Re: The High-Five Corner

[quizzical]

Wrestling with major PMS today, so I thought I’d write down some accomplishments of the summer to see if I can get out of my funk.

I cleaned out a basket of two years’ worth of the kids’ school papers (thank you Olympics!) and went on to clean out a major kitchen clutter corner that had formed around all those papers.

Compiled a list of my singing repertoire on the computer.

Got back into an exercise routine by doing laps at the pool.

Read books. Not sure how many, and it’s not many, but more than usual.

Related to the reading, I had a major insight about the way I shift focus – mainly, I need to give myself a generous amount of time to switch gears. It might take some time to settle into the chair, and I might have to re-read the first couple of pages of a book, but after that – if I don’t beat myself up for my lack of concentration – eventually the focus tunes in and I can read effectively. Seems like a bit of a “DUH” but I really wasn’t giving my brain the extra time it needed to switch tasks. Realizing that I CAN read again (I used to be able to devour books, once upon a time) has been really exciting.

Taking that knowledge out into other spheres has been interesting, too…realizing why I’m not “fast on my feet,” understanding why I want to stay at the pool all afternoon when the kids want to leave after an hour, grasping why I hate it when my husband is driving and asks me to suddenly find a map and navigate, or pinpointing the reason why I hate going for Mexican and being asked halfway there “How about Chinese instead?” The classic image of an ADDer is a restless person, but in me the ADD has the opposite effect – I really struggle with change. So my challenge is to find ways to acknowledge this and work with it.

Wow, that went all over the place! But I do feel better. I’ve missed this forum – summer busy stuff kept me away – but it’s so good to know it – and all of you – are here for me!

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