adhd-asd

[adhd-asd]

“You can do anything.”

     I’ve never liked this phrase. For me, it always felt dismissive of my struggles at best, and like it was my fault I just wasn’t trying hard enough anytime I struggled or failed at worst. Recently, I’ve tried framing it a bit differently, in an effort to keep the spirit of encouragement while eliminating the pressure to just power through everything without acknowledging my own needs and limitations. 

“You can achieve anything.”

     I feel like this small change gives me a license to find a process that works for me while striving to arrive at the desired end goal. Now I focus on the results I’m looking to achieve and have the freedom to make whatever changes I want to the path that gets me there. I can assess a task as it’s presented to me and say “no, I can’t do that, but I might be able to find another way to achieve a similar outcome.”

     It may seem pedantic, but I (and many others on the spectrum) tend to take things extremely literally, and the precise language used can have a major impact on our thinking, even if we aren’t aware of it ourselves. I’ve noticed this small change has provided a big shift in how I think about things, and if anyone else has felt similarly about “you can do anything”, I hope this might be helpful for you, too.

#adhd #asd #tips #reblogging for myself since I've needed this reminder lately

[adhd-asd]

this is your gentle reminder to stop fighting against your adhd and instead structure your life around it

buy a pack of chapsticks and put one in the pocket of all of your coats and jackets because you always forget to bring one and chapped lips is sensory hell

leave important things where you can see them. if they go in a box or a drawer you will forget they exist

put any appointments or deadlines in your phone calendar As Soon As you get them. set a reminder for a week before, a day before, an hour before, as many as you need as often as you need them.

when that little voice in your head says "i dont need to write that down, ill remember it" that is the devil talking!!! write it down anyway!!

plan for down time. have a few hours at the end of every day to just do fun stuff like engage in your hyperfixations. even if you didnt get all of your work done that day, have the rest anyway. you probably spent the whole day beating yourself up for not doing what you Should be doing, so you still need the break.

if you never eat vegetables because its too much effort to chop and cook them, get the frozen or canned shit. it doesnt go off for ages and you just have to microwave it. theres no point buying fresh vegetables if they just keep going off and being left to rot in the bottom of your fridge

if you struggle to decide what to have for dinner every day, take the decision out of it. choose a set of meals and eat those on rotation until you get sick of them, then choose some new ones and do it again.

its not stupid if it works! our brains literally have a chemical deficiency. you are allowed to accommodate yourself. go forth and stop making your life more difficult than it has to be because "this shouldn't be this hard". it is hard, so make it easier.

#adhd #tips

[adhd-asd]

#adhd #memes

[adhd-asd]

“I’ll remember” is the ADHD demon talking. You won’t remember. Write it down.

#adhd #tips #resources

[adhd-asd]

Shoutout to this video for being extremely relatable and succinctly describing several experiences I've struggled to put into words as someone with a dual diagnosis - perhaps some of you will find it helpful as well!

#adhd #actually adhd #asd #actually autistic #resources #video #Youtube #comorbidity

[adhd-asd]

my new lifehack to help me focus is listening to the Beep Block Skyway music (With Beeps) from Super Mario 3D World on a 1 hour loop

#brady original #I don't know why it works but it does #I listen to the beeps and I get stuff done

[adhd-asd]

achievements come in countless forms… getting your first job is one but so is making your bed. getting a degree is one but so is eating two meals in a day. making the first payment on your first car is one but so is finishing the math homework you’ve been dreading.

#reminder #celebrate EVERY accomplishment #no matter how small you think it might look to someone else

[adhd-asd]

.... i have never felt so seen

#adhd #anxiety #Resources

[adhd-asd]

so I finally (finally) got around to going through all of my old posts and removing the alternating colour paragraphs

originally I had gone back and forth between black and dark purple text to add just enough variance to make the paragraphs easier to distinguish from each other and help guide the eye while reading

but then Tumblr added dark mode and the purple text was basically impossible to read against the darker background, and suddenly my accessibility feature instead rendered my posts inaccessible

so that’s done now! I also took the opportunity to space out the paragraphs differently to hopefully not lose the ease of legibility that the colours originally imparted

hopefully if anyone goes back through my old asks and stuff now it won’t be a Completely Terrible Experience :D

#sucks that the original versions of the posts that were reblogged are still Like That but at least now there's a better version available

[adhd-asd]

ADHD/ASD and Manipulating the Finish Line

     Doing stuff sucks. Whether it’s because of sensory issues or executive dysfunction, even the most basic tasks can sometimes feel daunting and insurmountable. The following are a few tips that I’ve found make it a little easier for me to reach the finish line, and I’m hoping they’ll be able to help a few of you out, as well.

“I need to have a shower. Why can’t I just do this? It’s so simple.”

     This was the thought going through my head this morning. I have since had my shower, but it was not this sentence that finally got me to do it. I’m going to break down how I altered this thought to be more manageable.

Keep reading

#brady original #self reblog #except it's a new version because I removed the purple text since dark mode was conflicting with it #adhd #asd #tips

[adhd-asd]

"I Don't Have a Routine"

For those who are seeking diagnosis, think they might be autistic or are already diagnosed/self-diagnosed but just confused

Routines/rituals aren't just getting up at the same time every day.

What can routines look like for an autistic (just general examples, not an exhaustive list):

Getting dressed in the same order. A change of this feels very upsetting.

Eating your food in a particular way. This may be eating each food individually, combining food in certain ways, not letting foods touch etc .

Getting ready for the day in a very particular way, specifically the order and time given to each activity. Being forced to rush or skip an activity is very upsetting.

Only going to certain shops, even if they are out of your way, because you've been there before. The same shop in a different suburb is too distressing.

Driving the same route to places. Suggested short cuts, or lane changing without mental preparation etc is very distressing. You would rather stay in the slow lane you 100% know takes you home than go down a new street.

Showering/bathing in the same order.

Stacking dishes or cleaning in a very specific order such as sink first, then counters, then stove etc. This order feels important but you cannot state why.

Work plans or school plans are day specific. You struggle to do banking on a Thursday, because that's a Friday activity, even though Thursday is just fine. But it's a Friday activity...so can't do it today.

To outsiders these routines/rituals seem to have no purpose but they are sacrosanct to the autistic individual. Changes must be given time, with lots of notifications and check-ups to ensure we're accepting the changes.

#asd #routine

[adhd-asd]

CBC made a good documentary on adult ADHD and part of it really caught me off guard because i swear they repeated verbatim my life story for the past 3 years

full programme here:

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes/adhd-not-just-for-kids

#adhd #Resources #it's also on YouTube under the name 'ADHD: Not Just For Kids - The Nature of Things'

[adhd-asd]

I think we need to rework the whole “needing routine as an autistic person” thing because for the majority of allistic people, “routine” looks something like:

-wake up at 6am

-shower at 6:15am

-eat breakfast at 6:30am

-do important outings at 7am

-come home at 3pm

and so on..

And that is nothing like what I and many other autistic people experience (though it is what some experience).

Routine can be more accurately described as needing to do things in order to feel comfortable.

For example, I have no set time I wake up, I have no set time I do anything. But when I do wake up, I need to do my morning tasks in a specific order or I’ll struggle to function.

I get out of bed, turn on my lamp, switch my computer on, go to the bathroom, make my bed, get dressed, and sit down at my desk. That’s what a routine looks like to me.

If I’m cooking, I need to do things in a certain order or the food will be “wrong” (this could possibly be down to ARFID, but that is also comorbid with autism.)

There are other things like this. I guess you could call them mini routines. They aren’t a typical routine you’d see in a neurotypical or even someone who’s allistic.

For the longest time, I thought this was a symptom of autism I did not have at all but I do.

Just because a symptom doesn’t present in a neurotypical way, doesn’t mean it’s not there.

#asd #routine #this this this

[adhd-asd]

What are some tricks for getting executive dysfunction to bugger off long enough to do the thing?

     Here are some ideas I’ve either found work for me or I’ve been told work for other people. Hopefully you’ll find some of them effective or, if not, maybe they’ll inspire you to come up with some brand new strategies of your own.

Declare your intent aloud. Announce to yourself (and other people, if they’re around) that you’re going to do the thing you need to do. Eg: “I will clean the sink.” “I am going to have a shower.”

Talk yourself through the task. Narrating the steps of my current task as I do them helps me to concentrate and follow through. Eg: “I am gathering the empty cups from the table and putting them in the sink.” Sometimes I can then even start narrating things I am not doing and I’ll automatically follow through because it’s become a habit in the moment. If a task involves reading, try reading it aloud.

Steal the energy from elsewhere. Engage with something that makes you feel good first, then ride that high to do the thing that doesn’t. If the task involves doing something physical, put on some energetic music that makes you want to dance and then channel that dance energy into task energy.

Hype yourself up. Channel your inner feel-good sports movie coach and start telling yourself how awesome you are, how you’re gonna kick this task’s butt and this task doesn’t stand a chance. Repeat random over-the-top motivational phrases until the motivation has no choice but to appear, like summoning an eldritch being by annoying them until they acknowledge you.

Break the task into steps. Very often I’ll have trouble tackling tasks, even simple ones, just because I don’t know where to start and the whole thing feels bigger than it is. In this case I find it helps to determine the steps that a task involves and do them one at a time, treating each one as its own job. Eg: Instead of “I will write an essay” try “I will write an introductory paragraph” or even just “I will write an introductory sentence”.

Write the steps down. Goodness knows I can’t follow verbal instructions for the life of me unless they’re given one step at a time. Rather than trying to keep the steps straight in your head, write them down and keep referring back to that list when you get sidetracked, lost, or stuck.

Do the task out of order. If the task allows it, try doing whatever part is most appealing first to ease yourself into the workflow.

Make the workload smaller. If jobs like doing dishes or laundry seem like too much work, consider if you can get rid of some of the clothes or dishes to cut down on how much work there is in the first place. If you’ve committed to too large a project, see if you can simplify it or distribute the work involved among a group.

Narrow your focus. Rather than tackling an entire task at once, try breaking it into easier-to-manage chunks. If you need to do laundry or dishes, specify that you’re only going to wash shirts or plates. If reading an entire book is intimidating, assign yourself a certain number of pages at a time. If reading an entire page of text is intimidating, try covering the page with a loose piece of paper and slowly revealing lines as you read.

Do it in five minute increments. Set a timer for five minutes and do the task for the duration. If you feel like you could do a little more, keep at it. If you’re still struggling, give yourself a break (you can also time your break if you find that helps) and try again later.

Use a buddy. See if there’s someone who’s willing to have a call going or who will come sit by you or even just check in every once in a while to keep you accountable. ADHDers are notorious for lacking internal motivation, so employing someone else to externalize it can make a big difference.

Be kind to yourself. Sometimes, no matter what you do, your brain just doesn’t want to cooperate. If you feel yourself getting frustrated, remember that it’s not your fault. Take a step back, have a snack or drink of water, give yourself some time to decompress, and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Taking care of yourself will help you to actually be in good enough condition to do the job.

     I’ve also talked more in-depth about how I personally tackle doing tasks despite executive dysfunction here, and I have an ADHD Writing Advice post here that has some tips that may be applicable to tasks other than writing.

     To others who struggle with executive dysfunction, what are some strategies you’ve discovered work for you?

#reblogging this for myself because I need it today oof

[adhd-asd]

there is no old self to get back to there’s a new u to create n nurture

#reminder

[adhd-asd]

#reminder

[adhd-asd]

Reminders for the Anxious/Depressed Creatives

You’re more than what you make.

Your productivity does not determine your value.

It’s okay to do nothing sometimes.

Not everything you do has to result in a product.

Not everything you make has to be important, significant, or even good.

You can make things just for yourself.

You can keep secrets for yourself, whether it’s not posting some of your projects or not sharing your techniques.

You’re allowed to say no.

You’re allowed to rest.

#idk what to tag this but it seemed relevant + relatable so......yeah