Growing up, I always got sidetracked with my mind wondering into la la land, leading to anxiety and panic attacks. However, as I grew into an adult, the issues affected my life and relationships. I often am in meetings when I would find myself doodling on my notebook 📓 instead of writing relevant information. As a public health analyst. I find myself finding it hard to focus on the task at hand instead of wondering into oblivion. Moreover, often I have impulse issues go on shopping spree only to realize how much I have spent and go into a panic mode. My home is a mess and I keep loosing stuff into the clutter.
Yes my lovelies! I am an adult living with ADHD/ADD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. My life can be a huge mess sometimes, specially when I am stressed, but I have learned some tricks to keep myself into check. I do have relapses but I have learned to keep it at a minimum. I will share those tricks with you. As an adult living with ADHD I often experience the following symptoms:
- I am often fidgety and find myself to be impatient and being a Type A person.
- I often end the person’s sentences, or interrupt in the middle.
- Impulsiveness
- Poor planning
- Being incoherence when writing even though I may have great ideas.
- Problem prioritizing
- Extreme emotions
- Lose or misplace items.
- Being forgetful all the time.
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My beautiful lovelies! My life has not been easy living with ADHD as I also have to deal with generalized anxiety disorder. These two mutually connected issues have affected my life, career, finances, and relationships. People living with ADHD often lives with co-occuring mental health disorders, such as anxiety disorders, depression, mood disorders. For the longest time I was afraid of addressing the elephant in the room and it affect my mind. However, once I have learned to ask for help I have learned through trials and errors to keep myself from getting sidetracked.
Interaction with Mental Awareness
My dear lovelies! Interactions have not only helped me from getting sidetracked but have also helped me with my relationships. As I mentioned earlier, during meetings I often find myself doodling and loosing focus. Hence, instead of shying away, I ask questions not only to clarify but also reassure my focus and attention. I try to take deep breath to bring be back to the present and became aware of social cues. As a result, when having a conversation I repeat the statement made by my friends and loved ones so that I can ensure that I have paid attention to the conversation but also let the other person know that I have listened.
Writing Down Everything
One thing I have have learned that because of my ADHD, if I don’t write down everything I often get distracted and my mind will just forget it. I am talking about meetings, deadlines, paying bills, and organizing my finances. I have a task list for work and personal life. I have found that very helpful in keeping me on track. Staying on top of things don’t come easily to me. Hence, I have learned to deal with it my writing it down. Not only have I found it helpful, it has also been a crucial vehicle to help me have some control in my life. It has always been heard for me to stay focused and daily task list along with Google calendar have helped me deal with that. Moreover, physically writing things down makes me take responsibility for that action and help me stay organized. You can find the template that I use to keep me on track to prioritize, have compassion and even follow a routine that works for me. Even when I go on vacation I have a list of things I need to accomplish and have a more complete and satisfying experience. You can buy the template below for $0.50.
Automatically Put Marketing Emails in Spam Folder
My lovelies! As I have mentioned before, not only I easily get sidetracked, and also have impulse issues. This had put me in financial trouble easily, such as spending outside my means. I tend to go on shopping spree when under stress and forget to think about the consequences. Hence, I have set up to automatically unsubscribe from retail and marketing emails and send them to the spam folder. This way I am already eliminating the temptation. It is like removing the small sub stories from the bottom of the news so that I don’t get sidetracked. Furthermore, meditation has allowed me to often take a deep breath before every action to bring be back to the present and keep my impulse under control.
Labels and Organization
As part of my ADHD I tend to forget things easily and get cluttered mentality and physically. Heck, I will forget my head if it was not attached to my body. As a result, I keep everything labeled and organized, not because I have obsessive compulsive disorder, but also to ensure that I always know where things are. Otherwise, it piles up and let things get lost in the clutter. Even the apps my phone are in labeled folders so that I can easily find them.
Don’t Leave Anything for Tomorrow
My lovelies! This is a great skills to have because tomorrow is the future and it’s uncertain. Hence, I try not to leave anything for tomorrow. If I have to take care of something. whether paying bills but keep things in place right away. If I leave anything for tomorrow, I’ll either forget about or deal with aggravated symptoms and anxiety due to procrastination.
Training My Brain 🧠
Doing mind exercises, such a soduku, mind games, puzzles, word games, and cross words puzzle have not only train my mind to stay focused but also keep my brain sharp. Through this exercises, I keep the synapses in my brain keep fired up and keep my brain sharp. Just as our bodies need exercise 💪 to keep them lubricated, the brain/mind exercises keep my mind sharp.
My dear lovelies! These seven things not only have made easy for me not to get sidetracked but also control my impulses and stay organized. If you think you have the symptoms of ADHD don’t diagnose it yourself but let a trained professional help you diagnose it. There are things from the list that may be helpful and some may not work. You have to find what works for you. I have learned the above skills by admitting that I need help and then seek help through trained professional and through family and social support. If you are honest with yourself and your loved ones then you are already in the right track.
My dear lovelies! I would love to hear about your experience and what has/hasn’t worked for you. We are all unique individuals and admitting and being compassionate with ourselves will help us get the support we need. I hope you enjoyed reading this and much as I have enjoyed writing it.
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