MORE ON OUR ADHD BUSTING ARMBANDS
A friend has asked how these armbands might be helpful. Another friend asked about their construction.
These are good questions. I gave some more thought to the matter, and here is my reply:
They are printed out from an email. There is a template in a word file for a normal day. This is transferred to an email. It's also oncardboard throughout the house.
If we need to alter it or redo it, we do an alternate version of the email. So, it's not rigid. We can redo the overall version and we can redo it for the day.
It gets printed out and just taped together after it has been folded and wrapped around the arm.
It sounds ridiculous, I know. But the ADHD is really a very serious thing. There is a lot of constant "squirreling." This is a term which means that the mind wanders all the time from topic to topic, is distracted constantly, and it's very hard to get things done and finish things, or to follow any sort of routine.
This makes it very hard to be successful in life and hard to have a successful day. It can be fun to go from topic to topic. Even enjoyable. But it really does make things very hard.
Experts that we have watched on YouTube, therapist and people with their doctorate have mentioned how important it is to write out what one needs to do when one is doing tasks or a routine.
And, it's important to really look at each part of the routine and see how long it takes to do it, and to have a plan and make sure this timing is written down in the plan.
So, I think what we are doing, as crazy as it sounds, is a very good. The cardboard schedule is good because it's right there in the kitchen or the living room, etc., but one has a tendency just to ignore it after a while.
The email, which is up on the half screen on the phone, is good, but it's very hard to always have it up on the half screen.
The armband was my idea, because one's arm is always in one's view when one is doing tasks. It will always be there and remind one of what one needs to be doing, if one wants to have a successful day where everything that needs to get done gets done. This includes time for relaxation, getting proper sleep, etc.
The problem with all the squirelling and going from topic to topic is that this keeps one from getting things done. And then, when that is the case, you end up staying up too late to get it all done.
Your clothes have to be ready for work the next day. If you're having a Crockpot to make dinner or lunch easy the next day, you have to start it the night before, etc. But if you have been squirreling all day long, all of a sudden it is bedtime and there are many things that have to be done.
And then, you are very crabby and tired the next day, because you had to stay up late finishing all the things that didn't get done because of the squirreling.
It sounds like needless focusing on details, but it's really not. Those details in life are very very important.
I do not have ADHD. But I still have problems with getting distracted, just as any person does. And, as you know, I see the value of the schedule, because it frees me from always worrying about and trying to think what I'm supposed to be doing, in order for the day to end successfully and the next day to go smoothly.
I find it very upsetting for things not to go smoothly and to have to do without things that needed to get done.
I would prefer to have the discipline of the schedule, knowing that it can be changed any time I want to (during a given day) or changed over all.
I wear my armband in support of Jacob struggling with his ADHD. It's just an idea to help. And it's not a bad idea for me either.
Hopefully this makes sense. It's a little hard to get used to wearing it, but it's really very useful.
One thing we have discovered is that it's hard to keep it from getting wet, if you are washing your hands.
So, we're working on that. They need to be loose enough so that they can be removed!
