How to actually keep going when everything’s going to shit
They want you to want to quit. Finding your joy helps to not do that.
If you’re someone who cares about any of the million crises going on around the world right now, I’m willing to bet you’re having a hard time finding reasons to keep going.
It feels so freaking weird to just keep going about our daily lives while there’s an orange demon in the white house ruining lives left and right, and multiple genocides are co-occurring, and the earth gets hotter and hotter, and, and and… yeah. I don’t have to tell you.
If you’re stuck in that “What’s the point?” energy, it’s more important now than ever that you practice finding things in your life that will remind you what “the point” is, even if they’re small.
I pulled this excerpt directly from my AuDHD Summer Camp program that explains a small, but actionable, practice you can do to find joy a little bit easier in your life, and stay present with what’s in front of you while the “big picture” is so scary to look at.
If the following is helpful for you, I’d love to have you join my next round starting August 29! Here is the link to learn more.
But for now, here’s a free sample that I think is particularly useful right now:
“You’ve probably heard of triggers, which are moments, experiences, or sensations that remind you of a traumatic instance or pattern from your past and cause emotional, mental, or physical stress.
The opposite of a trigger, then, is called a glimmer, which is a small, positive moment, experience, or sensation that brings a sense of joy, safety, and/or calm. Glimmers are similar to triggers, but instead of inciting stress/sadness/anger, they trigger joy and happiness.
Remember in the last lesson, when we talked about how we can be a lot more positively affected by things than non-auDHDers, and find joy in even the smallest of things? This is where glimmers come into play!
Making it a practice to notice glimmers can be an instrumental tool when it comes to self-love as an auDHDer. As I’ve said, we live in a difficult world full of oppressive systems and awful happenings, as disabled individuals. Life being hard AF is, unfortunately, normal for us. So, that makes it all the more important to focus as much energy as you can on creating and finding your own joy whenever possible.
It can be so difficult to get started with having fun when you really haven’t had the space to do that for pretty much your whole life. Believe me, I get that.
And the way to counteract that is by showing yourself, and your nervous system, that it’s
a) okay for you to let yourself have fun and be happy and
b) that it’s possible and even easy (most of the time) to do so.
Our activity for this week is meant to help you start exercising that fun-having muscle. Similar to what I said about self-trust, creating your own joy is a practice in itself too. It’s also a muscle that needs to be rebuilt. Take it slow, one step at a time, and trust yourself to just try things and play for now.
Starting with: creating your own glimmer scavenger hunt!
Spend the next week or so looking around your environment to find as many small joys as you can. Trust whatever you find that sparks joy, even if it seems “silly” or “too small” - I promise you that it is not.
When you find one, take a moment to really appreciate the glimmer for what it is. You can take a picture, draw what it is, and/or write about the thing and reflect on how it makes you feel.
After the week is over, take some time to reflect on the practice.
Was it easier than you thought? Harder? Has anything changed when it comes to your confidence in finding joy?
Feel free to repeat this activity as often as you like.
I also want to invite you to share at least one found glimmer with us in the comments, if you’re comfortable doing so. Let’s show off our glimmers!
This excerpt was taken directly from my AuDHD Summer Camp Program, a four-month journey for late-realized autistic ADHDers starting August 29. Learn more and sign up: