#ADHD solutions

[knotty-et-al]

Two weeks to-do-list hanger

[too lazy to write description rn, communicating is exhausting atm, but i want to share nevertheless]

[nimthirielrinon]

So! ADHD idea. I was struggling to put away soda cans that built up all over my desk over the course of a week (not a massive number but they take up a LOT of space). I have a can crusher in the kitchen because crushing cans with my leg is some kind of sensory hell for me, but taking cans up to the kitchen to crush them while I'm at work is a pain, and then I found that once there were too many to carry I didn't want to carry them in multiple trips...

So I acknowledged my ADHD issue and bought a second can crusher off Ebay for like, $AUD16 (US12-ish?) and attached it to the bookshelf next to my desk. I use a metal clothes peg to attach this paper bag from Woolies to the base of it, so when I finish a drink I just crush it, drop it in the bag, and done! Once the bag is full enough to be annoying, I just take the whole lot into the recycling bins outside. The second peg with the little sign on it, also made from a paper shopping bag, is there as a friendly reminder to myself not to mix it up with my rubbish bin that's under my desk.

My ADHD is much happier now, and my desk is free to be... cluttered up by other things :/ (one problem at a time, one at a time...)

[older-and-far-away]

My most ADHD moment of the week so far has been:

Last week I made some pinko tofu and I finished it four or five days ago, but.

I like to do the dishes as soon as I'm done with them because I get overwhelmed by a big sink full of dishes and then just won't do them, so.

When I finished the tofu I just wasn't feeling in a place to deal with cleaning out the crumbs and washing the Tupperware so I made the decision to stick it back in the fridge and deal with it later.

Today while waiting for a cup of coffee to be ready, I decided to wash the few dishes in the sink. I also remembered that I had a Tupperware container I needed to wash in the fridge so I took it out and dumped it and cleaned it and it worked absolutely fine but now I can't find my coffee cup.

[nervousloveheart]

Me *starts working out to keep my adhd in check*

My muscles almost immediately:

[bestieboots]

Sometimes the easier of two options is the one that takes 2 hours longer because otherwise I will not take off my coat and I hate overheating.

Or... The shorter thing is more stressful because my brain doesn't want to do it and the whole 10 minute affair will actually feel much much longer than the two hour one.

And meanwhile people are like "you were just getting a glass of water". Yes, but did you see the spreadsheet I made of all the possible paths to get that glass of water and time/joy projections over a three year period? If I pass by the cat tree on a Thursday, there's a thirty percent chance of pets..." And there all "you forgot the glass of water, didn't you."

[plantpirating]

When I must communicate with my siblings' spouses since they never respond to my messages.

Me, spouseless, never being forced to return messages.

[vodid]

zero's pressure

[twelfth-dykector]

AuDHD decided to be really funny when it made me really annoying (adhd), absolutely terrified of being perceived as annoying (rsd) and having no idea what people find annoying (autism)

[b4kuch1n]

simulated earth (it does not matter)

transcript

[androdragynous]

universally applicable problem solving guidelines:

are you making up a guy in your head who will be angry at you for doing a thing?

stop doing that. the imaginary person who hates you should not be a determining factor in anything. "making a guy up to be mad at you" is a step below "making a guy up to be mad at" and it's not good for you.

are you denying yourself joy because of some arbitrary goal you are making yourself reach first?

stop doing that. you are allowed to be kind to yourself without needing to earn it, and putting things off for some nebulous "better time" to do them just means you won't ever do them. live a little.

if there is nothing stopping you from doing the thing right now, do it.

there are no workarounds for this you've just gotta do it. even if it sucks. especially if it sucks. sorry.

[writing-with-olive]

ADHD task completing tip

okay so growing up i was usually told "do the hard thing first and then you get to do the fun thing." and generally that's reasonable.... if you've got decent executive function. but for those of us who don't, this is a thing i've been using to get through school/work/general human functioning. It's still using hard thing/fun thing, but it interweaves them WAY more

first step: find something that sparks some dopamine quickly. i usually use short-timer online chess or mobile games. if you pick scrolling social media or something that doesn't have a clear endpoint, make sure you have an easy way to set a timer. On apple phones, there's a timer setting that says "stop playing" instead of playing a sound. I love this because it'll take you to your lock screen so you can't accidentally dismiss the timer and keep going. Do NOT make this movement or taking care of bodily functions; eating/hydrating/going to the bathroom/moving around are things you can and should do when your body tells you. take care of ya self

second step: look at your task and break it up TINY. If you have to write a paper, don't break it up by paragraph. break it up into something like fifty words. Cleaning a room: ten items put away. Close reading: 1 page. Really you want something that if your executive functioning was playing nice you could do in 1-4 minutes. I recommend NOT saying "work for x minutes" however, since that's a really quick way to sit there watching the clock. You wanna tie progress to completion not time spent.

third step: estimate how many levels/games/etc of your dopamine source it takes to last 1-5 minutes. Ideally you will already have a sense of this. I'd advise not "testing it out right now" and procrastinating that way.

fourth step: get to work. every time you complete a tiny task, you can do one unit of the dopamine thing. If you get some momentum, you can stack rewards, so if your tiny task was 50 words for one mobile game level, 150 words straight would be three levels. If you are having a really hard time getting going, you can start with 1-3 units of your dopamine thing to kinda jumpstart the process, just decide how many you're doing first so you don't lose hours to it.

note that this ONLY WORKS if you don't ignore your timer/level cutoff. The idea is to get dopamine levels up and use that to power through the next tiny task.

[gravitasmalfunction]

This is a book rec. Your local library may already have it (mine did). You don't have to have ADHD to find something useful inside; if you struggle with clutter, the author has compassionate, sensible and inexpensive solutions for organising in executive-dysfunction friendly ways.

[copperbadge]

Me taking my ADHD meds: Take the pill then pick up your phone and set the six hour timer to remind you to take the next one.

Me, swallowing: Pick up your phone and set the six hour timer to remind you to take the next one.

Me, picking up my phone: Six hour ti.....me to check my to do list? Check my email? I need to text that person back. Oh I gotta send that picture I took to -- SIX HOUR TIMER.

Me, setting the two hour "bread rising" timer instead: Wait....

[imgae-insertshockedgasps-16]

hey guys

if you don't like toothpaste

brush your teeth without it

sincerely,

someone who can only stand to use One Specific Toothpaste and can't always find it in stores and so just Didn't Brush until someone told me that toothpaste is 75% marketing and brushing w/o toothpaste is enough for most people (not me bc i inherited Mouth BS but i digress) and is way better than not brushing at all