Scarlet O’Hara Syndrome: What It Is, Symptoms, And How To Overcome It
In recent years, more and more new syndromes have been emerging that, although they are not classified within the international diagnostic manuals nor have they been widely accepted by the scientific community, it is advisable to know them due to their wide dissemination through various media. . One of them is Scarlet O’Hara syndrome.
Scarlet O’Hara syndrome has been commonly associated with procrastination, which consists of the action or habit of delaying actions, obligations or certain situations that should be attended to soon due to laziness and/or fear of facing them, so that they end up being replaced by other less pressing and more irrelevant situations or tasks that could be more pleasant in the short term for the person.
In this article We will see what Scarlett O’Hara syndrome is which has been discussed so much in recent years, but first we should briefly explain who Scarlett O’Hara is, the character who served as the
Scarlett O’Hara (known in the United States as Katie Scarlett O’Hara) is lprotagonist of the novel “Gone with the Wind” which was published in 1936 by the American writer Margaret Mitchell and was adapted to the big screen in 1939, winning several Oscars.
This charismatic character is not the typical heroine of great nobility and good heart that everyone loves for her kindness, but is actually quite different. In reality, Scarlet is capricious, manipulative and temperamental. But if there is something to highlight about her, it is her perseverance and her determination when it comes to trying to get what she wants at all times, being an ability that will help her survive in times of war, although it will also cause her some problems as can be seen. check when reading the novel and/or watching the movie.
Scarlet O’Hara syndrome is due to a class that Scarlet O’Hara pronounces when she is abandoned by Rhett Butler, a character in the plot with whom the protagonist married, even though she was actually in love with another man. Ashley Wilkes. At the moment when she is abandoned, she declares her intention to find a way to make her lover return; However, she considers that it is a matter that is too complex to be able to address it hastily, so she says the following phrase: “I’ll think about it tomorrow.”
The phrase “I’ll think about it tomorrow” by Escarlata O’Hara and also another one that is quite common in the daily lives of several people is the following: “I’ll do it tomorrow.” Both phrases have been associated with what is known in the field of psychology as procrastination, which is the habit of delaying obligations or chores until the next day.
What is Scarlet O’Hara syndrome?
As we said, Scarlett O’Hara syndrome has come to be associated with procrastination as a result of the phrase “I’ll think about it tomorrow” by Scarlett O’Hara, a character in the movie “Gone with the Wind”, so This syndrome would be related to the habit of procrastinating ; and that phrase appears with various variants on several occasions throughout the novel, so that it could be associated with a trait inherent to Scarlet O’Hara. Therefore, we are going to explain below what procrastination consists of or what has been coined the name Scarlet O’Hara syndrome.
The word procrastination (coming from the Latin word “procrastinare”; pro, go ahead, and crastinus, tomorrow. Postpone until tomorrow) refers to the postponement or postponement that would be the habit, custom or the action of delaying situations, activities or obligations that should be attended to as soon as possible; also being replaced by others that could be more pleasant, although also more irrelevant, due to laziness and/or fear of facing and carrying them out.
Seen this way, Scarlet O’Hara syndrome would be a volitional behavioral disorder that some people have, which can cause stress, anxiety and/or frustration generated by pending tasks at times when they do not have enough strength. of will to carry them out and thus include them.
What happens is that This habit of procrastinating could generate dependency on a series of external elements such as reading books, shopping, exercising, surfing the Internet and social networks, compulsive eating or any other activity that keeps us absorbed in the daily routine as a pretext to avoid some responsibilities and this is when all this It could cause us some problems.
What problems could Scarlet O’Hara syndrome cause?
In today’s society it is very common for people to have to carry out several tasks at the same time, which could be counterproductive because it could overwhelm people, causing the opposite effect, so that, instead of completing all the tasks, pending tasks and increase their productivity, they end up procrastinating and leaving several of the pending tasks unfinished.
Although Procrastination or Scarlet O’Hara syndrome has often been associated with laziness the truth is that it could be more related to the stress caused by the accumulation of several tasks simultaneously, by anxiety or the difficulty experienced on some occasions when managing emotions.
In some cases this procrastination could even be due to a dysfunctional perfectionism which would be characterized by the desire to continually achieve successful results in all the tasks they must carry out and without making any mistakes.
Furthermore, people with a high degree of dysfunctional perfectionism have a series of characteristics such as feeling saturated, some irrational beliefs, fear of failure and a high degree of intolerance of uncertainty, which can lead them to procrastinate or postpone various tasks.
The possible relationship between Scarlet O’Hara syndrome and anxiety
Behind procrastination or what is known as Scarlet O’Hara syndrome, there are a series of factors that could go beyond laziness, laziness or poor time management as we have already seen. Among all these factors, we should highlight the difficulty in managing our emotions, insecurity, dysfunctional perfectionism and, behind all of this, anxiety; and it is that More and more relationships have been found between procrastination and anxiety within the field of psychology.
While it is true that we all sometimes delay a task that has a delivery date, which is totally normal and even reasonable, this situation can become problematic when the habit of postponing tasks becomes a habit.
When procrastination or postponement becomes a habit is when we could be talking about Scarlett O’Hara syndrome and here we would find a close relationship with certain difficulties when managing emotions and, therefore, with anxiety. And normally what is behind procrastination and that generates certain problems for us is high self-demand and dysfunctional perfectionism, caused by the strong need to obtain successful results at all times and without making mistakes.
For all this, The fear of not lowering the bar so high that we have set for ourselves is what stresses us, causes us distress and could end up causing the development of anxiety and, when the first symptoms of anxiety begin (e.g., nervousness, agitation, feeling tired or weak, feeling of imminent danger, etc.) everything could change. Our spirit is declining, our motivation and our willpower are diminished, so our mind will try to look for other, more rewarding tasks in the short term to escape the problem and that need that we previously had to be highly effective.
Strategies to combat procrastination or Scarlet O’Hara syndrome
Faced with Scarlet O’Hara syndrome or procrastination, there are some strategies that could help, highlighting that in similar situations that could overwhelm us, perhaps the most sensible thing would be to seek professional help. In the meantime, let’s discuss those strategies briefly to get some ideas to start getting out of a situation that could be quite distressing and disabling.
First of all, we must stop anticipating the results of our tasks, since it is something that is beyond our control and depends on various factors, since in this type of case it is quite common for tasks to be postponed due to fear of that do not go as expected. The only thing that these negative predictions can do is worsen one’s own performance and cause the completion of tasks to be prolonged.
In that sense, it would also be important to reduce expectations, since it is counterproductive to seek perfection. Instead, it might be more useful to do things in a healthier way, according to your own abilities and without pressure. Therefore, it is important to remain calm at all times, and for this it could be useful to carry out some relaxation exercises before carrying out pending tasks. It may also be advisable to carry out tasks one at a time, rather than trying to do several at once.
Another obstacle that we may encounter when carrying out our tasks and finishing our projects is fear and insecurities. Given this, we should be decisive and try to get going as soon as possible, since through activation and movement is when inspiration and motivation can arise. Otherwise, if we wait until inspiration comes sooner and we find ourselves motivated, we are more likely to remain paralyzed and have a harder time getting going.
Furthermore, when it comes to combating Scarlet O’Hara syndrome or procrastination there are a series of steps related to self-control that might be helpful:
Start by finding a workplace where distractions are small and there are no interruptions.
Start with a list of tasks that should be done and order them by importance and due date.
Make a work calendar where we start as short as possible to progress little by little.
Structure all tasks and carry them out in small steps and set realistic deadlines.
Change expectations and find useful thinking strategies to combat negative thoughts.
Plan and/or think about some rewards that we will receive when we meet our goals.
