Lifestyle

Happy Single Tasking Day from an ADHD-er

Found out that today (February 19th) is Single Tasking Day…and this was my first thought:

Let’s be honest, most people with ADHD function better (or at least feel more comfortable) when their mind is racing in a million directions. It’s just the way our minds work.

Multitasking gets a bad rap. We’ve all read the articles that claim multitasking has been scientifically proven to hinder productivity. And while that may very well be true for most people, let’s keep in mind that the ADHD brain functions quite differently. The ADHD brain works better in situations that are often disregarded or frowned upon for the common brain.

There are mixed opinions about multitasking and ADHD. Some say our jumping from task to task (multitasking) is a flaw. However, some say our brains work better when doing two things at once. Take, for instance, this quote from an ADDitude mag article:

“…an activity that uses a sense other than that required for the primary task — listening to music while reading a social studies textbook — can enhance performance in children with ADHD. Doing two things at once, she found, focuses the brain on the primary task.”

I imagine, like all things, it’s a matter of figuring out what works best for you. For me, it depends on the activity and the environment, but I have definitely found that listening to music and/or fidgeting (or pedaling my DeskCycle) , while trying to concentrate on something else, usually helps me focus better.

The general consensus from my fellow ADHD / ADD people is that multitasking works for them, too. So, you know, if it works for you, who cares what society says? You have to be true to your ADHD brain, my friends. It’s an awesome tool…you just have to understand what makes it run.

(I’m still trying to understand my own ADHD brain. Just trying to encourage the rest of you guys.)

I’ll leave you with this little bit of humor:

…or is it both? It is for me.

Another ADHD Life Lesson: Irons are Hot – Don’t Palm Them

So, this post has been rather difficult to write…my left hand is excessively wrapped in gauze protecting my most recent injury.

Let’s start at the beginning…the date was November 16. The year? 2011. The cat got out of the bag at work about my t-shirt making hobby. (I use iron-ons…and yeah, I’m a real dork.) One of my coworkers asked me if I could make one for her.

Now, I take t-shirt design very seriously, folks, so making one can be a very time consuming project. Because, yeah, here are some examples.

Thing is, this t-shirt project should have been really easy. My coworker even sent me the graphic she wanted me to use. It can take a lot of energy (because I’m crazy) to get the design situated perfectly on the t-shirt, but usually the hardest part is getting the design perfect. This time, the design came ready-to-go (AND, my coworker gave me the t-shirt she wanted me to use, eliminating a whole ‘nother level of potential drama), so what the heck was my problem?

Honestly? I’m not even sure. A few things: 1. I knew I was running out of ink. 2. I knew some of the ink was expired. 3. I had forgotten which transfer paper worked the best. 4. My printer was SO hidden under piles of crap. 5. I hate imperfection.

Be that as it may…3.5 years to make a t-shirt is pretty ridiculous. Unfinished projects loom over me, killing me a little each day. Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic, but they really do bug the crap out of me.

Anyway, I recently bought brand new ink and printed off another design for a friend. I decided it was time to crap or get off the pot. I mean, I felt guilty every single time I saw this coworker, like I had somehow failed her. So, I printed off the design (after resending it to myself because I couldn’t find it anywhere).

That was weeks (or at least days) ago. This Saturday I decided it was time. I had the house to myself, so I set up shop. I followed the directions on the iron-on package explicitly. I put a pillowcase down on the counter, taped it in place, ironed it and proceeded to position the t-shirt.

I centered the t-shirt the best I could and then taped that down as well. I started ironing the t-shirt, focusing mainly on the area where I was going to put the design. Then I noticed the sleeves were a little wrinkled, so I focused on them a little bit. I couldn’t quite position myself correctly, to get all the wrinkles out without creating permanent wrinkles in places that should have just been left alone.

And here’s where the climax should be…except that I’m not entirely sure what happened next because I wasn’t paying full attention. I went to put the iron down, to reassess the positioning of the sleeves. It’s not that I was going to put the hot part of the iron down on the counter…because I wasn’t. Regardless, I put the hot part of the iron down on my hand.

Took about 20 seconds before I realized I was in excruciating pain. My entire index finger (the one side of it, anyway) was busy getting branded. I immediately ran it under cold water and then put Neosporin on it. It was throbbing in pain, so I put an ice pack on it. It wasn’t until I started taking pictures for this post that I realized my middle finger was wounded as well…

But you know, Another ADHD Life Lesson learned: Irons are hot – don’t palm them.

…well, duh.

Go Ahead and Laugh at Yourself (and Your Friends with ADHD)

10 Things Only People With Attention Problems Understand: ADHD video shout out thanks to BuzzFeed

This video made me laugh, so I thought I’d share it here. I like how it addresses ADHD problems in a humorous way. And they cover a lot (10) of the problems in just two minutes. (Smart on their part to keep it short.)

They cover impulsiveness, forgetfulness, restlessness, difficulty studying, medication (adderall) issues and more.

My favorite, though, is number 10: When your friends say, “Sometimes I think, like, I have ADHD…because I don’t want to do homework.”

While everybody can relate to some of the symptoms of ADHD, to some degree, it’s really not the same as not wanting to do your homework…or losing your phone one time…or struggling to sit at your desk for 8 hours.” Someone who legitimately has ADHD suffers these symptoms way more frequently and way more intensely than the normal person. The symptoms are so intense for someone with ADHD that they seriously impede the ability to function on a daily basis.

It’s not something that can really be explained. Either you get it…or you don’t. This video made me laugh at my own ADHD self and made me feel like I was part of an inside joke that only a select group of super awesome people can truly understand.

Insomnia and My Groundhog Day Scenario

Megan’s Easy Go To Sleep List 1990: 1. 20 names beginning with a letter in the ABC. 2. Count backwards starting at 100. 3. Listen to tape. 4. Think about the next day. 5. Try.

It’s almost 1:00AM on Sunday night/Monday morning and I work at 8:00AM…and, like most nights, sleep isn’t coming easily. I stumbled across this gem just a few days ago and, with the whole Groundhog Day post, I thought I’d take this opportunity to make an example out of my struggle with insomnia. A lot of people with ADHD face sleep issues at some point, so I thought maybe you guys could relate. Either way, you can at least laugh with me.

Backstory? I’m pretty sure I was born with insomnia. When I was a baby, there was a saying about me, “You wake her, you take her,” because I never slept. My mom would put me down for a 20 minute nap and come back to crooked pictures on the wall, a ripped up diaper and me wide awake, staring back at her. I was apparently born with ADHD, too.

The issue has persisted, despite my million attempts to fix it. I have tried just about everything and I will continue to try. That’s not to say that there aren’t days…er…nights when I just say screw it…because there are.

But the point of this post is to show you how much my 11 year old self suffered with the same sleepless nights that I do now. While I can definitely laugh at it, I feel a little sad about it, too. I think the biggest thing that gets me is the final item on the list, “Try,” and how enthusiastically I underlined it. Even then, I felt responsible for my insomnia, like I should’ve been able to will myself to sleep or something. I know I was beating myself up over it…and that makes me a little sad.

Guess I’ll put my computer away now, so I can give this sleep thing a solid effort…again…ha ha

Every Day is Groundhog Day When You Have ADHD

As I was sitting here trying to figure out what my next blog post should be about, I noticed (thanks to my Facebook feed) that today is Groundhog Day. While Groundhog Day is a national holiday, and one that usually gets a decent amount of news coverage, I immediately thought of Groundhog Day, the Bill Murray movie, instead.

Living with ADHD is seriously just like that movie. This very day is a perfect example. I’m here on the couch binge-watching some random show on TV in the background, trying to make myself decide on a single topic to post about, trying to make myself actually DO IT…and one of my best friends, who is also extremely ADHD, is sitting next to me trying to make herself work on her dissertation. Both of us are pretty paralyzed by the fear of starting and not creating perfection. That fear, in and of itself, is a post for another day (or later today), so I’ll try to stay on topic here. The point is, we have, in so, so many ways, lived this same day so, so many times before.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized the comparison was totally spot on. So spot on, that I knew there was no way I was the first to consider it. It just made too much sense, so I Googled it. Turns out, there were plenty of people writing about how the ADHD life resembles Groundhog Day.

Here’s a sample of what I found:

A man in his late forties posted about his ADHD Groundhog Day and the aching familiarity of associated struggles. Several people commented on that very post, many totally agreeing with, and relating to, the Groundhog Day sentiment.
A mom with ADHD noted the Groundhog Day comparison as a common theme in ADHD blogs and described how her struggles were totally in line with it.
An ADHD coach/doctor talked about how certain symptoms of ADHD always seem to persist, kind of crushing hope, and creating a Groundhog Day feeling.
Another ADHD coach discussed the Groundhog Day effect and provided helpful tips for making positive life changes.
A woman posted about her ADHD and hit the nail on the head when she said, “The job and my life with ADHD are like Groundhog Day. The toxic thinking, that old feeling of being a failure: It’s creeping up.”

Obviously this is a common theme among people (adults and kids alike) with ADHD or people who love people with ADHD or, you know, anybody affected by ADHD in general. As I mentioned in my first post, the world isn’t structured in a way that’s suited for the ADHD brain. If you have ADHD, chances are you’ve spent a good deal of energy trying to, often unsuccessfully, find ways to fit your out-of-the-box self into this pretty rigidly structured world.

You’ve probably told yourself (a million times…and with some pretty strong optimism) things like:

“I won’t be late again.”

“I’ll finish what I’ve started.”

“I won’t forget my keys, my phone, my debit cards, etc.”

“I’ll tackle that one project that I’ve been putting off for so long.”

“I’ll have more patience with other people.”

“I’ll stop being impulsive.”

“I’ll get more sleep, eat better, learn to relax and take better care of myself.”

These are just a few of the things we ADHD-ers tell ourselves on a frequent basis. A diagnosis of ADHD is helpful because it tells us that there really is a reason we’ve been having so much trouble keeping up with the rat race. However, a diagnosis, while helpful, definitely isn’t a cure-all; nothing is. Medication, exercise, therapy, education, etc. can help certain people cope with and manage their ADHD.

Too often, something seems to work at first and you get super hopeful, but then you wake up one day and you’re back at square one. It was one thing to struggle as an undiagnosed child, adolescent, even young adult with ADHD because everybody else around you was struggling to find their own way and grow up, too. As an adult with ADHD, it can be really painful to look around knowing how hard you’ve tried and seeing that you haven’t really gotten that far. The same stupid issues seem to always find their way back to the surface, no matter how much of a roll you seem to be on. It can be really frustrating.

Your past is decorated by a lifetime of failures, not the professional, familial and various personal successes of your peers. There are so many basic life skills that you struggle with, that seem to come so easily for everyone else.

It’s not like you haven’t tried a million different things to try and fix your persistent issues. You’ve tried so much you don’t even know what’s left to try. You’ve spent decades problem solving things that most people never have to think twice about. …oftentimes to no avail.

But you pick yourself up and dust yourself off…because that’s what you’ve always done.

As someone with ADHD, you owe it to yourself to figure out what works for you. Once you figure that out, you can start implementing those tactics that work, so you can get busy being awesome. It will likely be a long road, at least for certain things…and it probably won’t all sort itself out at once. You’ll have to stay in survival mode for a little while longer, meaning you’ll probably have to live through quite a few more Groundhog Days.

The world won’t stop for you to be able to figure out what works for you. It’ll just keep spinning…and you’ll keep spinning with it. You have to keep living the best you can until you can find the solutions that truly fit with your brain. Be proud every time you discover a new solution, even if it seems insignificant.

Solving a small problem will actually clear out a decent amount of real estate in your brain. And with that new real estate, you will be free to focus on whatever you want.

People with ADHD have to keep learning and relearning basic living skills and we usually have to try a lot of different things before we get it right. This doesn’t make us any less than our “normal” peers. To be fair (and unbiased), it doesn’t make us any better than our “normal” peers either. It just makes us different. And there are definitely some things that come easier for us than for them.

Once we conquer the day-to-day living skills, we can embrace those things, that we’re innately good at, and get on with the business of saving lives (or whatever it is that floats your boat). Hang in there. One day you’re gonna wake up and it’ll be a new day…and it’ll be awesome. I mean, seriously, Groundhog Day can’t go on forever, right?

Crap, I feel like I’ve said that before…