Summer can be difficult for adults with ADHD. The hassle free schedule & lack of structure may bring your shield down & you may end up not paying attention to the essential ADHD routines that keep you on a straight path throughout the rest of the year.
Here are some tips for surviving the summer with Adult ADHD.
· Appreciate What You Have Done Between New Year’s Eve & the Beginning of Summer –Half of 2014 has already gone by and there may have been some worried. Maybe you were angry with yourself more than a few times during the past 6 months, or disappointed in what you did, didn’t do or what happened in your life. When the stress of and tensions are overwhelming, it is easy to get stuck on focusing on what went wrong. Take a break from that. Ask yourself, what I can appreciate about what I did and accomplished during the six months. It doesn’t always have to be big things, and make sure that you appreciate what you did, the effort you put into it, even if it didn’t go as exactly planned.
· Go Slow– Going slow will turn your stress down, more importantly, it will help you to be in the moment and you will be able to enjoy the sights, sounds, smells and friends and family of the summer.
· Say No To The Shoulds of The Summer – There are sneaky shoulds in life. It can make your vacation filled with things you “just have to do before the summer is over” seem like exhausting work, and it can leave you more tired than you were before your time off even started. So ask yourself, will this matter in five years or even 5 weeks. This makes it easier to look at this from another perspective on things and to look at the real values of doing it. It also makes it easier to just relax and to say no to doing something because it wasn’t that important in the first place
· Spend More Time Doing Something What You Love – Maybe it is fishing or talking a walk in the woods or the beach. Or painting. Or reading books. Or spending time with your family or friends. No matter what it is, think about how you can fit in what you love doing, not only your summer but the rest of the year to.
· Remind Yourself to Rest & Recharge – You are not a robot, even though people may think so from time to time. It is a simple mistake that many of se have made or still make. But for us ADDers it is not the best option. And this is not just for your mental and physical health but it prevents us from burning out. When you rest & recharge, you will reload your energy, your motivation will go up and you will feel more inspired.