Take Your Time
Raise your hand if you're naturally impatient.
If you have ADHD, it's likely that you raised your hand. Honestly, if you live anywhere in the developed world, you are probably prone to impatience.
Nowadays, everything is "instant". There is very little we have to wait for anymore.
So, when something pops up that doesn't happen right away, we tend to get upset or frustrated.
Patience is tough
Recently on Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast, we have been doing a deep-dive into the world of self-compassion.
Giving yourself grace and seeing yourself without judgment can be hard on a good day, but throw in having to wait for results? We tend to be even harder on ourselves.
When you can look around and see others moving forward while you feel stuck, it can be easy to immediately point the finger of blame inward.
There are a million things that can take you extra time and trigger a shame spiral.
Studying or taking a test
Reading
Losing weight
Cleaning a room
Going through the stages of grief
These are only a few examples, but you never know what you might be going through that triggers you to become impatient and feel shame that things aren't moving at the pace you think they should.
In the end, there are a lot of things that take time, and whether you have ADHD or not, that length of time is different for everyone.
Sometimes time is exactly what you need to get where you need to be.
If I'm baking a cake, but I don't let it bake in the oven for as long as it needs, the result is just going to be a hot, soupy mess that's only fit for the trashcan. The same can be said for other things in life that require time.
What are you waiting on right now? What are you experiencing that is leaving you impatient and frustrated, or casting the blame at yourself that it's taking too long?
Try looking at these things from a different angle—do these things get better with time? Is it truly your fault? You may just find that you aren't to blame, and it may just take a little longer...
Thank you for your time and attention,
Nikki
