Self-Care Dopamine

Hey friends,

I’m feeling pretty exhausted this week, and it’s not even Wednesday yet!

It’s funny how quickly things can change from exciting and energetic into just plain overwhelming. I think I’m juggling one too many chainsaws and I’m worried that the crash is coming soon.

Yesterday, I made a quick joke about wanting to create plans just to cancel them in order to get some “self-care dopamine.”

Because creating new plans is great, but cancelled plans are even better somehow. Maybe it’s because I get the little excitement of something changing without the looming responsibility that lurks around the corner.

I think I’m also feeling exhausted because of the pressure and expectations I put on myself for every little project I try to tackle.

I have this gift where I can see the flaws in everything I do, everything I create.

Do you ever feel the weight of just knowing that things could be better (and the guilt from thinking they should be better)?

I think one potential antidote to this might be experimentation.

I recently had the revelation that I haven’t really been experimenting much lately.

My personal growth has stagnated somewhat as I’ve been focused on completing projects. I haven’t started any new hobbies, or engaged with existing ones. I’m not even trying to optimize my workflows with shortcuts and automations—something is truly amiss!

Have you been letting yourself experiment lately?

Stay focused,
Jesse J. Anderson

Shiny objects

🍳 An ADHD Cookbook?!​
​The Noisy Brain Cookbook is a cookbook designed by Ada Riggo for ADHDers and includes both written and illustrated instructions so you can choose which works better for you. Such a fun idea for a project—I’m a terrible cook so I’m excited to experiment and try out some of the recipes and (hopefully) make something delicious!

Quotes from others

Play is our first energiser. Life is stressful. Play makes it fun. If we can integrate the spirit of play into our lives, we’ll feel better – and do more too...

...an adventurous life holds the key to unlocking positive emotions. So, the first way to harness the potential of play is to integrate adventure into our lives.

— Ali Abdaal, Feel-Good Productivity