Let me start by telling you how AWESOME you are! I never thought my post earlier this week would have as much of an effect as it did. I am absolutely in awe of the number of people who have reached out to me to share their stories and experiences. Honestly, I was absolutely terrified to press that "publish" button on my screen. Terrified. But I did it! And I am so glad that I did. That one very revealing post has brought me so much closer to so many of my beautiful sisters, most that I have known for years and never knew of their deep, intimate struggles. I feel so incredibly blessed to have new eyes that allow me to see how many people truly are there for me and know exactly what I am going through, and, likewise, how many people I can help. Because of the huge response to my "real" post, I decided to share one of my tools with you. As a woman in general, but especially one with ADHD, my brain is constantly thinking about quite possibly 17 things at once. I can start making a cup of coffee and think of something I need to do, then by the time the coffee is done, I've completely forgotten that I needed to do something at all. You can ask my husband, I even lose track of my own sentences while I am still speaking them. I often start a task on my to-do list, only to see something else that needs done, then that reminds me of something else, which causes me to see something else, and so on and so forth. I start the next task as I think of it because of the likelihood that I will forget. But then the task I was already working on gets pushed aside and by the end of the day, I feel like absolutely nothing got done, but I was busy all day! As a way to combat this, I normally keep a couple notebooks lying around so I can write things down as soon as I think of them. By the end of the day, they are usually pretty jumbled and messy because I like to write things down in different places as they make sense to me. If you've ever seen my notes from high school and college, you'll know what I mean. So I decided to come up with a way to make it a little neater. I left a lined area on the left for normal list making or notes or whatever you would normally put there. On the right, I created smaller sections for more categorized thoughts. I use these for shopping lists, daily bible reading passages, things I need to gather for an upcoming outing, things I need to put on my calendar, things I need to ask people, appointments that need to be made, etc. I don't like calling it a "to-do" list because that makes me think I need to do it all and all of it is urgent, but not all of my thoughts are things to do, sometimes it's just something to remember. Calling it a "brain dump" helps me remember it is exactly that. I'm just dumping out all my thoughts so I can see them and organize them. Sometimes that means I can get rid of some as unimportant, but I need to be able to see it all laid out first and not worry about if I'm going to remember - it's all written out in front of me and I can relax my brain a bit. Even if you don't have any form of ADHD, this can be a great tool to keep your thoughts nice and neat. I know I'm not the only one that's forgets things. ;) Give it a try and let me know how you like it! You can use a page per day or as long as you've still got room. I didn't include a spot for a date because that makes it feel like you've got to start a new one every day. This is YOUR worksheet. Use it how it best works for YOU.
I love creating worksheets like this, so let me know if there is anything else you'd like to see here on the blog and I'll see what I can do to make it happen! As always, if there's anything I can do for you or any questions you'd like to ask, please reach out and let me know! We are all here to help each other, so that's what I'd like to do. xoxo Casey
1 Comment
10/28/2018 08:43:09 pm
Thanks Casey, I have downloaded the Brain Dump template - it;s exactly what I was looking for. It looks like you haven;t posted on your website in awhile - I just discovered it this morning and I think it;s a shame you've stopped - I REALLY LOVE IT. I imagine, motherhood, work, family etc got in the way...I know how that is. I hope you return to blogging again one day, you are clearly talented xx
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AuthorMy name is Casey, I am a wife and mother, and I think you should always believe that something wonderful is about to happen. Archives
April 2017
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