#adhd

The more intense my work and this political landscape has gotten, the stronger my urge to run away to the woods forever had become. But, as I said in my recent post, I’m not going anywhere. And when I decided that I wasn’t going anywhere, I also knew that I would then need to make my home more of the type of space I need to maintain some level of peace in my life. So I decided to build a garden.

From a social emotional learning expert: a book providing simple, science-based, practical advice including scripts, tips and strategies to help Neurodivergent adults who have ADHD, autism or anxiety find the belonging and support of lifelong friendships they seek.

This guide is a quick lesson on some of the things you should avoid saying to people with ADHD.

What I've found works is to do my planning working backwards from my deadline, I break the goal into roughly fixed size tasks. So if the goal is "clean the house by this Saturday" I estimate (more on this in a second) how long cleaning a bedroom, the kitchen, bathroom, etc take. If one of those is much larger than others I try to break it it up to get closer to the same size. If something is much smaller, then I try to group it with other small things. This sometimes takes multiple rounds. Once I've done this, I work backwards. This tells me when I need to start working on the tasks. When I've finished about half the tasks, then I know I'm about half-way to the deadline. I don't need to think about the actual time of the deadline most of the time. If someone asks if I'll meet the deadline I just look at my list and I'll have my answer.

In this landscape, you can feel broken. But the most important truth is that your mind is not. It is a vibrant ecosystem with its own patterns, its own seasons, and its own hard-won beauty. It may never fit self-referential systems, but it was never meant to. Instead, it offers an unconventional, exciting path—one lined with subtle possibilities forming as you read this. And even if no one else can see them, remember that your world is your own. And that's enough.

I woke up this morning, took a pill, and proceeded to have one of the most productive writing days I’ve had in perhaps years. The day prior, a doctor diagnosed me with Adult ADHD.