Learning to Pause Instead of Push Through When You Have ADHD

Most of us with ADHD can struggle with our thoughts moving at the speed of light. A lot of us are excellent at coming up with new ideas or seeing situations from a different perspective due to our skills at pattern recognition. 

However, this can come as a detriment at times because we can exhaust ourselves even before getting started. In this blog, I will be talking about ways to slow down and listen to yourself instead of continuing to “Grin and Bear It”. 

The Importance of Slowing Down with ADHD

First off, why is it important for you to pause in the first place? Pausing can allow you to get a “lay of the land” as they say. When you are in a constant state of productivity you are often not listening to yourself and can overcompensate through multitasking, overburdening your mind and ignoring physical and emotional cues. When you finally reach the finish line, you can usually find yourself in need of immediate rest or burnt out for days at a time.

The good news is that in order to achieve your goals or check off items on your to-do list, you don’t always need to burn yourself out at both ends. You can integrate systems that work with your daily routine to help support you through. The first step is to be able to practice slowing down.

What Does Slowing Down Look Like?

Slowing down can look like recognizing moments where Time Blindness might be sneaking in. Time Blindness as it is defined is “the inability to sense how much time has passed and estimate the time needed to get something done” as defined by ADD.org. This can look like sitting down to work on the report you need to get done and believing it will only take you about an hour but when you finally do finish it it's about three hours later and now you’re hungry, irritable, and feel a massive headache coming along due to not drinking enough water. Does this sound familiar? 

Here is an exercise from “The Dialectal Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook” to help with recognizing Time Blindness if you struggle with it, plus it's a good basic mindfulness skill to hone. It’s called “Focus on a Single Minute”:

To begin this exercise, find a comfortable place to sit in a room where you won't be disturbed for a few minutes and turn off any distracting sounds. Begin timing yourself with your watch or smartphone. Then, without counting the seconds or looking at the watch, simply sit wherever you are. When you think that one minute has passed, check the watch again, or stop the timer. Note how much time really has passed.

By doing this exercise, you can start to train yourself to be more aware of how much time has actually passed and reduce the effects of time blindness.

What Occurs When You Don’t Slow Down

Secondly, our bodies are unfortunately not machines and are unable to just “Power Through” everything especially when we are neglecting our physical needs. This can look like taking a few minutes to pause and do an audit of your needs. This can look like going through a mental checklist in your head of if you’ve eaten enough, if you’re hydrated enough, and have you taken your meds if you take meds, etc. 

How to Integrate Pauses Into Your Day

Lastly, start integrating pauses into your daily routine as a way to check in with yourself. Pausing can help you re-calibrate and come back to the things you need to do with a clearer head. ADHD is about trying to maintain balance in a head that never shuts off, so use some of those moments to redirect your attention to what might be missing rather than how you can just power through.

How We Can Help

If you are someone or know someone with ADHD, your brain just works a bit differently, and knowing what is important for you to do to get through each day, each week and each month can be life changing. Learning to pause during the day can have a positive impact on your sleep, productivity, activity, and relationships. If you are interested in working with a therapist in Colorado who specializes in ADHD therapy, reach out today to get started!

Author Biography

Marie Clyne is a licensed social worker and provider at Catalyss Counseling. Her focus centers on adults struggling with depression, anxiety, and ADHD. Marie's passion lies in getting to know you, who you want to be, and working together to help translate those goals into reality. Follow Catalyss Counseling on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

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