06.28.08
‘Delivered from Distraction’ author on Today Show
Dr. Hallowell was on the Today Show the other day… they didn’t give him time to say much, but I thought I’d put the link here anyway:
http://www.drhallowell.com/images/press_mages/THC003-001.wmv
06.26.08
Completed a goal!
Yay, I finally cleaned out my closet and dresser, like I said I wanted to about a week ago.
I divided my wardrobe into ‘fits’, ’slightly small’, and ‘yeah right’ sizes. I got rid of everything in the ‘yeah right’ pile, because I’m never going to be under 110 lbs again like I was in high school (nor do I want to be), so anything that would be too tight to wear got put in the yard sale box.
I picked my favorite items in the ’slightly small’ pile, and stored them in a small box that can fit under my bed. Those are things I’ll be able to wear if I get in better shape like I’m planning to.
Then, in my ‘fits’ pile, I got rid of anything I really won’t wear. I also put 3 of of my 7 purses and 4 of my 12 pairs of shoes in the yard sale box. Most of my shoes are actually pretty worn and getting old, but if I get any new ones, I’ll be sure to eliminate a pair I have now. I don’t need that many shoes. I got rid of pair of heels that I really like, but that really hurt my feet, because if I keep them around I’ll wear them, but every time I wear them I regret it. I also got rid of a couple formal dresses that barely fit, and that there’s a slim chance I’ll ever wear. If a formal event comes up, I have 2 dresses I could choose from. I really have no need for the rest, and maybe some girl could use one of my old ones and get joy out of it and that would be much better than having it gather dust in my closet.
So, in total, I think I put at least 1/3 of the total items in my closet and dresser into the yard sale bag, and I put all of my winter sweaters in a storage bin in the basement. Now, I have fewer clothes to rummage through when I’m looking for something to wear, and my drawers all open and close easily!
This organization task is a big accomplishment for me, Read the rest of this entry »
06.22.08
My Experiences with Learning as a Child
I saw 2 posts on my ‘tag surfer’ today about ADHD kids and school. One was suggesting that ADHD kids would do well in military school, and one was considering special education. That started me thinking about my experiences in school.
My boyfriend always jokes about how I refer to experiences in high school while talking more than I talk about college or my current life – and I think that’s because high school was a great time in my development and I had so much fun and look back on it with good memories. I found college boring.
But let’s backtrack… to elementary school.
Blogs & News as a Reward
I’m reading the book called “Find Your Focus Zone” by Lucy Jo Palladino right now. It’s a good book, and I’ll post a full review of it when I’m done with it.
It is helping me realize that a lot of the things I do right now to help me keep my focus – like lots of short breaks to check my blogs – are good things that can help keep me on track while working, even though to others it may seem like a diversion.
I know that one of my biggest time wasters in life right now is reading blogs – not that blogs are a waste, but that first thing in the morning, I spend up to an hour just browsing the internet and “getting ready to work”. So, from now on, I’m going to use that desire to stay on top of the latest news as a motivator – I will only get to read my blogs after I accomplish something on my to-do list, and my Remember the Milk to-do list will now be my homepage instead of iGoogle with all of my blog feeds.
Then, each time I accomplish something, I can read a couple the blogs I enjoy for 15 minutes, then I’ll have to get back to work.
I’ll let you know in a few days if this strategy for defeating some of my procrastination helps! If you have little strategies like this that have been successful for you, please post in the comments!
06.18.08
ADD & Clothing
I have what I’d call a medium number of clothes. Not a ton, but my drawers are full. I realized the other day that I probably only wear about 25% of my clothes, and I spend a lot of time sifting through the other 75% of my clothing looking for the 25% I want to wear. And the only time the other 75% gets worn is when I haven’t done laundry in a while! (Which does happen fairly often)
Does anyone else have this issue? I didn’t even realize it was an issue until I had to try on 3 pairs of jeans that didn’t fit before getting to a wearable pair today.
I’ve gained about 10 lbs in the last year, mostly in my stomach and thighs, so it really affects how my jeans fit. However, I don’t want to throw away my smaller jeans because I plan to lose weight – but as you know from my other posts, exercise is one of the first things I tend to procrastinate!
ADDers tend to be messy and be “pack-rats”, right? I think that applies to my messy clothes collection. Sometimes I go weeks without being able to find a certain shirt, only to find it in the bottom of the laundry basket of clean clothes sitting next to my dresser because the t-shirt drawer is too full to unload the basket, or because I don’t like going through my drawers looking for clothes when it’s easier to leave them in the basket, then dump it out onto the bed when I need them. It would probably be even easier to have organized drawers!
So I have another big plan – I’m going to clear out all of the clothes I don’t like or that really don’t fit, and give them away, and only save my few favorite pairs of smaller pants for if I actually do lose weight, and clear out the rest. There’s no reason for me to have 10 pairs of pants in my drawer if only 5 fit! Same goes for the shirts, shorts, etc. – I think I can get rid of about half of my wardrobe. (A lot of it is old t-shirts I save for “memories” but I decided to put them in a box and maybe make a blanket out of them one day instead of filling up my t-shirt drawer with size S shirts from 8 years ago…)
I also decided I’m going to stop unbuttoning my jeans when I’m sitting around the house. Maybe if I’m uncomfortable in my clothes, I’ll be more likely to exercise and lose weight and less likely to want to spend money on new pants that are bigger…. or I might just be more likely to walk around the house in pajama pants all day :)
Either way, I’m going to organize my clothes and get on track to lose a size and fit back into the ones I wore last summer! I’ll save money, be forced to do laundry regularly, be healthier, and be less cluttered that way!
06.08.08
Why I failed at Goal #2, Plus new plan
Almost exactly a year ago, I made some goals for myself when starting this blog. Of couse, as with most things in my life, I eventually got off track, stopped using my progress chart, and stopped meeting my daily goals. I’m not sure which came first – Did I stop using my progress chart because I wasn’t meeting my goals and got discouraged? Or did I stop meeting my goals because I wasn’t regularly using my progress chart to keep track of everything? I don’t know, and I’m not going to worry about it. I’ll just try again!
So, I thought I’d analyze why I failed at a simple goal: Take Omega-3 supplements every day.
Here are a few possible reasons:
- I had put my vitamins by my computer so I’d be reminded to take them daily. They were by my computer in the basement, which I didn’t use every day, and now rarely use. One of my supplements (GABA) is still down there somewhere.
- The rest of the vitamins are in my cabinet in the kitchen – out of sight, out of mind, right? I only remember to take them about 2-3 times per week, if that.
- I really don’t like swallowing pills, especially large ones like the GNC vitamins.
- I have amassed several different types of vitamins, and have a hard time keeping track of which ones I took when, so then I just don’t take any for a while. I would like to rotate between: GNC Women’s Ultra Mega Vitamins, CitriCal (Calcium Citrate + Vitamin D), and Centrum (chewable multivitamin for when I don’t feel like swallowing the GNC ones), and also take Omega-3s every day.
So, I figured a good way to make sure I take at least one multivitamin and one Omega-3 supplement a day would be to use a pillbox. I looked on Amazon since I had a gift certificate, and I saw this cool one: http://www.amazon.com/Apex-Pocket-Med-Pack-Tray/dp/B000EGN1A6/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1212917207&sr=8-1
It’s handy because I can fill up the little pods at the beginning of the week and know whether I took a vitamin yet today, as well as exactly how many vitamins I’ve taken over the week. I can also take one of the little pods with me to go, in case I want to take one when I eat a meal at the office, or if I take a trip somewhere I don’t have to take a little baggie of vitamins that all get all dusty from each other and nasty looking like last time I went on vacation.
Anyway, just thought I’d share my new plan. When the little pill thingy arrives in the mail, I’ll post a picture of it with my vitamins. (Note: the containers would also be handy for those of you on medication.)
