5 Terrific Reasons To Start A Journal | Healthy ADHD
I talk about my journal often. It’s a constant companion, something I couldn’t live without and perhaps one of my oldest ADHD coping mechanisms. When I was young I used to do a lot of long-form journaling. I carried a notebook around with me everywhere starting at age 13. I still carry that notebook but the format has changed.
Recently I’ve tried to adopt the journaling style described by Ryder Carroll in his book The Bullet Journal Method. It’s the same sort of idea employed by my grandparents’ generation, for whom a “diary” looked like what we’d call a planner today: a basic outline of the day’s events in bullet points. Sometimes I include personal reflections but I keep them brief. This reminds me of a page my mom sent me from my grandfather’s diary. On a day he babysat me in the late 1980s he jotted simply, “really good kid.”
Liz writes in this post: “every day, I wake up and have no clue what I was thinking about or working on the day before.”
I know the feeling. This is also why I never get rid of notebooks. They ground me and provide a sense of memory and perspective my brain cannot.
You don’t need to be a writer to keep a journal. If you struggle with memory issues, I highly recommend one even if you never write a single complete sentence in it. It can be a real lifesaver.
Can Medication Help ADHD Relationships? | ADHD Roller Coaster with Gina Pera
I’d forgotten all about this guest post I wrote for Gina in 2016 until she shared it on Twitter last week. It’s still just as relevant and important today.
Excerpt:
That’s not to say meds offer a magic solution. They don’t. They build the capacity to set up coping systems. They can alter our perceptions of time and ourselves, helping us establish a new baseline for “normal” feelings and behavior. Meds helped me learn to recognize when something feels wrong.
Not only that, but my husband and I also discovered a lot of surprises along the way: hidden symptoms we had no idea were related to ADHD.
Why difficult conversations are worse for people with ADHD | The ADHD Homestead
For a lot of people with ADHD, relationships feel inherently more difficult. Many years ago — before either of our ADHD diagnoses — my husband asked me, “why is everything so much harder for us than for anyone else we know?”
The short answer was ADHD. The long answer includes a litany of cognitive deficits that sabotage interpersonal communication, especially in emotionally stressful situations. Here’s an excerpt on memory and conflict:
When I get into a conflict, my memory sabotages me at every turn.
Several minutes into an argument, I usually forget the original context for our discussion. I forget what’s been said, even if I was the one who said it. Not only do I get frustrated when someone tries to hold me accountable for my own words, I shift the landscape of the entire discussion. As more words flow in and I forget where we began, the argument becomes about whatever’s in the the front of my mind. This usually ends with all parties feeling confused and angry.
My poor memory leads me to argue in circles at best, and completely lose focus at worst. Once I’ve lost the original thread of the discussion and worn myself out on arguing, I’m keen to forget the whole thing. My attention span for the discussion is shot. I expect people to turn off hurt feelings like a light switch, but it’s not that easy.
Wolves at Your Heels: The Fear That You’re Always Behind, Doing the Wrong Thing, & Generally Screwing Things Up Royally | zen habits
I’ve been struggling a lot with frustration lately. I look around at my house and see projects I wanted to have finished two years ago. Several writing projects aren’t as far along as they should be. I’m working hard but on too many different things.
Focusing on this frustration won’t get me anywhere though. It also clouds my perspective on how much I’ve accomplished over the past several months. What Babuta suggests here has its roots in Buddhist teachings and I’ll be the first to admit, it sounds impossible on the first encounter.
However, cultivating presence in the moment and learning to lean into discomfort leads us to a place of power. When we stop allowing our feelings of frustration and overwhelm control us, we begin to feel we have a choice again.
Inside Every Person With ADHD | ADHD Man of Distraction
Excerpt:
I am afraid. I’m not afraid that I might say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing. I’m afraid because I know I will. I know it’s coming. I know I’m going to open my mouth, stick both my feet in there and have them come out wearing different shoes. (!!??!?)
Yeah, I’m not sure what I meant by that either, but it does illuminate how things happen in my world.
And I wish I could just be quiet, wish I could just shut up and not always have to be interacting.
And I tell myself I will. I will do that, I will stop … right after I tell everyone this other thing that I cannot keep in any longer and then, I’m done.
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