Puryear’s Principles of Human Behavior #1
After we struggle and struggle with a problem and finally find some effective way to cope with it, the next thing we do is stop doing it.
Maybe one of the reasons is that the novelty wears off eventually, even tho it’s working?
I imagined that when I retired, life would be much different. No more pressure, “too busy,” “too much to do,” not enough time. The giant flywheel inside constantly turning and saying, “Hurry! Hurry! ”
But what do you think? Surprise, surprise! There wasn’t much difference.
So I started to make some changes:
- I no longer record in my evening gratitude booklet the things I got done for the day: guitar, gym, writing, etc.
- I’m no longer use my beloved index cards, at least not in the same way. I put my five to-do list items on a small whiteboard on my desk and I note things like to- do’s, to remembers, on a yellow sticky inside the appointment book that’s always in my pocket.
- I’m no longer require myself to do a post every Tuesday. If Tuesday isn’t convenient, I do it some other day.
- I no longer require myself to always fix the way wordpress screws my posts up, like these #%%^^$ extra numbers.
- And others.
So I’m more flexible and I’m less demanding of myself.
But I think this approach wouldn’t have worked for me before I retired. I needed the structure, organization, and rules. I still do, just not so much.
I’m working on spending more time being and less time doing. I wonder if I could’ve done that before retirement? I think maybe so. It certainly would’ve been worth trying.
So my recommendation to you, if you are not retired, is to keep using the tools and strategies that help you get through the day, but try to see if you can schedule in some time for just being. If you can do that, your life will be better. You can try it.
Good luck.
doug
#ADHD, @addstrategies, @adhdstrategies, @dougmkpdp
Links:
Misunderstandings about ADHD and some new ideas
From Tom Woodard:
snuck up on me!
The (used to be ) whiteboard
ADDadultstrategies 