Feeling overwhelmed?
If so, you're not alone. In my many years of coaching adults with ADHD, I've come to believe that chronic overwhelm is the hallmark of adult ADHD. It doesn't matter if you're hyperactive or inattentive, and it doesn't matter if you're medicated or not. We all suffer from overwhelm from time to time, and many of us deal with it on a daily basis.
If you'll pardon my frankness, chronic overwhelm sucks! You wake up every day feeling like you're behind on life. So you spend all day trying to "catch up" as new to-do's, pressure, and guilt build up. Sometimes, you spend all day thinking about catching up, but feel paralyzed by the overwhelm and don't do much at all. Then you go to bed feeling even more behind than you were when you woke up.
What's worse is that this period of overwhelm is almost always followed by a period of burnout. You become so mentally exhausted that you might not want to get out of bed. You have a hard time getting off the couch, or off the computer, and you might have a hard time getting out of your head. You constantly think about everything you need or want to do, but you can't seem to get started.
When you finally do feel better, the overwhelm kicks in again. It's a vicious cycle! And it won't end until you do something differently.
Stress Management = ADHD Management
Here's the good news: The key to overcoming chronic overwhelm is actually easier than you might think. It's all about managing your stress. Stress Management = ADHD Management. Remember that!
If you pay attention, you'll find that the more stressed out you are, the more ADHD challenges you experience. And the more calm and centered you feel, the easier it is to manage your ADHD. And in that calm and centered state, you're in the perfect position to learn and build other ADHD management skills, like organization, time management, and improved focus. Stress management is actually the foundation for all the other ADHD management skills.
How To Effectively Manage Your Stress
In order to effectively manage your stress, you have to learn how to do 2 things:
1. Slow Down
2. Make Self-care a Priority
Slowing down is all about relaxing. This is something that many adults with ADHD don't think they deserve! But it's essential to learn how to slow down your body and your mind so you can achieve that calm and centered state. From there, you can gain control of your thoughts, and your tasks. I recommend that all clients give themselves permission to relax and recharge at last 30 minutes each day. And if that’s difficult, start with just 5 minutes a day and build up.
Making self-care a priority is all about ensuring that your body and mind are operating as efficiently as possible. You need to get enough sleep and exercise, and you need to eat nutritious foods, in order to be your best. The better your body and mind are working, the easier it becomes to manage your stress. I recommend that my clients pick one area of self-care to work on improving, like better sleep hygiene. Often times, improvements in one area of self-care will have a domino effect of improvement in the other areas.
These changes don’t come about overnight. It takes time to implement them in your life.But small steps yield big results. Just remember, stress management = ADHD management!
How do you manage your stress? How does stress affect your ADHD? Share your experiences in the comments.
About Jennifer Koretsky
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