How do women learn? Where do we find out the sales, secrets and special things that make our lives better?

Most often, we learn from other women. This ‘girlfriend advice’ is the friendly exchange of ideas, information and inspiration. In a casual way, we gather input on our lives as well as solutions we might never find by ourselves. That’s one of the best benefits of BFFs, we help each other find answers and angles that alone would be impossible.

Following is some great girlfriend advice that you (or a friend) may just need to hear. We’re thrilled to interview author and self-love guru CHRISTINE ARYLO this Friday (2pm EST/11am PST) on our BlogTalkRadio show about her upcoming Self-Loveapalooza!

Overwhelmed, Overworked and Over It!

by Christine Arylo

The unsustainable lifestyle of the modern day woman

Feed the kids.  Get a raise.  Loose the weight.  Clean the house.  Wear the lingerie.  Whew!  It is tiring being a woman these days.  We have more opportunities, self-confidence and independence than any generation of women before, yet something isn’t working.  Why is it so exhausting?   And why do we always feel like we can never catch up?

This is the question the my good friend Anne and I have been discussing for months, and what we came up with is that while we all know that the earth needs to be sustainable in order to survive, we’ve failed to realized that WE need to be sustainable in order to thrive.

Think about how many times you’ve said to your girlfriend, “I’m so overwhelmed” or “I’d love to but I don’t have time.” Or even worse, remember the times you didn’t reach out and instead went to that dark place of feeling super alone, like the entire world was on your shoulders.

Women today face pressures like no other generation. We have more opportunities but not more happiness. A recent study by Time Magazine showed women today are no happier than women were in the 1970s, before the women’s movement and equal rights.

Does that mean that equality was bad?  No, the feminist movement was hugely important to raising the standards of life for women around the world, and like anything it had unintended consequences which we now have to deal with so that we can figure out what is right for today’s woman.”

The unintended consequences:

• Too many roles. Mom. Money Maker. And Major Caretaker. 40% of women are the major breadwinners in their families, and 55% report that they still take care of most of the responsibilities at home. So you can understand why…
• Women Are Running Themselves Into Exhaustion. It’s estimated that 80% of women are so overworked and stressed that they suffer from adrenal gland fatigue, whether they know it or not. Women slough off or mistreat the symptoms like weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, depression, cravings and mood swings, and then, because they aren’t listening to their bodies warning signals, they end up with serious health concerns like auto-immune and thyroid disease.

What Can Women Do About It?

It’s been said that women will change the world, and I firmly believe that, however, we won’t  change anything if we don’t take care of ourselves first! And we need to support each other to do so. So this year, I am daring every woman to make 2010 the year she takes care of herself as well as everything else in her life… without exhausting herself in the process!

To kick off this dare, on February 13^th, the international day of self-love (a.k.a. Madly in Love with ME Day), I’m asking you to commit to a 40-day self-love practice called Taking Care of ME. Every morning for 40-days before you get out of bed, ask yourself, “What do I need to do to take care of me today?” And then listen. Whatever it says, you have to do it. Take a nap. Start work at noon. Whatever. Why? I know that you want to take care of yourself, but your brain tells you that you don’t have time. You literally need to reprogram your brain to have new beliefs that support you taking care of you. Brain scientists, yogis and metaphysicans agree if you can do anything for 40 days you can change your habits.  Do you dare???

Check out this clip from ABC-TV where I talk about my 40-day Taking Care of ME Dare. I wouldn’t ask you to do anything I hadn’t done myself.

About Christine Arylo

A new kind of self-love expert, Christine Arylo takes a fresh approach to redefining and teaching self-love for today’s woman. Author of Choosing ME before WE, Arylo’s opinions and techniques have appeared on E! Entertainment, WGN, FOX, CBS and ABC TV. A teacher, inspirational catalyst, and m.b.a, Arylo is also the founder of Madly in Love with ME, an international self-love movement, including an official day of self-love worldwide on February 13. Visit her at www.mebeforewe.com or www.madlyinlovewithme.com

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For more inspiring women, check out these Girlfriendology blog posts:

CATHY RAFF – The Gift of Sharing

Hope, friendship and really good juice

Haiti and Hope

Tags: Christine Arylo, friendship, girlfriend advice, self love

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 3:23 pm and is filed under Be a Better FRIEND, Girlfriend Advice and Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.