Like a squirrel in a wheel as if, as if, like a squirrel in a wheel Razg. Only in decree. f. Being very busy, in constant troubles, worries (sometimes without visible results). Most often with verb. nesov. like: spin, spin, spin... how? like a squirrel in a wheel.
Grandma never complained of fatigue, although all day long she spun like a squirrel in a wheel.
Instead of doing science or literary work, I live in the village, spinning like a squirrel in a wheel, working a lot... (A. Chekhov.)
And all day long she [the mother] spun around like a squirrel in a wheel, cooking dinner... (M. Gorky.)
(?) The expression goes back to I. A. Krylov’s fable “The Squirrel”, in which the running of a squirrel in a wheel personifies human activity, which “bustles about, rushes about... breaks out of its skin, but everything doesn’t move forward, like a squirrel in a wheel.”
Educational phraseological dictionary. - M.: AST. E. A. Bystrova, A. P. Okuneva, N. M. Shansky. 1997 .
See what “like a squirrel in a wheel” is in other dictionaries:
Like a squirrel in a wheel- From the fable “Squirrel” (1833) by I. A. Krylov (1769 1844). It tells about a squirrel running all day in a wheel on the window of a manor’s house: “She ran so much that her paws only flickered and her lush tail swelled.” And at the same time she was firmly convinced that...
like a squirrel in a wheel- adj., number of synonyms: 3 all in business (3) busy (31) as if in a frying pan... Synonym dictionary
Like a squirrel in a wheel- Razg. Express To be in constant worries, troubles, etc. From the beginning of May until the October holidays, Silantiev spent almost 24 hours in the brigade... Day and evening, like a squirrel in a wheel... Like a clockwork one. How long will it last? (A. Pryashnikov. Guest). Students… … Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language
like a squirrel in a wheel- Wed. If Shakespeare were born again, he would have nothing to give up from his Hamlet, from his Lear: His penetrating gaze would not have discovered anything new in human life... The same gullibility and the same cruelty, the same need for blood,... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary
Like a squirrel in a wheel- wing. sl. An expression from I. A. Krylov’s fable “The Squirrel” (1833): Look at another businessman: He is busy, rushing about, everyone marvels at him: He seems to be breaking out of his skin, But everything doesn’t move forward, Like a squirrel in a wheel... Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary by I. Mostitsky
Like a squirrel in a wheel- Like a squirrel in a wheel. Wed. If Shakespeare were born again, he would have nothing to give up his Hamlet, his Lear: His penetrating gaze would not have discovered anything new in human life... The same gullibility and the same cruelty... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)
like a squirrel spinning in a wheel- Like a squirrel in a wheel / spinning (spinning, spinning) Bust around incessantly, do a lot of things without a break... Dictionary of many expressions
SPIN LIKE A SQUIRREL IN A WHEEL
SPIN LIKE A SQUIRREL IN A WHEEL- who Be in constant trouble, do many different things, fuss. This means that a person or group of people (X) are burdened with endless worries, work hard and exhaustingly, often without achieving the desired results. Speaks with... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Language
Spinning like a squirrel in a wheel- see Like a squirrel in a wheel. Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. M.: Locked Press. Vadim Serov. 2003 ... Dictionary of popular words and expressions
Books
- Squirrel in a wheel. Magi. Book two. Behavior management, Katerina Dyachenko. I turned to the Treasury for help in achieving my goal - learning to fight. But in the end I received a more valuable gift. The magician turned my attention to the relationship between how I think and how I act for... Buy for 490 rubles eBook
- A squirrel in a wheel, or E-mail revolution. How to Handle Email Before It Kills You by M. Song. This book is a powerful, practical guide to dealing effectively with email. The authors offer four original techniques that will help not only cope with huge...
We admire those who manage to do it all, and blame ourselves for lack of organization... Where does it come from?
Apart from those who actually “fool around” all day and then complain about lack of time, psychologists identify three types of people who chronically lack it. Some for work, some for themselves, and for others for everything combined. What methods do people use to make friends with time: they start clever diaries, take time management training, make promises to themselves to start a new life on Monday. But for some reason all this doesn’t help much. Scientists believe that the reason for the constant lack of time (or simply the feeling of this lack) needs to be sought deeper.
Here are some of the main reasons why people tend to be short of time, and how to solve the problems associated with it.
1. It’s hard for you to say “no,” so everyone controls your time except you.
You are always ready to respond when someone asks for your attention: to listen, advise, help. It’s not surprising that you don’t have enough time for yourself, because there are always plenty of people who want to take advantage of your generosity and your time! But you can't help it. You sacrifice your desires, but you are considered the most responsive person in the team.
What is the reason?
Perhaps as a child you experienced a lack of attention in your relationship with your parents, you had to achieve it, fight for it. Now childhood frustration forces you to put the interests of others above your own, pushing your needs into the background. Those who in childhood were often given the role of an elder, obliged to take care primarily of the younger one and his needs, are also prone to such behavior.
How to deal with this?
You can change your behavior by learning to say no, but you can leave it at that. Accept yourself this way or that way. Accept that your purpose is to give your time to others. Learn to enjoy it, stop lamenting the lack of time for yourself. However, it is important to understand that in return you are unlikely to receive the same level of participation from each of your time thieves, or even from all of them combined.
And if you are not entirely comfortable in such a role, then act. To start, try recording every day for a week the minutes you devote to others, the time you spend on everyday activities (work, transport, etc.) and the time you spend on yourself. Think about how important time spent with others was. Was it possible to “redistribute” it, is this important to you? What have you denied yourself by spending it on others? What could you do for yourself? Why couldn't you say no? Out of weakness? Or out of a desire to avoid guilt? Or maybe out of a desire to be liked? And this is more important than the fact that you don’t have time to do your work, go to the pool or dance. Learn to say no, otherwise you will live pieces of other people's lives, but never have enough time for your own life. Learn to say no. Do it calmly, don’t doubt, don’t make excuses and don’t feel guilty.
2. You don't know how to prioritize
It's difficult for you to choose between things because they all seem equally urgent and important to you. Because of this, you are in constant tension, jumping from one thing to another, often without finishing the things you start. You think for a long time before starting a task, doubt the advisability of starting it right now, and painfully decide which task to start with. Finding yourself short of time, you, of course, sacrifice your interests. You don’t allow yourself pleasures and entertainment, blaming yourself every day for wasted time, excessive indecisiveness, etc.
You often doubt yourself and take too long to make decisions. All this makes prioritization a daunting task. This model of behavior is often characteristic of those who did not have reliable examples or guidelines in childhood, as well as those for whom parents made decisions, criticizing and not supporting them. People who have problems setting priorities are those who do not trust themselves and their opinions. Those who do not love and do not value themselves. It is easier for you to work under strict management who makes decisions about the sequence of your actions for you. But outside of work, you will again and again be faced with the problem of choice and chaotically take on several things at the same time.
How to deal with this?
To change this situation, you first need to understand what exactly you want in life, and regard each of your actions as one that brings you closer to your goals or further away from them. It is also important for you to understand that you and only you decide what is important to you, because it is only your life. You don't care whether others think it's right or not.
Take a piece of paper and write down all your goals, needs and desires. Then rewrite it according to priorities (what's more important and what needs to be done first). Keep this list handy so that it is always easily accessible to you and refer to it whenever you are in doubt. Highlight your highest priority items.
Get a notepad. Where you will write down all your ideas and projects. Don't keep everything in your head. When we keep a lot in our heads, it slows us down.
Learn to say one very simple but effective mantra to yourself: “I will do it right now.” Tell yourself this every time you notice that you are wasting time on doubts. Speak up and start doing it without delay.
Monitor how many minutes you spend ruminating over the fact that you have to make a not-so-pleasant phone call. In this case, the call itself can take only half a minute. Or the thought of loading and turning on the washing machine or dishwasher...
3. You tend to be controlling.
In the morning you run to work, dropping off your child at kindergarten on the way. No one else will do it right except you. You are always active at work and cannot stand idleness. Every minute of your life should be filled with meaning and serve some purpose. You don’t allow yourself to relax, let go of the reins. It seems to you that you will immediately find yourself on the sidelines of the main events, missing out on something very important. You almost never delegate tasks to someone else, and if you do, you still waste time on “control.” But, despite the abundance of things to do, you rarely feel overloaded. More often, sadness... for the passing time, time that rushes as quickly as you do, without stopping. A constant race in which you see no way for yourself to stop.
This life position is often due to the fact that your parents really expected success from you and set you up for achievements. From early childhood you were always involved in activities - clubs, sections, courses. You were raised to be a leader and a champion, and you have no right to disappoint your parents. In your constant rush, you didn't have enough time to play or dream. You often suppressed your desires and believed that the bar and pace imposed by your parents were your own choice.
How to deal with this?
The frantic rush of your time will slow down if you can look inside yourself, look back and discover your suppressed desires. Meet the lost part of your personality, realize your childhood dreams. Allow yourself “useless things”, and not just deliberately expedient ones. For some it’s “barefoot through puddles”, for others it’s a night by the fire, a kilo of ice cream or two days with a book on the sofa... Show spontaneity and... leisurelyness more often, and you will be able to feel more harmony in your life.
“The main reason that people are in eternal time pressure is not at all the number of things they take upon themselves. And the fact is that a person ignores his own “I”, his needs, beliefs and self-realization, says Olga Martynova, family psychologist, head of the Psychotherapy and Consulting project. - When a person clearly understands his needs, his values and what he would really like in life, he does not have problems with correct prioritization and the ability to properly manage his time. In other words, only a truly self-respecting and self-loving person is able to make friends with time.
Psychologist Tatyana Nikitina not only talks about the complexities of relationships between men and women, but also helps those who want to improve themselves.
SQUIRREL IN A WHEEL
female script
Psychologist Marina MorozovaMost modern women, without noticing it themselves, live according to the “Squirrel in a Wheel” scenario, as they are forced to work in two shifts: at work and at home. They can be called disguised family workaholics, since they have all the signs of workaholics, but they do not have dependence on work or professional activity. They have another dependence - on the family. And they “plow” for the family.
Their family and children are at the forefront, and work is a means of earning money for the family. The squirrels in the wheel make a significant or greater contribution to the family budget, often working equally or even more than their husband. And at home after work they start their second shift - cooking, ironing, cleaning, homework...
Such women carry the whole house on themselves, shoulder all the problems and worries about children, husbands, old parents, and also the dacha/garden, spinning like a squirrel in a wheel all day, sacrificing themselves to the family and children.
“I feel like a draft horse dragging a heavy load up the mountain,” complains Tatyana Z. “I’m about to overstrain myself, but I can’t stop. Because no one but me can support my family. I have long forgotten what it is to feel like a woman. What about a woman? I forgot what it means to get enough sleep, just sit down and watch TV, go for a manicure, meet a friend. I don’t have time to do anything, things pile up like a snowball.”
In contrast to workaholics, Squirrels in the Wheel try to leave work early, stay late from the lunch break, managing to buy something for the family during lunch, and spend the weekend working not at work, but at home or in the country.
But the rest of the symptoms of Squirrels in the Wheel completely coincide with workaholics: they are always full of things to do, they are always in a hurry and do not have time to do anything, they do not know how to rest and enjoy their rest, they do not know how to relax. And of course, they have a pronounced dislike for themselves and low self-esteem, perfectionism and an excellent student complex, high demands on themselves and hyperfunctionality.
The squirrels in the wheel are always busy with something and do several things at the same time. They never sit idle and condemn such “lazy people” who allow themselves to rest.
At the store, they fill up bags of groceries that they can barely carry home. They often take on extra work, which, in principle, could not have been done, and which no one asked them to do.
Someone washes the floors throughout the house every day, someone prepares a three-course lunch every day. They come up with things to do for themselves, set tight deadlines for themselves, push themselves and exhaust themselves.
I AM MYSELF
The squirrels in the wheel live under the motto “I myself” and take on not only female, but also male functions - breadwinner, breadwinner, even protector. They can move furniture, hang shelves, and supervise the construction of a house.
They shoulder everything themselves and do not know how to delegate responsibilities to others and ask loved ones for help.
Of course, sooner or later they accumulate resentment and anger towards their family, they are annoyed by the fact that no one appreciates their work and contribution to the family, no one offers help and, most importantly, no one thanks them.
“Nobody does anything around the house, everything is on me. There is no point in asking - you won’t be interrogated. And if you force someone to do something about the scandal, they will do it in such a way that you have to redo everything again.”
Or another option: “The children are still small, and boys at that. Why should I burden them with women’s work? Better let them study well!”
Of course, they deeply believe that no one but them will do everything so perfectly. And in fact, he won’t do it until he learns. No one has ever washed the dishes perfectly the first time or ironed a shirt - everything comes with experience. But Squirrels are impatient: “Rather than wait until they learn, it’s better to do everything yourself!” This is how perfectionism manifests itself - the desire to achieve the ideal in everything.
Squirrels in a wheel do not want and do not know how to ask loved ones for help. “Why should I ask when they themselves should offer help?” Squirrels are indignant.
Or they think that rather than asking someone for something, it’s better to do it yourself - dig up the garden yourself, weed the carrots, cook the borscht. “They won’t do a good job anyway, they’ll just ruin everything and fray your nerves,” Belki thinks.
Other Squirrels in the wheel, instead of asking, demand and force their loved ones to help themselves, which leads to scandals and protest.
And then the Squirrels themselves take offense at their loved ones - at these lazy people and stupid people - they get angry and irritated.
An example from life.
“For us, any cleaning ends in a scandal,” says Olga G. “I pick up a vacuum cleaner and start vacuuming the carpets in the apartment. At this time, my husband is lying on the sofa with a tablet, my daughter is doing her homework at the table.
10 minutes pass, 15, and at this time I think: “Why is he lying down? Well, can’t he see that I’m all exhausted, tired, I have a lot of things to do, and the house is a mess? Is it really difficult for him to tear his butt off the sofa and propose help?" and stuff like that.
Finally, I explode and tell him everything I think about him. We fight. But it never dawns on him that he should help. He defiantly goes into the kitchen.
The daughter hears all this and doesn’t even try to help with the cleaning. I end up making my daughter take a rag and wipe off the dust. She snaps, but still takes the rag and fiddles with it for appearances. Then I have to dust it off myself."
As we see, in this situation, Olga, instead of asking her loved ones for help in advance, discussing with them the cleaning time and who is doing what, or even better, generally distributing responsibilities in the house, she tries to manipulate her husband and daughter - to make them feel guilty, demonstratively starting cleaning. Of course, this irritates them, but they are not manipulated. And Olga screws herself up, starts a scandal, and a scandal is not the best way to get help.
Most Squirrels do not know how to ask, and often demand help rather than ask, which causes protest from their relatives.
How do "Squirrels put themselves in a wheel"?
Squirrels in a wheel “put themselves in this wheel, turning themselves into a “squirrel.” How does this happen?
At the very beginning, they reject all attempts to help, criticize the actions of their children and husband, and thus discourage them from helping. Squirrel herself takes away the knife from her son when he tries to cut bread - (“Give it to me! You’ll be circumcised again!”), she herself moves her husband away from the sink when he wants to wash the dishes, since he still won’t wash them well. She scolds them for useless purchases, she runs to the store herself if her husband does not want to go there.
And, of course, in this way she discourages her loved ones from wanting to help or do anything at all. Gradually everyone gets used to the fact that the Squirrel in the Wheel does everything herself. And if she hasn’t done something, they already criticize her and demand that she improve the quality of food and the cleanliness of the house. "("Mom, is there any bread at home? Didn't you buy sugar? Why isn't dinner ready yet?").
When the neck is ready, there will always be people willing to sit on it!
“A squirrel in a wheel” sees the meaning of life in the family, in children, and hard work for the benefit of the family is its way of earning love and respect, gratitude and recognition. But it is impossible to earn love this way. Love cannot be earned at all.
This is very important to understand.
Once you stop valuing yourself, others stop valuing you. After all, other people look at you through your eyes.
For those who want to work more deeply on their Squirrel in the Wheel scenario, I have
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Simple Express To be in constant troubles, worries, activities. Her husband is good to everyone, but he’s not very good at home... She understood that he had no time for home all this time. Like a squirrel spinning in a wheel. Still, sometimes it was difficult to hold back the insult(F. Abramov. Ilya Netosov). Phraseological dictionary of the Russian literary language. - M.: Astrel, AST A. I. Fedorov 2008
Meanings in other dictionaries
Play tricks
with whom. Simple Neglected Being in a loving relationship with someone; cohabitate. Some sinner confided to Rebekah that her husband, Moses, has been playing tricks with a certain Angelina for a long time, that he brings half of his income to her and that... Angelina is sporting an astrakhan fur coat (N. Dumbadze. Kukaracha). Phraseological dictionary of the Russian literary language. - M.: Astrel, AST A. I. Fedorov 200 ...
Twist the screws
SPIN FUCKING MURS with anyone. Twist the screws with someone. Simple Joking. Flirt, flirt with someone. In front of an honest public, the patient escaped from the hospital after a difficult operation. This means that the nurse on duty was either playing tricks on the patient, or scratching with her tongue. I distributed the medications, completed the assignments - and hello! For that kind of money, she believes, it’s more expensive for yourself to strain yourself (Z. Boguslavskaya. Relatives). - And n...
Spin like a bobcat
Simple Express To be in constant worries and troubles; showing resourcefulness, deftly getting out of difficult circumstances. - This means that prices must be inflated, they must be overcharged, otherwise they will do what is required - and go home. Who's the plan? From the foreman. So you’re spinning like a bob (V. Eremenko. Taming the permafrost). -What is Anna’s life like? It spins like a bobcat, but for what? From your hundred and seventy you carved out one and a half...