Anxiety and Time Thinking with ADHD

Do you feel anxiety on the weekends or in your downtime? Do you feel that any time that is not spent toward something you “should” be doing has been “wasted”?

This anxiety rarely shows up at work or other structured activity. If your work involves an 8 hour day, for example, and you are physically “at work” during working hours, you may generally feel comfortable that you were “working,” even if you don’t have a lot to show for it.

But when time is unstructured, overwhelm, uncertainty, and anxiety creep in. Without a name for how you are using your time, you lack a sense of purpose. You may feel you have done “nothing.”

To head off this downward spiral, I have a language-based suggestion. You might create more options for how to think about your time and what you are doing — beyond “working” and “not working.”

If you name your time according to what you specifically do, you’ll find that “not working” time includes many kinds of time. There is transition or break time; time to cook, time to eat; time to clean up; time to play or putter; time to go to the gym; time to work on hobbies; time to review your accounts; social time; time to watch TV or read; time to time to get ready for bed; bedtime.

With names for your time, your awareness of what you are doing will increase, making it easier to make conscious choices about what you will do. You can set expectations for what will happen: “6:30 is time to go to the gym” - which makes it more likely that you will do it. And at the end of the day you’ll have clarity, knowing what you did with your time today.

ADHD Life Support is the blog of
Susan McGinnis, CALC of ADHD Impact Coaching LLC
Coaching adults with ADHD www.adhdimpactcoaching.com