Women, Parenting, and Self Care with ADHD

Having ADHD is difficult.

Having ADHD as a woman can make you feel a little crazy. Try to be a parent and contribute to your family on top of that! We spend so much time, as high achieving ADHD women trying to fix ourselves, we often fail to show ourselves some grace & self care. Thank goodness for the kids that will one day know we did our best and for the partners that love us.

Fixing Ourselves One Self Help Book & Podcast at a time!

Yup! GUILTY! I listen to a podcast every day, I am constantly reading books on productivity or how to be a better______________, researching....all just to never really feel like I've got it right. In reading how to be better we also need an organized environment to be productive, we may need extra time to get focused when interrupted, we may have extreme reactions to stress that require time to step away from a task. With all of this stuff, when do we have time to actually take care of ourselves because, let's be honest, the work is never really done!

So, what can we do?

1. Get some rest! Sleeping 7-9 hours a night and having a regular bedtime routine can be the difference between make or break when you've got deadlines, lunches to make and laundry to fold (ugh).

2. Move your body every single day! That's right. I know you're hyper focused on that project at 5pm and it's also time to make dinner but you need to get some movement in.

3. Set some boundaries. Things move quickly. We often find it hard to say no even to people and situations that can wear us down. We also want to do all of the things. Think about what you REALLY want to do, don't be afraid to say no to people and extra projects, and resist the urge to add more to your plate.

4. Find your tribe! Community is HUGE in having a better understanding of yourself. You know what's worse than not being able to focus or taking 20 minutes to refocus? Sitting in a room full of people who have no idea what that feels like and feeling like a failure. Meet other women with ADHD. Talk about your struggles. Share strategies that work and those that don't. And relish in the fact that you are not alone! We need to talk more because there are more of us out there than we ever could have thought possible. You're not alone.

5. Find a healthy form of expression. Art, dance, singing, anything! Doodle, color, read trashy romance novels....just find an outlet! Mine is exercise. I think of nothing else when I am at the gym. My daughters both enjoy sitting and painting or drawing.

6. Positive affirmations! How we talk to ourselves matters. I had a friend say to me the other day that talking STERNLY to herself was motivating. Like "Get up loser and go to the gym!" but the truth is, we have probably been talking to ourselves that way our entire lives. Let's not get started on how other people have talked to us. Be kind to yourself. Encourage yourself. And for *&%$s sake....give yourself a high five. You're doing a great job.

Want to hear more? Find a community? Connect with us on IG @selfcareprojectpodcast or you can listen to our latest podcast episode on Spotify.

LISTEN HERE