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A Week of ADHD Overwhelm! The 5 Things That Got Me Through
- Helen Allwood
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
As a late diagnosed ADHDer I’m a few years into my journey of neurodivergent self discovery. When I first got my diagnosis I was overwhelmed and close to burnout. Family life was exhausting, and work life was busy and full of emotional highs and lows. It was a lot to cope with. I was stuck in a loop of too much to do and no time to learn or implement any strategies to make things better. There’s so much to learn about ADHD, and so many strategies to try out without (I thought) any guarantee of reducing my huge mental load.
What I didn’t realise at the time was that I didn’t have to fix my life. All I had to do was make it a tiny bit better, like 2% better. I didn’t realise that the little chink of light that I would create would have such a huge ripple effect. It would give me a smidge more energy to implement something else, and gain momentum. And I’d absolutely have setbacks and falls on the way but starting small with a little change really can make such a huge positive difference on its own, and if it leads to more brain space for more changes then that’s even better.
When we’re overwhelmed and busy in every area of our lives it’s difficult to know where to start. And ADHD sometimes doesn’t help us out in this regard. I am a massive advocate for ADHD strengths being hugely beneficial at work and at home, but we must support our challenges, or we can’t use those strengths because we’re so damn tired! And a lot of our challenges are around executive functions. I’m talking about things like planning, prioritisation, task initiation and time management. So planning to engage with a new habit, even if we know it can help us can be hugely challenging. And this is one of the reasons why we get so stuck.
So I’ve put together a list of five of the things that have helped to reduce my ADHD overwhelm this week. They might work for you, or they might not but have a read through and pick one to try. Get curious about whether it works for you or not. If it doesn’t, that’s absolutely not a personal failure, try another one next week, or modify it to suit you (or come for some coaching and we can formulate your own). Let’s see if we can find your 2% with one little change.
Headspace podcast and YouTube channel
I am a massive fan of Headspace and pretty much everything that they produce! I pay for the app which has loads of meditations and other cool things like mindful cardio exercise sessions which I use a lot. But they also have loads of free content on their YouTube channel and their podcasts. It was one of their podcasts that I was listening to this week that helped me reduce my overwhelm. It was about managing your To-Do list and picking just two tasks a day that will move the needle in terms of what you want to achieve with your wider goals. I did two things that day that had been festering at the bottom of my list for ages. They were shaming me by just being there. Now they are not there. What a relief!
The Headspace YouTube Channel is at https://www.youtube.com/@headspace
My labelled water bottle
I am awful at drinking water. I don’t really like it, I have poor interoception generally and that often means that I don’t realise that I’m thirsty until my mouth is like sandpaper. Enter my massive one litre water bottle with times of the day on. It just simplifies things enough to make it easier to drink more water. I’m not going to lie to you and say that I drink two litres every day, but it reduces my overwhelm around basic self care enough to increase my water intake and reduce my extreme thirst bouts. I’m taking that as a win!
My Needoh Cube
This fidget toy was a recommendation from one of my coaching clients. It’s super lovely. It’s a kind of gel filled cube that feels different when it’s warm and cool and I use it in almost all of my work meetings. Basically, I’m using stimming to regulate myself and help myself focus. (You can Google where to buy these, I got mine from a garden centre!)
Focusmate
Talking of focus, this co-working set up has brought me big joy this week. I have an essay to write which has been on my To-Do list for two years (yes, you did read that right)! This week I used Focusmate to get some of it done and it felt amazing! If you’ve not used co-working before, it's when you get together with some other people to provide a kind of passive accountability to aid your focus. Focusmate will pair you with another person and you’ll be on a video call with them. You say your goal at the start of the session, do your thing and then check in with your progress at the end. You can use it for most things, desk work, house work, music practice… The list goes on. It’s free for up to three sessions a week. I was a bit scared about logging on and speaking with a stranger but there is a chat only option where you type your objective rather than speak. The person I was paired with was so nice and guided me through what to do since it was my first session (she had logged over 2000 sessions). I loved it!
You can head to www.focusmate.com for more info.
Loop earplugs
I have three kids and a small house. Sometimes the noise is just too much! This week, when I was feeling frazzled I popped in my Loops and it just took the edge off. I can still hear them asking for endless drinks, they don’t block out all the noise but they do just dampen it a bit and sometimes we all need that I think! There are lots of different types of Loops and they make them for kids as well. There are also other brands but these are what I went for and I’m pleased with them.
You’ll find them at www.loopearplugs.com
So those are the things that have helped to keep me upright and on track this week. I hope that you find the list helpful, and if you have any of your own to add I’d love to hear about them.
At The Vet Project we’ve created some free resources! They're designed to be practical, easy to read, and helpful in real veterinary workplaces, whether you’re exploring neurodiversity for yourself, supporting a colleague, or leading a team. They are Essential ADHD Facts, Line Managing Someone who is Neurodivergent and A Quick Guide to Reasonable Adjustments. Head to https://mi8r2w5n.sibpages.com/ for your download.
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