Contributed by: Terry Matlen, ACSW
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of
times..."
Dickens pretty much sums up holidays and vacations
for me. It can be great and it can be, well... less than great. In
an earlier post, I talked about surviving the holidays. But today,
I'd like to dive into a specific area that typically we only
discuss in terms of our ADHD children, and that is....making
transitions and coping with changes in routines. Or I should say,
not coping with these changes very well.
Since those of us with ADHD are, for the most
part, distractible and disorganized; we rely on external structure
to make our days more manageable, as it can be incredibly difficult
to handle our time intuitively. Thus, we rely on internalized
routines, planners, Palm Pilots, checklists and the lot. So what
happens when our days become unstructured, like when we're on
vacation or have time off from school and work? What happens when
our routines change? The truth is, many of us become miserable!
At holiday time, we are off work, rushing to
parties, staying up late, and many of us are traveling. Everything
goes out of whack; including our sleep and eating habits.
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