We are reaching the time of the year when we begin to procrastinate about what our next year is going to be and we try to come up with new year’s resolutions to ensure it might differentiate it from all those previous years with a positive change perhaps. Many do successfully find a breakthrough but what about people who are affected with ADHD? Can ADHD and New Year’s resolutions mutually exist? What are the side effects going to be? Or will there be a positive change? Let’s find out before New Year’s Eve!
What is ADHD?
ADHD, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a neurodivergent mental condition that is characterized by the quickness it affects the executive functioning (ability to do the important tasks that are needed to sustain life properly) of the affected individuals through symptoms such as hyperactivity energy, procrastination, freeze, restlessness, impulsivity, inability to focus on one task, or at times, hyperfocus.
ADHD symptoms are hard to deal with, especially if there is no psychoeducation or understanding about it, even for the affected individual, not just for those who surround that affected individual. They also usually strike at a young age, predominantly before teenage but can gradually get better with natural aging. ADHD can be as debilitating as mental conditions such as OCD, eating disorder, or bipolar disorder, especially if it is not treated in a timely manner.
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For the affected individuals, any task can easily become an obsession once interest is pique, and with the same ease, it can also lose steam. This is the thing that relates most to the subject matter of ADHD and New Year’s resolutions. You’ll see how in the words below.
ADHD and New Year’s Resolutions: Do They Strike A Chord?
Before we begin, we would like to put out a disclaimer first that it is difficult even for people with normal brains to stick with their own New Year’s resolutions, so it would make sense when it comes to ADHD and New Year’s resolutions, the affected individuals are going to fall off the resolution train.
ADHD-affected individuals tend to seek and love novelty as they will become hyper-focused and absolutely obsessed with their new interests, especially the ones that tend to be based on the hype. Then all of a sudden, they will lose interest, which means they will leave every little thing related to the fallen interest then and there and move on. For example, an ADHD-affected individual might get into painting, obsess over it and learn about it, buy all the things needed for it, and even do some painting (which can be extremely good) but then leave it for another interest. When it comes to ADHD and New Year’s resolutions, it is the same deal as the New Year’s resolutions become kind of a new interest for them on New Year’s Eve, and then the affected individuals quickly fall off the bandwagon once the new year’s time has finally elapsed and can even all into the anxiety of self-reliance (that you are not good enough and cannot do any task properly). It takes a lot of persistence, consistency, and planning to get through New Year’s resolutions but in the context of ADHD and New Year’s resolutions, these are exactly the things that are on the lower end of the spectrum.
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On top of it, these resolutions relate to positive effects and you know positive effects don’t come easily, so one has to make an effort. For example, for you to reap the benefits of exercise you have to continue with it regularly but for the ADHD people, the odds are stacked against them as their natural disposition to veer off anything they do will come in between them and their resolutions. ADHD brains are all about the present. They overvalue the present time. They have tunnel vision around the long-term benefits and new year’s resolutions tend to be all about long-term benefits. We mean it is about something that might take a year to fix. For example, you have made a diet plan for the New year’s resolutions, and during the initial weeks you are extremely excited and are actually doing good on the diet but then the effects of ADHD start to reel in and the motivations begin to veer off as soon as the hardships like cravings, etcetera, related to the diet begin to arise.
What Can Be Done To Stay Afloat With ADHD and New Year’s Resolutions?
You may not have to go through these religiously but you can get small victories through them and gradually build up to bigger victories in relation to ADHD and New Year’s resolutions.
Start Small
Suppose your goal is to lose 50 pounds this year, which is starting off as a New Year’s resolution. You will not lose 50 pounds in a week as you can at the most do 2 pounds per week, so why take time thinking about and obsessing over it? As an ADHD person, it would be better to have a goal that is akin to losing 2 pounds a week rather than going for 50 pounds. It will trick your brain into thinking that the shorter goal is probably easier even though the effort and outcome might be the same over time. If one tries too hard initially, it will be an aghast experience, prone to injury, and then the particular one is trying hard for may not seem viable, which is why it is important to start small. As an individual who has ADHD, it is compulsory to begin gradually and practice moderation to ensure a balance that doesn’t put you off from a particular task.
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Be Realistic
As an affected individual, we know that you frequently set unrealistic goals, especially when it comes to a new interest. Unrealistic goals often lead to failures that are highly affecting in terms of debilitation to ADHD-affected individuals. Setting unrealistic goals, especially the ones that relate to ADHD and New Year’s resolutions often leads to procrastination, avoidance, and a lack of motivation, which are essentially debilitating symptoms of ADHD. You can start off by keeping a checklist, where you can check things relating to a bigger task or an actual resolution in this case.
Using Tools To Help With Reaching Resolutions
Using tools like ADHD Bingo or reminder apps to get done with tasks related to ADHD and New Year’s resolutions. For example, you can use ADHD bingo like the bingo game but all the squares help you reach and fulfill goals related to resolutions. Users can use ADHD bingo and things such as reminder apps to get going with their resolutions as these will keep you abreast of every task that helps complete a resolution and will keep them current even if you are overwhelmed by symptoms such as procrastination, ADHD freeze or restlessly overthinking. This way you will also not feel bored and therefore help you a lot in terms of ADHD and New Year’s resolutions.
Find Support
This can come in the shape of treatment methods like psychotherapy or psychiatric medication management or you can buddy up with someone close to you (who can deal with your ADHD symptoms) to help you reach your New Year’s resolutions. Support like this can especially be helpful in providing motivation to affected individuals. For example, you can arrange to have a buddy of yours as your spotter in the gym, who can also keep you motivated to get that summer body that you promised yourself (in the presence of that same friend, perhaps) on New Year’s Eve that you would try to get in the new year.
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Focus On The Bigger Picture
Always think about the whole breadth of different benefits that you will be getting by completing a resolution. This way the affected individuals can keep focus on how to complete the resolutions that they made on the new year’s eve.
Go For New Year’s Theme Instead Of Resolutions
This can provide you with an overarching goal that covers not just one thing but a whole backlog of goals that work toward fulfilling a theme. For example, creating a diet, trying new things like telehealth psychiatry, and exercising regularly can all come under the main goal of “Taking care of your health”. This way one can choose to do something as everything stays appealing and unboring because an ADHD brain high on novelty-seeking behavior may get to do different things every day but all of them are contributing to one main goal. Now that’s great in the context of ADHD and New Year’s resolutions.
Eliminate Restrictions and Avoid Distractions
When it comes to ADHD and New Year’s resolutions, it’s important that you don’t make restrictions around your New Year’s resolutions too harsh and while you are at it also ensure anticipating all distractions and eliminating them in a timely manner.
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Wrapping Up!
We have wrapped everything about ADHD and New Year’s resolutions. You know now how both can be mutually destructive for each other and you need to make changes for that. Perhaps, we can help with these changes through an adept team available at Inland Empire Behavioral Group not just for treating ADHD but also for other problems such as psychosis and depression.
