I just watched a How to ADHD video whose basic message was, “Design your life for the version of yourself who is NOT on her game.”
Brilliant. Completely obvious – though I managed to miss it entirely – but brilliant.
I’m an introspective being. Even so, my first impulse (and several subsequent impulses) is to run straight past those brilliant, should-be-obvious points.
Intelligent and practical: “Sometimes, I will not be my best self. I will be tired and forgetful, stressed and unmotivated. Let’s set things up for those times.”
What actually happens: “Being capable and able to think is GREAT! I like myself when I’m like that! Let’s just blithely assume I’ll be like that ALL THE TIME.” [proceeds to do everything the hard way & tear herself into pieces trying.]
And, ADHD/ND folks: Why do we ALL seem to do this?
I call this tendency “Pretending Really Hard as a Strategy”. It’s natural and deeply engrained, and absolutely does not & never has worked. That somehow does not stop me from pursuing this same strategy, over and over again for decades.
A litany, of sorts:
Today, I am fine.
Tomorrow, I will be sad and tired, sick and stressed. There will be too much on my plate.
Today, I will take care of my tomorrow self. Tomorrow, I won’t be able to.