It has taken me 23 years of knowing I have ADHD for me to get a place where I am finally starting to understand how my brain operates. Lately I realised something which is really interesting and apparently fairly common among many neurodiverse individuals, not just ADHDers. The place I am in when it comes to what I should be doing makes a big difference at times. For example, I can’t truly relax unless I’m at the spa (child free!) or I can’t write at home if there are other things to be done.
It’s almost like my brain refuses to do something unless it is forced into it, which can be a right pain at times. I do wish I was the kind of person who could just ‘get on with it’ as they say, but that’s not so how it works when you have ADHD. Instead, I’ve had to work around it by booking a Spa day once every so often (usually once a school term) or taking myself to the local coffee shop to write.
“How we achieve our aim doesn’t matter as long as we achieve it! Too many people think we have to do each thing a certain way, but that’s not ADHD!!”
ADHD Girl
Don’t get me wrong, I have my good days where sometimes I have more mental energy than others and I don’t have to discipline my brain quite as much, but there are few and far between. If the overall aim is to get a job done, then the how we do it doesn’t matter. The point I’m trying to make is we’ve got to find ways of making our brain work for us instead of against us. We can’t spend out lives wishing that our brains functioned in a way they are never going to, but we can appreciate the brain we’ve got, using it to our advantage.
Next time you are struggling to do something, perhaps a change of scenery might make all the difference. Sometimes a person has a happy place, well I have several depending on what it is I need my brain to be doing.
Bloggers Note: Anyway, after a little break I can finally say I’m back and will updating the blog regularly again. I can’t promise it will always be twice a week, I am a novelist as well after all,! However, I am hoping it will be at least once a week, bar any major incidents along with my brain firing on all cylinders (just a few would help). I’ll just have to make sure I make room for it in my happy place ?
