Self care is a buzzwork in our society these days. But some of us have been talking about self care for years, especially in the context of ADHD. I can’t speak to neurotypical folks. I’ve only been inside an ADHD guy’s brain. But I can tell you that ADHD people seem to have a particularly hard time with self care. I think there are many reasons that this is the case. We tend to have fewer hours in the day to be productive. (If you are familiar with ADHD, you know what I mean and I don’t have to go on a six paragraph tangent about it!) We also suffer from low self esteem due to the way that our ADHD negatively affects our day to day and big picture success. And, our struggles with the skills and executive functions of time management, initiation, follow through, consistency, and delaying gratification all make it harder for us to practice good self care. And fundamentally, self care might be not-so-stimulation and repetitive sometimes.  But I had a really interesting session with a client about a month ago during which I challenged him to even question the concept of self care. He was going through a really difficult time in his life. He’s in the healthcare field and directly works with patients, but is not higher end of the healthcare pay/stability scale. So, work is very stressful for him. And, he is going through a tremendously stressful time with his soon-to-be-ex-wife. So, he came into a session and wanted to talk about his failures in the self care arena. He felt like he wasn’t living up to his own expectations (and his almost-ex-wife’s expectations) of how he was keeping the house. He wasn’t making the choice to spend the energy to make and…

When I started my ADHD blog I swore that I was going to be the person who posted on it weekly. I didn’t want to be the ADHD guy with all the ideas and none of the follow through. I have to say that I lived up to my own expectations. I practiced what I preached in my coaching practice and put structures in place to have topics to write about and behaviours to get it done. I’ve always been very proud of that. And, then I got really, really sick in Nov. of 2019. And, was just in the process of bouncing back around March on 2020, when… Well, we all know what happened in March of 2020. And, with two kids, the youngest being a five-year-old kindergartener with significant mental health issues at the time, much of normal life, and business as usual ground to a halt.  Then I believe in early December I promised you, the few but beloved reader of my blog that I was officially back on the horse. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans. The aforementioned now six-year-old was in crisis and needed to be hospitalized for an extended period of time over the holidays and into February. And, the emotional, psychological, and logistical toll that took on our family and on me was/is hard to quantify except to say that it was enormous.  I don’t want to go into that too much. I’m happy to share anything about me. But, someday that child will be an adult and this post may still exist in the “datasphere.” I want to respect my son’s future privacy. Just know that this has been a difficult time for me. And, as the pieces seem to be coming back together for him and…

There was a good, not great, but good article in ADDitude this week about nutrition and ADHD.  https://www.additudemag.com/proper-nutrition-adhd-relationship-with-food/?utm_source=eletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=best_december_2020&utm_content=121120&goal=0_d9446392d6-d261212532-287561789 It made some really good points that are pretty well established. The ADHD brain does better with high protein and low simple carbs. Though there is some good evidence that that is good for most humans. It is also good for those of us who are prone to depression and anxiety.  There are some other claims in the article that seem a bit extra-science to me. And, I noted there there didn’t seem to be any studies cited. Let’s me honest. The field of nutrition is one offers a new best think pretty often. But I do think that the carb / protein has enough research behind it.  Omega 3’s are also good for humans. But, there are different kinds. They are not without environmental impact. And, the benefits for ADHD are not statistically significant for those who are effectively medicated already. At least according to what I’ve read… though I will admit that was a while ago.  So, if you want to go beyond eating lots of healthy veggies and a moderate amount of naturally raised earth sustaining protein, and a lower carb diet, I would do your research in PARTICULARLY REPUTABLE sources.  I should also say, that I recognize that the previous proposal is made by a white middle class guy who used to be a professional chef. I figure it is on you to try to acquire the skills to cook healthy. But, it is on us a a society to make sure that everyone has financial and logistical access to the healthy food the need to thrive. And, frankly we do not do a good enough job at that. (Wow. It’s hard not to let at least a…

I was the classic hyperactive boy. This was fully on display in my late teens and twenties when I was a young driver. Luckily I am an athlete with exceptional spatial abilities and hand eye coordination. So, despite being, at one point, one point away from losing my licence from speeding tickets, I was never in an accident that was my fault.  There was an incident when I was at an all day concert in North Hampton with a girl. We originally were going to camp out and come home in the morning. But it had rained that day and we couldn’t find any good places to stay… and I was still wired at 1am. I was about 19 at the time, pretty much straight edge. So when I got pulled over on the Mass Pike at 1am going 95 mph I was totally sober. I should probably note now, for those of you who don’t know me personally or haven’t seen my pictures on the other pages of my site, that I am about as white as you get. Not in the sense that I’m Mayflower white. I’m 3rd generation American in three directions and am a total mutt. But, I am a white (partly) Anglo-Saxon (raised) Protestant, who grew up (solidly middle class) in a rich Boston suburb.  So, when I got pulled over I was scared… about losing my license, about having my car towed and how I was going to get home, about having to tell my parents, about what it was going to do to my insurance rates. But not for one second was I scared about the interaction I was about to have with the state police officer that was about to come to my car door. Because, fundamentally, I grew up with a respectful relationship with cops…

I’ve been thinking about how to make my triumphant return to my blog. How can I possibly come back with the consistency that I had always had pre-pandemic? Should I stockpile entries? Should I try to write in the middle of the night after the kids were in bed? Should I only do short, pithy posts that are less substantive but can be churned out? Should I take longer posts and make them into long series? Should I…??? The answer is no, no, and no. I can’t expect myself to know what the future holds. I don’t have a crystal ball. I don’t even have a magic 8 ball. I can’t guarantee that I can post weekly like I have in the past. But I can guarantee that I’m currently posting today. And that is a victory. That is an ADHD victory. That is a human victory. That is an anxiety victory. That is a pandemic victory. I haven’t posted since early August. If I start posting at all, even if it’s not every week, that will continue to be a victory.  And I think we all need victories right now. So whatever you are struggling with, working out, eating well, meditation, getting work done, homework, job searching, keeping the house tidy, whatever… remember that it is not all or nothing. YOU CAN MAKE PROGRESS WITHOUT BEING PERFECT. Change is not a light switch, it is an iterative process.  I have had so, so many things on hold as I’ve been in survive, not thrive mode through the last 8 months. And that was the right thing to do. Now I’m struggling with how to approach those things knowing that I’m still in survive mode but that I want or need to get back in the game somehow. I think…

ADDitude has a great article on Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria today. It is part of the emotional dysregulation that comes with ADHD for many. “New Insights Into Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria.” It’s a great article. But if you weren’t reading super carefully, you might have missed something really important. “It’s widely understood that the diagnostic criteria for ADHD in the DSM-V only fit well with elementary school age children (6-12) and have never been validated in a group of people over the age of 16.1 They are based on only observational or behavioral criteria that can be seen and counted. The traditional diagnostic criteria intentionally avoid symptoms associated with emotion, thinking styles, relationships, sleeping, etc. because these features are hard to quantify. For clinicians who work with later adolescents and adults, the DSM-V criteria are almost useless because they ignore so much which is vital to understanding how people with an ADHD nervous system experience their lives.” This is one of the main reasons we have so many incompetent clinicians in America, when it comes to ADHD. If you are truly “in the know.” there is a wealth of information on ADHD, diagnosis, treatment, medication, etc. But, if you are going by the book, the one book that you are supposed to go by to diagnose and treat all mental disease and disorders… well, then you’re shit out of luck in terms of knowing what you are doing. It is really shameful. 

Quite a while ago I posted about a checklist I’d made for my son for his morning routine. This is an update, re-exploration of that topic.  My son is 11. He is the most wonderful, empathetic, smart, and sensitive kid you will ever meet. But, he’s on his own planet much of the time. This is hard for me because his flavor of ADHD is so different from mine. I am over sensitive to my environment. I notice everything. As a kid I may not have cared to address what I noticed because it seemed like too much effort, but I knew it was there. I struggle with gett my 11 year old to even notice. So, a few years ago, I made him a checklist and printed it on bright yellow paper and posted it next to the door in his room. I worked for a few weeks and then faded into his background. I know that ADHDers tend to do a new thing while it is the “bright, shiny object” and then tune it out. I know that visual reminders need to be refreshed often to work for ADHDers. Yet, somehow I expected that the posted checklist would work indefinitely. Or maybe I just wanted it to.  Needless to say, it did not work forever. Not even close. He didn’t slide back to square one but much of the progress was lost. I guess it wasn’t super high on my list to follow up and enough of the progress was retained. Then the zombie apocalypse happened and we’re all stuck in the house together, and I have more on my plate than ever. And having to chase my son around to do pretty basic stuff like clearing his plate after meals was really grinding my gears.  And before you…

Hey everyone. It has been almost two months since I posted last. I believe one of my last posts was about being in “survive” mode as opposed to “thrive” mode. I’ve definitely been surviving. The past few months at home have been tough, as I’m sure they have for most of you too. In many ways I’ve been forced to cut down to the bare minimum in order to survive. My self care is not quite where I would like it to be. I don’t get to play the drums as much as I’d like.. hardly at all. But I only skipped one lesson. I’m still trying to progress. I haven’t had as much time as I would like to work in the garden. But my wife took the kids for three hours on Sunday and I more or less caught up. So far everything looks good. I’ve made a concerted effort to start meditating on my own again over the last few weeks… with varied success.  Work is also a challenge. I have done zero marketing and basically only made time for my clients. Other than that… I’m not keeping up on my ADHD reading and webinars. And, as you know, I’m not posting here. I was very insistent when I started this blog that I didn’t want to do the ADHD thing of posting for two months and then forgetting about the blog altogether. I’m proud to say that I’ve been very consistent over the years. But things change. With this unprecedented situation, I’ve had to adjust my expectations.  I think the key to my success (if you want to call it that,) is that I’m just not expecting to thrive. I’m more willing to let things go now than I ever have been before, which is nice. Years ago…

My daughter found this picture nail in my office. It has been my go to fidget toy this week during many a remote session. Sometimes simple is best… and cheapest.

I’m going to post some quick tips about working from home. I’ve been working from home for almost a decade. It was certainly a challenge at first, but I feel like I’ve been pretty good at it for the last several years. Of course having my kids and my wife at home is a pretty big change, at least I haven’t had to alter my professional life…much. Hopefully I can pass on some things I’ve learned over the last 9+ years so you can adapt more quickly.  The first tip is mostly mine, with a very specific detail from my brother-in-law. I think it is really important to still approach your day with a purpose and with some professionalism. I learned this in culinary school, where I was in the a.m. class and needed to be on time for school at 5:30 a.m. with a pressed uniform, hat, neckerchief, shined shoes, hair regulation, piercings out, clean-shaven, awake, and ready to learn. And that level of professionalism was expected at most of my high-end restaurant jobs. So, when I transitioned to working from home, I didn’t have to wear a hat or a uniform, but I did decide to get up at a regular time, shower, shave, and get into reasonable clothes every day. My brother-in-law is a lawyer who doesn’t particularly like working from home. Good for him he just bought a two bedroom condo and one bedroom is set up as an office. He takes my philosophy one step further. He actually gets into a suit and tie and dress shoes as if he were going to the office for real and goes into his home office at 9 a.m. and closes the door. Work time. I’ll post more tips in the coming weeks. Standard Disclaimer:  In an effort…

Planning. Planning. Planning.  In this “new normal” being prepared seems more important than every. Not quite as easy or safe to zip out the the supermarket and get that thing you forgot about for dinner. We are shopping bigger with the hopes that it lasts longer. But how to know if it will? I think it is really useful to make a menu for the week… or two weeks between shopping. That way you can be mindful about spreading out certain item. For example, I generally do pasta twice a week, but don’t like to do it two days in a row. I can mix in once in a while dishes, like hamburgers, stir fry, tacos, and stroganoff. I can also plot when to use my veggies, ensuring that those that have to get used first do get used first. That way nothing goes bad.  When I’m not doing pasta or special meals, I generally think in terms of Protein, Veggie, and Starch. I think of it like one of those character flip books from when we were kids. (Below is the only pic I could find in short order online.) Remember those things where you could flip 1/3 of the page to end up with character with a cowboy head, ballerina body, and astronaut boots? You don’t have to plan the meal down to the smallest detail. Just have some potatoes, some rice, some bean, some fries. Have three of four veggies. And, have a bunch of different proteins in the freezer. Of course some things will go better with others. But there is no real disaster when you have a starch, a protein, and a veggie.  If you have salmon, sausage, chicken breasts, and ground beef in the freezer; brussel sprouts, asparagus, delicata squash, cauliflower in the fridge; and baking potatoes,…

Hey y’all. I’m a bit late for my Friday post. (Though I’m going to cheat and post date this.) Actually, going forward, I think I”m going to shoot for posting more often but with considered brevity.   So, I’m not a big fan of screen time for my kids. But, we have to do some more than usual. I’m trying to limit it during the day but we pretty much do movie night every night. Bear in mind that I have a just turned 11-year-old boy and an about to turn 6-year-old girl.  So far they’ve loved: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey Major Payne (Big hit with my son.) Back to the future The neverending story… was a major bummer. Watching the first 20 minutes of it nearly ruined my childhood. Things we’ve done in the past that have worked… because I’m a nerd and am raising mini-nerds: Any modern Star Trek series, except DS9. God that show sucked.  Once upon a time. Very cute. Great for the whole family through about season 4… I think The Marvel Movies. Even if you’ve seen them before. Go back and watch them chronologically. Either in order of release or in order of when they occured.  X-men movie. Patrick Stewart; James McAvoy & Ian McKellen; Michael Fassbender? Need I say more? We are also diggin on cooking shows. I’m enjoying Jamie Oliver’s 15 minute meals and 5 ingredients with my daughter. Iron Chef, Iron Chef America, Good Eats, and old school America’s test kitchen/ Cooks Country are always favorites.