The tail end of last year I was thriving. Lots of good things came together and I was very positive, calm and flowy.
In recent months it’s been much harder. Changes in work, uncertainty in my future, going through tests for cancer, changes to my vision etc. It’s not been an easy period to navigate.
I’ve worked through most of the issues. I’ve had to navigate the big life challenges while also re-working my ADHD meds to suit the situation.
It’s getting there. I’ve found a meds pattern that is working well and I’m starting to feel more myself.
I often describe these things as momentum and cheerfulness.
Momentum is the sensation of having easy progress and a force ‘pushing’ me along. It’s like riding a bike with the wind behind me making it easy to ride where I want to go. Momentum builds up over time and means I can flow up and over barriers. They might slow me down but I don’t come to a stop.
Momentum is important to me. If I don’t have momentum on my side i frequently stall. Having to expend a huge amounts of energy to grind on with things. Beyond being slow and tiring. It’s not very effective either. I’m a persistent sod, so I tend to push on but the friction slows everything down.
This is my third attempt to build momentum in 2022. External things torpedoed the last two attempts but this time things are going better.
Cheerfulness and momentum are linked. Cheerfulness is about my ‘baseline’ set of emotions. When I am cheerful I am fairly bouncy and I react to things positively. As my momentum was lost, I struggled to be cheerful.
These two lenses are very useful to me. They give me some levers with which to shape my life.
To build momentum I need a steady series of things going well. This could be with routine or some other structure. Sometimes it can be as simple as having two or three weeks without any surprises.
It’s taken a heap of work, but I have a fairly good idea of what’s coming up for the next 6 months of my life. That’s a nice starting point.
I have good momentum with with my health, and I am finding myself more cheerful over time. I am not thriving yet, but I am well on the way. The picture is positive and I am looking forward to the spring and summer to come.
