I started writing this post two weeks ago, two weeks after I began self-isolating. It was a bad time for my brain because while I knew that I wouldn\u2019t like working from home, I thought I had developed a strong enough set of strategies and techniques for dealing with my ADHD to see me through. It turns out that was an arrogant and wrong assumption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Instead, I had a week of anxiety attacks and brain fog and I had to really scramble to feel healthy and functional again. Happily, I can say that my week 4 has been better, so I\u2019m in a better place to share some ideas and resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is it helpful to have a little refresher about ADHD before we go further? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder is a neurological disorder that affects the Executive Function, or the ability to plan, focus, and execute tasks. While commonly associated with children, it is estimated to occur in 2.5% of the adult population. You can find out more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve noticed something in the intervening two weeks since\nstarting this post; I think the pandemic is making everyone a little ADHD.\nEvery day I hear people talking about difficulty focussing, feeling like their\nbrains are full of static, anxiety about not being productive enough, or time\nseeming to be weirdly distorted. Now I am not in the habit of casually using\nmental health terms, but as we all find ourselves in the soupy mix of anxiety\nand change and stress, everyone\u2019s focus and executive functioning is likely to\nbe a little affected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The good news is that for those of you who don\u2019t normally\nexperience these kinds of issues, you\u2019ll find your balance again before too\nlong. And for those of us who do contend with this in normal life, we need to\nremember that we have the skills and tools that will pull us through little by\nlittle. This is what I\u2019ve found helpful: <\/p>\n\n\n\n What we\u2019re doing at the moment looks a lot like working from home, but what we are actually doing is just staying in our homes under government guidance because of a global pandemic. That\u2019s not quite the same thing. Few of us were able to plan our work to optimise this time; many of our jobs have aspects that can\u2019t easily be done remotely. All of us are dealing with large and small moments of grief, disappointment, and worry in our personal and work lives. What we are doing right now is working as best we can despite everything else, and it\u2019s helpful to keep that in mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the most important\nstrategies for coping with ADHD is building up daily routines. I have a very\nelaborate suite of tasks that I do on normal work days to help my brain\ntransition from \u2018home\u2019 to \u2018work\u2019. Once I get to my desk, I check these things\noff in my very-essential bullet journal, and then I dive into whatever the day\nholds in store for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At first I tried to just import those routines into my new home-work setting, but that really quickly became overwhelming. Instead, I reduced the routine to just the essential things I need to do for my health and wellbeing and made everything else flexible or optional. My current approach is to know what to keep rigid (medication and supplements, bedtime, not drinking on weekdays), know what I need to be flexible about (exercise, meditation) and what needs to temporarily vanish from my life (a few personal projects \u2013 see point 7). Start small, and add slowly.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n