Growing pains of becoming an adult /
How I Pre-Function my executive dysfunction
It took me 21 years to figure out how to be a human, and don't get me wrong, I am still learning! But graduating high school, moving out, and starting college was fundamentally the biggest change in my brain to date (which makes sense, because those are huge life changes lol). I had thought that I was flopping at being an adult since everything that I did seemed so awkward. I was so confused, I had spent my high school years so confident and sure of myself, but why did that all change within a few months? I had asked myself that question for almost two years before I realized what was happening. I was experiencing growing pains, and not the kind that make your joints hurt when you are going through puberty, the kind that make you realize that you are actually becoming an adult. They aren't comfortable, but they are needed. The last three years have been awkward, uncomfortable, frustrating, and upsetting at points, but everything single thing that has been experienced was needed. The way that I viewed relationships changed, how I mitigated stress changed, who I hung out with and spent time around changed, the hobbies that I did changed, and these were difficult changes. I felt like any sense of stability that I had was completely uprooted. Learning how to be an adult was way harder then any engineering course I took at school. But now there are some things that I have noticed, things and actions that help me manage throughout my day. Things that I do, even if they are small, that make me actually feel like an adult that has control of my own life. Now that I have realized how helpful these growing pains have been, I am extremely grateful for every experience that I have had in these last three years. Learning what t-shirt brands I like, finding out how I like my dishes organized in my cupboard, finding out how making my bed automatically makes my day better, every single one of these may seem small and insignificant to someone else, but they are some of the foundations that I have built my adult life on.
I have noticed that there are many things in my life that I rely on to make sure that the tower of my life doesn't fall. I call them base block activities. These are things that I have noticed, when I don't do them, the tower falls and I need to go around and pick up the pieces. For example, I NEED to have all my dirty laundry put in a basket, I don't have to make sure that they are separated or folded the right way, they just have to be in the basket. I have multiple laundry baskets, and I know that may sound like overkill to have more than one laundry basket, but I ALWAYS need to have a place to put my dirty laundry, so even if the first basket is full, I have another basket that I can put my clothes in. And this may sound like common sense, but putting my dirty laundry in its proper spot is the single most important step in keeping my room clean. These is my base block for the tower of keeping my room clean. If I have dirty laundry on the floor, then I will stop making my bed, and start leaving garbage out, then stop tidying my desk, and then my entire room is a mess that feels like it'll never get cleaned. BUT, if I put my dirty laundry away, then I make my bed in the mornings, and throw my garbage away, and tidy my deck. I have no idea why I function like this, but I do, and recognizing this has been super eye opening for other points in my life. I genuinely can't tell if I have just pavloved myself into using a base block to keep my room clean, or if it is actually something that everyone does and just doesn't realize it, but noticing these base block activities has helped me tremendously.
Drinking enough water is difficult for most people, but after I found my base block activity for this tower, it has become a 1000% easier for me to actually get my daily water take in. I hate drinking warm water, with a burning passion. Having ice water, WITH ICE (Don't beef with me about the ice being bad for teeth or whatever, I have decided its worth the risk) make water WAAAAYY more appealing to me. I also don't like drinking out of regular glasses from the cupboard. BUT, drinking water out of old, recycled jars, and insulated cups with stickers on them, just seems to make the water way better to drink. Since I have found this base block for water, I have gotten my daily water intake in for almost everyday since.
While I only mentioned a few of these base block activities, but there are a ton of them that I use to help keep my train on the track, there are so many I wouldn't be able to type them all out this century. I know that the example that I gave may sounds silly to many except for me, but TBH I don't really care. I spent my whole adult life figuring out small things that help me mosey through the world. These may not work for you, but finding base block activities has made my adult life so much simpler, and it may help you as well.
