As a kid, my mom put my sister and me in as many extracurriculars as she could find. Spanish club after school, basketball summer camp, youth theater – it didn’t matter as long as we weren’t just sitting around at home. Looking back, I think the busyness would have been more enjoyable if the extracurricular activities were more often something I liked to do, but my mom was right. I probably would not have done anything remotely productive if I didn’t have so many things to attend.
ADHD also plays a large role in how I go about my day. Low motivation, commonly misinterpreted as laziness, is a common symptom of ADHD that can make it difficult for individuals to complete tasks. For example, when some activity or assignment is optional, I really need a driving force to make me want to complete the task; the event or activity must appeal to me in some way or there has to be something in it for me. Doesn’t this sound like laziness? I perceived it as such and was told it was for many years, so in order to prevent being called lazy, I began to find jobs and classes and activities that I was excited about and engaged with as many as I could to fill my schedule and keep me productive. I am a driven, passionate person, and being busy is what makes me so confident about my future.
School
High school obviously made it very easy to have a full schedule. I would be in classes for about seven hours a day, volleyball and track and field practice after school, and schoolwide events and club volleyball practices and tournaments would fill up the holes in my schedule.
Entering college was when it really hit me. My freshman year of college was (almost) a total dumpster fire where just about everything went wrong, and I found myself with a LOT of free time on my hands. Of course, I still attended classes, but a horrific knee injury kept me from doing a lot of the fun things my friends were doing, so I spent a lot of time by myself. I spent hours on my phone and laptop and really not doing anything beneficial for myself. It was a tough year and preparing for the next made me realize I would never let myself sit on my ass like that again.
While the healing process was difficult, it became part of the schedule I was creating for myself. I was not going to continue to let it dictate my days anymore. I signed up for classes and looked ahead to plan the following semester’s schedule. Winter and summer classes became a normal thing for me. To this day, I look ahead to see what classes I think I can handle in my schedule during the regular school year while also carefully planning out which ones I would prefer to take during the winter or summer sessions. I want to complete my undergrad so badly, and I need to be busy if I want to reach my goal sooner rather than later!
My time spent sitting around waiting for something to come up has been diminished greatly, especially as I take harder courses that require more time with each passing year, but classes were not and still are not enough to keep me as busy as I would like.
Work
Since I was 19 years old, I have held at least one job while continuing my education to give me something else to do during the day and get paid. I enjoyed my summer job and knew it would be somewhat similar and even a little easier to continue working for a YMCA as an after school teacher in the afternoons while I went to school in the mornings. I worked as long as six hours at the YMCA after school during the week, and I liked it, but my goal was to become a certified preschool teacher, so I ended up taking extra classes while maintaining the schedule and I met my goal! However, I still didn’t think it was enough.
Volleyball was still missing from my life, so I contacted a local volleyball club and was soon coaching three nights a week and traveling to tournaments on weekends in addition to my other part time job and being a full time student. This was a point in my life when I finally felt that all my time was being used productively: attending school and studying, working between twenty and thirty hours at a job that I kind of liked but paid well, and coaching a sport that I love and getting to be active while doing so. Any extra time was then spent on myself or with friends and family, and it was the perfect amount of time.
I have worked a couple of jobs at the same time for a while now, and it’s really not that bad. I (usually) like what I do and experience new things and meet new people. I have also recently gotten the chance to be a speech-hippotherapy intern at Creative Strategies Therapy, and I am so lucky and thrilled that I have the time and capacity to participate! Sometimes, wanting to be busy can land you some really wonderful opportunities.
Let’s be honest – making money is fun! Working can be challenging at times, but it starts to get easier when you enjoy what you do and when that direct deposit hits your bank account.
Social and Personal Life
To this day, my social life depends on my work and school schedule, but guess what? My friends are busy, too. I spend those hours between classes and shifts hanging out with my friends, FaceTiming my sister, or exploring Colorado in bits and pieces on my own.
Being busy gives me the structure I need to function successfully. Without it, I’d be wasting so much precious time. I really feel like I am making the most of my time all while sharpening my academic, professional, and social skills. However, the most important takeaway that I want my readers to know is that just wanting to relax and hang out is COOL! Wanting to do something to make yourself feel better is COOL! Every second of every day does not need to be productive or spent doing something, because life still goes on in the end.