Week 2 · ADHD Harmony™

Week 2

"The cruel irony of ADHD: you need executive function to start doing the things that improve executive function."

No truer words and man did they hit hard for me. BUT luckily in my journey I finally discovered how I had been sabotaging my efforts in the areas of exercise and nutrition by trying to go all in and hard and not giving myself a chance or permission to take it slow and ease into it. Sounds simple but the concept escaped me until recently.

Over the last 8 months I have gone from believing I was incapable of continuing exercise that was boring but beneficial and crucial at my age to walking 2.5 mi 6 days a week most weeks. I still do NOT enjoy it and it doesn't make me "feel better" but my improved medical test results and the fear of becoming immobile later in life keep me motivated enough to continue the practice. What lights me up is no longer practical at this time in my life. So this is a decent alternative.

I spent all the years since I became a Mom (almost 30 years ago) unable to fall asleep easily nor sleep through the night. I stopped drinking caffeine after 12 pm right around the same time as I felt a direct correlation back then. Until menopause hit I just lived with bad sleep, napped when I could and "caught up on weekends". Sleep health was my first priority once the hormones went crazy. My current supplement stack has been a lifesaver, though I still dont feel rested and recharged, I also dont feel exhausted and out of control. Which for now is good enough.

My next priority became nutrition, specifically increased water and protein intake. The water was pretty easy and made the most difference in how I actually felt as far as a direct correlation to feeling better the more water I drank and knowing it would help when I felt bad. The increased protein was harder than I thought it would be and I almost gave up but source after source kept showing me the benefits and since my sleep, exercise and hydration were on course but I still didnt feel good, I figured I had to push through. I now prioritize protein at every meal. I still struggle to get in my 90 g each day (mainly because I have never been a "good eater". I have food sensory issues and a low appetite. And when I dont eat intentionally it's still super easy for me to completely skip meals). Now I get between 70 g and 80 g most days which is much more than I was getting before I became intentional about it. So again, good enough for now.

I do feel better than when I wasn't eating more protein, but still not where I was before my most recent burnout nor where I hope to eventually be. I do have really good days on occasion but not enough consistently to call it done with looking to improve. So since I actually started on these three, organically before the challenge/blueprint, my next domino is going to be more precise tracking which I will look into this week to see what would be best to track for me.

What provided the most success for me across the board was, environment design, atomic habit framework, the right supplements, just starting, sticking with it even though results were not readily observable, and accepting good enough as long as it is better than nothing or previous attempts.

Still waiting for my return to days worth waking up for, but I believe they will be here eventually as long as I keep doing the things that keep me moving forward.

I wish all of you luck with these as they can be quite a struggle for ADHD brains.

3 comments