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Feeling A Little Overwhelmed Lately?

© Valerie de Armas

I know I'm not alone when I say that I get overwhelmed sometimes. I know, everyone gets overwhelmed, but it seems to be a recurring life story for me. I've been thinking about why I get overwhelmed and how that relates to ADHD. The month of January, for me, has been almost a blur. I've forgotten what day, date and week it is more times than I can count - and it's only January! Do other ADDers have this problem? Sure they do, I've heard them talk about it. And most of us don't get overwhelmed infrequently. Here are my very un-official theories as to why.

We, as ADDers tend to think we can change the world. How many times have I heard about charitable projects and wanted to get involved and make life better for all of us who live in this world? I can't count them! I once started a project for a school, collecting school supplies and such for the students who couldn't afford them. I organized it and collected items and even delivered them to the school. I was doing great to have actually followed this project through this far. I had all intentions of collecting mittens and coats in the winter for them, though and that project never got done. Why? Because I was involved in another project by then and didn't have time for the first one.

There's another thing that I think many ADDers do. Many times we get involved in too many projects at one time. We don't know when to say no because we have a hard time realizing that we can't get it all done. When we try our best to get it done and can't, then we feel overwhelmed. Or, we feel guilty because we can't do it all. I've had to learn to say no. It's very hard for me. I really want to help, but I have to constantly remind myself that I can only do a few things well. If I try to do too much, I won't accomplish anything worthwhile.

Most ADDers, including me, have a hard time prioritizing tasks. I get involved in a project only to realize later I would have been better off doing something else. This can lead to an overwhelmed feeling because you feel like you've wasted time on unimportant tasks - and you may be right! I always had a hard time with the Franklin Planner system where you're supposed to write down your tasks for the day and put a 1 for urgent, a 2 for important and a 3 for not as important. To me, all my tasks are urgent! I want to get it all done and get it all done now! I would get very frustrated trying to decide what to do when and usually ended up not using a system that could have helped me. Being diagnosed with ADHD has at least helped me to realize there is a reason I have difficulties with priorities, and that reason is ADHD - my brain is just wired a bit differently.