You know when you sit down with an occupational therapist because you want an assessment of the ergonomics of your work space and the first thing he recommends is meditation that you might have a little too much on your plate.

"You're a little tightly wound," he said to me.
In my defense, I woke up with and still had a headache that made my head feel like it was being squeezed in a vice so I was desperate to find some relief for the neck and shoulder problems that I associated with that.
"How is it that when I go away for a week or I'm sick, and not doing any of my stretches, no yoga, my body feels its best? No pain in my back, no pain in my shoulders or neck, no headaches. We're supposed to exercise to be healthy and live a long time but I think it's killing me."
I was a tiny bit whiny by the time I landed in his office at 3 o'clock. 
The OT simply said, "It's stress."
Ah.
"You're doing too much."
Really? I hadn't noticed.

My To Do lists: Ongoing, and next week's appointments.

But he was right. As soon as he spoke about breathing, I realized I'd been breathing from my upper chest for weeks. Rushing through the stretching in the mornings, sick for two weeks, mind always thinkingthinkingthinking. I'd stopped breathing deeply and had lost the calming effect of getting enough oxygen infused into my body.
So for the next six weeks, my morning stretching time will become a morning mediation time and my exercise will be walking the dog -- which he claims is my "me" time -- and every night at bedtime, I'm writing 5 things I'm grateful for in a journal. Which simply reminded me that I'd also been rushing, or eliminating, my morning prayers and daily intention from the end of my yoga practice. More "me" time swept away by doing too much.
It's so hard to accept when a complete stranger takes one look at you and tells you what's wrong -- especially when there's nothing you can or WANT to do about it because all of the stuff that is making me busy, all of that stuff on the To Do lists, are in pursuit of what I really want to accomplish.
Short term pain for long term gain.
Funny thing is just hearing him identify the real source of my shoulder and neck pain (which resulted in the head pain) helped to relieve the pain and strain. Knowledge is a powerful cure.
But I still did my meditation and walk this morning and it was very nice to feel like myself again.
There's still something wrong with my office chair, though. It's not all in my mind!