I am learning lots about myself by learning more about ADHD. It is very interesting. One thing I recently learned was that I have used a common coping mechanism that works, but is not very healthy. Because of my wierd brain and its lack of whatever, I get bored easily, I have trouble with motivation and need stimulus to get going. Well, some people will use caffiene or even abuse drugs or do risky things, what I tend to do is procrastinate. Yup. I guess it is fairly common in the ADD world.

I wait till the last minute (usually ends up being past the last minute 🙂 ) and then rush through a project or assignment or a duty, etc., frantically trying to accomplish the impossible. What I am doing is actually scaring myself into action. The reward is a huge adrenaline rush and the satisfaction of knowing I accomplished (sort of) the impossible.

The draw backs are: my body crashing afterwards and hours or days spent recuperating, my family, children especially, end up feeling rushed and yelled at all the time and my sleep is effected if I end up staying up late in that frantic state.

Apperently its not a good idea to keep yourself in a constant state of flight or fight response to get things done. Your immune system and other systems shut down to increase energy for that fight/flight response, and your body is very tense and stressed. No wonder I don’t feel good a lot of the time!!!

So, I am trying to learn how to cope differently. Being aware of this side of myself is a good start, but making the changes necessary will take some time. Matt and I are looking into relaxation techniques and ways of slowing down when we get into those stressed out frantic modes. As for the stimulus question I am learning to use things like rewards to get things done, such as 15 minutes of reading a good book after 15 minutes of laundry duty. One suggestion I ran across talked about finding ways to play more, being creative at making the tasks fun. I’m still ruminating on that one. If anyone has any good ideas let me know! 🙂