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The current issue of Women's Health coined a term I hadn't heard before. Alpha Wife.  This is how they describe her:

The high-powered job, the dream house, the toned body--more women than ever are overachieving. But there's a downside to all that perfection: Many do-it-all divas are too stressed to enjoy their success.

Now, I don't view myself as having a high-powered job, certainly not a dream house and sadly my toned body isn't so toned these days but nevertheless, a lot of what the article discussed did ring true to me and many other moms no doubt.

In this era where technology is king and over-extending yourself is natural, how do you control and balance it all without having a nervous breakdown?  I don't know the answer to that because I'm still battling through all of that. 

And guess what?  It isn't just working moms dealing with this.  SAH and WAH moms are dealing with it to.  Moms by nature are multi-taking gurus who are relied upon to know when fieldtrips are, make budgetary decisions and also serve as dad's scheduler too.

The article sites a 2008 Pew Research Center study that says Alpha Moms are on the rise.  In the survey, 43% of couples admit the decision making is left to mom while only 26% of couples call dad the sole decision maker.  The rest?  Shared control.  The numbers are higher in families where mom is the breadwinner.

I'm an Alpha Mom for sure.  And it is exhausting.  Many times I want badly to let go of some things but fear of losing control keeps me from doing it.  And that in turn causes me to become stressed and cranky and not enjoying much of anything.  So what's a mom to do?

According to Women's Health, it is the same old thing we've been told for eons.  Delegate, let go, and say no. 

Easier said than done right?  Otherwise, this Alpha Mom and many others would have done that a long time ago.  I suppose I should revise my 2009 resolutions.