Personal Recommendations

These things help me balance my ADHD-powered neurodivergent brain as I go through life. There are so many tasks that require attention to function in our society, and even more requirements to keep our meat puppet bodies in an operational status. This is my directory of resources that shall grow as I remember or notice or someone asks me about stuff.

Please note: Amazon links are affiliate links that will cost you nothing but possibly earn me a few cents.

Books (Non-Spiritual)

Women with Attention Deficit Disorder by Sari Solden: This book will help enormously if you are not sure if you have ADHD, if you have recently been diagnosed, or are still seeking a diagnosis. It references numerous other books and scientific studies throughout the text, but is written in easy-to-digest sections.

Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed For You by Jenara Nerenberg: This book is not entirely about ADHD, but describes many kinds of divergences in a way I found very relatable and clear. If you’re confused about the word “Neurodivergent,” if you or your loved ones have suspicions about their differences or a full-fledged diagnosis, I highly recommend it. It’s not very long, and covers a lot of interesting topics.

Spiritual and Witchy Things

The Moon Book: Lunar Magic to Change Your Life by Sarah Faith Gottesdiener: I’d like to write more about this book specifically. I’ve always been drawn to the Moon and found it beautiful and fascinating. This is one of the best “witchy” books I’ve read in that it has references to sources for the material (good for a skeptic like me). The idea that we can consider our lives to be in phases and cycles with metaphorical similarity to the Moon really resonated with me. There are some rituals, and Tarot spreads, but it is not what I would call a book of spells.

Writual Planner Tarot Journa l: This is an affiliate link as well! I am proud to be affiliated with Writual. Use code JME for 15% off your first order! This planner is by far my favorite tool to create a Tarot routine and really get something out of it. If you find journaling to be overwhelming, you are not alone. There are limited spaces to write your thoughts for each spread, which you can supplement with a separate journal when you want to. There are many quick references in the front of the planner and monthly calendars with astrological information throughout. This combines basic astrology with Tarot, but you can easily ignore those astrological sections as it is 99% just a series of pages to record your cards.

Organizing and Remembering Stuff

Notes in Google Keep: I couldn’t live without this app!

Calendar entries and reminders: When used with caution, these help rather than hinder. Too many will fade into background noise. I’ll write a tips page about this at some point.

Habitica (carefully): Forthcoming post about this app. I have to watch my tendency to create far too many daily tasks for myself, but using this app did help me learn what I can do on a daily or weekly cadence.

AnyList for groceries: There are many apps for grocery list management. AnyList has a free version that lets me create many lists and add quantities and notes while also ordering items in each category and allowing customization of the categories themselves. I structured my main list to use categories that match the order of the aisle at my grocery store.

Blossom for keeping plants alive: This app I have paid for and it has helped me a lot. I love house plants, but I need help remembering when to water them. It has a photo identification tool, and many features to record your observations of your plants, too. I didn’t have much luck diagnosing an issue with a peperomia — it really just needed more water and a little more sun — but there is an “ask an expert” feature, too.

Washi tape and clear sticky notes: I do not like marking up a book, even if I own it, and even if I use it all the time. But until I sampled bullet journaling, I had no idea that washi tape could be used in a book and removed without damaging it!

Bookly, Bookmory, and StoryGraph: Reading is a lifetime hobby of mine, but adding a little bit of stat-tracking and achievement to it helped me fall back in love with reading during the pandemic. I use Bookly for most everything, but I like the calendar view of Bookmory and the detailed year-end reports of StoryGraph. These apps have reminder features that can be helpful when reading is an aspiration but not a habit. I use the ‘reading streak’ in Bookly to motivate myself to go to bed before 11:30 so I can read at night. I’m prone to staying up very late!

Things I’ll write about later:

Clear (or at least translucent) storage drawers

Vintage glasses for pens and markers

Disc binding

Personal Care

These are things that help me maintain a healthier lifestyle when my ADHD is flaring up to give me a lot of fixations or distractions from daily life. It’s easy to lose track of my routines for days at a time. I’ve linked to products that work for me as I thought of them, but I don’t have the focus to dive into this as an article (yet).

SPF 50 Natural Perfection sunscreen stick by AHC: I can vouch for this product after using it while tent camping, while I was unable to deeply wash my face in between uses. I did not get any breakouts, and it did protect my face! How do I know? Well, I forgot to apply it to my chin and got a sunburn while the rest of my face was fine. I also like to put this on my arms sometimes just for quick protection if I’m outside longer than planned.

Eucerin Daily Hydration Broad Spectrum SPF 30 Sunscreen Body Cream: In the summer, I often struggle to keep up with sunscreen. Using this lotion on my arms and neck this year provided a noticeable improvement. It doesn’t have a weird smell or texture.

CeraVe cleanser: There are several cleansers by this brand that serve slightly different needs, and they’ve worked better for me than much more expensive options. I usually use the SA (Salicylic Acid) wash. I also like the Hydrating wash when I need something super gentle.

CeraVe daily lotion: I can use this multiple times a day when I’m having some rosacea problems and it doesn’t cause any breakouts. It’s paired well with everything I’ve used with it, so far. If I use a face wipe, I definitely follow with this. It soaks in so quickly!

Billie wipes: I went through a ~phase where I tried a lot of expensive wipes to remove my makeup. These worked better for a much lower price, and the packages are big, too. I’ve also used them on my neck and arms after wearing sunscreen, and my skin always feels nice.

Kitsch hairbrush cleaner: This may seem random, but one thing I used to struggle with was properly cleaning my brushes. I’d always think it was a big ordeal and put it off, then feel shame for doing so. Sound familiar? This is such a common problem with ADHD. I bought this a few years ago, and it’s been incredibly helpful.