Someone requested ADHD life hacks, and this response was my favorite.
“The Next 10 Minutes method is ideal for ADHD brains.
Find something that seems impossible. Set a timer for 10 minutes.
Do the impossible thing for 10 minutes.
If it starts feeling less impossible, set another time for 10 minutes. If it still feels impossible, take a break.
Our brains make an insane amount of dopamine when we’re being productive.
The 10 minute method isn’t about quality. It’s literally about quantity. Be productive doing SOMETHING for 10 minutes. Make dopamine for 10 minutes. You’ll feel better…or your brain is tired and needs to rest. Win win either way.”
This works really well, and you get something out of it pretty fast. A smaller mess. A rush of dopamine for doing something helpful for yourself.
I have ADHD but ALSO depression/GAD/CPTSD/Other Woes. So “do a small act of productivity” advice felt for a long time like it was unattainable because that stuff was STACKING. But once I started trying even when it felt like shit, I realized I was capable of a lot more than I thought.
Because Tumblr is the way it is (full of angels and fools and people who are both, and all of us wounded and yelling about it) I need to do a disclaimer before I go into the rest: It’s sometimes accurate to say “No, I’m REALLY MESSED UP and I CAN’T.”
Certainly that is the case for me quite often. The other day I went to get a soup bowl and accidentally tipped a bunch of clean dishes into a dirty sink. I was devastated. I could not do anything more than get a bowl and when that went wrong I could literally do nothing more, not even to eat. It happens.
So believe me, I know The Impossibles. ALSO if you have any physical limitations like pain or chronic fatigue, that’s different and I can’t speak to that as those difficulties are not ones I share.
But I also want people to know that those of us used to The Struggles do spend more time than we think able to do small things. So we should stop and think, “I am certainly deep in The Miseries right now, but what if I tried to be kind and helpful to future me for a bit?”
“What happens if it sucks and I don’t even go 10 minutes, or it doesn’t work and I don’t feel better?” Well, you can still be proud of yourself. An act of kindness towards yourself counts as much as being kind to someone else (please, darling, trust me that it does).
And if it goes well, how WONDERFUL that you feel better. Or at least did something.
ALSO THIS APPLIES TO PLAY.
You NEED to play. And you deserve to, no matter how behind you are on other things.
Everything sucks and is boring? Oh god yes it is. I get it. But can you gently and guiltlessly play for 10 minutes? Can you watch some fun videos of art being made or baby horses learning to run or people testing crossbows? Can you sketch something for 10 minutes? Give some dolls a wardrobe change? Rearrange a shelf? Just engage for a little while in something you enjoy when you feel well, or do something to make your environment prettier. Open some curtains and look at some favorite objects
I mention play to emphasize that it is a positive motion towards feeling better, when you are Submerged In The Deeps lifting yourself IS productive, and can help even when you do not think it will at first.
When we are discussing alleviating suffering, I don’t give a fuck about people getting back on their feet so they can do labor, which is how a lot of dialogue about recovery is oriented. I don’t give a single shit! I give a fuck about people not suffering. I give a fuck about people having HOPE and being LESS MISERABLE and sometimes that means trying to restore PLAY by force of will, even if it doesn’t work that time. It’s okay to reach for recovering your joy first.
ANYTHING you can do to make yourself feel marginally less shitty is worth trying for 10 minutes.
Yes. Yes, thank you. Yes.
(via 23-tiny-wishes)
