There are ways to live a simpler life with ADHD. Being honest with ourselves about how we live, the choices we make, and how we spend our time and money, is a good place to start. Some of these choices can be easy, while others are hard. Learning to evaluate change and then preserver, can be challenging but a process worth starting.

The moment I started to detach myself from ‘things’ and doing ‘stuff’, EVERYTHING in my life became simpler and more manageable. And, it was the best decision I’ve ever made. One way to do this, is to reassess what’s actually really important in our lives. What actually matters to US?

Read on if you want to learn more about the process….. and it IS a process. But it’s doable, one day at a time.

Finding balance in a complex world

Balancing work, money, family, friends and leisure is becoming pretty complicated these days for some. Our working day can often be merged into our home and family time, thanks to workplace laptops and other technology. These ‘convenient’ work add-ons, can make switching off harder.

If it’s possible, don’t take the laptop or tablet home every night of the week. If it isn’t, try switching off all ‘work’ related tech, several hours before heading to bed. This way, our brain has time to forget about any ‘important’ emails or meetings we might have the next day. Making a plan to build this into our daily lives, helps in the long run to reduce more unwanted evening stress. It gives our brain time to switch off and relax more.

ADHD & the Simple Art of Distraction

If you’re like me, you can’t stand a constant stream of emails, particularly the dings and visual distractions while working on a computer. One way to reduce these distractions is to unsubscribe to any mailing lists we’re not into anymore. This reduces the emails we have to sift through and reduces the notifications attached to them. All of these things suck up our time and complicate our lives.

Go into the settings of programs used, and turn off notifications to stop any further distractions. I find it best to make time when I’m free for a minute, to do all the ‘checking’ in one go. Spending just 10 minutes unsubscribing can save hours of annoyance down the track.

Cleaning a bit at a time makes ADHD life simpler

When the mess builds up, it can become overwhelming causing us to do everything in our power to avoid doing it. I do a little bit every day and it’s way more manageable. Before I downsized from a massive 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom house, to a tiny studio apartment, I did have a strategy to help. Downsizing makes life easier for obvious reasons.

Previous to downsizing, if I was moving from one room to another, I’d look around and take one thing with me to put away. I’d take it with me to the next place in the house. Now I’m in a very small space, I use the same method but it’s on a smaller scale. Get into the habit of doing this when moving from room to room. Check the results to see if it’s made a difference.

Cooking in Bulk Saves Time

Cooking larger amounts of food in one go and then storing the meals, can be done on an individual scale, but achievable on any scale if we try. I’m not a lover of cooking, but if I chuck on some good music, I can cook up a storm. It takes a bit of effort but it’s so much easier to then grab my ready-made meals out of the fridge or freezer, rather than preparing something new every time.

Preparing in bulk helps me eat healthier, as I’m not reaching for package processed food when hungry. I also make sure I have plenty of leftovers that can be mixed and matched with other food I have around.

Buying less simplifies everything for the ADHD Brain

Buying only what I actually need has many benefits. Firstly, if I buy less I not only save money, I also have fewer things to organise and look after. This helps the bank balance and the amount of cleaning and/or washing it takes to care for things.

Buying less also means a reduction in the unwanted products I might’ve ditched if I didn’t really need them. This has a good knock-on effect on the environment creating a system of less waste and more awareness around the lifetime of a product.

Some of my most favourite clothing are items given to me by friends. Half the time I only ever end up wearing the same stuff anyway, so when completely necessary, I buy multiple items of clothing in different colours. This saves organisation time through buying less better quality clothing, that’s easy to mix and match. This makes life simpler when choosing what to wear each day. Less clothing also requires less space and frees up some brain space for the more important things in my life.

ADHD & Online Shopping

Compulsive shoppers might want to skip this section…. or read on if you want to break that compulsion and save money. Excessive shopping sucks money big time. I only buy things, that will either improve my physical or mental health, or if it’s an item I actually need, like a potato peeler or something. Online shopping makes my life way easier and gives me the brain space to consider my purchases. I used to grab so much unnecessary crap off the shelf if I was in a store. Just because it’s on special, doesn’t mean we need it.

Using online shopping has not only helps me curb buying stuff I don’t need, but it’s saving me money. I’ll fill up the online shopping cart and save it. When I think I’ve got what I need, I can then review it. This also helps with my budgeting and making sure I don’t overspend money I don’t have. Overspending leads us down a path of stress ….. stressing about where to put stuff, clean stuff, and maybe, how the heck we will pay it back if we got it on credit???

The added bonus of shopping online, it saves me time because I can do it from the comfort of my own home, in my own time. It also has the added bonus of getting delivered to me which saves me time in travel, and the cost that travel brings. Just be sure to check it’s free delivery before checking out.

Make ‘No Stimulation’ top priority

Even just a few minutes a day can help our brains reset and refocus. Even though we crave stimulation, when our brain gets a chance to have a break, it provides space for creativity. I find I do some of my best thinking when I’m going for a walk, or just escaping the external ‘noise’ from everything around me.

The places I’ve gone camping have had no Internet access. They were off-grid and I went there for that reason. When there’s no reception, there’s no temptation to dig into the pocket for that phone. If I can’t go camping, I’ll go walking without my phone. This allows me to really appreciate the reduced overstimulation feeling that I get from too many things going on.

Just sitting in a park during a lunch break (without the phone) will do the trick. We are all different operating within different circumstances so it’s important to find out what relaxes our own brain and work with that.

A vast majority of people complain that they don’t have the time to take a break. When we actually add up how many minutes we spend each day on a certain activity, we can see where we’re placing our attention. A good way to work out how we spend our time, is to add up how many minutes of the day, we spend on different activities. When I first did this, I was shocked at my ‘less than impressive’ use of time. Try it! But it may shock you into change, so be prepared 😉

Ditch Social Media to simplify life

Okay, so ditching social media altogether might be a long shot, but reducing the amount of time spent on it can make life much easier. It’s an absolute time sucker. When I took a step back to really assess my usage and HOW it made me feel, I reduced it immediately. I use it for business purposes only now so I can share articles or get information. I’m in control of it, not the other way around.

This year, I’ve seen a shift in where people are starting to place their attention, and it’s not social media. I do my utmost to talk to the people around me or message them privately or call them. This way I still have connections with others, but I don’t give a crap now about what other people think, so ditching social media for me was easy. But everyone is different and we just have to do the best we can…. and then keep trying.

If you hold the belief system that change isn’t possible, check out my post on Changing Limiting Beliefs.

Bottom Line

Do what works for you and realise that life is a process and definitely a process to be enjoyed. We can make it less complex if we change a few things. Small changes to our daily routine, can make a massive difference to our physical and mental health and well-being in the long run.

Simplifying our lives doesn’t have to be complicated. Being honest with ourselves and how we choose to spend our time, money, and where we place our attention is possible through self-awareness, repetition, routine and determination.

Give it a try. Appreciate the small things in life. THRIVE.

We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. OUR TIME!

Buy in bulk and save

Click the image below to get the Ultimate Adult ADHD Personal Development bundle. It contains the following:

• 9 eBooks in total covering many different aspects to improve daily life and life skills, including strategies for sleep, nutrition, calming ideas, time-saving hacks, improving focus and concentration, learning to meditate, tips for remembering stuff, and self-regulation strategies for individuals with ADHD and anxiety
• 1 daily planner checklist to help monitor progress on healthy habits
• 3 journal prompts on personal development, changing limiting beliefs, and improving general health and well-being