Let's Talk About ADHD and Overwhelm. I'm Behind In So Many Things!

One of the few constants in my life has been OVERWHELM! It's a fine line between having lots on the go and having far more too much to ever possibly finish. Or even start.

There's a tipping point, and with ADHD, it's so easy to go from being "Happy and Busy," to feeling "Despondent, Frustrated, and Exhausted."

I've come to see that what allows me to slip into despair has to do with prioritizing, being unrealistic about time, and saying yes to everything. It's about managing my time. Or rather, where I am spending my time. AND noticing and managing my energy.

Here's the biggest surprise: Having far less on my To-Do list means I get far more finished. It's counter-intuitive, and it works.

Best,

Rick

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Transcript
Hi I'm Rick Green. Let's talk about overwhelm. Ugh. You've felt it everyone
has, whether you have ADHD or not, but talk with some ADHD specialists and it's
clear we are more prone to feeling swamped, drained, even drowning in our
thoughts and stuff, in commitments. There's a reason those of us with ADHD
can become overwhelmed it's called ADHD. You may have heard the term executive
function disorders, may not. Basically executive functions are like what
executives and managers would do at a large company. If you think of your brain
as a large company, so the executives do the planning and the organizing,
prioritizing, supply management, setting goals, monitoring progress, costs, finance.
Just making sure everything runs smoothly. They don't actually do the work
but they make sure it's all organized. Executive function is probably a better
description than an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at least for me
because sometimes I have lots of focus and attention. Even way too much and I'm
focused on the wrong things and sometimes I can be a bit hyperactive and
other days feeling flat and half-asleep and listless, and when I'm listless I
can't even make a list. So this isn't just a problem with attention
distractions daydreaming or fidgeting but it can be. It can also be a problem
managing thoughts actions where your body is in space your propio setec
system it's called. Then there's the internal distractions... like that year
when I was a ballerina... and external distractions. Managing the thousands of
messages that are pouring into your brain every second through your eyes and
your ears what you see and hear and also what you taste what you smell what you
touch. That's why those tags on clothing can feel like a porcupine stabbing your
neck, or noisy places, loud restaurants bright lights. Executive function is
about sorting through all of the signals separating what's crucial from the
background chatter. Right now you should be focused on what
your child is saying but instead you're thinking about cheese.
Prioritizing deciding what's more important. That script that's due today
or playing around on my model railroad. and if executive functions are not a big
strength of yours it can lead to chaos and chaos becomes overwhelming, but with
ADHD we get busy we like busy our brains like busy they love busy our brains are
wired to go looking for trouble for drama
danger excitement or opportunities. Always on the alert or on the alert
until we run out of gas and we hit the wall and we sink into a torpor which we
do more often than other people and suddenly burnout overwhelm nap time!
The rabbit not the tortoise, slow and steady wins the race?
Yeah that's okay I'll try another race, and once you've hit that wall and you've
collapsed in a heap snoring away or playing Sudoku instead of finishing the
big assignment. What do you do? well at some point you just keep playing Sudoku.
OR take a short nap 10 to 30 minutes or get some food another thing I learned
about overwhelm was from taking courses with coach Linda Walker noticing my
energy levels throughout the day. A lot of us are up in the morning but flat by
mid afternoon and then we get a kind of a second wind in the evening which is
why when I was doing a lot of live theater I noticed that by 5:00 p.m.
most days I thought I was coming down with the flu, I didn't think I could go
on and then by 8:00 curtain time I was alive alert ready to walk out on stage.
I think my body knew what was coming and just took the time to knock me flat and
store up some energy. There are other ways to avoid overwhelm which is
probably better than getting into overwhelm and trying to dig your way out.
Drink water, have snacks, take breaks, in fact my Fitbit.

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