Day 26: Feeling Stuck
When you have #ADHD tendencies your brain can tend to hold you in lock down.
There are some very good, albeit slightly annoying reasons for this.
I’m going to go over 3 of them below.
1) Sensory Overload
2) Safety
3) Black and White Thinking
Let’s take a closer look at each one.
Picture a power circuit board with relay switches running all throughout your house to provide electricity.
Let’s then imagine your home is running at max capacity. Generating electricity for all things. The a/c, the washer and dryer, the appliances, everything is plugged in and buzzing. (Not ideal, but just go with me.)
What would happen if your neighbor decided to then connect their entire house directly to your circuit breaker to power their home?
I’ll tell ya…Snap, Crackle, POP! Your power would go out and the whole switchboard would blow a fuse. It’d hit maximum capacity and overload.
This can happen to our brains.
We have so very much on our minds. All of the thoughts, and the things we need to do and want to do.
We’re bombarded with all types of “noise” day in and day out. Electrical frequencies surround us. We’re almost always “plugged in”, literally! To a phone, an iPad, a computer, a TV…
It can feel very difficult to carve out some time away from it all. Time to reset, recharge.
When we don’t take a step back we can hit “system overload.” It can freeze us in our tracks. We just mentally shut down.
Another reason we can feel stuck is that our brains want to keep us safe.
They are very efficient at sniffing out “danger”.
Back in prehistoric times, we would sense danger and our “life saving brain chemicals” would kick in to help us respond appropriately, and well, save our lives.
Nowadays, our sensors are a bit off. We’re not out in the jungle trying to avoid lions, but rather we’re out in the world trying to avoid the discomfort of failure. Same brain chemicals kick in, so our brain’s response is automatic and unnecessary.
“Save yourself! Hide!” It’s a bit of an overreaction that needs to be managed.
In comes black and white thinking. This tendency will have you believing that something either has to happen one way or another, you will not have the ability to consider all of the options in between.
You’re automatic response sounds something like “if I don’t get this done by tomorrow, it’s over.”
One option. One solution. When often what’s best for you is some unique approach. (Typically not the first method that comes to mind.)
There’s good news here, all 3 of these things are fixable.
You can reset by taking a brisk walk outside or spending an afternoon doing something you love. Disonnect and reconnect with nature.
You can use metacognition (the skill of thinking about what you’re thinking about) to decide if you want to be scared and yet still do the thing that feels hard.
You can step outside of black and white thinking by asking yourself positive questions such as “What would be the most fun way to ______? How can I work on my project and experience some joy today? What’s the most creative way to get this job done? How might I do this if I switched things up a bit?”
Are you someone that gets stuck easily? I’d love to hear what trips you up and keeps you from moving forward on a project? If you’d like to learn more about how coaching can help you get unstuck, book a free consultation below and let’s get you moving towards what it is that you really want.
