By Paige Heller
As a graduate student who struggles with having ADHD, I have learned certain ways that I can take care of my mental health.
If you don’t know what ADHD is, it stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This disorder is mainly known for not being able to focus or for having short attention span. But for the people who struggle with this, it can be so much more than what the normal stereotype is. Not only do I struggle with focusing and having a short attention span, but I also struggle with depression, impulsivity, mood swings, not being able to deal with stress, getting overwhelmed, and other things. As a graduate student, having to juggle this along with the hard work of trying to obtain my masters, I have struggled on having to balance both, but I have found some ways to take care of my mental health and to make the balancing easier.
Listed below are some of the ways that I take care of my mental health:
- Setting aside time to just relax.
- This may seem silly or little but knowing that I have time to just watch a show or to not have to put my brain in overdrive has helped me a lot.
- Time blocking work.
- With ADHD, I often lose sight of all the things I must do, or I get distracted. With time blocking, it ensures that I work on a certain project or assignment. This is extremely helpful when it comes to my thesis process.
- Limiting distractions.
- As much as I love doing work with friends and spending time with friends, I have noticed that it doesn’t help. Instead, I like to go to a coffee shop or to the library when I have work needed to be done to ensure that I am not as distracted.
- Setting realistic goals.
- When I don’t get a certain task done, I end up feeling bad about myself which causes me to become almost paralyzed with the feeling of being overwhelmed. So, to help this, I like to set small goals instead of big ones. It also helps with my stress due to being able to break up big tasks into smaller ones.
- Practicing self-compassion.
- At the end of the day, I always try to remember that it’s okay to not complete everything and that it doesn’t define me as a student or as a person. This has helped me mentally with not feeling so bad about myself.
- Therapy or seeking help.
- This may not be for everyone, but it has helped me get a lot of emotions and thought out. It has also helped me with my self-worth and practicing my self-compassion.
These are just a few ways that I take care of my mental health as a graduate student with ADHD. Mental health can be struggle for anyone in college especially if you have a disorder or an illness. Please take time for yourself and realize that you are doing the best that you can. Balancing school and mental health can be a lot but with small practices like the ones I had mentioned can help make things smoother.
