I was medicated for my ADHD for 16 years
Summary
TLDRThe speaker, a long-term non-medicated ADHD individual, shares personal strategies for managing ADHD without medication. They emphasize the importance of a flexible work schedule, enjoying one's work, and maintaining a positive mindset. The summary also touches on the benefits of organization, alarms for reminders, physical activities like gardening, and the power of a strong support system, including family and online communities. The key message is about adapting life to work with ADHD and finding personal ways to thrive.
Takeaways
- đ Embracing a non-medication lifestyle for ADHD requires personal systems and tools tailored to individual needs.
- đ ïž Finding a flexible work schedule and reducing the number of scheduled meetings can be beneficial for managing ADHD symptoms.
- đ± Engaging in self-employment and choosing enjoyable work can increase motivation and satisfaction in life with ADHD.
- đ§ââïž Maintaining a positive and optimistic mindset is crucial for overcoming feelings of inadequacy and building self-esteem in individuals with ADHD.
- đ Prioritizing self-compassion and challenging negative self-perceptions can aid in reducing shame and anxiety associated with ADHD.
- đ± Spirituality and a 'trust in the universe' attitude can help in reducing stress and fostering a belief that everything will work out.
- đïž Utilizing organizational tools like Notion and setting up alarms for reminders can assist in staying organized and on track with daily tasks.
- đŒ Gardening and other relaxing hobbies can provide a therapeutic outlet and contribute to a balanced lifestyle for those with ADHD.
- đ§ââïž Incorporating meditation into daily routines can help manage overwhelming thoughts and improve focus for individuals with ADHD.
- đââïž Regular exercise can enhance productivity and improve sleep, contributing to a more balanced life for those managing ADHD.
- đ€ Building a strong support system, including family, friends, and online communities, is vital for emotional well-being and accountability in ADHD management.
Q & A
How long has the speaker been off ADHD medication?
-The speaker has been off ADHD medication for 10 years.
What is the speaker's approach to managing life without medication for ADHD?
-The speaker emphasizes making life work for one's ADHD, which includes a flexible work schedule, self-employment, and avoiding over-scheduling.
Why does the speaker limit the number of meetings in their self-employment job?
-The speaker finds it difficult to handle more than one meeting a day, so they limit meetings to reduce stress and maintain productivity.
What is the speaker's perspective on finding work that one enjoys?
-The speaker believes that enjoying one's work is crucial for a fulfilling life and suggests exploring different activities to find what one likes.
How has the speaker's mindset contributed to their management of ADHD?
-The speaker has a positive and optimistic mindset, which has helped them overcome feelings of inadequacy and build self-esteem.
What role does spirituality play in the speaker's life with ADHD?
-Spirituality helps the speaker reduce stress and maintain a calm attitude towards work and life, believing that everything will work out fine.
What organizational tool does the speaker recommend for managing ADHD?
-The speaker recommends using Notion, a tool they use and create templates for, to stay organized and manage tasks effectively.
How does the speaker use alarms and reminders to assist with ADHD management?
-The speaker sets up alarms and reminders for important tasks and meetings to ensure they don't forget or miss anything crucial.
What non-digital activity has the speaker found beneficial for their ADHD?
-The speaker finds gardening to be therapeutic and beneficial for their ADHD, helping them relax, sleep better, and feel more normal.
How does the speaker view the concept of discipline in relation to ADHD?
-The speaker sees discipline as a muscle that can be trained and is working on building it by keeping small promises to themselves daily.
What is the importance of a support system for the speaker with ADHD?
-A support system, including family and online communities, provides understanding, encouragement, and a sense of belonging for the speaker.
How does the speaker's husband contribute to their daily life with ADHD?
-The speaker's husband is very supportive, helping with household chores, keeping the speaker on track, and ensuring a healthy routine.
What is the significance of the online community for the speaker and others with ADHD?
-The online community provides a space for connection with others who understand the struggles of ADHD, offering support and shared experiences.
How does the speaker define an 'easy life' in the context of managing ADHD?
-The speaker defines an 'easy life' as one that minimizes stress and struggle, focusing on achievements rather than shortcomings, and making life as manageable as possible.
Outlines
đ Life Without ADHD Medication: Strategies and Insights
The speaker shares their personal journey of managing ADHD without medication for a decade after a 16-year period of medication use. They emphasize the importance of tailoring life to accommodate ADHD, which varies for each individual. Key points include maintaining a flexible work schedule, prioritizing enjoyable and fulfilling work, and developing a positive mindset. The speaker also discusses the significance of self-compassion, overcoming shame, and the role of therapy in their journey. They highlight the importance of believing in one's capabilities despite societal and self-imposed doubts, advocating for a mindset shift from feeling inadequate to embracing self-worth and optimism.
đ± Embracing a Holistic Approach to ADHD Management
This paragraph delves into the practical tools and habits that have been instrumental in the speaker's ADHD management. They mention the use of Notion for organization, setting up alarms for reminders, and incorporating physical activities like gardening to reduce stress. The speaker also touches on the benefits of meditation, exercise, and hiring an ADHD coach to provide personalized strategies. They discuss the importance of creating a stimulating work environment, using reward systems, and developing discipline as a muscle. The paragraph concludes with the speaker's ongoing efforts to improve discipline and the incremental progress they have made.
đ€ The Power of Support Systems in ADHD Management
The final paragraph focuses on the crucial role of support systems in the speaker's life with ADHD. They describe the impact of their family, particularly their husband, who provides emotional and practical support, and the close proximity to their parents, which offers additional stability. The speaker also highlights the importance of their online community, which provides a sense of belonging and understanding among individuals with similar experiences. They encourage others to seek out or build such communities for mutual support, sharing, and encouragement. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the pursuit of an 'easy life' on 'easy mode,' suggesting that while struggles persist, a positive outlook and proactive strategies can significantly enhance the quality of life for those with ADHD.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄADHD
đĄMedication
đĄSystems and Tools
đĄSelf-Employment
đĄFlexibility
đĄMindset
đĄShame
đĄSpirituality
đĄOrganization
đĄDiscipline
đĄSupport System
Highlights
The speaker has not taken ADHD medication for 10 years and has developed various systems and tools to manage their life without medication.
Emphasizes the importance of making life work for one's ADHD, which will differ for each individual.
Advocates for a flexible work schedule and minimal meetings to accommodate ADHD needs.
Finding and enjoying work is crucial for a fulfilling life with ADHD.
The speaker took 23 years to find work they loved and emphasizes the journey of self-discovery.
A positive and optimistic mindset is essential for managing ADHD and overcoming feelings of inadequacy.
Therapy was instrumental in helping the speaker deal with shame and negative self-perception associated with ADHD.
Spirituality helps the speaker reduce stress and maintain a positive outlook on life and work.
Using Notion for organization is a key tool for managing ADHD.
Setting up alarms and reminders in Notion helps with time management and task completion.
Gardening has been a significant part of the speaker's routine for relaxation and overall well-being.
Meditation, particularly guided meditations, can be beneficial for managing ADHD symptoms.
Exercise is a powerful tool for improving focus, sleep, and productivity for individuals with ADHD.
Hiring an ADHD coach provided personalized tools and strategies for managing ADHD.
Creating a colorful and engaging workspace can boost dopamine levels and motivation.
Implementing reward systems and breaking down tasks can make starting difficult tasks easier.
The importance of discipline as a learned skill and its role in managing ADHD.
Building discipline involves keeping small promises to oneself and gradually improving.
A strong support system, including family and online communities, is vital for individuals with ADHD.
The speaker's online Discord community provides a space for connection, support, and shared experiences.
The goal is to live a stress-free and easy life by focusing on achievements rather than shortcomings.
Transcripts
I have not been on ADHD medication for
10 years and that was after taking them
for 16 years so I have had to find
systems and tools to use to manage my
life and I'm going to share some of
those with you today so that if you are
interested in exploring a nod medication
life for your ADHD you can get a little
glimpse into what that might look like
for you in terms of tools and support
the first thing I want to say is that
this has taken work and I just want to
preface with that one of the biggest
things I would say is making your life
work for your ADHD and that is going to
look different for every single person
but I'll tell you what that looks like
for me it involves working not a lot of
hours living a kind of slow life I'm
half self-employed and my non-
self-employment job has a very flexible
schedule I can kind of work not entirely
when I want to but like I can come and
go kind of within a certain time frame
and if I like wake up one day and I'm
like oh I can't do it today then that's
fine I don't have to that's huge is
having a schedule that's like very
flexible the other thing is in my own
self-employment I do not schedule
meetings like very often maybe like I
will limit it to like two a week some
weeks I might not be able to do that but
I have a strong priority to not schedule
a ton of meetings especially on the same
day I know that I don't do well with a
ton of meetings on the same day I can
literally barely handle like one meeting
a day I've figured out ways to work that
doesn't require me to meet with people
and if I do it's usually something
really fun and exciting and then it's
it's like totally worth it for me that's
a huge one making my work something that
I'm good at and that I enjoy is also
huge because work is a huge part of your
life and if it's something you don't
like that's really going to suck I have
made it a high priority Within Myself to
find and do work that I like and I enjoy
and if you don't know what you like or
you enjoy yet I recommend exploring a
bunch of different things to figure out
something it took me a while I would say
like 23 years it took me to find
something before I was like work that I
liked and even then even though I liked
it at the time it took me another like 7
years till I was like oh I love this
like I didn't love work until I was 30 I
never even thought I would say those
words like I love work but now I do and
it's great and it's fun and it makes me
happy and it's so exciting and I hope
that everybody can get to a point where
they really enjoy what they do the other
thing I would say that's been huge for
me is mindset now I've always been a
very positive and optimistic person my
whole life people when I was like
growing up would always say like I was
blinded by optimism just extremely
positive I'm more realistic these days I
would say than I was as a kid but I
definitely still am very very optimistic
and I think mindset with ADHD is huge
because I spent so long feeling stupid
and inadequate and like I wasn't good
enough and I couldn't do anything right
and I was always making mistakes I was
always letting people down and I just
had very little self-esteem when I came
to like working and like who I was as an
adult andig figuring out and working my
way through that to really like break
down all of those things that i' had
been told as a kid that I'm dumb and
that I can't do things right and I just
kind of like had to get rid of that
facade because it wasn't true and if you
believe that about yourself right now
I'm telling you right now that none of
that is true you may feel really stupid
and inadequate and incapable and like
you're letting people down but I promise
you that's not forever you will get
through it I promise I promise and you
surely surely are not stupid and are not
incapable so that was huge being nice to
myself really supporting myself and like
figuring out like I'm not stupid and um
I can do these things and really like
shame I feel like so many ADHD people
carry a ton of Shame so trying to figure
out ways to get rid of that shame was
like really really huge very very
important so um therapy helped me with
that so thanks the other thing I would
say is spirituality which for me is
really just believing that everything is
going to be okay and if I kind of have
this like everything is going to be okay
everything is working out for me
attitude it really helped me reduce
stress in what I do in my work nothing
is ever urgent nothing is really ever an
emergency and I used to wake up every
day just being like Oh I feel anxious
about work and stuff and then I started
breaking breaking it down and being like
okay nothing is really that important
nothing is ever that big of an emergency
I don't need to put all this like
anxiety and pressure on myself to do all
this stuff so kind of just trusting in
the universe and trusting in myself that
everything is going to be fine fine
everything is going to get done I'm
going to figure it out and those kind of
mindsets have really helped me when that
doubt does creep in because a lot of
times like I don't know how I don't know
the how I never know the how so I've
just been able to overcome that by going
like well I don't know how but I like
I'll figure it out and I don't know like
what the outcome of this situation is
going to be but I know that it's
probably going to work out in my favor
that's helped me a lot is just my
mindset mixed with a little bit of like
spirituality and woo woess when it comes
to like actual tools like tangible
things that I use to manage my ADHD I
would say a huge one of those is being
organized via notion I make and sell
notion templates for ADHD people you can
check out my website it's notion 4
adhd.in with your head cut off checking
out notion can be an amazing thing to do
or just figuring out any way to get
organized that works for your brain it
could be a bullet Journal it could be an
app whatever it is finding something to
be organized as an ADHD person is very
helpful going in line with that I also
use a lot of alarm systems so my
calendar if I do have a meeting is going
to alert me when it's time to leave or
time to set up the zoom I have reminders
and recurring things in my notion that
will notify me based on when I need to
do certain tasks so that's really
helpful having alarms set up when I need
to take medication or need to take
vitamins um things like that the other
thing that's huge for me is penjamin
I've been partaking in
gardening for like over a decade and
it's always really helped me so I know
that's not for everybody but it's huge
for me it helps me relax it helps me
sleep helps me eat better it just helps
me kind of feel like a normal person
most of the time and so that's something
that I I like to use going hand inand
with that kind of something that has
helped me in the past that I'm not the
best at doing right now was meditation
meditation can be really really great
for a lot of ADHD people and I think a
lot of people think like that just means
you have to sit in silence absolutely
not the case defin Ely check out guided
meditations and you can find guided
meditations for anything are you trying
to sleep do you need to relax are you
really angry are you feeling anxious
look up a guided meditation and just try
it I do a little 10-min that the woman
is only like silent I would say for like
2 minutes it's broken up throughout the
whole thing so it's really helpful for
when you just feel like your thoughts
are consuming you which I feel like as
an ADHD person is kind of a lot our
brains are just
like and meditation think of it like
training your brain to shut up it's
being able to shut your brain up on
command at least it is for me and the
more I train it and the more I practice
it the better I get at it so that's
something that is really helpful this is
also kind of cheesy but exercise helps a
lot I feel like a lot of times I'm like
a dog you Tire me out I'm going to be
able to sleep better I'm going to be
able to work better I do some of my best
and most productive work after I have
worked out and showered actually that's
right now I worked out today finally did
a pelaton ride and showered and it's
like I know that I'll have an great
productive work session if I am a little
bit tired like like I exercise tired
something else that I did when I first
started my business was hired an ADHD
coach that is a very privileged thing to
be able to do and I know that that is
not available for everybody but having
somebody to kind of give you tools to
help you some huge things that that
woman taught me which you might be like
how did you not know this already but
making sure your workstation is colorful
and bright or like gives you dopamine
whatever that means for you for me it's
colorful and bright and cute characters
and stuff even if it comes to like
colored pens and colored sticky notes
that you like anything that can give you
more dope and mean when you sit down to
do hard stuff is really helpful and then
reward systems I'd never used reward
systems but if I have something really
hard to do I will give myself a reward
in addition to she also taught me how to
break down tasks so instead of doing
tasks saying like I'm going to do this
task today I might say I'm going to work
on it for 30 minutes it really helps you
with getting started you can also say
like I'm just going to work on this for
5 minutes if it's something you really
don't want to do 5 or 10 minutes usually
almost always I end up working longer
cuz I get in the groove and I'm like
okay let's go so yeah an ADHD coach can
be really really really fabulous if
you're able to afford one the other
thing that I'm still working on that I'm
definitely not perfect is working on
discipline and that's like for me for my
understanding is like I tell myself I'm
going to floss every day every single
day when I go to floss a little monkey
brain in my head says oh we don't have
to floss it's fine so for me discipline
is saying to that voice no we're going
to floss like shut up you don't know
what you're talking about that to me is
discipline being able to trust your own
word knowing that when you say something
you will follow through and I think that
is like a muscle that you can train I
didn't grow up with discipline my
parents let me quit everything anytime I
wanted anytime I didn't want to do
something they let me quit so I grew up
with zero discipline and I had to teach
myself as an adult how to be disciplined
my husband he is the most disciplined
man I've ever met in my entire life he
can do anything you tell me he has to
wake up at 5:00 a.m. like he's going to
go do it he is really really great at
disciplined his parents were better than
mine in that way but I never had
discipline so I had to learn it and it's
a muscle and I'm working on it and it's
hard and takes a lot of work but I'm
getting better and if you want to start
building your discipline I suggest keep
one promise to yourself every day just
one small thing doesn't have to be the
same thing every day or maybe you want
it to be the same thing every day but
pick one small thing and say I'm going
to do this and then do it and that for
me is how I work on building my
discipline muscle and it does get easier
it's easier now for me to say no to the
stupid little voice in my head that
tells me not to floss than it was a year
ago when I first started a year ago when
I first started I had like a 50/50 or
less win rate when that little voice
would say we don't need to floss it won
a lot of times and I had to work on it
we're getting better but we're still not
perfect okay this is about 1% every day
right 1% better every day not Perfection
I don't strive for perfection in
anything in my life because it's just
not attainable to me I just am like eh
good enough whatever the last thing that
really helps me with my ADHD is my
support system and my support system for
me is my family my husband and my online
friends I have friends in real life I
just don't see them often my husband is
very supportive in that he cooks and he
cleans a lot so I have somebody at home
that kind of is like making sure that
I'm eating good food and we kind of help
each other out in that sense but anyways
that is a great support system because I
hate cooking dinner I don't want to cook
dinner I don't want to cook lunch I
don't want to make breakfast I drink a
yogurt every single day chabani complete
they're great anyways my husband is a
very very good support system for me he
lifts me up he keeps me on track he
makes sure I go to bed at the right time
he makes sure that I don't sleep in too
late like he's kind of my person who
helps make sure that I stay doing all
the things that I'm doing he's he's
really great we are a great team we're
also High School sweethearts so we've
been at this for like 15 years now we
got it down we are super good the other
thing is I live very close to my parents
well my family I live within a 10-minute
drive to my parents and one of my
sisters and my other sister lives in the
same state just like 2 hours away I also
work with my family heavily so I work
very closely with my mom I work very
closely with my dad I get to see them
probably multiple times a week at work
that's something that for me is huge
it's just really nice to see your
parents I lived away from them for like
6 years and it was hard so I really love
being able to see them all the time so
that's really huge and then going back
to my online community I have always
found a way to have online community
even before online communities were like
a huge thing and I think it's so
important and right now I run a Discord
for notion and ADHD but you don't have
to like be super into notion to come and
join you'd also don't have to be
diagnosed with anything or even suspect
you have anything it is just a really
like tight-knit community of people and
one of the reasons why I think it's so
important as an ADHD person to have
these online communities that you can go
to is because For the first time in my
life when I met like other people with
ADHD was online and to hear other people
be like I struggle with that I went
through that I understand what that's
like is huge because you go through your
whole life literally feeling like nobody
knows what you're going through and
you're kind of an alien at least for me
like when I was in high school and stuff
I didn't know a single other person with
ADHD having an online community where
you can talk to people and be like this
is what I'm going through this is what
I'm struggling with and for other people
to be like oh my gosh me too and this is
how I helped myself or this is what I
did is huge it's so so so powerful and
so I think if you're not able to have
like a massive support system having a
small support system that is really good
in the sense that they understand you
can be really powerful so please come
and join the Discord the link is on my
website again notion for adhd.in
the Discord we would love to have you
it's a really good place it's full of
like friendship and fun and events and
support and accountability and
productivity and all kinds of good stuff
and we can help you with notion if you
want those are the things that help me
with my ADHD and help ensure that I live
a very happy kind of stressfree easy
life not that I don't struggle because I
definitely do struggle but I tend to
have this very positive mindset that
lets me not focus on my struggles a lot
because I tend to focus on my
achievements over my shortcomings and
really kind of do the work to here's my
shortcoming how can I like Meet myself
halfway to ensure that like my life is
easier the end goal for me is easy life
life on easy mode that is what I'm
trying to achieve I feel like I've done
a really good job so far I don't know if
it'll always be this way but that's like
if you're going to do ADHD without meds
try to figure out how can I make my life
easier and maybe meds is the answer
right now some of these a lot of these
work great in tandem while you are on
meds it doesn't have to be one or the
other that's just my personal story
thank you so much for listening I really
appreciate it if you have any questions
or want to know more about this feel
free to let me know in the comments and
I really hope to see you around bye
friends
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