Habits
My ADHD diagnosis has been the best thing that has happened to me in a long time. So many random little things that have always bothered me about myself now make sense.
I also have accepted that doing things/getting things done is BIOLOGICALLY harder for me and it is ok if I need to follow an app on my phone that is a timer/list to get pretty basic human things like having a shower done in the morning.
Over the past month I have slowly been making small little changes that have been adding up to BIG CHANGES in my life!
1. Leaving my phone in the bathroom when I go to sleep.
This may sound silly but it is HUGE. I used to lie in bed before going to sleep and check Facebook and Instagram on a continuous loop for no reason.
Same thing goes for when I wake up in the morning. I would either fall back asleep with my phone in my hand while "snoozing" or I would pick up my phone and do the continuous social media loop for, I kid you not, up to an hour. What a time waster! Not to mention I would start my day off feeling like complete crap because I have to run out the door AND I spent my time looking at what other people are doing with their lives which, let's be honest, does nothing but make me feel envious and bad about how little I have done with my life in the past year!
**side note** If you are like me and have trouble getting up in the morning... ESPECIALLY with the sun rising later in the winter. I suggest you try the Philips Wake up light. It is one of those life changing things that make getting out of bed easier (at least for me!). On the morning where I have had a particularly bad sleep I like to lie in bed and listen to the radio and adjust myself to the light while talking myself into getting out of bed!
If I woke up in the middle of the night I would pick up my phone to see what time it was (I also have an alarm clock. Don't know why I needed to pick up my phone?!). After picking up my phone to look at the time I couldn't just put it back down. I HAD TO see what new and exciting happened that I missed while I was asleep for, what, 2 hours?! SO RIDICULOUS. Granted, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night from a bad dream and need to think of something else/calm myself down before falling back asleep so I don't get back into the same dream. A phone does come in handy in this case but it is not necessary. I now pick up a book instead and, honestly, most times I don't even need it and have started to learn to calm myself down.
2. The app 30/30
This is a little misleading because I don't 100% like this app. I find that I have to do too much "setting up" before each time that I want to start my "morning routine" or "bedtime routine". It is VERY possible that I am not using some button that will magically make the lists reset but I have yet to find it! 30/30 is still the app that I use everyday because it does all this:
a) Permanently keeps a list that i repeat each day.
b) Allows me to set a designated time that I feel I should be spending for example, showering or applying makeup. It also prompts me when I need to move onto the next task.
c) Tells me what time I will be finished said list. Example if I start the list at 12:00pm, the app tells me that I will be done at 1:30pm.
d) The tasks in each list can be different colours which is a-mazing for my visual brain!
e) I'm sure there are other things that I can't think of right now!
This is something that I feel most people would laugh at - you need a timer to get out of the house in the morning?! Yes, i do! I can't tell you the amount of times that I jump into bed and forget to floss my teeth or leave the house without putting deodorant on. This app has been amazing for accomplishing the daily tasks that I always get overwhelmed by! :)
3. Morning Routine
After finding 30/30 I was able to put a morning routine into place! I now make my bed, work out and remember to put deodorant on every morning which drastically helps with my anxiety and adhd (makes concentrating sooo much easier; it doesn't feel like my brain is running from thought to thought and I can sit and focus on something)!
4. Routine to make tomorrow great!
This one is a little trickier for me. I get unbelievably lazy after dinner time and don't want to do anything.
My goals are to:
- Get my smoothie ingredients ready.
- Decide which clothes I will be wearing the next day.
- Think about what I want to eat for lunch the following day.
- Pick up my clothes from the floor.
- Wash hair (if it needs to be washed).
5. Bedtime Routine
I am getting bored of writing about my routines so you can just imagine that brushing my teeth is obviously included in this one! Safe to say that I use 30/30 for this also.
6. Scheduling
Writing a list of all of my to-do items and actually completing them is so overwhelming for me. My solution is to use the planner that I got for christmas (thanks mom!). I write in the note section of my week all the little super boring things that I need to get done. From there I write down all of my scheduled things. Example: ringuette. I now know where I have the time to do the superrrr boring tasks that I don't want to do. I have also realized that once I scratch off something that I have completed, I am very likely to go onto another super boring task because it felt so good completing the first one!
As you can see, I have implemented a few routines! I have read that this really helps for those with adhd and so far it really has. Hopefully I can stick to them!
p.s. If you have any helpful routines or solutions that you have come up with to help yourself get tasks done I would love to hear about them! :)
My next goal: I have such a hard time deciding what I want to eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner everyday.
My solution: create a recipe book that has all my Go-To lunch/dinner/breakfast ideas. I want to add a grocery list to each recipe so that I can make things extra easy for myself!
I also have accepted that doing things/getting things done is BIOLOGICALLY harder for me and it is ok if I need to follow an app on my phone that is a timer/list to get pretty basic human things like having a shower done in the morning.
Over the past month I have slowly been making small little changes that have been adding up to BIG CHANGES in my life!
1. Leaving my phone in the bathroom when I go to sleep.
This may sound silly but it is HUGE. I used to lie in bed before going to sleep and check Facebook and Instagram on a continuous loop for no reason.
Same thing goes for when I wake up in the morning. I would either fall back asleep with my phone in my hand while "snoozing" or I would pick up my phone and do the continuous social media loop for, I kid you not, up to an hour. What a time waster! Not to mention I would start my day off feeling like complete crap because I have to run out the door AND I spent my time looking at what other people are doing with their lives which, let's be honest, does nothing but make me feel envious and bad about how little I have done with my life in the past year!
**side note** If you are like me and have trouble getting up in the morning... ESPECIALLY with the sun rising later in the winter. I suggest you try the Philips Wake up light. It is one of those life changing things that make getting out of bed easier (at least for me!). On the morning where I have had a particularly bad sleep I like to lie in bed and listen to the radio and adjust myself to the light while talking myself into getting out of bed!
If I woke up in the middle of the night I would pick up my phone to see what time it was (I also have an alarm clock. Don't know why I needed to pick up my phone?!). After picking up my phone to look at the time I couldn't just put it back down. I HAD TO see what new and exciting happened that I missed while I was asleep for, what, 2 hours?! SO RIDICULOUS. Granted, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night from a bad dream and need to think of something else/calm myself down before falling back asleep so I don't get back into the same dream. A phone does come in handy in this case but it is not necessary. I now pick up a book instead and, honestly, most times I don't even need it and have started to learn to calm myself down.
2. The app 30/30
This is a little misleading because I don't 100% like this app. I find that I have to do too much "setting up" before each time that I want to start my "morning routine" or "bedtime routine". It is VERY possible that I am not using some button that will magically make the lists reset but I have yet to find it! 30/30 is still the app that I use everyday because it does all this:
a) Permanently keeps a list that i repeat each day.
b) Allows me to set a designated time that I feel I should be spending for example, showering or applying makeup. It also prompts me when I need to move onto the next task.
c) Tells me what time I will be finished said list. Example if I start the list at 12:00pm, the app tells me that I will be done at 1:30pm.
d) The tasks in each list can be different colours which is a-mazing for my visual brain!
e) I'm sure there are other things that I can't think of right now!
This is something that I feel most people would laugh at - you need a timer to get out of the house in the morning?! Yes, i do! I can't tell you the amount of times that I jump into bed and forget to floss my teeth or leave the house without putting deodorant on. This app has been amazing for accomplishing the daily tasks that I always get overwhelmed by! :)
3. Morning Routine
After finding 30/30 I was able to put a morning routine into place! I now make my bed, work out and remember to put deodorant on every morning which drastically helps with my anxiety and adhd (makes concentrating sooo much easier; it doesn't feel like my brain is running from thought to thought and I can sit and focus on something)!
4. Routine to make tomorrow great!
This one is a little trickier for me. I get unbelievably lazy after dinner time and don't want to do anything.
My goals are to:
- Get my smoothie ingredients ready.
- Decide which clothes I will be wearing the next day.
- Think about what I want to eat for lunch the following day.
- Pick up my clothes from the floor.
- Wash hair (if it needs to be washed).
5. Bedtime Routine
I am getting bored of writing about my routines so you can just imagine that brushing my teeth is obviously included in this one! Safe to say that I use 30/30 for this also.
6. Scheduling
Writing a list of all of my to-do items and actually completing them is so overwhelming for me. My solution is to use the planner that I got for christmas (thanks mom!). I write in the note section of my week all the little super boring things that I need to get done. From there I write down all of my scheduled things. Example: ringuette. I now know where I have the time to do the superrrr boring tasks that I don't want to do. I have also realized that once I scratch off something that I have completed, I am very likely to go onto another super boring task because it felt so good completing the first one!
As you can see, I have implemented a few routines! I have read that this really helps for those with adhd and so far it really has. Hopefully I can stick to them!
p.s. If you have any helpful routines or solutions that you have come up with to help yourself get tasks done I would love to hear about them! :)
My next goal: I have such a hard time deciding what I want to eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner everyday.
My solution: create a recipe book that has all my Go-To lunch/dinner/breakfast ideas. I want to add a grocery list to each recipe so that I can make things extra easy for myself!
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