Keeping a journal is a wonderful activity for people with ADHD, it allows you to reflect on your life regularly. It becomes more obvious where your challenges lie when you have to put your experiences down on paper. As an adult with ADHD, there can be a huge amount of activity going on in your mind on a daily basis and unless you make some effort to do a mind dump to get rid of it, it will just stay there. When you keep a journal it provides you with an avenue to get the mind clutter out of your head and down on paper. Some of the mind clutter will just be thoughts that you want to write down and let go but others will be valuable insights which will help you to determine how you are progressing and identify challenges that you are facing and need to overcome. You might be surprised three years from now when you look back on today and see how far you have come. This might sound all well and good, but for people with ADHD it can be tough to get started: what do you write about? Should you use a notebook or something fancy like a leather bound journal. No worries, just read on for my 5 favorite tips for keeping a journal.
- Choose something that works best for you. It really doesn’t matter what type of journal you use, they all have their advantages and disadvantages. Just choose something that works for you.My personal preference is to use a notebook. This forces me to step away from my laptop and the traffic that comes with it. Also, I like to write from a stream of consciousness whereby I do not analyze anything that I write. I just keep writing down all the thoughts that come through my mind.
- Use a timer – There will be some days where you will be in the mood to write in journal and there will be other days to you may struggle to produce content. Some people set themselves a word limit to write each day but if you are not in a mood to write a lot, you can become frustrated with your struggle to meet your word limit which defeats the purpose of keeping a journal. Instead, set a timer for a set number of minutes- 5-10 minutes is a good starting point. Start the timer and ju – Writing in a journal can be a powerful activity for adults with ADHD, so you should try to make it an important ritual in your life. I write in my journal in the morning it allows me to clear my head of unprocessed thoughts and I can then focus on the activities of the day with a clearer mind just write down every thing that comes into your head until the timer sounds.
- Make It an Important Ritual – Writing in a journal can be a powerful activity for adults with ADHD, so you should try to make it an important ritual in your life. I write in my journal in the morning it allows me to clear my head of unprocessed thoughts and I can then focus on the activities of the day with a clearer mind.
- Never miss more than one day – Things can come up in your life and it is easy to miss a day here and there. However, if you miss more than one day, you might end up stop writing in your journal all together. To help you remeber the days that you forgot to write in your journal, write the date at the beginning of each day’s journaling. You can then identify the days missed and look back at your calendar or planner and your emails to jog your memory about how the days were spent.
- Value in Writing in a Journal – The value in writing in a journal is being open and honest with yourself. You must not hold back. Writing in your journal allows you the opportunity to open up and acknowledge things that you might not feel comfortable sharing with anyone else. Store your journal somewhere that no nobody else can access it e.g. if it is on a computer, password protect the file; if it is in a notebook; keep the notebook in a locked drawer or cabinet.