When I talk about juggling and ADHD, I don’t mean juggling with fire - although sometimes it feels that way.
Juggling - when it comes to ADHD - means trying to keep all of the areas of your life together at once.
You know how that feels.
You’ve got a job, a home and family to take care of, your own needs and maybe more. Putting attention in one area seems to take away from the others. You’re left putting out fires and unintentionally neglecting some areas of your life.
I’m sure that everyone has problems juggling their busy lives at times, but for those of us with ADHD, it’s harder.
When you add up all of the things that demand your attention in a day, it comes to more hours than you have to give.
Once again, putting out fires and rushing from one thing to the next seems to be the only solution there is.
Living your life that way, though, is not only no way to live, it’s stressful and not very effective.
As someone in the midst of my own juggling act, let me share my insights with you:
You can’t do it all. Or as I tell my girls - you can’t save the world.
Pick your battles and your priorities. You and your family come first. Notice I said “you”, not just your family. If for job is important to you or your family, that’s next. After that, look at what’s left and decide what you can pay attention to, what can be dropped and what can be delegated.
Learn to say the word “no”.
Schedule time to take care of the things that are important to you. That doesn’t mean giving your 8 year old an appointment card for next Tuesday at 3:00. It means that you’re not distracted or busy with other things to give them the attention they deserve.
Make sure you give yourself the things that you need in order to be healthy and function well. Enough sleep, a good diet, plenty of water, some exercise, and maybe some chocolate. You know what you need. Make sure you get it.
Anytime you feel like you’re juggling too much, it affects your ADHD symptoms in a bad way. You get less done and make more mistakes.
Stop juggling and start living.