not.

Working moms, in particular, seem to be prone to overcommitment. In addition to the expected workday obligations, we add career growth (like state or national organization commitments, research or writing projects), volunteer work with our children's organizations, and the typical home management tasks. Does anybody else remember the 1970s commercial for Enjoli? Our moms thought that their hard-won civil liberties meant that they had to have and do it all, be everything to everyone, and thirty odd years later we're still trying to live up to those self-imposed expectations.