As a women with ADHD, you probably deal with feeling overwhelmed a lot, and you often feel that you have no control over your mind nor your life in general. You want to accomplish so many things, but at the end of the day, you feel like you have achieved nothing? I totally feel you. That is why I came up with ways to beat your overwhelm, so you can be productive and achieve your tasks without the overwhelm.
Decide not to stay in the overwhelm– The first step to stop feeling overwhelmed as Natalie Bacon puts it: Overwhelm is a negative emotion that is not useful. The best thing that you can do once you start feeling overwhelmed is to consciously decide to do something against it, because else, you may even go deeper into it, and as we’re established, that’s not useful at all which means
-Stop pitying yourself
-Decide to take responsibility for yourself
-Take action!
Choose Your Own Thoughts– Know that you choose the way you think and feel. You are the leader of your own mind because you are the only one there, meaning you are the one who decides the way you feel by choosing your own thoughts. It is important to know that you always have the power of choice!
This now may sound too easy to you, but believe me, I am the first one to agree that it’s not. It requires a lot of practice, and I personally must say it took me a long time to gain control over my own thoughts
If you don’t know what to do, here is a simple exercise to get you started:
Ask yourself these questions:
-What am I thinking?
-What thoughts cause my overwhelm?
-Why do I choose to think those thoughts?
And here are some example decisions to take:
-I can do this
-I am in control
-There is no rush or danger
-I choose thoughts that benefit me
Focus on one thing at a time
What are your priorities. Look at your different tasks and define which ones are most important. Then, plan and schedule the different tasks in accordance with your priorities. Then start with ONE thing, focus on it without distraction. No multitasking. Just go all in on that one task. I know from personal experience -as I used to be a total multi-tasker myself- that whenever I manage to focus on only one thing at a time, I get a lot more done in one day
Break Down Tasks- Be clear that each of your tasks should be broken down into smaller steps. For each task/project there are going to be smaller steps you will need to reach before you can get there. You are going to use those small steps to get you closer to your main goal. Write your steps fanned out below your main task. For example, my main goal is to write my book. My task is to only be working on 1-2 chapters at a time.
Pause & Breathe– Whenever you feel overwhelmed, your mind and body are in constant excitation, jumping from one action to the next, one thought to the next, never pausing. You aren’t truly present within your body, neither aware of your mind. You have no real focus, no center, no balance…Here is an incredibly simple way to deal with that: pause and take some deep breaths. Feel the air streaming in and out of your lungs, giving your body the essential oxygen. Voilà, you’ve gained new energy and you feel centered again.
Not Enough Time To Get Everything – You have more time than you think you have. In the end, you’re the one creating your stress and overwhelm. Take a look at why you are stressing: Do you think you don’t have enough time to get it all done, life is a huge chaos, and you have no control? You set your expectations and deadlines. Decide that there’s enough time and no real deadline to miss. If there are deadlines from the outside, speaking of deadlines; you are free to choose whether you let them decide over your well-being or not. If you trust enough and work with a calm attitude, you can meet them
Do an ADHD brain dump- I did it just yesterday morning to fight my own overwhelm? A brain dumps. I sat down and just wrote everything from inside my mind down. I then suddenly understood better what actually was going on in my mind, which helped me analyze and organize it. Read more on how to do a brain dump in this great post https://tinyurl.com/z6skbb38
Take a break- You aren’t a machine, and you can’t pour from an empty cup. Breaks are at least as vital as work; you simply can’t do one without the other. When you feel overwhelmed and just can’t focus at all, take a break. And use your break to either do some self-care, like taking a pause and a breather. For other great self-care strategies click the link and check out my e-book on self-care for women with ADHD. https://tinyurl.com/5ccw5939