Enough is enough is enough is...

Enough? When is enough really enough?
Today, I once again discovered that as far as I'm concerned, it's never enough. Well,wait. Before you all think I'm one of those whining women who is never really satisfied, I am a pretty content person. I don't need hundreds of pairs of shoes, or a brand new car, or a boatload of attention (well, at least not all the time). I'm generally very grateful for all I have and feel happy with my life. However, as far as my own performance goes; it is never enough. As far as I am concerned, I have never worked enough, exercised enough, given enough time to others, or done a good enough job at pretty much anything. There is always more to do, and there is apparently not really a reason to not do that one extra chore, make that phone call, write that e-mail, or set up that lesson plan right now. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it all depends on your perspective, my husband doesn't really help; he and I really are two peas in a pod. We're both hard-working, always out to do our very best and nothing less, detail-oriented and over-organized overachievers. Yes, we're lovable too, but above all, we are on top of it. Hoo-ah! But to be honest, sometimes, it drives us crazy.

Whenever we go on vacation, we bring our running shoes, because we feel guilty and flabby if we don't run at least once every other day. No matter how long husband-dear's days (or nights) have been, I have yet to see the day he will sleep in and not feel the need to study or run or do something otherwise constructive. When I go on vacation, I will not only bring my laptop, but will also tote various books, journals and essays along in case I want to work on my latest article or correct some student work.

Our desire to work, and work hard, has really been ingrained into our daily lives. Today was yet another perfect example. Because I had a faculty conference which started at 8am, I needed to get up at the same time as my husband and leave the house at 6. If we would have both just come home and had dinner and relaxed, like normal people do (or at least I think they do), it would have been fine. But you see, the fact that we both had a twelve hour day was not enough. Nope. After dinner my husband went out to mow our now considerable yard, while I simply had to dust and sweep. And no, we're not getting company, and we also hadn't been neglecting our home. These were just things that had to be done, and in our world, they had to be done now. So right now, it's 8:30pm, and since I have to get up at 5 again tomorrow morning, we'll probably be in bed in about 45 minutes. Sound slightly depressing? It is. And we could have so easily prevented it by simply kicking back and doing nothing. But we simply can't. And now that I think of it, I actually have to make lunch for tomorrow. So I guess I need to get up and do that. Right now.

Can someone help us out please? :)