Mombie – a bit of everything

Smooth Sunday

Yesterday’s experiment was a success.

At the end of the day I felt both relaxed and accomplished and I didn’t feel like I had pushed myself too hard.

I have no specific plans today so I am going to keep my brain mostly unleashed and allow myself to move from task to task in whatever order makes sense.

I’ve already put some clothes on the line, dusted a few shelves, and did a little reading.

Now I’m going to read a bit more while I drink my tea and then I’ll dust a few more shelves.

I’m really hoping this approach not only helps me relax but also helps me get used to working on a task without the need to ‘get it done before I forget.’

PS – I know that relaxation and housework don’t really go together but housework needs to get done and this approach keeps me from spending my whole day hyper-focused on it.

Yesterday

Trudging along

This week has been a slog.

No specific disasters, just a bunch of small frustrations wearing me down.

I don’t feel like doing anything but doing nothing doesn’t make me feel any better so I have been letting my habits and routines carry me along.

Tonight, I feel especially grateful for my routine of walking the dog.

If she didn’t need to get out for a stroll tonight, I would have just spent the evening sitting around and that wouldn’t have served me well at all.

Thanks, Khalee-pup!

A photo of my medium-sized, short-haired, light-coloured dog standing with her front feet on grass and her back feet on the sidewalk. She is facing towards the right side of the photo. Her neon yellow leash extends from the lower portion of the photo towards the middle left where she is.

Learning to find more fun in the middle of things

It’s always hard to tell if my approach to things come from ADHD or just my personality.

On the one hand, it doesn’t really matter one way or another, I have to approach things the way I approach them at least until I find a different way that I like better.

But, on the other hand, if my approach frustrates me, it would be useful to know whether it is ADHD or just some habit I picked up along the way or some habit I developed as an adaptation to living with ADHD.

Take for example my approach to getting yard work done today.

I know that my reluctance to get started is due to ADHD so I have developed some workarounds for that – setting clearly defined small tasks that I can quickly check off my list. My brain still resists but I have a fair bit of evidence that this does actually work so most of the time I can coax myself to do the thing.

And I know that my reluctance to stop once I get started is an ADHD thing, a kind of task hyper focus that just wants me to get it the end so I can *really* be done not “just” done for today.

But how about my challenges with ongoing or longer term projects like house or yard maintenance?

Today, for example, I am outside cleaning the yard – raking, getting rid of lawn debris, picking up litter than has blown into my yard.

I can see that my fence and my deck need to be painted and that I should clean up a few things and that the shed needs to be excavated (it’s a way bigger job than just cleaning) and the windows need their trim painted and…you get the idea.

Luckily, my medication lets me know that this isn’t a ‘do a weekend of house repair and you’ll be all set’ kind of thing. (Yes, at one point, my brain would try to convince me of that.)

But I am still left with the feeling that I should try to do all of that stuff as soon as possible and THEN I can relax in the yard.

Simultaneously, I’m also thinking that the weather here is so unpredictable that it would be better to spend the nice days relaxing – that other work will get down when it gets done.

BUT!

I know that unless I make a clear plan about when and how to do something my brain will continuously tell me that it is too much work to get done right now, that I had better leave it until the not now.

So, that can really leave me in a tangle.

It’s hard to get started so I have to make the tasks “worth it” for the energy it takes to get going but I have to plan well enough so I don’t wear myself out trying to do everything at once.

I have to ensure that I don’t leave things too long but I also don’t want to miss out on the best days of summer while I trudge though the house and yard work.

So I am trying to find something in between.

I’m trying to figure out how to plan out my tasks over weekdays and weekends – allowing for weather – while including fun and relaxation in those very same days.

I’m trying NOT to get stuck in ‘Do your work before it slips your mind and have your fun after.’

And I’m trying to avoid ‘You’ll be able to REALLY relax if you get everything done.’

I’m trying to learn how to have more fun in the middle of projects without just ignoring the project altogether.

Let’s see how this goes. 😉

Today, I’m telling stories

A photo of a large white building that houses a museum. Trees, grass and flowers are in the foreground.
A photo of Torbay History House – a museum and activity centre for community heritage activities. The white two story building with a roofed, wrap-around porch is in the back of the photo with an expanse of green lawn, flowerbeds, and trees.

I was lucky to be invited to tell stories at Torbay History House today – two 45 minute sets of animal stories for kids.

Since I knew that my audience would be very young, I decided to intersperse my stories with some action songs and it has worked out marvellously – the kids and their grown-ups had a great time. And so did I!

Well, we did in the first set anyway, I’m just heading in for my second set now.

All Thinky…Again!

I have had some really terrific conversations this week about all kinds of great things – storytelling, business, volunteer work, finances. I feel really excited and hopeful about the possibilities on all fronts.

But this is where the tricky part comes in…

My brain wants to do all of it at once.

In fact, if I try to approach it any other way my brain gets really cranky about it and sometimes refuses to do anything at all.

So, I’m all thinky again over here.

What does my brain need in order to feel safe doing just one thing at a time?

What pattern of activity can I create in order to convince my brain that progress is being made?

How can I *see* that progress AND not try doing all of the things at the same time?

So, yeah, like I said: I’m all thinky…again.