My MOST Effective SELF-CARE Strategies (as Someone with ADHD)

Comments · 621

• HO

  @HowtoADHD · 1 year ago (edited) · pinned

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• PE

  @peachy_liliYT · 1 year ago

  here&apos;s a fresh reminder to those of us who are not rolling in over-consumption self-care money because of the ADHD tax: you are not failing at self-care because you can&apos;t afford the time or energy for a 3-hour skin routine or a 2-hour acai bowl situation. sometimes those behaviors are coping mechanisms for other people, and appear to be helping but really are just a distraction. YOU know what makes you feel better. dopamine menus are always a great option so I highly recommend some of Jessica&apos;s earlier videos talking about all those different kinds of self-care.

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• DO

  @DoctorDraxion · 1 year ago

  I never really thought about it, but I think it just clicked that one of the reasons I feel so stressed and always in fight/flight/freeze mode is because I don&apos;t feel like I have &quot;wins&quot;. It&apos;s always &apos;okay that crisis is averted, what&apos;s the next disaster I have to fix?&apos; and there&apos;s no relief, no sigh and rest, no pride, nothing. Huh.

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• CA

  @carly6107 · 1 year ago

  My absolute favorite grounding exercise that no one I’ve talked to had heard of before is finding colors. Pick a color, like blue, and find every single blue object in the room. I always find more objects than I thought were there, and it really brings me back into the space, out of my head, and engages my brain just enough.

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• LY

  @lyndabethcave3835 · 1 year ago

  My favourite hack is Floor Time. If I&apos;m feeling overwhelmed, laying on the floor helps SO MUCH. Partly it&apos;s coz my muscles get tired holding myself up, and I can relax them. It&apos;s literally grounding. And it&apos;s easy to do because I can just — lay down. Even five minutes of Floor Time helps recharge me and allows what I wanted to do to come to the surface. But often I will do fancier versions, where I nap under a soft blanket for 20 minutes, and/or listen to instrumental music or nature sounds with or without earbuds.

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• ST

  @stellacalder5023 · 1 year ago

  I&apos;m autistic without ADHD, but I&apos;ve learned that if I&apos;m in that &quot;I hate everything/the world is too much/I can&apos;t handle existing in this body/vague but deep and intense discomfort&quot; space and I feel like I can&apos;t figure out why, I need to start by running through a sensory checklist until I&apos;ve reduced my input enough to &quot;reset&quot; and think about what I need (food, water, sleep, more intense stimming). If I&apos;m thinking through it verbally, it usually sounds like &quot;okay, what are the sounds I can hear and how do I remove some of those? Unplug the air filter? Put in my airpods? Now what can I smell and how do I fix that?&quot;

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• AN

  @annalisayoung · 1 year ago

  “Every time I tried to narrow down the list I just ended up having more.” Too relatable.

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• SC

  @scmalwal · 1 year ago

  I think the &quot;put the baby down&quot; advice was a comment I made! Its the most important advice I got as a new mom, and I share it whenever someone in my life becomes a new parent. It totally applies to all aspects of life too! It sticks in my mind because its so counter to a lot of the advice we&apos;re given, but trying to push through when you&apos;re not feeling ok can cause so many consequences. It&apos;s ok to not be ok, and its ok to put the baby (or the laptop, pr the car keys etc) down and take the time to you need to make safe decisions.

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• AZ

  @azurefishie · 1 year ago

  For many ADHDers and most Autistics, there&apos;s a difficult balance between novelty and consistency. Sometimes a person&apos;s self-care needs change depending on this balance. If a person is going through a lot of changes, adding more structure and routines can be helpful as well as engaging in familiar activities (favorite movies, books, games) and tasks that require less active thought.<br><br>If a person feels like they&apos;re in a rut, then seeking novelty in healthy ways such as learning something new, trying a new place to eat, or planning a fun activity can help.

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• KO

  @KohakuAmber22 · 1 year ago

  CUDDLES! Cuddles are so important for my self-care. I cuddle with my animals, my partners, and my friends :D

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• MA

  @MamaReilley · 1 year ago

  I am a fidgety person and realized a few years ago that i used to meet my sensory needs while trying to sleep by rubbing the satin edging of my baby blanket between my fingers as a kid, so I found the same type of blanket and use it to sleep or anytime Im doibg something that doesnt have my hands engaged! Im also very grateful that my husband has never judged me for still uaing a baby blanket in my late 30s!!

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• AL

  @aliciadeer9074 · 1 year ago

  Blowing bubbles is wonderful for anxiety and grounding. &nbsp;I have had it move me out of panic attacks and back to joy

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