Catching Up

July 8, 2021

Do you feel like you need a day to catch your breath? In addition to the start of summer, everything in Washington State has been reopened as of June 30^th. This leads to a lot of yang energy. Lots of movement, activity, and socializing. Even though Seattle didn’t have it’s own fireworks show, there was a lot of explosive energy in the air. If you’re feeling like you need to take some time to catch your breath, you’re not alone! And if you have ADHD, you are more likely to get easily overwhelmed with all this activity. In this post, I’ll give you some tips and inspiration for helping to reset your system so that you can feel more in balance.

Review your goals. The Summer Solstice (which was June 20^th, 2021) is a great mid-point between the last Winter Solstice and the next one. This is the energy year, and very powerful times for setting intentions and goals for the year. If you haven’t reviewed your Winter Solstice goals, do that now. Did you want to finish a big creative project, but you need to organize the garage first? Check to see that you’re on track with what you’ve said you wanted to do this year. How do you want to shift your goals so that you can feel successful in these next 6 months?
Let go of something off your to-do list. Is your to-do list a mile long? What can you let fall off? Get honest with yourself, and delete something that you know is just not that important to you right now. It can be hard to know if something is taking you closer to your goals or holding you back. Lots of to-dos can be easily justifiable. Connect with your heart and use your intuition to know what you’re ready to let drop away.
Let go of an expectation on others. When you release your expectations for someone else to fulfil something you know they don’t want to do, it can help give you permission to release your own overly-high expectations. People with ADHD are notoriously hard on themselves. There can be an unending feeling of never doing enough. When you let others know they’ve done enough (either verbally or passively), you may be able to give yourself a little slack as well.
Give yourself a little kick in the pants. This sounds contrary to #2 and #3, but it’s all about resetting your focus. Where are you slacking where you really want to be in action? After you’ve weeded out the things that are not as important to you right now, you’ll be find the energy to get the s#it done that is most meaningful to you.
Say no. Where are you overextending yourself in your schedule? Have you been over-committing in one area and under-committing in another? Are you giving all your energy to others and not having enough inner resources to keep the house clean, eat right, sleep, exercise, to spend time with your loved ones, and to do your own creative hobbies? When things are fun, or you’re a natural people-pleaser, it can be easy to take on too much. Take a good look at your schedule to see where you can dial back commitments so that you can accomplish your own goals.
Schedule a day to catch up. Sometimes the normal ebbs and flows of life lend themselves to giving you time to catch up at regular intervals. If you feel like the flow of life hasn’t been easing up on you lately, schedule a day (or multiple days) to catch up on things you have been meaning to do for months. Block this time off on your calendar and make a commitment that you’re not going to let anything else get in the way of using that time to catch up on your tasks. Be very clear on what those tasks are. Write them down on a piece of paper or on a digital note so you know exactly what to work on when the time comes. Be specific.
Give yourself a pat on the back. Acknowledge all that you’ve accomplished this year. If you constantly feel like you’re behind or not doing enough, you may never take the time to celebrate all of your wins! Being productive is a delicate balance of asking yourself to take action and praising yourself when you do. The most productive people in the world know how to regulate this balance- when to press on the gas and when to ease up and let the momentum of the forward movement roll so that they can restore their energy. If you’re constantly feeling like you need to press the gas and you’re beating yourself up for not moving fast enough, that’s when inner rebellion will take over and no truly forward progress will be made.