๐ Ada anyone ada tips on how to deal with executive dysfunction?
๐ฒ Coming from a person with the diagnosis, this is what helped me throughout my journey of self-improvement:
1. Cut off the distraction until you finally can control yourself
What I mean by cut off is, delete semua social media yang possible boleh buat awak doom scrolling and stuck tu.
2. Let yourself do nothing for a few minutes
After dah takde distraction, you literally tak dapat buat apa-apa dah (maksud I main fon). Let yourself tak buat apa-apa until the idea of what should I do or what's important now datang.
3. Wrote down your task (IMPORTANT!)
People with executive dysfunction often find themselves couldn't start the work/task tapi padahal dalam hati dan kepala memang overwhelmed suruh buat, suruh start, and everything.
Itโs important untuk keluarkan everything yang buat awak overwhelmed tu, dear. Wrote it on paper or a whiteboard, then tampal somewhere you can see every day. As for me, I ada few whiteboards for that purpose.
HOW TO LIST DOWN YOUR TASK:
You can do bullet points or numbering. For me, I love bullets so I feel less overwhelmed.
This is important ye, my dear. Jangan tulis macam ni -> kemas bilik. TETT this is wrong ye.
You must write the subsections, the details of it. For example:
* Kemas bilik
Organize meja
Bersihkan lantai
Kemas katil & tukar cadar
Organize loker (lipat baju)
You MUST wrote it very detailed so that you know which part nak start first. Kalau too broad, youโll highly likely get stuck balik dalam that spiral of executive dysfunction sebab you wonโt be able to choose nak start dari mana.
The thing about us, dear, is we have a racing mind. We often get overwhelmed. So itโs really important to let it out, wrote it out from our system. Let the paper or whiteboard carry that burden for us, hihi.
4. To actually start
Be brave to start. You can do this, just start even if your brain feels fear.
Sebelum start, doa mintak kekuatan mental dan jasmani:
โYa Allah, sesungguhnya kudrat aku, mental dan fizikal tak mampu untuk hadap ni semua seorang diri. Jadi aku mohon pertolongan-Mu, bantu aku dalam urusanku. Aku bertawakkal kepada-Mu.โ
Then, deep breathing, set the intention right, and GO.
* Tips to sustain focus
I buat timer kat fon, selalu 60 min so that it will hinder me from checking my phone.
I dengar noise kat YouTube. Just search je apa-apa based on your problems, e.g., focus sounds for executive dysfunction.
For me, I go for brown noise, pink noise, isochratic, binaural beatsโliterally abundance of them.
Practice gratitude
Every night sebelum tidur, thank God and thank yourself for your effort.
Example:
โAlhamdulillah, hari ni dapat study focus 30 min.โ
โAlhamdulillah, hari ni sapu lantai.โ
โAlhamdulillah, hari ni I did self-care before sleep.โ
Literally the smallest thingsโbe grateful, thank yourself and God.
You can also journal before sleep. Waktu mula-mula recovery, I would jot down my achievements of the day on paper. It sent a signal to my brain โKau memang boleh buat la.โ
Contoh
โAlhamdulillah kita dapat siapkan ni hari ini. Thank you, Siti, sebab berjaya buat. You did great hari ni, Iโm so proud of you.โ
I kid you not, saying that every freaking night helped me. Now my mental health is so much better and stable. Iโm healing and healthy.
Side note:
Be gentle with yourself and accept your weaknesses or whatever your diagnosis is. Terima diri,
โOkay, Iโm someone with blablabla. I accept myself and I will prove that despite my diagnosis, aku pun boleh buat, aku pun boleh berjaya.โ
Don't label yourself sangat, I mean, aku kdg2 bila geram aku ckp kat diri aku, what if I ada depression, what if I ada this ada that, dah kalau aku ada pun kenapanya,.. And yep it's not the end of the world, just suck it up and survive.
I hope you find whatโs best for you. I hope you find your coping mechanism. I know itโs hard, but you can do this. Always buat untuk diri sendiri sebab kalau kita tak buat untuk ourselves, who else sanggup buat for us? Kita ada diri sendiri je to rely on, my dear ๐
