My ADHD chaos versus my ASD order

Life gets tricky when these two opposing neurodivergencies collide with each other - or when they battle for dominance.

I often find it challenging to balance my ADHD and ASD. The past few weeks, my ADHD has been running rampant, resulting in no routine, impulsivity and spontaneity, and so on. I almost never notice that this is what’s happening until I get a little burnt out. This has impacted my planned work schedules, sleeping routine, stay-alive habits, and definitely my energy and motivation levels.

ADHD often thrives with chaos and procrastination. My ASD craves structure and routine, reliable patterns in my daily life. Both of these need healthy outlets - and balance.

I work on balancing it this way:

• Strict bedtimes and waking up times, which help with a healthy sleep routine and energy levels.

• Getting to gym “on time” - I spend roughly 1,5-2 hours there, focusing on both functional strength training and a few yoga workouts to balance it. Getting to gym on time (8:30ish) means that I am done before the morning is over, which feels great psychologically!
• I obviously follow a fixed gym routine… where I also track my weight to ensure that I’m maintaining (at the minimum) and gaining weight.

• I take Sundays and Mondays off, Mondays being reserved for a fun activity in the morning, therapy in the afternoon, and being a zombie in the evening 🧟
• Tuesdays are now blocked on my calendar, strictly reserved for admin work (working on website copy, scheduling sessions, doing development check-ins, etc) and filming (Patreon, Onlyfans, Tiktoks - which take quite a few hours).
• Wednesdays to Saturdays are for sessions.

Of course, everything is diarised in my phone calendar with a reminder 30 minutes before any appointment or activity 🤓

And each type of appointment is done in a specific colour! 🎨