I’m managing ADHD while recovering from surgery. Here’s how I’m navigating the two.

Adrina, 33, is a Texas-based graphic designer who was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. In this diary, Adrina juggles recovering from surgery with meeting deadlines, overdue medical bills, and the everyday challenges of life with ADHD. 

Day 1 

6:00 a.m. My alarm just went off. Last night I swore I would wake up early and get things done. I told myself, “You will get up early tomorrow and knock things out. No excuses.” 

OK, maybe some excuses…. If you count repeatedly pressing the snooze button as an excuse. (Side note: There has to be a way to end your alarm by pressing one button. I shouldn’t have to play DJ in my sleep to figure out how to turn my alarm off.) 

9:00 a.m. This time seems more like it. I stay in bed for another 30 minutes doomscrolling on my phone.

10:00 a.m. I get out of bed and shower. I tell myself, “This hot shower is going to set the tone for the day!”

10:30 a.m. Breakfast time. I realize I have veggies in my fridge, so I decide to juice them. I’m recovering from a procedure and hope the extra vitamins will help with my recovery. 

Except I’m missing one of the juicer pieces — the tool that presses the veggies down. I scour the cabinets, only to find the missing piece right in front of me on the black countertop. In my defense, things are hard to see when the colors are so similar! 

I juice all of the veggies and am disappointed to get only 12 ounces of juice. 

To aid with recovery, I also gave up caffeine. I don’t take any medications for my ADHD, so giving up caffeine has been a challenge. 

I drink half of my juice and have some eggs and an avocado English muffin. (Watch out, avocado toast!) I then head over to my bed-desk-area to try and be productive. 

11:30 a.m. “Time is flying,” I think to myself as I finally get situated. I find myself doomscrolling a little while longer. I open Facebook, then Instagram, then X, then TikTok. TikTok is the worst for me because the videos just don’t stop! I finally get a grip and put my phone down. 

12:00 p.m. I think about all of the tasks I want to accomplish and add them to TickTick, a productivity app I use. I like the app because it syncs with my calendar. There’s something about seeing all of my tasks on my calendar, whether they’re complete or not, that excites me. 

I select my first task, then turn on the Pomodoro feature to help me stay on track. A few minutes in, I realize that it’s extremely quiet. Too quiet. I pull out my noise-canceling headphones and turn on a true crime podcast. I finally feel like I’m ready to take on the world.

1:00 p.m. I’m making headway in my work, but listening to the podcast became a struggle. Because I was doing creative work, I couldn’t pay attention to what was being said. 

I switch to music and find my focus is better.  

2:00 p.m. I’ve been working for two hours and realize I need a snack. I make something to nibble on. 

I’m trying to be more healthy post-surgery, so my most recent grocery delivery was foods and snacks aligned with my “diet.” I’ve had rice cakes before, but this time I chose whole-grain rice cakes. 

Google told me a good snack would be rice cakes with peanut butter and almonds. This may have to do with my sensory issues, but the feeling of biting into the peanut butter and then the rice cake didn’t agree with me. The flavor combination was good, though, so I continued to eat it. 

4:00 p.m. I decide to get a breath of fresh air. I don’t feel like I’ve put a big enough dent in any work. Being in bed all day made it hard to get motivated. I need to be in a stimulating environment or able to move around to stay focused. Don’t get me wrong — I am the hyperfocus queen when I have a deadline. But I often need help to get the ball rolling

Going for a walk was definitely the right choice. The sun and the feeling of the wind on my skin gave me the energy I needed to push through the rest of my day. 

7:30 p.m. I was able to complete a few tasks after coming back from my walk. Although I was still working from my bed, something about the walk gave me the motivation I needed. 

I didn’t complete everything I wanted to. My to-do lists are more like novels. But I did finish items that had been pending for a while. I chose to celebrate what I did complete and not to worry that much about what didn’t get done. I chose to give myself grace, something I don’t do often because I feel like I should be superwoman and accomplish everything.

Day 2

10:30 a.m. This morning when trying to check in to my virtual follow-up doctor’s appointment, I was prompted to pay my overdue balance. I knew this balance was lingering, so I called to try and set up a payment plan. I was told I couldn’t set up a plan because I have an outstanding debt with collections. This is how the conversation went:

Me: When was it communicated that my balance would go to collections?

Representative: Ma’am, you were notified in your billing statements. 

Me: I saw the emails about my statements, but I guess I didn’t open them. I know it’s not your fault, but there should be another way patients are alerted. 

Representative: It was written in bold multicolored words that your balances would be transferred to collections if payment wasn’t made in 10 days. 

Yet again I’ve allowed my chronic procrastination and avoidance to affect my finances. In my defense, the email subject line should say something like “IMPORTANT! YOUR BALANCE WILL GO INTO COLLECTIONS” instead of “Monthly Billing Statement.” If it had said the former, I would have definitely been more attentive! (At least that’s what I tell myself.)

11:00 a.m. After the call about my balance, I decide to make breakfast. Usually, I would stress over not paying attention to payments, but I choose not to. I know I can be hard on myself. I tell myself things like “a normal person would’ve paid more attention.” And I would’ve been really upset with myself if I’d missed my appointment due to payment issues. My doctor is very busy, and rescheduling would be hectic. 

For breakfast, I choose to make a smoothie. Smoothies are my go-to breakfast item because they contain all the goodness of veggies and fruits in one drink. They’re also my go-to when I’m going to work because they’re easy to consume on the go. So far, I’m feeling good and motivated to start the day. 

12:00 p.m. I sign in for my virtual appointment on time. I’ve missed virtual appointments before. One time I didn’t get a reminder text, so I blamed my absence on the doctor’s office instead of holding myself accountable. Around that time, I started making sure things were on my calendar. My appointment was about 15 minutes long. After scouring the internet and Reddit for things my doctor and I talked about, I decide to get some work done.

1:00 p.m. I’ve been working on my lap desk in bed for the past hour. I know that I’m supposed to be resting, but I have so many things I want to accomplish. Since I stopped having caffeine and taking ADHD meds, I’ve had to motivate myself to push through. 

I set my timer and get to work. I need to write a blog post that I said would be done by a certain date. Since I told someone I would have it done, part of me feels obligated to deliver it on time. However, sometimes that isn’t enough to get the work done. 

3:00 p.m. I’m still not done with the blog. The past few hours have been filled with doomscrolling on social media, researching random business ideas, and just wasting time. 

I remind myself that I agreed to a deadline, so I force myself to keep going. Writing is something I enjoy, and I’m glad I can tap into that passion.

6:00 p.m. The blog is done! I was able to write the blog while also creating a graphic for the post. It feels so good to finish what I started. It took me three hours to complete this task. I just don’t understand why I allow procrastination to take me over sometimes.

For the rest of the night, I allow myself to relax. Although I know I need to complete more projects, that task was enough for me to feel good about my productivity for the day.

Day 3

10:00 a.m. I haven’t heard anything back about my blog submission. Of course, the voices of self-doubt start to creep in. “They’re not going to like it.” “It isn’t what they asked for.” “You’re going to have to redo it.”  

I really don’t appreciate imposter syndrome attacking me whenever it feels like it. I know my skills and what I’m capable of, but self-doubt can be a firecracker sometimes.

12:00 p.m. I find myself checking my email every 10 minutes to see if there’s a response. I know the blog needs to be posted today or tomorrow, so I’m even more nervous about it being OK. I decide to text the team lead and ask if she got my email. She quickly replies, saying she did.

1:00 p.m. Talk about hyperfixation. I feel like I can’t do anything until I know the status of my blog. Mind you, I know it was well-written and had a nice flow. But the length of time it’s taking to be reviewed has my mind racing. 

I finally decide to eat and opt for chicken salad. I go to get crackers, but to my surprise the box is empty. This makes me want to slide down a wall. The phrase “out of sight, out of mind” is real. Why didn’t I just throw the box away? 

The other day I became extremely annoyed because my fruit went bad. In my opinion, fruit doesn’t last as long as it used to. Or maybe I just don’t see it in my refrigerator drawer, so I don’t eat it. Lately, I find myself buying mixed pre-cut fruit. This is a more expensive option, but it works for me. I can just toss fruit in a bowl without having to cut, slice, or dice. When you have ADHD, it’s about thinking smarter, not harder. 

I ended up eating the chicken salad with chips, because why not?

3:00 p.m. I finally get an email saying they loved my blog post! I need to make a few minor tweaks, but overall they approved it. This made my day and proved I was worrying for nothing. 

I often wonder how neurotypical folks handle anticipation. Since I believed I did a great job, I should’ve been able to move on to the next task. Instead, this task blocked my brain. I haven’t touched any of my pending tasks yet. 

5:00 p.m. Because I got approval for the blog, I feel like I could just chill today and do nothing. I have this mindset that essentially says, “Good job, you accomplished something today. Relax and pick it back up tomorrow.” I know that’s not the best mindset to have if I’m going to be successful.

8:00 p.m. I decide to eat dinner and then go to sleep. I end up watching a movie, with subtitles of course, and relax the rest of the day. It’s funny because I wrote the article yesterday, and here I am, being lazy as if I worked a 9-to-5 shift.