12 Ways I Manage My ADHD Naturally

I have ADHD And no, I don’t take any medication for it – though I’ve come very close. I also have no judgment for any ADHDers out there who feel they need it. Everyone’s brain is different, and I support everyone’s decision to do what they feel works best for them.

But, medication in itself isn’t enough to treat ADHD. Making positive lifestyle changes to support your ADHD brain is so important! It’s been a long fight to get my ADHD under control, and I can finally say that I’m truly happy with all the progress I’ve made.

This doesn’t mean that my life is perfect. Far from it, actually. There are still plenty of days when my ADHD gets the best of me. I still lose things, still fall behind on work, still say things impulsively, and can still be pretty messy.

But, I am doing these things much less than I’ve ever done them in my life, and I’m improving all the time. Having positive, healthy coping strategies has made all the difference for me. Because, even on my worst days, I use them to bring me back to the place of calm and organization that I need to function.

In this post, I’m going to share a little about my ADHD experience, what’s changed for me since finding solid coping mechanisms, plus all of my favorite coping strategies for treating ADHD naturally.

Having ADHD isn’t always easy. But it’s ultimately what makes me who I am! After years of hating myself, I genuinely love who I am. It’s taken a lot of work, but I finally know how to work with my brain. In writing this post, it’s my hope that you’ll be inspired to do the same!

What you’ll learn:

• My story living life with undiagnosed ADHD.
• What changed for me after learning I had ADHD.
• All the natural ways I’ve learned to manage my ADHD in the last two years.

My adhd Story

Growing Up with undiagnosed adhd

I never fit the stereotypical picture of what ADHD is supposed to look like. In school, I was quiet and extremely well-behaved. I made mostly decent grades in all my classes, except for math. I was a rule follower. But, I believe this was largely because of the social pressures I felt to blend in and subconsciously hide my autistic traits (see my blog post, ‘Unmasking and Reclaiming Creativity as an Autistic Adult’ to learn more about masking). As I’ve gotten more comfortable with myself, I’m much less of a rule follower now.

At home, I felt more comfortable with being myself. I mostly listened to my parents, but I definitely had a few mild behavioral challenges and anger issues. For the first 20 years of my life, my room was a complete disaster. I was always learning new things and reading as many books as I could (mostly about dark historical events). I’d start so many art projects, but could rarely finish them.

When I was 16, a counselor I was seeing suggested I might have ADHD. But, my parents had their own opinions. And knowing as little as I knew about ADHD back then, I shrugged it off too. I believe this was because I could only see the ADHD stereotype, and I just didn’t fit it.

It wasn’t until after high school that I really started struggling. I never felt like college was right for me. I hated the idea of working a ‘normal’, office job for the rest of my life.. so I tried cosmetology school. And I hated it, and had the chance to get out without any financial loss, so I did.

I realized my true passion had always been writing. In high school, I remember being so inspired after learning how entrepreneurship shaped America during the Industrial Revolution after slavery had been abolished. After doing my own research online after high school, I started seeing how so many of today’s internet entrepreneurs had been able to build incredible, socially conscious, deeply meaningful businesses out of nothing.. and I was inspired.

Only problem, I had no confidence, no genuine passion for anything I could turn into a business (though I had lots of different interests), and no executive functioning skills to actually make my dreams a reality. But, I needed to make money somehow.

I worked in retail temporarily over the holidays for a few months – I wasn’t asked to be a regular employee at the end of the holidays. Also, I completely hated the job and was miserable. Briefly worked as an independent contractor for an advocacy group cold calling citizens on behalf of congressmen to gain their support for various issues. Really hated that, and was frequently cursed out over the phone. Did a bit of freelance writing for a while. Tried to start a fashion blog for a while, but just wasn’t passionate enough about it to write about it consistently (as much as I love fashion).

For about two years, I worked as a nanny and did a lot of babysitting – this was a better fit for me, as children are nicer and much less judgmental that some adults. But, I eventually got tired of being around kids constantly, and wanted to find something new. So, I got a new job working part-time from home as a Search Engine Evaluator.

I also spent these years in a toxic relationship that was very codependent (I completely own and acknowledge my fuck-ups in that). Almost a year before I ended the relationship for good, I lost my father after watching him battle ALS for the past year and a half. By the end of 2017, I was newly single, still deeply grieving the loss of my dad, and feeling like more of a wreck than I’ve ever felt in my life. For a few months, I sunk into a deep depression that made my executive functioning worse than it had ever been.

I’d already learned I was likely on the Autism Spectrum the year before, and was still processing that. Now, as I was finally beginning to see myself for the first time, I seriously began suspecting ADHD.

my life now

Today, my ADHD isn’t officially diagnosed – but I know I have it.. and I know it’s the inattentive type. When I got my Autism evaluation last year, the psychologist I saw told me I was autistic and had ADHD. She also diagnosed me with lots of other things – there’s only so much you can diagnose in a few short hours when you have as many different neurotypes as I do. Between Autism and everything else I was diagnosed with, there just wasn’t enough information for her to officially diagnose me with it, though she did mention ADHD in the notes of my evaluation results.

In two years, my life has drastically changed for the better. For so long, I’ve felt so stagnant and chaotic (an odd combination, I know). After experiencing so much loss and finally coming to terms with my neurological differences, I was highly motivated to make positive life changes. I knew it was either that, or sink deeper into the place of hopelessness I found myself in at the end of 2017.. and that wasn’t an option.

Some major ways I’ve Changed my life:

• Overcame my junk food addiction and lost almost 60 pounds.
• Started regularly exercising.
• Stopped impulsively spending money on shit.
• Started a daily meditation practice.
• Overcame my unhealthy dependency on cannabis.
• Started becoming more financially literate and responsible.
• Learned to be truly happy being single.
• Got rid of 50-60 percent of my stuff.
  
  Learning about ADHD and what it means for me has completely changed my life for the better. I’m a totally different person than I was two years ago, and I really like who I’ve become so far. I’ve developed much stronger impulse control overall. I’ve learned how to say ‘no’. I now know how to deal with overwhelming thoughts through outlets like mindfulness and meditation. Executive functioning is still a constant battle for me, but it’s improving all the time.
  
  Oh, and I’ve had my same job as a Search Engine Evaluator for over two years now! I’m also currently growing a few side hustles and building more income from those. I’m writing every day and building this website. I haven’t made my dreams a reality yet, but I’ve overcome my procrastination and am finally starting to chase them.

Here’s what I DO To manage my ADHD:

1. Regular exercise

Two years ago, I started doing regular, light exercises like walking and yoga a few times a week. At first, my greatest motivation to start exercising was to lose weight. And while I have lost a lot of weight, ‘looking good’ is no longer the reason I exercise.

I exercise because I care most about feeling good. As an ADHDer, I’ve learned that movement is everything for me. When my mind is racing, or if I’m feeling angry, a short walk around my neighborhood really helps me process my thoughts. If I’m feeling a lot of anxiety, I use yoga to calm down and feel grounded again. Since I spend a lot of time working on my laptop at home, I need more intense forms of exercise to help me release more physical energy and sleep better at night (I try to do this short cross fit inspired workout 3-4 times a week).

2. Journaling

Journaling plays a huge role in how I care for my mental health. I have three journals that I use most frequently – my bullet journal, my morning pages journal, and my ‘random idea’ journal’. Bullet journaling is an efficient form of journaling created by Ryder Carroll as way to help you ‘track the past, organize the present, and plan for the future’, as he says.

Bullet Journal

In a bullet journal, you can plan your days, weeks, and months. You can also devote specific pages in your bullet journal to whatever else you want to keep track of.

For example, I have pages in my bullet journal for family and friends’ birthdays, things I want to buy, books I want to read, goals I want to accomplish, etc. I won’t get into the in’s and out’s of bullet journaling in this post – if you want to learn more about bullet journaling and why it’s perfect for ADHD minds, checkout this video by Jessica McCabe of How to ADHD.

morning pages journal

I’ve talked a bit on this blog before about morning pages, because they’ve made such a difference in my life. If you aren’t familiar with morning pages, it’s a daily journaling exercise created by Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way.

To do the morning pages exercise, you simply fill three pages full of whatever thoughts come into your mind. Not overthinking them or judging yourself for them – just letting them flow. You write with the intention of writing for you – not anyone else. You also aren’t supposed to show anyone your morning pages, or even read them yourself after you’ve written them (for the first few months anyway).

This exercise was created to bring you more in touch with your creative self. While I’ve experienced that benefit for sure, I’ve also gotten more out of it than I ever expected I would. People with ADHD often have so many thoughts at once that it’s hard for them to be aware of them – I know this has definitely been my experience.

Morning pages force me to slow down and be aware of my thoughts. This practice helps me got honest with myself about everything I’m thinking and feeling. As soon I get everything out on paper, I’m amazed at how much better I feel. I’m more productive throughout my day, because there’s much less lingering anxiety and depression in my head. I’m also more in the moment, because morning pages have helped me sit with my emotions and process them.

Random idea journal

If you decide that no other form of journaling is right for you, please at least try this one.. especially if you consider yourself a creative person. Having a journal devoted entirely to whatever random ideas pop into my mind has been so freeing for me. All of my creative ideas begin in my random idea journal. It’s a lot like my morning pages journal, but specifically for random, creative ideas that come to me. There is no right or wrong in this journal. My random idea journal is very messy.. but it helps me so much to physically write my ideas out on paper at first.

3. Meditation

Meditation has many of the same benefits as journaling. If starting both of these self-care practices at once overwhelms you, I recommend just trying one at first.

I started a daily meditation practice this past summer, and it’s been life changing for me. I’m more focused and less impulsive than I’ve ever been before. Obviously, I still struggle, but I’m seeing more improvement than I’ve ever experienced. Meditation is incredible, because it’s a natural way to flood your body with the thing that the ADHD brain wants the most and is lacking – dopamine. And you acquire this dopamine by doing nothing but just being.. and focusing.

Okay, so the focusing part of meditation is hard even for neurotypical people, but even more so for ADHD minds. But, that’s why it’s called a meditation practice. Every meditation is just another chance to get better at focusing! If the idea of meditating overwhelms you, start small. Try meditating for 5 minutes a day, then gradually add more time as you get more used to it.

If you’ve never meditated before, meditation apps like Calm and Headspace are great for teaching you how to focus your mind and relax your body. I have Calm, and used it a lot when I was first learning about meditation. Now, I primarily do a type of meditation called Ziva meditation, created by Emily Fletcher, which combines what she refers to as ‘the 3 M’s – mindfulness, meditation, and manifestation’. To hear more about why I love this style of meditation, check out my blog post, “Meditation for Overactive Minds: 10 Best Tips”.

4. Healthy Eating Habits

As a girl formerly addicted to carbs, cheese, and sugar every form, changing my eating habits has made an amazing difference for me. Last year, I decided I was done letting the food that I eat make me feel like shit, create more breakouts, and impact my emotions negatively.

After doing an elimination diet, I realized I had at least a mild gluten intolerance. I’ve now been gluten-free for almost one year. I rarely eat cheese anymore, except for once in a while. I’ve never cared a lot for meat, and now rarely eat it. When I do eat it, it’s usually some kind of fish, and it’s very high-quality. I do my best to eat as many vegetables as I can everyday. I eat lots of planted based protein sources, very little sugar, and limited amounts of high quality grains.

My diet may not be the exact diet for you, but it’s helped me a lot. All of our bodies are different, so don’t think you need to do exactly what I’m doing. But, I will say that protein is extremely important for helping me stay focused and happy during the day. I also notice that when I eat more sugar than usual, I instantly feel the impact on my emotions and overall well-being. It’s not a great feeling.. and that bad feeling is always the motivation I need to get back on track.

5. Minimalism

Minimalism is about intentionally living with only what you need. It’s also about creating order and calm in your life by having a place each thing you own.

I haven’t created the perfect level of minimalism I’d ultimately like in my life yet, but I’ve made amazing progress. Because I’ve always been incredibly messy and disorganized, I definitely needed some way to create more organization in my life. I also needed to learn to be less impulsive, and stop constantly buying vintage clothing and craft supplies!

Minimalism has helped me tremendously with both of these issues. Because I started associating more stuff with more anxiety, more clutter, more emptiness, and less money, it became easier for me to stop impulsively spending. If this is something you’re struggling a lot with, see my blog post ‘7 Empowering Reminders to Help You Overcome Mindless Spending’.

I now have specific places for where I keep 80% of the things I own, and I lose things so much less than ever before. I’ve significantly downsized the majority of my possessions, and am currently very happy with everything I own, and don’t want anything else. Sometimes depression and anxiety still leave my room looking like a wreck. But when that happens, it’s much easier for me to clean it up, because almost everything I own has a place now.

6. Good Sleep

I know, prioritizing good sleep is s0 much easier said than done. But, after lots of trial and error, I’ve finally found some good strategies that help me sleep better than I’ve ever slept in my life.

Out of everything that I’ve tried, my Magic Weighted Blanket has helped me the most. Weighted blankets are very heavy blankets that create a feeling of pressure on the body that emulates the same feeling you get when you get from a hug. These blankets are especially marketed towards autistic people, those with ADHD, and anxiety, because the pressure created by the blanket makes it harder for the body to move around at night. I got my Magic Weighted Blanket for Christmas, and I haven’t had a sleepless night since! Since it’s sometimes taken me hours to fall asleep at night, this is pretty amazing.

Here are other tips I use to get better sleep:

• Expose yourself to sunlight during the day – the earlier the better.
• Exercise to tire your body out, but not right before bed.
• Make sure you go to bed with plenty of food (I’ve had many sleepless nights because I didn’t properly feed myself during the day).
• Consider using a sleep mask to block out all light.
• Wear blue light blocking glasses to reduce the impact that technology may be having on your sleep (I bought these from Amazon).
• Do some light yoga or journaling to let out racing thoughts before bed.

7. Practicing Self-compassion

Practicing self-compassion is so important for ADHD brains. We make careless mistakes, accidentally blurt things out, and sometimes forget to do important things.. like, putting our laundry in the dryer or hanging it up after we wash it (happened me to me twice this week).

All of these little things add up, and they take a huge toll on our self-esteem. Believe me, I know. But for the last year, I’ve been getting a lot better at self-compassion. I think meditation has helped me a ton with this.. but I also think that having good friends in my life has helped a lot too.

If our friends made a careless mistake, we wouldn’t judge them for it or get upset with them (at least, let’s hope not). Most of us with ADHD are extremely understanding and deeply empathetic people. Because we’re well-meaning but still have a lot of shortcomings, it’s much easier for us to be understanding of other people’s faults.

But, it doesn’t make sense for us to be so understanding of others, if we’re not willing to extend that same understanding to ourselves. When I was beating myself up about horrible my executive functioning had gotten at one point, I realized something. I realized that my friends wouldn’t want me to beat myself up over anything, just like I wouldn’t want them to do that. So, it obviously made no sense for me to beat myself!

That realization has stayed with me ever since. Every time I make a mistake and start to beat myself up, I ask myself, “What would my friends want me to do, and what would I want them to do if they were in my position right now?”

8. Batch Tasking

“I learned a lesson. Never half ass two things. Whole ass one thing.”

These wise words come from one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite TV shows – Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation!

Having ADHD, I get so tempted to multi-task a lot.. and in some instances, I think multi-tasking can work well. But, not for most. Like Ron, I too have learned my lesson to whole ass one thing, instead of trying to half ass two things.. (or 10 things, if I’m being really honest).

Recently, I’ve been learning that batch tasking is the best way to whole ass one thing. Like many autistic brains, ADHD brains have the tendency to hyperfocus.. but only on things they’re interested in.

This interest is very random, and changes all the the time. But one thing I’ve noticed is that once I force myself to start a task, it’s much easier for me to finish the task and stay interested in it. And then, it’s much harder for me to switch to a new task.

That’s where batch tasking comes in. Batch tasking is the process of grouping together one major task or similar tasks and setting aside time to specifically focus on those tasks and nothing else. It’s an extremely efficient way to get shit done and minimize distractions, which is crucial for ADHD brains!

As you can see from the photo above, I’ve planned out some of the things I plan on batch tasking for the month of February. The old me would’ve tried to regularly prepare complicated meals for myself, tackle huge organizational projects, and manage my side hustles as well as my part time job.. but this just doesn’t work for me.

I’ve learned it’s best for me to focus on accomplishing one major side hustle task every day (like taking Ebay photos), while doing 3-4 hours of work for my job, and keeping up with my blog. That’s about all my brain can handle, and sometimes, I can’t even accomplish all of that. But even when I can’t, I still get more done than I would’ve, had I not been batch tasking.

9. Time blocking

If you’ve read other posts I’ve written, you know I’m a huge fan of time blocking. Time blocking is another highly efficient way to organize your time by dividing your day into 3-5 blocks. In each block, you’ll decide what tasks you’ll accomplish in which blocks. The trick is getting yourself to actually do what you planned!

Some people get really fancy with how they time block – I don’t. As you can see, I just use a simple white board to plan my day. I can’t always follow my time blocking schedule perfectly. Usually, I fall at least a little behind on my schedule for the day. But waking up and actually having a set, structured plan to stick to helps me immensely. Because otherwise, I’d be extremely lost, and keep forgetting everything I wanted to get done. Now, I have my whiteboard to remind me!

10. Mindfulness

Out of everything, mindfulness has probably changed my life the most. Mindfulness is simply the process of bringing your awareness into the present moment without judgement for it. Not judging anything that you’re experiencing as good or bad – just observing it while it happens. (Yes, this also includes your thoughts and feelings!)

A daily meditation practice has really taught me a lot about mindfulness. In meditation, you bring your attention back to the present moment every time you notice your mind wandering.

When I start feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or depressed, I try to remember this. I pretend like I’m meditating for a second, and bring my full awareness back into whatever I was doing before. This has worked wonders for me. It helps me care a lot less about my own bullshit, and more about what truly matters.

11. Routines

I can’t commit to complicated routines. But for the most part, I’m pretty successful at sticking to the simple morning and evening routines that I’ve created for myself.

I love the stillness of my morning routine. It helps me get deeply in touch with what I want and what matters most before starting my work for the day. It forces me to feel my feelings and really hear my thoughts that I might not have been fully aware of otherwise.

After I’ve spent a day really hard at work, it can be hard for me to calm down at night. My mind gets worked up about all kinds of stupid things. I start feeling a lot of anxiety about what I didn’t accomplish, and I start second guessing myself and my progress. When I have these thoughts, I’m learning that I don’t need to feed them – instead, I’m doing my best to surrender them to the stillness of my evening routine.

Too much routine drives my brain absolutely crazy. But, I think I’ve found two minimal, and extremely mindful and calming routines that work really well for me.

Find some kind routine that will be easy for you to follow, and start implementing it in your life today!

12. Setting timers

I use timers constantly. It’s incredibly easy for my brain to start one task, get distracted, forget about the first task, and start working on a completely different and much less urgent task.

By setting a timer when I start a new task, my brain stays on track so much better. A lot of the time, I underestimate my ability to accomplish tasks within a certain time frame. But, setting the timer helps me stay much more focused than I would’ve been otherwise!

Conclusion

Whatever you do, please don’t overwhelm yourself attempting all of these ADHD coping strategies at once. Because, I’ve gotten very overwhelmed with trying to make so many positive changes at once, and it helped me stick with none of them. Start small and build up from there. It’s taken me two years to add this many positive coping strategies to my life, and it’s taken so much effort and work on my part.

Just pick at least something, and stick with it. Honor and acknowledge all of your little wins along the way. Be proud of them, because as you focus on them, they’ll only continue to expand!

If you found this post helpful, please share it on Facebook or Pinterest! And, if you have an ADHD tip I didn’t share in this post, I’d love if it you left me a comment telling me what’s been working for you.

Thanks for reading, and stay weird.