Help I'm special!

ADHD isn't an excuse, it's just a great reason :)
Well right now i'm sitting in bed watching pirate's of the caribbean on stranger tides, role playing on MSN with my cousin and periodically switching to charmed episodes to let POTCOST (work that one out :P) load. Oh and playing solitaire at the same time, feel the wrath of the terrible mind of someone with ADHD.
The reason?
I can't sleep.
The reason?
I'm STRESSED. With a capital...everything!
I suppose it's not so bad, if I fail my A levels at least I don't need qualifications to attempt to be an illustrator and I won't have all that work *shudder* distracting me.
It's almost amusing how easy it is for me to do anything but study...
Plus I've got major Order and Chaos (RPG) withdrawal symptoms. Hurrah.
But as this is an advice blog not a moan, vent, whinge, diary.
Here's my advice;
take a little me time out for yourself. It's always healthy, and screw it, you can only do what you can do. So if you feel like staying up and watching movie's just go ahead and do it dammit! We only live once.
Of course don't do it all the time, but breaking the rules (curfew *snort* I know not much of a rule, but still a rule) everyonce in a while is good for the uh..soul. (Except breaking one of the commandents, that baaad. *evil atheist judging finger of dooom* )
So uh..back to my original point.
Just DO SOMETHING STUPID EVERY NOW AND AGAIN
Take a break from people.
Believe me, it does help :)
Sayounara.

Sometimes it does just make you scream

Hi all, I'd apologise for my absence :P but unforutenetly I haven't yet managed to find some followers to sprinkle wisdom (ok, ok, generally not stupid advice) onto.

So anyway, Christmas was indeed great, except for the non-existent sleep I got, I pretty much got all the major things I'd wanted. Including a brand new laptop!!!!
But unforutnetly all good things must end sometime and so now, on the day after boxing day my christmas break is over and I'm back to work. (ok not literally over, I'm not back at school yet, but I do have a buttload of revision to do @)_@ SOMEBODY SAVE MEE!)

SO my piece of advice is simple.
Don't leave it all to the last minute. Believe me, if I had gotten my act together earlier i'd be revising already, instead of trying to organise my unruly chaos of work. It wastes time and no it isn't fun.
So I repeat.

DO IT ALL NOW :)
Adios

Take a step back

As I sat down today and pushed myself to work on my biology work I found myself thinking about how easy it is to feel overwhelmed by everything that life throws at you. Like the fact that instead of most people who have only 3 AS exams or the lucky few who have 2 or even 1! I have all 4, one of which is on a subject I know nothing about as I didn't study it for GCSE. So I have to do twice the amount of work in the holiday's  as most people. But Instead of letting myself get overwhelmed I chose to follow my own advice.

To take a step back. It's so easy to let your thoughts run away with you, to let one thought lead to another and another and another until your screaming for it all to stop. To think 'I've only just finished organizing my biology work and making a revision plan and it's taken me the whole day, I still haven't organized chemistry or psychology or product design or even started working on them and I've still got to sort out those podcasts to listen to and those past papers to print out to go through as part of my revision....' See how easy it is to move from a positive thought to a string of negative ones?

I can't tell you how to remove these thoughts, or stop them running there course, in fact let them run there course, think all of those things THEN stop.

Think-So I haven't done any of those things, but I can only do what I can do. And I've now got one less thing to do on a list of things to do..

Look at it as One down, rather than 3 to go.

Think about the pluses of what you've done, and how they've lessened your load, if only slightly. Slightly is better than not at all.

So I organized my biology work-Now I don't have to stress out over revising neatly for biology, I have a revision strategy now all I have to do is stick to it.
And I came up with a whole revision plan for everything-Now I don't have to stress out over how I'm gonna tackle my revision for everything.

In terms of organizing, it's so easy to think I DONT KNOW HOW TO UNTANGLE ALL THESE THOUGHTS AND THINGS TO DO. Again, just take a step back.

Pick a starting point no matter how random and work from there.
Right starting point-I have a pile of work i need to organise. Ok So what should I do first?
How about just sorting it out into piles for each subject.
Now I have a mess of work in each pile for each subject.
What next?
Ummmm I know, I'll look in my textbook and see how the works arranged in there. (looking at existing methods or preorganized stuff is alway really useful! I can't stress that enough!)

Right so for Biology we have Unit 1 and Unit 2- My first exam is Unit 1, Right I'll put all the relevant topics (listed beneath Unit 1 in my textbook) together into two seperate piles.
Now under Unit 1 there is module 1 and 2, again, split the work into those piles.
Now under these modules there are 3 topics. Hmmm, you guessed it, three new piles.
Now my work is arranged into smaller more workable chunks.
To organize them roughly i can just use a folder for each module, and so 2 folders for each unit.
From a pile of mess, there is now a semblence of order, just by looking at it in logical bitesized steps.

Furthermore, ask friends how they do it, ask your parents, or teachers. Pick up strategies and mimic them. Believe me it's how i've survived. I was using a divided notebook for my work, but it was raining chaos. My friend uses a folder, with seperate plastic wallets. So each piece of work can be protected and easily flipped (no messing around to find the right place to hole punch so work doesn't stick out of the ends >.<! )
And it can be rearranged, with divider pages put in listing learning outcomes and the name of each section of work/revision. This works for me. But another way may work for you :)

So all I can do is keep on working and hoping it will all be worth it, there's no point worrying about something I have no way of knowing anything about.

Studying in Japan?

Sounds like a cool idea :D

The Extremes

So i'm getting sick of all these extreme's i go through, it's exhausting, the high's and the lows, never the middle's. It's like i'm always either extremely happy and creative or incredibly depressed. Part of me wants to change all that, but then I don't want to stop having the highs :(
I can't say there's really a way to deal with them other than ride them out and hold on as best you can. With the low's, try and hold onto something positive, like 'i got an A in my last biology mock, the revision must be paying off'. Even if you feel shit and overwhelmed by all the work you have to do. And with the high's, well just make the most of them :P Don't let the creativity or motivation go to waste ^^

Give the A in DHD some attention!

So linked in is a link to a useful ADHD forum where you can post your stories, strategies and advice. Obviously I'm hoping you all can feel like you can do the same here, but this forum is pretty useful for general medical proffessional advice, which obviously i can't give you all...yet :P (I do study biology, chemistry and psychology so ya know :) )

Well today I was revising and organising all my biology work with one of my best friends as we both have a large unit 1 mock test on monday and I found myself noticing all her difficulties in concentrating and distractability etc. I know her sister has ADD so i suggested she get it checked out, but talking things through with her made me think of another point to write on here as a coping strategie.

BREAK IT DOWN.
She was complaining about not being able to complete a whole two pages of notes on cell membranes, which to be fair is pretty dull stuff. So I said to her, break it down. The page consists of tables on different organelles found in the cell and information on said organelle. I told her to do a table, or more (however many she could focus on) then take a small break, e.g. put on a song to break up that horrid revision silence, or have a drink or.and only if your already addicted!!! >.< Have a cigerette (which I also suggest breaking up into 3 a day instead of 5, 5 instead of 10 etc. if you're trying to quit)

SO put it into easy goals, like if your walking somewhere far and you say right 'im gonna get to that lampost' ...'now im gonna get to that dustbin'....and before you know it the larger more out of sight goal is suddenly approaching and you're there. :) Small goals make you feel like you've acheived something and make the larger goals so much eaiser to reach. So give that Attention some attention. Don't force yourself to concentrate, just take it in sizeable chunks.

Finally. HERE'S SOMETHING USEFUL IF YOU HAVE THE NEW MICROSOFT WORD!
I'd never realised before, but you can actually make new documents with ready made templates, and boy o boy are those templates awesome!!! >.< you have stuff for everything, business, academic, home, schedules, calendar's, to do lists, surverys BLAH BLAH BLAH!!! Like there's a homework planner one, which has sections for 'priority', 'dates due' and 'work to complete'. Seriously, that is something I need, and it's all already there for me. Making organising so much simpler. Believe me! Try it out :)
Anyway back to revising. That information isn't gonna diffuse straight into my brain unfortunetly :( GOOD LUCK! and keep on working hard :)

Some TLC just for me

So what wise words of wisdom are on the agenda for today?
Me time. That's what. Now when I say/write that I don't mean just chill out and do absoloutely nothing because really, how is that me time? That's stress me out because I got nothing acomplished and all the shiz overwhelming me is still there time? I mean the time where you do something for yourself, and that can be anything at all.

For instance, whenever I feel particulary stressed out or anxious (i suffer with terrible anxiety whenever i'm around other people) it's usually because I don't feel ok in myself, if I think i smell or my hair looks greasy, or my clothes are bad, or i look fat. So me time means getting a new haircut to make yourself feel great again (Got one yesterday :P I'll put on a piccy soon as i can, coz i'm sure your all utterly enthralled to see it XD)

Or going right 'deep cleanse' something I love to do. Which is where you go into the bathroom, have a shower, a proper long shower where you layer on shampoo, conditioner, shower gel. Make yourself smell and feel lovely. Then get out, dry off, put on a face mask, cleanse your skin. Floss your teeth, brush your hair, dry it and style it, spray on some perfume. All pretty mediocre stuff really, stuff you probably do everyday (if you can remember to do all of that) but doing it all in one go just makes me feel like i've really taken care of myself. I feel all clean and pretty. So that's me time.

Perhaps me time could just mean putting time aside to do something you've been wanting to do for ages. Maybe it's been a week since you last went swimming? So screw it all, don't fret about all the stuff you could be doing instead of swimming, pack your bags and go (or ask your parent to take you, or money for a travelcard-if your like me :P ) try to think of it as doing something useful rather than doing something instead of something else. Because if going swimming is something you love to do, then your giving yourself a reward for slogging it through for so long, and who knows. Maybe doing something you love again will give you the fuel to keep on doing the stuff you don't love so much.

Or going back to the first point i ever made about going back to the source. If your feeling overwhelmed by stuff, like, WHY THE HELL DO I EVEN NEED TO GO TO SCHOOL? IT'S NOT LIKE I'M ACTUALLY GONNA NEED A LEVEL'S TO BE A '..insert future career option here'.. yes that's been me. Then just remind yourself logically why you need to be doing what your doing. Perhaps it's 'i want to get into a good university so that i can get a good job to fund my future career'  or  maybe it's 'A levels do look good on CV's, and the job market is getting harder and harder to banter in' or if your already working 'i need to be doing this job to pay the bills and save, so that i can finally end up doing what i love'
Perhaps on more drastic levels, me time would be re-evaluating something for yourself. 'This job I'm bogged down in? Has it actually helped me achieve my goals, or am i STILL stuck in that same rut? Maybe I need to look elsewhere.'
The point i'm trying to make is, me time is doing something that helps you out, no matter how big or how small. This morning, my me time was being in my room and picking up the first few clothes on my floor that had begun to assemble there again. I thought to myself 'if i let my room get into a mess, I'll start to feel cluttered again, and stressed with my mum nagging me to clean it, so i'd better start now and get it out of the way.' Putting those clothes away took less than 3 minutes, and probably saved me an eventual hour of tidying up.

As a filler, because I find lots of text immensely boring, here is a piccy i doodled of how i feel a lot of the time, all the thoughts and things defining me running round my head in the space of say, 5 minutes. And yes, red is my ultimate love for hair, but until the red craze dies down, I'm staying every other colour :P

So now i'm off to do some more me time, by organising my school work, it's stressful, difficult me time, but i know that once it's done. I will feel so unbelievably grateful and less stressed. And that's kinda the point don't ya think? :)

My first Original Tattoo design

And i'm stark raving scared. Yikes! But the good kind of scared like the scared you are on your first day to a new school, or when you find out your expecting (or so i've been told! :p as adorable as the little rolling stones baby tops are in brick lane, i don't really want a kid just yet D: )
So I work in a charity shop (which is awesome !!!) I get all kinds of cool stuff at cheapo prices, like my awesome pair of docs for only 15 pounds (dr martens :D ) So if any of you are like me and want to know where to get unique megacool clothes all the time but dont have much money, then charity shops are the place to go. Something cool, something noone else is likely to have AND it's helping a cause! Perfect trio in my eyes.
Anyhoo back to the point, I work with someone mega cool (they have rainbow hair, need i say more) which is great coz obviously if your gonna work somewhere you want a cool boss and not a fire breathing insanely bonkers one (bad bonkers, good bonkers is desirable for me of course! ) SO back to the point again XD she's a pisce's and wants to get a tattoo on her back but she wants it to be special and to be unique so i offered to attempt a design for her. It's an octopus coz lets face it, their way more awesome than a fish, but incorparating the pisce''s thing, so two octopus's, perhaps with some fish somewhere in the tatoo. Uber colourful, uber cool. >.< I really wanna get it right. It;s my first go so i'm going mad.
Remember what I said about just letting ideas flow and taking advantage of the whole ADHD thing? Well thats what im doing, internet searches, pictures, copy past copy paste, just collecting a whole splurge of relaated pictures THEN attempting to comb it all out, assemble some rough ideas and finally work on the final one. Whats frustrating is that I haven;t got a mouse. *sigh* how sad. So i can't doany digital work.
but hey.
On the rest of the crazy front, my purple hair is washing out D: but will be replaced with pink soon, school is murdering me slowly, and i'm wishing i was more skilled socially. like seriously, i always feel ignored D: i think it's coz everyones just so used to be being this little quiet person ( say what? i hear you say, i know, but its coz i was uBER quiet ot compensate for all the crazy going on inside, coz i was sick of people going 'YOUR SOOOOOOOO WEIRD') HA! not anymore though, i;m gonna try and change that. EMbrace the crazy, embrace the me. One baby step at a time right?
so on that note. here's a wonderful piccy of me and my purple hair

And my awesome charity shop cardigan thats so hideous it's beautiful :D
So for some hopeful words of inspiration
Remember: Go with the flow, and don't EVER let ANYONE stop you from being YOURSELF screw them if they call you weird, you can't help it, if you feel hyper then be hyper. Because believe me once you start supressing your mojo to stop getting hurt, it hurts a hell of a lot more trying to get it back.
So if you wanna dye your hair green and wear bright orange trousers, noones there to stop you but yourself. :) believe me, someone somewhere will like that you;ve done that and if you don't believe me.
I'm one of them ^^
Live for the moment, be impulsive, the more you think about not doing something the more your missing out on something potentially awesome. Obviously within reason, dont think about a consequence, do it before you can talk yourself out of it, then worry :P Like being strapped into a rollercoaster, YOur scared of heights, dont think about, get onto the ride, let them put the bar down then think CRAP I WANNA GET OFF. It's too late, so you'll just have to go along with the ride and get a thrill :P

An introduction

So hi there, anyone who happens to venture across this blog. This is gonna be all about living with having  ADHD and various other's disorders. I'll post about my adventure's, my changing style, my artwork, life with my family with advice to other's who also live with mental illness, piercing's, tattoo's and coping strategie's. I know that sounds like a right muddled mess but i'm hoping it'll prove interesting at least and inspiring at best :) So i guess to start i'll post my top 10 strategies for dealing with my ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) especially aimed at girl's as it's much rarer for women to have it than men! ^^


1. Just go with it (within reason, e.g being at school :p ) By that I mean if you get the urge to draw rather than work on some homework then go draw, get it out, you may end up creating something amazing. It's better to go with the feeling than put it off then feel utterly frustrated when you do try and do it later on, coz the moment's past (this goes for anything not just drawing urges :p, writing, dancing, watching T.V, reading, ANYTHING!


2. Take it one step at a time, it's something I often forget to do, but when I do remeber, boy oh boy does it help. Feel overwhelmed by all that stuff you've got to do so you end up procrastinating? Well break it down, think ok so this works due tomorrow, i'll do that first, then I'll do the work due in at the next latest date, and if your like me and feel bogged down by even personal tasks like picking up a bleeding pencil and working on how crappily you draw men don't stress. Look at point 1, when the time's right to do those personal hobbie's, you'll get that urge.Plus if you find you can't get yourself to work, break it down.
Think I'm gonna go upstairs to my room, now i'm sitting at my desk, now i'm getting out my work, now i'm picking up my pencil/turning on the laptop etc. It sounds dumb but it does work!


3. Get a whiteboard! I end up writing tons of lists that just get lost around my room or are so hastily scribbled their illegible, if you have a whiteboard you can pen it all down in one place, then rub them off and rewrite when it's done, it's neater and your far less likely to lose those lists or simply forget to look at them ^^'. That or get a billboard, or both! It helps with organisation too!


4. Keep tidy, i know that I let my room spiral into chaos o so easily, but once you declutter it's so much easier to think and get down to working or chilling. I find the time's i'm at my lowest my room is at it's messiest. Thats not to say some mess isn't good. Just not too much! :p


5. Take a break. But keep it short. When I take breaks i tend to extend them far too long then lose track of what I was originally doing, i suggest things like just making a cup of tea/coffee or your favourite drink. Putting on your favourite song, Keep them short and avoid tasks you'll end up hyperfocusing on. Like for me, if i start doing a jigsaw i get so obsorbed it's always one more piece, one more piece. Two hours later. Guess what? It's still one more piece! :p


6. Music. Healer of all broken souls. Seriously, whenever i feel down or unmotivated, without fail if i put on an uplifiting song i suddenly feel so much better. It really doesn't feel like it would but boy o boy it does! Same for if your feeling angry, put on angry music.


7. Go back to the source. Remind yourself why you want to do this, if your feeling overwhelmed (believe me I always feel that I have to remind myself it's worth it. For instance when I don't want to work on my science homework I might watch an episode of CSI or the big bang theory, then I'm reminded why I love it and suddenly I want to work on it again :p


8. Find that one thing. Try out anything and everything till you find that one thing that helps you. For me it's slidy puzzle's. If i'm feeling bored and hyperactive I take out one of those and calm for ages. It tends to be repetitive tasks. Like for me working at the charity shop is great because it means i get to be in a nice atmosphere doing soothing repetitive tasks. Course it helps if their are people to talk to that you get on with :p


9. Get help. A counsellor is good for one thing. GETTING IT ALL OUT! Ok so no problem was solved, ok so you still feel shit about that problem but at least it's no longer boiling inside of you, fermenting, slowly progressively being internalised. Getting it out at least means your not gonna burst it out to someone you might actually hurt.


10. Harness the ideas! Find a way to get all those crazy ass thoughts down. Mindmaps- I hate the buggers but boy do they work. Just write word after word after word after word. Think of it as a mind spring clean, like pouring out all the trash into the dustbin and discovering a few pearls that got lost in their. With ADHD if you can use it right, your naturally advantaged to be more imagintive than everyone else. SO use that to your advantage! :p
ok so I hope someone venture's across these and finds one of them helpful or even just finds it nice that they have someone to relate to ^^
Adios
I should probably go revise :D