This past month has been both a blur and also an eternity. I have doubts whether September happened at all. We all joke about time having no meaning, but it’s kinda scary when that feeling starts to take root. I’ve been falling behind on certain deadlines, both for things that are important to me and for things I’m actually getting paid for. I’m not getting good sleep. I’m not getting the fresh air that I need.
So this past weekend, I took on the task of coming up with a loose routine for myself. I’m quite certain I have ADHD, and I keep reading that folks with ADHD benefit greatly from established routines, so this needed doing. I took some time to think about my goals and priorities, and the two most important projects for me right now are the paid comic work I’m doing and my personal Late Spring Daffodils comic project. I’m also doing a small October drawing challenge called Midnightober, but I really want that to be for fun and not something that causes stress. I determined a bunch of little habits I want to get better at, like taking my meds on time each day, going out for a walk most days, and texting friends just to say hi.
Once I got these goals in these three areas of my life set, I brought it to Aiden and we discussed the different ways we both would like to be held accountable; me with my art and personal goals, him with his graduate school goals. I have discovered that having an accountability partner is very important to my success with these things. I can’t just will myself into getting things done – I need someone who will give me gentle reminders, check in with me, and offer their two cents if something isn’t working for me. I’m very lucky to have someone like Aiden to help me out, and I also want to help him out as best as I can in return.
There’s a small part of me that has reservations about whether or not this will be a successful endeavor. I’ve tried lots of different time management and task organization methods in the past, and they all eventually fell to the wayside. I think the biggest difference is I now have an accountability buddy, and I’m in a much better state of mental health than I was ten years, five years, even one year ago. I’m looking forward to settling into a kind of rhythm, even if it takes some stumbling and tweaking to get it just right.
Katie McMahon Art 