I have a calendar where I write appointments.
I have a doctor’s appointment that I had to write on the calendar.
I have a physical whiteboard where I write a “to do” list.
A couple days ago, I wrote on my whiteboard: “put doctor’s appointment on the calendar”.
Today I put the doctor’s appointment on the calendar.
I have not yet erased “put doctor’s appointment on the calendar” from the whiteboard. I look at it and feel a little proud that I accomplished something today.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll erase my whiteboard.
Nice. Getting to the doctor can be a challenge, and worth overcoming.
Oh, I actually made the appointment a week ago. The accomplishment was just writing the appointment date on the calendar. Sorry about the confusion.
Are you sure you don’t have ADHD? Being bound in the tethers of schedules and appointments makes me feel a deep unease, driving me to avoid calendars and schedules. That said, to function I desperately need them, so my choice is disquieted ickiness or life catching fire, so yeah, about 70% successful for using calendars.
Are you sure you don’t have ADHD?
Almost certainly! I’m trying out a couple different ways of getting organized: post-it notes, whiteboard, phone apps, notebook pages, calendars, etc. Nothing’s really working yet but I’m not giving up hope.
I was diagnosed this year at age 41 using an online service. I’ve been sure I had it for years. Getting the diagnosis was a pain in the ass, until I found this service. I’m not here to advertise so PM me if you want the name of the service. Just having the diagnosis was affirming and the medication has helped, a little.
What has worked best for me is making a small change and giving it more time to become default. If I change too much it is unstable and never settles into my normal, so when I make changes they are small and isolated from other changes. For example, I have automated my banking over the last year, but most of the changes are done at the end/start of a month and then carry over, so automating money into an account for my medications happened around November, before that it was electricity bills, before that yearly phone plan. Each one is in place long enough to not be disrupted by the next.
Yeah! I used that strategy when I started working out a couple years ago.
Can this be an adhd post too?