Having ADHD can sometimes mean you are underestimated by others, who can make you feel like you are not good enough, but Alex has offered her tips and words of advice for people with ADHD.
- Eat before you take your medication every day. Once you have taken your medication, you have one hour to eat before you lose your appetite, so even if you just make one egg and one slice of buttered toast, prioritise this. I have tried this technique for years, and I know it is a nightmare, but you must do this.
- Do not take your meds after 10am. If you do, you won’t sleep, so be very careful about taking your medications later.
- Do not expect medication to be a miracle cure, it is not. You have one hour to focus on what you need to get done, because as soon as it kicks in you will start to hyper focus on, and after taking the medication you sometimes focus on other things.
- Watch TV before you go to sleep. On a low volume, this really helps to keep me calm and fall asleep. As long as you hear quiet talking, it can be really relaxing, but I find that listening to music is not helpful at all and my mind starts to try to make pattern recognition when listening to music, so I can’t go to sleep.
- Listen to brown noise. This is the less pitchy version of white noise, similar to an aeroplane sound.
- Use calendar notifications. To help with time management or day to day reminders, I find that alarms are too noisy and make me jump too much, especially when I am in hyper focus.
- Make lists. This gives you a sense of achievement so you can cross them off as you go and helps you to remember to do things.
- Just say no. A lot of my anxiety comes from not being able to say no, and I have found that being able to say no has helped greatly, and it has prevented me from burning out.
- Know you are enough. Imposter syndrome anxiety kicks out for me sometimes, and just know that you are enough and you deserve what you have achieved. How would you talk to your friend when they were questioning themselves? You would tell them they have achieved so much and they have worked hard to achieve what they have.
