ADHD and low energy days: what happens when your battery runs out?

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up my friend?

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It is ADHD coach Katherine here and

this is a slightly different episode.

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of ADHD, powerful possibilities.

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So today's episode is different.

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I am extremely tired and I want to tell

you why and then I'm going to share some

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information about how you can manage low

energy days because we all have them.

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Yesterday, After a very busy day with

new clients, thinking about my group

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program, preparing for a webinar

today, I think it was about 2pm when

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I started to feel really tired and

I've clearly had a cold or something

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because I actually had a nap on a

Saturday afternoon, which is unheard of.

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But I was tired and I decided to

keep going when I shouldn't have.

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And the long story short

is that it was about 4pm.

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I got up at 7am before

I finally got to sleep.

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I didn't feel well, I wasn't well and

I pushed through when I shouldn't have

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because, you know, I'm the only person in

the world who could possibly have prepared

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the slides for the webinar I was doing

today and written the emails that I needed

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to write and, we all like to think we're

the only person who can do these things.

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So, today, I got up at 7am.

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was the dogs with the kid and I

literally felt like I was jet lagged.

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If you've ever been jet lagged

it's revolting isn't it?

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You're dizzy, your head is fuzzy,

you can't really think straight and

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I had zero energy or focus all day.

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Thankfully, I was not responsible for

taking the offspring to school today.

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And all I had to do was put some food

on the table and look after the dogs.

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And then prepare for a webinar

tonight and a couple of short

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things that I couldn't rearrange.

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That didn't involve me

being, an eloquent teacher.

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human being.

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So I wanted to share that the

reality is we all have days where

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we have no energy and it's really

important that coaches with ADHD

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explain to you that we are human too.

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Because I feel like too often people

with ADHD look at coaches and think

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they must have their act together,

everything must be organized.

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We're all humans.

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Whether we have ADHD or not, whether

we are coaches or not, and we all

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have days where we have no energy

or when we've not had enough sleep.

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And one of the things I've been focusing

on a lot in my group development is

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adaptability because there's no such

thing As the perfect routine, the

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perfect program, the perfect whatever for

everybody with ADHD because we change all

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the time as humans and We have to be able

to adapt, whether we are tired, whether we

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have lots of energy, whether we have lots

of demands from other things in our lives.

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So we need to be able to adapt and adjust

our expectations of ourselves and the

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strategies we use, depending on how we

are feeling on that day, in that moment.

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And so today, that meant I just

had to recognize my limits.

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And I reshaped my day

according to what I had.

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I cancelled my coaching clients

because I would not show up and

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do my coaching at it's best.

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And I always try to bring my best.

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If I can't focus, I can't coach.

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If I can't listen intently and

be fully present, I can't coach.

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It's not a question of, this is what's

wrong with you, here is a technique.

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That's not coaching.

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I need to be able to be fully present,

engaged, attentive, responsive,

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all these wonderful things.

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So I said, I can't show up today for you.

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And because my clients are lovely,

they said, that's totally fine.

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Get some sleep.

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I rearranged other things

and moved them to other days.

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I called in.

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Some reinforcements in the

form of my partner who took

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the kid to and from school.

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And then I just focused on getting

through the things I had to do

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with as little energy as possible.

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And I have to say, this is one of the

reasons people with ADHD find that

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their, what they call ADHD traits, are

so much more obvious when they're tired.

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Because your brain is

designed to keep you alive.

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And if you are somebody who struggles

with sleep, something like 60 percent of

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people with ADHD have sleep problems, then

you're You are going to find your ADHD is

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much more obvious and noisy on those days.

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What else can we do?

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Think about what is absolutely urgent.

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Give yourself permission

to put things off.

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Think about self care not as something

you need to do, but something you can be.

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And that sounds a bit weird,

how can you be self care?

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For me, it's about.

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Thinking about what I

really need in that moment.

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And yesterday I should have said I

really need to go and rest but I didn't

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because I pushed through because I want

to show up and do my best for people.

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And really you need to

meet your own needs first.

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But self care doesn't need to be a

bubble bath if it's not a nap, if

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it's not a walk outside under the sky.

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Maybe it's just some quiet time with

a book or a journal that you can read.

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really speaks to you or gives you space.

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I would encourage you to think for

a second when you find yourself

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caught in that I must trap.

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Is it really essential?

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Are you really going to

show up at your best?

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Or would giving yourself permission To

step back and rest, be better for you

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and for whoever you're living with or

supporting or working for in the long run.

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And this is especially difficult

if you identify as somebody who

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has revenge procrastination.

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But revenge bedtime procrastination

tells me that there is an

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unmet need throughout your day.

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And there are lots of people who

cannot meet their needs during

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the day, especially if they are

parents of small humans or they

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work in very stressful jobs.

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But if you possibly can, identify

what your need is and try to fit it in

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much more frequently during the day.

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And apart from giving yourself

permission to rest, let's

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also remember self compassion.

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And self compassion means managing

your energy, working with it, not

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against it, being compassionate

and taking care of yourself.

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What would you do if it was a

person that you love who was

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really tired or had no energy?

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You would be curious but you

would also be patient and kind

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and also stay adaptable.

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Remember that there will be days

where you have lots of energy and

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focus and some days where you don't.

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And if you don't ever have any

energy, that's a medical issue,

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anyway.

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Thank you for joining me in this very

short, slightly different episode.

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I hope it's given you some food

for thought and you have some

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questions that you can go away and

ask yourself the next time you try

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and catch yourself pushing through.

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Instead of going for a disco nap.

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I'll be back next week with the podcast.

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Almost as usual there might be a few

changes and over the summer I'm going

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to be making some mini episodes, five

minute episodes to answer your questions.

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Make sure you go to the website and

send me your questions from the podcast

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page which has had a little refresh.

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And I'll be back and see you next week,

but until then, take care of yourself.