Category Archives: Self-care

Reminding Myself to Slow Down

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Many of my friends posted pictures of their kids going to Homecoming dances this week, and my oldest had a birthday last week and just started a new job that involved a move.  I was reminded that life occasionally feels like you have been shot out of a cannon, and as my oldest friend used to add “without a net”! I know my kids will not always be happy having imaginary train trips on the stairs with all their animal friends. I know that soon the sand box at my mom’s will look like this:

 

And I know that I will look back at the time and wonder where the hell it went.
ADHD people often live life in a blur, we have a great time but sometimes in our rush to get to the next thing we forget to stop, and soak up life,  we are distracted.  Being distracted and busy can interfere with all of our relationships. Establishing respectful communication and listening skills are lessons kids learn best by practice and modeling.
I know if I want my kids to learn how to listen and focus, I need to stop and focus on them when they talk, to really listen, and ask questions if I don’t understand what they are trying to tell me. It is sometimes a struggle when I feel like I need/want to do fifty other things, besides stoping to read a book we have already read a least a hundred times, or listen to them telling me about an event at school.

My goal for myself is to slow down,  remembering to appreciate this time, when boo-boos can still be healed with a kiss. Exploring, getting your hands dirty, and playing are what life is.  I will take the time to do the little things, to ride a magic carpet made of cardboard, to sit in the playhouse and read books, and to stop and dig in the dirt with my kids if that is what they want to do. I can pretend it is for them, but really, it is for me.

In Praise of the Spiral Notebook

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In Praise of the Spiral Notebook
Wayne County Fair  2013

Today I am on the merry-go-round.  Going around in circles, wondering when the ride will be over,
can I really reach that brass ring with out falling off? My plan for a productive morning totally blown by snow, ice, more snow, and kids home from school. The precious 2 hours and 45 minutes I usually have to work on my current writing project? So not happening.
What do I do when my writing schedule is interrupted by children and other acts of nature beyond my control?  I grab a spiral notebook, the cheaper the better, and a pen. I leave it out where I can scribble down ideas that bubble up as I play with the kids, wash dishes, and watch the snow fall.

I have tried 3X5 cards and sticky notes but the kids and the dogs chew and eat them, respectively. If the cards/notes survived the omnivorous kids and dogs, I had a really bad habit of misplacing them or washing them.
For those of us with attention issues having a place to capture your flight of ideas is essential. Using something that does not depend on an external power source, is easily replaced and inexpensive is freeing.  Writing in my spiral notebook provides these five benefits.

  •  I feel as I am really working even if I am not at my computer, hammering away at my current  work in progress.
  •  I can capture thoughts and ideas for my work in progress and new story ideas.
  •  When I face the blinking cursor I have a clue what I wanted to write.
  •  I don’t have to worry that my notes will be lost, chewed on, or otherwise become unreadable, although I do advise NOT pointing a freshly fed infant at one’s research notebook!
  • A spiral notebook feels private in a way that electronic notes do not.
So am I an unrepentant Luddite? No. I love my Mac, and Evernote is my favorite app. Do I need a private, portable, unbreakable, cheap way to keep up with thoughts, ideas, scraps of information and whims that pass though my head on any given day. Yes, and I can buy them ten for a dollar at back to school sales.  Do you have a favorite way to capture your ideas? Are you rethinking your system? Do you have a system?

Do you have any 3X5 cards?