Making Vacations Easier for ADHD
By Dana Rayburn, Adult ADD Coach

ADDed Success is ADD Coach Dana Rayburn's monthly newsletter about living
successfully with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD / ADHD).

Welcome to ADDed Success!
Have you noticed how it's more challenging for you to get away on vacation than
for people without Attention Deficit Disorder?

That's because mixing a vacation with ADHD can be a recipe for stress and
exhaustion.

Many people with ADD find managing the details of daily living difficult as is.
Adding in the extra tasks of preparing for and returning home from a vacation can
push them over the edge.

So, should a person with ADHD stop taking vacation altogether? Of course not!
Instead, there are steps you can take to ease your vacation stress.

Let me tell you about one of my ADD coaching clients, Lizzie....

Lizzie came to her weekly ADD coaching call frazzled. Her family's two-week
vacation was fast approaching and getting ready to go had her on edge. She had a
zillion things to do and was exhausted.

Packing overwhelmed her; they always took way too much stuff. And, she still
hadn't made arrangements for taking care of the pets and the house while they
were away.

As Lizzie struggled to cope with all the details and decisions, she snapped at her
family and grew frustrated with herself.

Plus, Lizzie was already dreading the unpacking and the piles of laundry she'd face
when they got home. They'd be stepping over suitcases for weeks.

Returning to work would be a bear. She knew it would take days to get her brain
back in gear despite a growing backlog of things to do.

No wonder Lizzie was stressed out. It all makes it pretty tough to enjoy a holiday,
doesn't it?

Here's how I coached Lizzie to make her vacation more manageable.

First, I helped Lizzie become more aware of how her ADHD affected her vacation
preparation.

We talked about how hard planning is for Lizzie and how much planning a vacation
requires. She became aware of how overwhelmed she gets when extra tasks are
added to her busy life and the many extra tasks vacations require.

This awareness was a huge step toward Lizzie accepting herself just the way she
is. She began to see how much emotional effort she spent berating herself for her
ADD.

Lizzie's next step was to ask for help. Her husband knew vacations were stressful
for Lizzie, but he didn't understand why or what to do. So Lizzie asked him to play
a bigger role in the planning and preparation.

Together, they listed what needed to be done and divided the duties. They decided
to get a house sitter to eliminate many of the details of closing down the house for
two weeks.

Next, Lizzie agreed to make three more lists: a list of things to pack, a list of
things to do when she got home, and a list of what to work on when she returned
to the office.

Although Lizzie resisted making the lists, she understood they were essential to
keeping her thinking clear and focused. Lists took the load of remembering details
off her brain.

During the week before they were to leave, the family spent 15 minutes each day
on trip preparation, using the lists as their roadmap. By the night before
departure, most everything was ready. Best of all Lizzie was more relaxed
and fun to be around.

Lizzie found this vacation much easier than those in the past. When she did get
overwhelmed she simply focused on her lists and was able to stay calm. That
enabled her to be kinder to herself and accept the challenges of mixing the
complexities of vacations with the realities of ADHD.

The Last Word
I want to share my favorite vacation preparation trick with you.

A few years ago, I typed up checklists of what to take on vacation and stored
them on my computer.

The problem was I would procrastinate on printing out the lists causing me to
postpone getting ready for the trip in an early, easy manner.

One day I decided to put the lists in plastic page protectors and put them in a
three-ring binder on my kitchen bookshelf.

What a system! To prepare for a trip I simply use a white board marker to check
things off as I pack. The checks wipe off easily with a tissue so I can reuse the
lists over and over without reprinting.

Now I've created lists for all our different trips and activities: family car
vacations, camping trips, ski trips and business trips - after all, they all require
different gear.

I also include reminders of what to do to shut down the house and reopen the
house when we get home.

We're going camping this weekend, and I'm much more at peace with the entire
adventure. After all, I know my handy camping list will see me comfortably
through the whole situation.

To Your ADDed Success,
Dana

PS. - Trouble Staying Organized? No Problem! Reserve your copy of 'Organized
for Life' at the special 'early-bird' price.

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