Finding Ease By Doing The Easy Thing

Over the past few years, in an attempt to counter the natural ‘but what if…’ tendencies of my ADHD brain I have been reminding myself to ‘do the easy thing’ whenever I can.

This isn’t the same as ‘taking the easy way out.’

Instead, it’s about 1) figuring out the easiest/most straightforward way to get something done 2) making sure that approach will cover the key details/meet the needs of the people involved 3) only adding more complexity if needed.

So, instead of letting my brain branch out into every possibility, I try to find what feels easiest and check if that will work before letting things get more complicated.

Sidenote: Recently, I was thrilled to hear a similar concept when listening to a 2020 episode of the Translating ADHD podcast called ‘Letting It Be Easy With ADHD’

Yes, some things are inherently complex, difficult, or challenging but not everything has to be difficult and complexity for complexity’s sake doesn’t really help anyone.

Can I remember to do the easy thing every time?

No. I cannot.

Do I *try* to remember to do the easy thing whenever possible?

Oh hells, yes.

How does ‘do the easy thing’ play out in real life?

Like this:

At the beginning of last week, I noticed that I was really worn out

Not sleepy. Not tired.

Worn out.

My brain immediately started with an elaborate and overwhelming plan to address the problem but I somehow managed to put the brakes on and ask myself…

What’s the easy thing?

The answer was not more sleep, it wasn’t time off, it wasn’t big discussions about my workload. The answer, the easy thing, was to do short sessions of yoga and meditation before bed.

It felt so straightforward, so easy and so good, that I was drawn to do the same thing the next night. And the night after. And the night after that…

Now, at day 9, the easy thing has made a wonderful difference in how I feel, no complex plan required.