Growing up, anytime life went to hell, whether it was my phone slipping from my hand and hitting the sidewalk or whether it was nearly crashing into a deer that came out of no where on the highway, this was my dad’s mantra.
Don’t panic.
Of course, some things are easier done than said. We all panic sometimes.
But just as much as our intial reaction might be to panic or get worried or think the worst, our subsequent choice should be to calm down, face the facts, take inventory of what’s gone wrong and what can be salvaged, and focus on the potential of what could be the best (or at least, not bad).
There are these times when it feels like all hell’s about to break lose because I have a thousand things to do, not enough time, and while the quality of my work never dwindles under pressure the quality of my temper goes from calm to snippy under time constraints. I get especially irritated when people try reminding me of the work I have to finish. And it doesn’t help that my mild ADHD naturally makes me either the most focused (because I block out all my other thoughts and sense with noise cancelling headphones blasting music) or the most distracted person around (due to my associative thinking patterns which I’m now realizing is probably a side affect of the ADHD) depending on the specific situation.
I’ve hit one of those moments.
The other day, I remembered all the things I had to do not just in these coming days but for the rest of the summer. And my brain hit a block. The anxiety started to build. But I sucked the juice of a Tropical Punch popsicle, stared at the TV, then took out my university brand notebook that I use for my ToDo Today lists, took a deep breath, and started writing down everything I could think of to do so that it would be there and I wouldn’t have to remember (because my time blindness leads to a frequent loop of remembering and forgetting the same thing ten times over in the span of a day).
But after writing everything down, staring at all I had to do, I faced a new problem: Where do I start?
I remember one of my favorite professors telling me this one time:
Okay, so I’m a habitual multitasker so sometimes it’s more than one thing at a time for me. But the point is if you overthink about all that you have to do, then you’ll end up doing nothing but over-stressing.
So here’s the better idea:
Just keep getting items checked off the checklist. Order doesn’t matter. You just gotta get it done. And take note of deadlines. As long as you get quality work done on time, nothing else matters. So just pick one, go, and keep going.
By the way, before I sign off for the night, I have to tell you: a must-try item if you like cold sweet treats are the Punch-Flavored Minute Maid Juice Sticks. Especially with this summer heat, they are a heat-stroke preventing savior. (That’s a hyperbole, not a literal or medically-proven fact.) And for what it’s worth, they’re also great at reducing my distress.
