Last Minute Gift Ideas for the ADHDer in Your Life

Five Must-Have Tools for Better Squirrel Management

I see you, my fellow and beloved ADHDers. There are 6 shopping days left and well, looky at the time! Did it catch ya off guard again? It did me. And as per usual, I have some great ideas for homemade gifts from the heart… but it’ll have to keep until next year because I only now just thought of it and there is no time to pull it off. Amazing how panic can bring a burst of fresh ideas, eh?

Well, fear not. Here are some tools that may help you plan not only for next Christmas, but for all the other days in the year too. These are some tools that I use to help me with organization and productivity, AKA squirrel management. Perhaps I can even pull off those gifts-from-the-heart for next year.

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1. Tools for Squirrel Management

• Basic Timers: I use this cube timer to help me focus on smaller tasks. Yeah, yeah, I know. I could use the timer on my phone, but chances of something shiny catching me are too great. This puppy you just flip over and the countdown begins.

• Planner: Picking a new planner for next year is always one highlight of the year-end for me. Even though I use Google calendar, there is no substitute for my paper planner. Besides its use for planning, it is also handy for capturing random thoughts or reminders. This is the one I got for next year. I used to get planners with habit trackers, vision boards, and whatnot, but find that simplicity serves me better. I can get so busy designing a vision board that I distract myself from actually taking the steps to make the vision happen. So yeah. Simplicity for this girl.

• Dry-Erase Boards: Ooooooh! I love dry erase boards. Limited wall space? Try this stick-anywhere solution. I use sticky notes on these as well for reminders or for daily agendas. Then I get the little dopamine thrill anytime I complete the task and get to toss the sticky. I tried using the sticky notes with a white board calendar but found that felt overwhelming, so I stick with…yeah; you got it… simplicity. Less is more, baby.

• Noise-Canceling Headphones: O.M.G. I received this as a gift last year and lemme tell you, best gift ever. When the squirrels are extra busy in my brain, my threshold for auditory overload becomes intolerable. The hum of the fridge, the leaf blower across the street, and my god, that potato chip muncher in the coffee shop. I. just.can’t.think. Welcome to Theresa’s auditory hell. I swear these sounds literally crawl into my brain and derail every good intention I had to get a project done. Yes, these are a high-ticket item, but these headphones are a big stfu to distractions and worth every penny. And when coupled with my next suggestion, you will become an undistracted force to be reckoned with.

• Nitrofocus: Nope, this isn’t a type of coffee. From their website: “Nitrofocus is a brainwave MP3 program. It uses special sounds to increase your brain's focus levels, helping you become ultra-productive in just minutes.” A fellow ADHDer friend, who is also a therapist, highly recommended this to me, and I am so glad she did. This really and truly works!

Finally, dear readers, I want to remind you of the most important gift you can bring to the festivities.

You.

When the struggles of ADHD often leave you feeling a day late and a dollar short (especially during the holidays!), it’s easy to forget the tremendous gifting that lies underneath the wrapping.

There are many aspects I could highlight, but in the interest of brevity, I will point out only one of the best things I see in my neurodivergent companions.

You live your life in living color.

There’s no gray twilight in your world. You live full on, whole-hearted, with sprinkles of fun on top.

You color outside the lines brilliantly and challenge the status quo that limits human potential. You bring more than a hot dish to potlucks–you bring the joy. You bring the energy.

Your life is a mosaic of beautiful qualities and goodness never before seen nor ever to be repeated. This imagery came to me when my spiritual director had me draw a picture representative of my life after going infidelity, divorce and then breast cancer a few short years ago.

I am no artist but what I drew was heart, with lines running through it to show all the shatters. But I wasn’t done yet. There was more to this picture than brokenness. My childish sketch needed color. The idea coalesced more. This was a stained glass heart.

I cried as I filled in the colors because I could see how, as Leonard Cohen put it, there is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.

After I finished the exercise and wiped a few tears, one of my resident squirrels whispered an idea, why not see if an artist has created something similar? Clever squirrel, what a great idea!

I was stunned. It was *my* drawing! Well, not really, but pretty darn close. Leave it to an artist to express beyond the power of words. Here’s a link for my final gift idea.

May your holidays be filled with plenty of love, light, and laughter. And may you remember that truly the best gift you can bring is your presence.

PS I will not be taking a break next week so I will see you over in the New Year for more clutter busting and organization, ADHD style!

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