Latest / ADHD with Confidence | Overcome Anxiety & Self-Doubt, Christian ADHD Coach, ADHD in Women / 180 // 7 Tips to Create an ADHD-Friendly Life

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180 // 7 Tips to Create an ADHD-Friendly Life · ADHD with Confidence | Overcome Anxiety & Self-Doubt, Christian ADHD Coach, ADHD in Women

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  Part of living confidently with ADHD is learning how to create an ADHD-friendly
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  lifestyle or an ADHD-friendly environment.
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  Are you tired of feeling like you don't fit in? Like you're not good enough the way you are?
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  In this podcast, I will give you the strategies to build God-centered confidence
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  so you can know in your heart that you do belong.
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  You are enough and you are made on purpose and with a purpose.
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  Hey, I'm Kelsey Spronk, fellow ADHD.
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  Hey friends, welcome to the ADHD with Confidence podcast. I'm your host,
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  Kelsey Spronk, and today I'm going to give you seven tips to create an ADHD-friendly
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  life. The first time I tried saying that, it did not come out right.
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  So this is me trying again. All right, I will go through the seven tips here.
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  Before I do that, if you have enjoyed the show and you don't mind leaving a,
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  rating at the bottom or a review, it helps other people to find the show.
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  If you're new here, just ignore that part and let's get started.
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  All right, tip number one, find or create opportunities to use your strengths.
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  Now, part of this is uncovering what those strengths are.
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  But some examples could be creativity, thinking outside the box,
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  problem solving, maybe empathy, intuition with other people, leadership, teaching.
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  There are so many different examples. If you look at the intersection of where
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  you have thrived in the past, where you have done well, where you have enjoyed something?
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  What were some of the strengths that you were using in those times?
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  Part of why this is so important for creating an ADHD friendly life is we are
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  often bombarded with this information about the supposed weaknesses of ADHD
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  and how it doesn't fit in to our neurotypical culture and environment.
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  So it's important for us to have the opportunity to also demonstrate that we
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  do have strengths and we're not made wrong. We need a certain environment.
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  We need certain opportunities.
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  And that does not make us less than for that.
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  It also gives you the extra energy and dopamine when you use your strengths.
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  And then it can also build up that confidence when you remember and realize
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  that you have So much to offer.
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  The second tip to create an ADHD-friendly life is to partner with farmer brains.
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  Now, this is coming from Dr. Jenny Byrne in ADHD and Professionals.
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  She referenced the book A Hunter in a Farmer's World by Tom Hartman.
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  Now, what this book is talking about is the fact that an ADHD brain would have
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  been a hunter back in the day.
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  And so we would have been looking for novelty. We would have been maybe a little
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  bit more on the edge of our seats, kind of, you know, jumping at different opportunities,
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  with hunting. There would have been movement. It would have matched the way our brains work.
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  Whereas our neurotypical counterparts would have been more like the farmer.
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  Predictable you know looking at patterns routine structure the kind of things
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  that don't work well for us so the point here,
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  is that it's not just okay but it's good to partner with those farmer brains
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  those people in your life who enjoy
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  structure and spreadsheets and scheduling and routine and things like that that
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  is a strength that they have so when we partner with them,
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  we can put our strengths together instead of trying to force ourselves into
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  a box that does not fit us number three.
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  Flexibility giving yourselves flexibility to work how it suits you best so part
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  of that within your work are you able to structure it so that you have times
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  where you can hyper focus where you can get,
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  a whole bunch done in a short period of time,
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  and complete a major project or a task.
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  Are you able to incorporate movement breaks into your work?
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  Are you able to move or stand while you're working to not just have the breaks,
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  but to have the movement while you are working?
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  Think about what kind of flexibility, what kind of supports or structures would
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  be helpful within your work or within your day-to-day routines.
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  Number four, another tip for creating an ADHD-friendly life is to foster the
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  friendships and find the friendships.
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  Where they love you and like you exactly as you are, and then focus on those ones.
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  Instead of going to make new friends, instead of wanting to have a whole bunch
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  of different friends, focus on the ones who already love you and already like you exactly as you are.
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  This is something I can be guilty of not doing, is I will look for the novelty
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  of new friendships and then wonder why I can't have a best friend overnight,
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  but that is not how it works.
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  If you haven't read it, Carolyn McGuire's book about ADHD and friendship, very helpful.
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  But that is something that we with ADHD do is we want it to happen immediately
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  where we become best friends and it just simply does not have the history or the trust at that point.
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  So what I have been learning recently is to focus on the friendships that I
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  do already have and fostering those, meeting with them more regularly because
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  of the importance of that social connection.
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  Also a time where it's easier to unmask because I know this person loves me for who I am.
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  Number five in creating an ADHD-friendly life is to learn about ADHD,
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  to continue learning about it, and look at that not as a destination, but a journey.
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  You can learn about the strengths, the advantages, maybe where some of the struggles,
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  why some of those struggles are there, how our brains work, what ADHD medication does for us.
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  I was going to talk about that in a future episode, but essentially it creates
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  that sense of wakefulness, like we've had a really good night's sleep.
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  So interesting information about ADHD that helps you to understand yourself, your relationships,
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  your environment, what kind of work suits you best, the more we understand,
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  the more we're able to then make choices and set up our environments in our lives differently.
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  Another part with ADHD is the advice to externalize everything and there is
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  no shame in that, which means don't expect yourself to remember that you just
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  put something in the microwave. Set a timer or a reminder for it.
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  Don't expect yourself to remember that you have that appointment at two o'clock this afternoon.
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  Put visual reminders, put alarms, multiple alarms on different things.
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  It's okay, not just okay, it's good to externalize things so that we are not,
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  expecting ourselves to remember those.
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  Number six is to find a mentor, a coach, or a therapist.
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  Now, these type of people can help you along your journey.
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  They can help you understand yourself and your ADHD better. They can provide
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  resources. They can be a sounding board, and they can just be a support.
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  So whether you have somebody locally that you know, I also offer ADHD coaching.
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  If you wanted to check that out you can go to adhdwithconfidence.com forward
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  slash offerings and look at that there but having somebody who is able to,
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  walk through these different things with you helping you to set up a life that
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  works well for you something we talk about in coaching is building a life that fits,
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  and there's not a one size fits all it's a life that fits for you and what that
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  means is a life where you feel like you can thrive, not just survive.
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  It's something I also am teaching in my upcoming ADHD confidence course.
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  It's coming out in January. If you wanted to get on the wait list,
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  adhdwithconfidence.com forward slash ADHD course.
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  But we talk about creating a life that fits where you have the supports that
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  you need, where you have your needs met so that you're operating from a better
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  starting place. You feel.
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  More at peace, more content, you're more fulfilled, you can create and reach
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  for a life that is more fulfilling.
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  The last one here, number seven, as far as creating an ADHD-friendly life,
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  is adopting the foundational belief that you are not made wrong.
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  This permeates into everything. I have had times recently where I've questioned,
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  you know, I've been upset about myself for something and usually I would spiral
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  and it would turn into the shame that I'm not enough.
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  But that core belief that my worth, that your worth does not change no matter
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  what you do or don't do, no matter what you accomplish or don't accomplish, no matter what you say
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  or don't say, none of that changes your foundational worth that you are made
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  in God's image and you are not made wrong,
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  can be so incredibly.
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  Peaceful.
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  It can be peaceful. It means that even when I forget something and I burn the
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  food and I lose my keys, I lost my keys this morning and it was so stressful,
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  but it doesn't change my worth.
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  It doesn't change your worth. If you lose your keys every day and you're daydreaming
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  and you zone out in the conversation, guess what?
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  That does not change your worth.
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  And this is something that I understand will take time to be able to adopt this belief,
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  but it is so incredibly important because when we can go through life recognizing
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  that sometimes we do hurt people, sometimes we do make mistakes,
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  sometimes we need to apologize.
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  Even still, in any of those situations, when we've done something wrong,
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  when we've messed up, or when what we've done unintentionally hurt somebody,
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  we're still not made wrong, and our worth still doesn't change.
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  We're still enough, and we're still loved, even with those things.
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  And I feel like it can create so much freedom in your life as well.
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  It can save a lot of energy that we would usually spend beating ourselves up,
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  telling ourselves that we're not good enough, blaming ourselves for things.
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  And that foundational belief is grounded in the fact that you're made in God's
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  image to do good works. You're made with a purpose in mind, and you are uniquely
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  equipped with strengths and giftings.
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  I'm going to do a quick recap here of the seven tips to create an ADHD-friendly
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  life. Find or create opportunities to use your strengths.
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  Partner with farmer brains or neurotypicals three flexibility to work how it
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  suits you best four find and spend time with the friends who love and like you as you are,
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  five learn about adhd six find a mentor coach or therapist and seven,
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  adopt the foundational belief that you were not made wrong i hope this has encouraged
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  you helped you or blessed you in some way thank you so much for taking the time
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  to be with me here today i look forward to the next one.