Winter [Menstruation] | Part 2 | ADHD Energy Recharge

Transcript

1. ADHD Energy Recharge Part 2 - Winter [Menstruation] Wed, Oct 11, 2023 11:06AM 8:35 SUMMARY KEYWORDS feel, body, winter, calendar, pattern, day, danger zone, capacity, hibernating, minute, cycle, playdates, hang, rest, people, energy, wintertime, means, connected, pasta SPEAKERS Patricia Sung Patricia Sung 00:01 When we think about the winter time, so the time that you are menstruating, if you have a menstrual cycle that is still somewhat reliable in these times, this is where I named like, the like the adjectives of kind of how I think of that season. So for some of us, that might be a few days, sometimes that's a week or we can have for some people, everyone's different. But this is a time where we tend to have a little more connection with our intuition, this is a time to restore have a little more clarity. But also the needs and desires we have in that time is like we need rest, our body is doing a lot of work during that time. We tend to need more solo time in that part of our cycle. And we also can do more reflection. And it's really like being more connected into like what you need on your own. What do you need, and we hit the obstacles here of like feeling really exhausted. And suddenly we can lose our boundaries in the overwhelm of this time with all the hormones and what have you. So what haunt me that big, and I can see my notes. Okay, make sure I didn't forget anything. And for me when I miss time, when I look at like, how do I set my life up to fit the winter season? Here are the things that I'm doing one I'm mostly hibernating. I don't put a lot of meetings on my calendar, I generally don't like people, I want to talk to you. I don't want to help you been asked to ask anything. I want to answer any questions like leave me alone, this time, like I just don't want to be your own people for me. So that means that I set up my schedule so that I don't have a lot of stuff on my calendar. I am not scheduling playdates for my kids, like, this is not a time where I want to be hanging out with people. Um, so like, from a work perspective, and from a, like, family life perspective is like this is just a quieter time. So this is like, I only have so much capacity. So that means I need to, like conserve that for taking care of myself and my family. So I don't have capacity to be like hosting dinner for people like no, you cannot come to my house. And I probably want to come to yours either. Sorry. Not sorry. Now that I know that this is how I am, I don't feel bad. On the days where I'm like, you know, back before, it's like I you know, you make all these plans, and it shows up the day and you're like, like, my cycle just started. I don't talk to anybody, I don't feel good. I just cancel these plans. I don't want to hang out with this person. Now that I know that that I like this, I don't make those plans in the first place. I have it blocked out on my calendar, it's got a big old red block that runs across the top that says Danger Zone actually starts like slightly before in the fall. And I know that like if I'm looking at my calendar, and somebody's
2. like, Hey, you want to grab a coffee the next week, and I look and I see danger zone. No, I don't want to grab coffee with you. But I will see you next week after that. So this allows me to set up my life in a way that makes sense for me. Because you're also shedding that blood like you need more calories, your body needs more sustenance in this time. So like I am much more kind to myself in my eating patterns. Knowing that this is a time where my body needs more calories it like if you think about bears hibernating more Cuber here like this is because this is a time where my body needs more resources like the fall in the winter of like taking care of my body. So it's lifted a lot of the guilt and shame for me in like, how much like the sweets that I need wanted to eat and like the I just want pasta kind of a thing, gluten free pasta menu, but like wanting that, like heavier food No, like that's your body's needs extra resources in this time. So it's lifted a lot of the guilt and shame for me around like why sometimes it's really hard for me to make eating decisions. And like I could also do a whole talk about eating and ADHD. But that's not today. So I'm gonna table that. And in the last thing is like intuitive decisions. Because this is a time that is more like connected to me. This is a time where I try to make more decisions about like, where I want to go in the next, like coming to journal, may you know what's coming up the next month, it would be here. And I don't always do that. But this is it. I'm really thinking about decisions because I'm connected into who I am what I want. And I feel like it may match better. So I'm gonna give you another minute 30 seconds ish to look at when you think about the winter time this winter phase winter pattern. And in the times that you feel like this. What are the kinds of tasks that you would want to do in this time? And what are the things that you don't want to do? So again, just one minute, I want you to brainstorm for a second and think about what are the things that would make sense for you or what are things that don't make sense for you like do not I do not want to talk to you, I do not want to hang out with you like, what are the parameters around this time that make you feel good? Again, when you have that same framework of people? Do you want to be around people or not? tasks, like kind of things that you would want to do or not do? And then the feelings that you're feeling? Again, super quick, one minute, jot down. When you think about the wintertime, or being on your cycle, what what kind of things do you want to do? What essentially like what kind of rest would be good for you in that time? How do you set up that week or week and a half, half week, wherever, however long your winter is, that would sit up for you? One minute? Patricia Sung 06:40 Take a second to wrap up your thoughts, and we're gonna move forward. All right. So in this wintertime, what I want you to think about is what's going to serve you best? What's going to take care of you. How can you give yourself extra rest during this time? How can you take care of yourself in this hibernation phase? So that when I'm because I think like one of the hardest parts about managing energy is when we are doing things that don't fit in that season. Like if all of a sudden we're like, Oh, hey, do you want to be the PTA president and the main fundraiser is on the day that your cycle starts like that's really hard. Trying to push ourselves to do something that doesn't match us in that pattern is not just difficult, but like super draining and takes away. Like it's not it doesn't just cost us the normal amount of energy that it would if it was on like a day where you felt really energized. And like, Hey, I already know this a huge project, it's gonna take a lot out of me. But the capacity that you need to do that on when you feel quote, good, you're listening in case you're on the podcast, quote, good that day. And then people do that same task on a day where you feel quote, not good, is going to be so much more. So the more that we can set up our lives to fitness in these patterns, and we're gonna talk about like, you know, not just the month, like a monthly pattern, but also like the day and daily patterns and stuff. When we set up our lives to fit us, then all of a sudden, like, we're really capitalizing on the rest and getting the most rest out of it. And we're not trying to push
3. through something that doesn't fit us. And that means on the times where we are doing something that takes a lot of energy and we're matching it with the times we have a lot of energy it feels easier because we have the resources available to us to do that.