Sensory Overstimulation: Managing ADHD with Sensory Awareness
Sensory Overstimulation: Managing ADHD with Sensory Awareness
This is based on my own combined life / personal experience only. I would like for others to learn through my experiences if they can avoid learning things the hard way.
Due to sensory overstimulation, loud minds need quiet environments noise-level wise and quite a bit of quiet time to recharge (without which, burnout ensues and it adds up quickly).
Needing a full "crash" day for ADHD insomnia recovery per week means we have 6 days to operate our daily lives and work, this is one of the many reasons we avoid needless mental bandwidth tugs, we are strict with work hours, and workouts belong to our mental health and how we show up for ourselves by ourselves, it's actually considered a disability.
Neurodivergence is about how we process information and how our minds can get overwhelmed by notifications and distractions, that's almost fully about communication methods / concentrating on thing at a time / respect the right to disconnect fully and on time: it's fairly easy.
When we look at the bandwidth, and not just time expenditure, we drill down to the essentials only... so that we are not taken down by the total, nothing is really that quick and easy, it takes bandwidth.
This isn't the same as living an overly conditional and controlled life, it's a disability we're managing here and the more we stop comparing ourselves in a world that was designed for neurotypical people... the better we get at living in a suitable way for our design.
I am now more afraid of fitting in than standing out because my soul requires flourishing by being myself and hopefully uplifting the rest of the ADHD squad who is starting their own shake-up of beliefs that need to be shed in order to lead to self-compassion and self-acceptance.
In more scientific terms, living with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can present a unique set of challenges.
Alongside the characteristic symptoms of impulsivity, inattention (inability to focus and concentrate without a routine that gets us there like a "manual" rather than automatic vehicle), and hyperactivity, individuals with ADHD often face major sensory overstimulation (types of distractions).
Sensory overstimulation consists of an overwhelming response to sensory input, such as loud noises (for me it's all noises and most interruptions), bright lights, notifications, or crowded environments.
Let's delve into the concept of sensory overstimulation and explore the strategies I use to manage my ADHD's sensory overload (based on my own experience only).
Understanding Sensory Overstimulation:
Sensory overstimulation happens when an individual's sensory system becomes overloaded with new information or a need to make decisions, making it difficult to filter and process stimuli effectively.
Breaking things into parts, planning my schedule out in excess detail with structure (otherwise I would not be able to function, at all), leaving buffers for insomnia in my overall schedule planning, and having mandatory oxygen mask naps daily is helping me greatly (it ensures my mere survival).
Why?
People with ADHD often have heightened sensory sensitivity, leading to an increased susceptibility to sensory overload.
Everyday situations, such as busy shopping malls (thankful for e-commerce), noisy classrooms, or over-crowded social gatherings, excessive calls, people who talk too loud, can trigger *highly* overwhelming sensory experiences for individuals with ADHD.
Gatherings are not impossible, they're just not the easiest due to the compound effect of noise (virtual is just easier too because our level of insomnia rises to impaired driving if we were to drive, but we can function mentally at a base level).
We have to be incredibly well-rested for massive groups lol and only if our life depends on it... but we prefer smaller groups in general... this is also why we deliberately keep a small circle in our own lives (logistics).
I personally can attend meditation classes in a group setting, but that's the extent of it. I do not care for things like sports games, movie theatres, or fitness classes with screaming instructors or blaring music.
Common Triggers of Sensory Overstimulation:
1. Auditory stimuli: Loud or sudden noises, such as alarms, sirens, or loud and overbearing and intrusive people / loud conversations, can be particularly distressing for individuals with ADHD.
2. Visual stimuli: Bright or flickering lights, cluttered environments, or excessive visual stimuli can contribute to sensory overload.
3. Tactile stimuli: Crowded or small spaces can become overwhelming for individuals with ADHD.
4. Olfactory stimuli: Strong smells or overwhelming scents in the environment may heighten sensory sensitivity for some individuals.
5. Mental overstimulation: Over-crowded schedules without adaptation buffers or leaving space for new un-anticipated projects, fruitless overwork stemming from manufactured (un-natural) chaos, living without insomnia buffers, adding in un-necessary commutes that can easily be avoided.
Strategies for Managing Sensory Overload:
1. Identify and anticipate triggers:
By recognizing the specific sensory triggers that lead to overstimulation, individuals with ADHD can proactively plan their environments or make lifestyle adjustments.
Keeping a journal or using ADHD-specific apps to track triggers can provide valuable insights for managing sensory overload effectively.
2. Create a sensory-friendly environment:
Establishing a calm and organized space at home or in business can help reduce sensory distractions.
Consider using noise-canceling headphones, adjustable lighting, or implementing a visual schedule to enhance focus and minimize potential triggers. Minimize decision-fatigue.
Remove un-necessary interruptions like instant messages, notifications, calls that can be e-mails (not all of them can, but some of them can), and so on if you can.
If it's that important, it would be scheduled ahead of time and planned for - and even then, un-necessary "context switching" should be minimized.
Focus is like an electrical cord and (excessive) interruptions that aren't necessary or too many of them will snap it in half, that is why only organized situations that aren't un-necessarily innately chaotic work for us.
Chaos that is driven by a lack of structure in a fairly logical setting is much different than natural (non-fabricated) chaos that happens once in a while.
The more you care to show up with mental presence during "on" time... the more you should respect your need for rest. That time is a requirement that avoids burnout in any type of business or life setting.
Guard your mind... Your hub and control centre and delay that recharge time for nothing that is avoidable!
That schedule space / peace / guaranteed sacred self-care time protects you, and insulates your mind from being vulnerable / protects time for aligned decisions overall and stops you from being brought down by anyone or anything because your own resilience and mental space protects you.
Removing the belief that overworking is a solution to anything (resting daily restores the very brainpower we need direly to function) and that more is better when it's about quality over quantity has changed me forever, my taste has changed, my life feels like my own now.
I have experienced hustle culture insanity when I mistakenly chose to work with people who had MLM affiliations and it was less than ideal.
... Then, there's the good people who use basic logic and realize that people are people (healthy people just function better, isn't it interesting how that works), they're caring without being intrusive and they respect wellness.
Wellness is humanity. Wellness-focus is consideration. Humanity respects dignity and wellness first. That's my kind of people. I forgot to have empathy for myself first for a while, thankful for the wake-up calls...
It comes down to headspace with ADHD, not necessarily "how much time" things take but eliminating the typical way of operating that goes into too many directions helps us thrive, focus is what it comes down to.
3. Use sensory tools and aids:
Noise-canceling headphones can help redirect attention and provide a sense of comfort and grounding.
4. Practice relaxation techniques:
Naps, exercise, and meditation music can help individuals with ADHD regulate their sensory responses and manage stress levels. Exercise is soothing for us.
5. Develop self-awareness:
This involves recognizing early signs of overstimulation, understanding personal boundaries, and advocating for our needs in different environments.
Overall business / work schedule flexibility is also key, while having rigid non-negotiable health routines (clear business hours that are guaranteed to stay put) is critical. Clear business hours within capacity limits that are focused are worth a lot.
If you cannot have guaranteed consecutive uninterrupted time off for the low margin of error you may have for fitness, health, nutrition: there's a problem.
Quantity isn't the measure of success unless of course, unrealistic and unhealthy is part of your definition... but I am glad I ditched that. Focus, impact, quantity, mental presence and sanity.
Those who deserve you will treat you properly the first time!
We have to be extra careful about what those limited hours are comprised of because we don't have a choice but to stick to them (and we should be able to do so without exceptions, our health is more vulnerable).
If you have buffers for insomnia scheduled and planned certain days as you know it's going to happen (so plan for it), that's how far it has to go.
Why? Because those buffers are your lifeline when you're already struggling with it daily.
My weekly "crash day" where I don't use alarms chews up a full weekend day, and while the intermittent napping is awesome and needed as I still sleep well that night... I have a requirement for consecutive time un-interrupted away from my business daily and "off-limits" gym time where I ban all calls / texts (rarely do 911-level emergencies happen) as I am working with a lot less "spare" time already.
All of this isn't a comfort zone, it's self-awareness and self-respect.
Overstimulation is like an allergy, it's not to be coped with, the causes are to be eliminated. This is the best way I can explain as allergies such as cat allergies do not go away with medication, for instance: the same applies to health conditions like ADHD.
We do not have an error margin to work with here.
Remember:
Everyone is different and know that your value is innate.
Our needs are not a lack of coping skills or negotiable, our needs are genuine requirements for our survival. Seeing it this way has been life changing.
I am glad I chose self-love and acceptance.
We cannot be everywhere and we shouldn't care to.
When we radiate self-acceptance, we strengthen ourselves and attract the right situations that value our unique and different ability.
The right ones will respect the limits of our availability and health conditions.
Putting health first magnetizes healthy situations that respect normal limits.
If you have ADHD, it's a bigger risk to burnout than guard yourself, we are already mentally running all day so we seem more easily exhausted.
My mental health requires a lot of quiet time with my loud mind, I don't care if this is weird or what not... I am not here to make sense to anyone... Truly, I don't care. I have now built my life around the data I know have about my mind's inner workings and it's fun.
Your mental health requirements (which require your attention as no one can run on empty) may be different from someone else's so your balance benchmarks should be uniquely your own. No one can sleep, exercise, meditate, etc ... on your behalf. Genuine people respect limits.
The trigger for this massive mindset shift towards living a sustainable and balanced life was that I got rid of the thought pattern that I am invincible, and that health is guaranteed, it is *not* guaranteed, it is earned every single day, and the rent is strict self-care.
I thought that I was burn out proof, I was delusional, we all have mental capacity limits and I did not respect mine before. I am not perfect with my balance right now and I don't have it all together all the time, but this is still a massive shift from my delusion of before.
I am owning my ADHD and realizing it's okay to not be normal, it's okay to be different. Do I have a bit of shame around stepping back from my business /finding ways to use AI/digitize it all so I can show up 1-to-many in a way that respects my ADHD /time limits? Not anymore. Self-worth has me realizing that I need to unapologetically own my personal choices.
Time is money... If you can't arrive for your life's obligations and rest on time (humans have those, disability or not), you're not expected to function for your business or craft on time. Health gives you hindsight. If you operate a 4 person business like a 150 person business, you'll run into health problems.
My small business has laser-beam focus and we prioritize inquiries about pricing and services we actually offer as we eliminate anything that would require added bandwidth upfront.
I am sharing that to say that if we creatively leverage our flaws or limits, we can still create a life that makes sense for us and allow us to leverage what we can do rather than focus on what we can't do.
Volume dials:
Is it predictable or not?
No? Then leave buffers.
Is it cyclical and finite? Then treat it like a project with a life cycle but move other aspects to make the space.
Preserve leaving on time so you can be 100% focused during set hours, balance is CURATED. 💙
The work I take on for my business is proportionate to the fact that I don't replace myself when I take time off, double the work in the same strict non-negotiable working hours when I come back is illogical. I plan weeks in advance to respect my capacity and workload ability.
Why hate the time and energy limits you have, why not leverage it and make the most of it? Inadequacy kills all creativity. Embracing constraints is the ADHD antidote, we cannot do everything and we should not expect ourselves to either. I respect/honour the resources I have. I work to excel in the business streams I have, I don't add more pulls at my limited attention span for no reason.
A focused business is built to last, I focus on excellence within the existing branches - that's also expansive, it's not about doing everything, a few things correctly to me is more useful.
ADHD thrives when there are clear scopes, constraints, reasonable autonomy, and sufficient un-interrupted un-obstructed guaranteed time to rest the insane machine that is this wild brain that already runs at an exhausting pace. Leveraging our limitations makes them gifts. 💙
A manageable business doesn't lack ambition when you already have a massive health condition to manage, if I am happy with my progress, that's all that matters.
Don't deny the uniqueness of what your mind needs just because it's different than what everyone else needs, this is your life. Took me a while to accept that I process my emotions by myself better than any other way and this time needs to be carved out. I then share with a select few, but internal processing first.
You don't owe anyone the core conditions to your health and that doesn't make you any type of person and doesn't say anything about their worth, it defines your needs and you being responsible for those which isn't by exploiting or harming others so there's no issue here.
Health has physiological things to do to maintain it so it's not just a state of mind, ADHD has strict needs for not only meds, but exercise, nutrition, and sleep and I fully embrace losing a full day to insomnia for ongoing survival, so I don't have spare time for just anything.
In seeing the possibility of not recovering from that burnout, me being the only one who can eat well, sleep well, exercise on my behalf : the conditions to my wellness have become # 1 and this level of protection of sanity stems from it from a place of self-worth not paranoia.
The replenishment of our energy and mental is a daily practice requiring actual time being invested. When we see this as an appointment on our calendar, we guard that time, for me it's swimming / gym by myself, it becomes an anchor as we can't function without refuelling. Period.
Schedule peace and guaranteed wellness routines are far more important to me than missing out on whatever because no one can sleep on my behalf or exercise on my behalf and I know what real burnout feels like so there's nothing that gets in the way of my mental health anymore.
Burnout is *not* a proof of passion... Neither is sacrifice or compromising our self-worth and conditions to mental health.
I think the best way to describe ADHD focus is a loose electrical wire that is weak (easily broken) and difficult to get back on track. This is the main reason that only direly necessary notifications are allowed and I manually prompt looking at the rest so I am not sidetracked.
I no longer feel the need to prove my passion for anything through sacrifice, that's NOT how passion is shown. It's shown by hustle during time "on" so we refuel on time "off" so we last the long-haul and maintain sustainable success and get rewarded by being able to live well.
ChatGPT helps because I can outsource the nonsense that would distract me from hustling during my strict business hours and keeping to that schedule if I was bogged down by needless steps.
Anything worthy of you will respect the limits of your availability for that lane in your life and that's truly the bottom line here, it will be mutually uplifting with no depletion or sacrifice as if health problems were a marker of nobility or commitment, hospital bills aren't honourable.
Burnout was the catalyst I needed to never think again that compromising the strict conditions to my wellness is ever a requirement to prove my passion for anything, rather, health is the backbone for survival and sustainable success. Intense catalyst nonetheless, but grateful for real.
So what if something that seems small or easy for someone else is a trigger for you, you deserve to live as yourself and protect your peace. ADHD has weak focus so we're just more careful to leave buffers and we guard focus blocks, it's nothing to be ashamed of.
The biggest lesson is that I'm not invincible, and it's delusional to think that health just takes care of itself. Because that's not how it works. We have infinite potential, but we don't have infinite time. We have infinite potential, but we don't have infinite health.
I am not downplaying the difficulty of it at all, but had I not faced a situation where I could have potentially not come back from the burn out, I would not be this deliberate with my attention, time, and health. I saw life potentially coming to a halt, but it's a rebirth now.
My brain was forcefully reprogrammed by life to no longer believe that wellness was an acceptable compromise for success and I found the right medication to complement nutrition, sleep, fitness. This happened very fast and I am still finding my balance all while healing. 🥱
This is whiplash level healing (in a good way) and I am grateful to be able to share my lessons with those with whom it may resonate so that no one thinks it's all sparkles and rainbows all the time. It's not.
I find that the gym is a sacred ritual where I put order in my thoughts, recharge my overactive brain, and do my mental healing and processing, and now - unless I'm doing a product shoot that was planned that way, I no longer work during that time and I love it.
I don't see it as optimal health anymore, with a disability, this is survival. If we don't do everything we're doing to manage health, we can't even work. It's quite serious, what we need in place to even function at a baseline is intense - but when it's maintained, we thrive.
Some people don't even like Oreos and cupcakes.
So... What we need to understand is that the filters through which they view us is not our responsibility so embracing how we function is the key. Our limitations are superpowers when focused.
Your should never delay your actual responsibilities for something that isn't your responsibility in the first place (compound needless stress will burn you out) and genuine people will actually any type of boundary. Boundaries are filters and guidelines, they are very healthy.
Constant availability isn't the measure of success and neither is quantity, make sure that anything you take on is actually your responsibility in the first place, because if you're not focused, you're prone to burnout.
No...
You do not push through a broken electrical circuit because you might get shocked to death right?
It's the same with bandwidth limits and ADHD, this is a brain wiring characteristic, not a sports game.
We function / process information / learn differently, but those who matter don't mind and I love that.
I don't care if I'm good at something, I care about whether or not I have the time for it because that's what managing time and energy is. The fullest extent of your craft is going to vary based on your mental wiring.
You can have a bad insomnia day and still meet your baseline, it's not about using the work methods that everyone else uses. It's about making your best contributions without depleting your energy on trying to fit a box. Neurodiversity. Focus blocks are fabulous for this.
The other side of hyper focus which can be described as having the ability to work in "flow" for many consecutive hours without stopping... is that the crash is very hard at the end of the day, but this sprinting ability offsets bad focus days.
A business without constraints is a sink hole. Parameters protect performance, wellness, and sanity. The world is moving towards a model where wellness comes first and I am here for it. We do this by lean-ing out needless overlap, removing steps, focusing so we go home on time and power-up for top quality hustle during "on" time.
The proportion to which there is a bouncer with spikes / fences around my sacred time to recharge is the proportion to which I respect my commitments, I no longer prove myself through digging myself an early grave via depletion, I re-fill my cup daily so I can go the long-haul.
I was wrong about how I used to measure success and one day I will find my balance, but progress over perfection.
Doing it "all" is depletion and it adds up quickly, clear focus is the antidote to burnout and no, you should not even try to be all things in the first place because mental health first. I have no desire to over-extend myself for anything as I end up facing the consequences.
If we have two good focus days out of five, obviously we're extra discerning about what we take on, as we should be. Merely existing is a struggle most days so shaving off needless mental overstimulation is bare minimal self-care with a disability, limits are to be honoured.
Our limits are an acceptance of our need for self-preservation, it's not about other people. It's about our survival with a disability in a world filled with endless distractions.
Before we take on a bandwidth or time commitment, we evaluate if we are the right person for it, if it is our rightful responsibility to begin with, and if it is necessary.
It's a proper balance and correctly designed duties, it's not all or nothing.
Praise coming at the cost of yourself is something you can live without.
Your limits and boundaries are about what you need to function with already less focus to start off with. The right people will respect the limits of your time, energy, capacity, availability in any area of life. Embrace differences.
Boundaries are about managing your personal health and personal responsibilities, they're not about anyone else, so it's their choice if they want to make it about themselves. Your time for wellness should be sacred.
You don't have to be embarrassed for functioning differently, those who expect everyone to function and process information and learn the same way are missing some pieces.
What we need for our unique mental health is different, mine involves a lot of peace and quiet and silenced notifications as much as possible daily. My sabbatical crash day has zero business emails whatsoever allowable and nothing that resembles work, protecting my creativity. 🙏
Your cup will not refill itself on its own, it requires time carved out, it's a personal responsibility to show up for yourself and no one can do it for you, genuine souls will encourage you to put your own oxygen mask on first and self-care doesn't qualify as time that is negotiable to be cut into or pushed aside because it doesn't take less time than it does at a baseline - it takes however long it takes - with or without a disability.
Onto mindset...
I have cried countless tears over everything I struggle with, and what I can't do, but I realize that's not helping me. What helps me is focussing on my strengths, validate pain, but move along... and you should focus on what makes you you as well. 💙
You are winning your vision in your mind before you even take any action, your mind is the conductor of your life, I'm happy I'm getting mine sorta right finally after years of stupidity of not knowing what I was doing, but you live and learn.
Despite the seemingly life-limiting effects of losing an entire day per week to recover sleep debt from ADHD-driven insomnia, which happens even if I am happy and doing everything right... But...
The number of hours / days per week we use to manage our disability isn't as life-limiting as I used to think, it's life-giving and nothing should get in the way of health-preservation, managing everything around health-first is fantastic (that's a personal responsibility and obligation that I cannot outsource). Fully accepting it is far more empowering mentally. I just need to be laser focused on all other days.
Maybe the medication - forced brain brake system which I clearly didn't have before like let's be real - makes me more tired because this is a synthetic / chemical intervention, but that's better than not having a "stop" sign internally and not understanding tiredness cues.
I think I understand tiredness cues now because I feel it when I am tired, incredible that before : I was able to over-ride it and that's kind of dangerous. Now that I understand my brain better, I see my limits as normal for me and I see the scope as a way to leverage direction and focus.
Any limitation can be turned into an advantage when honed in. ☀️
Data on my brain means no more trial and error, no more shiny object syndrome, no more misusing time on needless added projects when I realize how powerful focus is. It's very much a blessing to have information on my inner workings, this knowledge won me back years of my life.
We may have more odds stacked against us, but anything is possible especially if we leverage it.
Caring about fellow business partners is treating their personal time as sacred and not adding more to their plate as life wasn't busy enough, that's humanity. 🙏 Not making anything more important than being "off" on "off" time is wellness in action. I love that definition I came up with. Respecting people's personal time as off-limits is proving we value wellness.
Self-care is not something we can outsource. ✅ No one can do it on our behalf, it takes time carved out away from / unavailable for other things, the right people are going to respect this ✨sacred✨ time for wellness / encourage it. Especially when you're managing a disability.
Time for self-care is not only critical, but you should be able to live a life where it's not going to be taken over by other lanes and it's actually guaranteed as without time to release mental pressure, you end up living in a pressure cooker and exploding later. Unhealthy.
Your brain is your control centre so how is it supposed to work if you're not resting? Any machine is going to stop working if it's not being refuelled or reset.
The thing you say NO to is not unimportant or unworthy... but they're free to internalize it, the thing you say YES to is simply MORE important for your survival, oxygen, life... Disability changes everything about how I live and I am here for it.
Life support moment hacks like pre-cut fruit for mornings help as there are times where we have truly no bandwidth, rather than break the electrical circuit fully via pushing through resulting in a spiral, we adapt our meal prep / all ways of living accordingly.
Can you be that easily overstimulated? Yes. When your brain is running races on the regular... And it's not ours to explain our mental space and energy limits, it's ours to own.
Even abandoning or delaying your basic self-care oxygen mask routines by an ounce is unacceptable / anybody who expects this and wants you to put your own survival at stake for what they want from you instead is not right for you especially if they're not a dependent of yours.
Learning to get to know myself again, and reconnect with myself with these new changes has been extremely transformational to the point where there is nothing that I tolerate in terms of peace disruption levels. If it's not adding to my happiness / mutually so: the door is there.
Foster kids are the recipient of my fundraising efforts in business, but my sharing of my ADHD story has the aim of normalizing neurodivergence at scale. The more we accept our differences loudly, the more we remain protected in a world that never took considered us. We matter.
I was born to live my life yes, but also to break open doors for people with invisible disabilities and all disabilities in general using my learnings as an example of being proud of who we are so we do not allow those who do not "get" it to stop us from reaching for the stars.
My tolerance for my own uniqueness has increased and my distaste for trends has too so if anything for which I advocate or stand for ever places a target on my back in any realm: I take it as a clear signal that my voice has impact / I am speaking up for the disabled too.
Balancing my health condition with my operations in a manner that makes the most sense for me, and taking ownership of the vision that I have for my life has been the most empowering thing because now I run everything with health in mind. We do not have a high error margin.
Kindness at your own expense is not kindness and if it costs you the conditions to our ongoing peace, schedule sanity, mental equilibrium: you're not to be expected to be flexible about a rigid topic like a disability and this will ideally screen out the wrong people very fast.
Boundaries are not barriers; they are the protectors of your purpose. Establishing healthy boundaries is essential to safeguarding your time, energy, and aspirations. Those who respect your boundaries are the ones who genuinely value your well-being and growth. Boundaries prevent the erosion of your mental health by ensuring that your relationships and business methods align with your limits.
The unique conditions to (or time for) your attention span, mental - spiritual - physical health - with the exception of dependents - are never an acceptable sacrifice / never proof of dedication to anything (situation, relationship, or thing). Feasible compromise if not health-related > time debt.
The fool I once was... I thought "passion" made me immune to burnout, absolutely not. Not in the slightest is this logical, not an iota of logic here. Self-care rituals are even more critical with a disability and dependents aside, it's shut-off-all-work-related-anything time.
Peace isn't the absence of challenge, it's the common sense of selectiveness and purposeful attention span control.
A disability can be life-limiting in some ways, but there's no better way to live than the way the best supports YOUR wiring rather than going against it, and just accepting the sacrifices that come with that. That's much more peaceful. This means quality over quantity.
My "disconnect" time is so protected that even my business-related networking happens during my business' hours because wellness comes first and I respect clients who get the concept of time limits and ensuring nothing treads on our own personal lives, it's really lovely. 🙏
Having to trim my business to core operations appears limiting, but my focus is my power source so that's not as big a sacrifice as it seems.
Remember, setting boundaries isn't a sign of selfishness or lacking generosity (exploiters want you to believe this, so protect your mind from them); it's a declaration of your commitment to making a positive and lasting impact, both professionally and personally. You must consult your time budget first.
Sustainability over indiscriminate / thoughtless decisions:
When you have a clear understanding of your limitations and commitments, you can make decisions about where and when to invest your time, resources, and efforts in a way that aligns with your values and goals.
Your dedication's measure isn't the same as everyone else's when you're neurodivergent, own it.
Tags: ADHD, wellness, Karisa Karmali