Abandon guilt in favor of being excited to remember and pick it up again.

Not being able to form habits is a classic autistic/adhd thing. Everything is on “manual” all the time and this can make it challenging to stick to healthy routines.

Even among us autistics we mostly don’t get to choose routines it just happens haha.
There are ways to deal with this but first I’m going to talk about what happens when you fall out of your routine.
Inevitably you will, and that’s ok. Because whenever you remember, you can just pick up that day.

We’re not going to get anywhere fighting with the way your brain works and holding yourself to a neurotypical standard of trying to “be consistent” is just not going to work the same way.
So if you’re trying to pick up something working out, accept that you will eventually stop without meaning to and whenever you do take a breath, say no thanks to the guilt and get excited that you remembered it again!

That mindset shift is the main point of this article but I’ll also very quickly talk about some techniques that work for neurodivergent people when they’re trying to make habits.

  • Gluing habits.
    • Sunset is when I love being out in the sun, that’s at the end of my workday and I can head out for my walk at that time. The sun and closing my laptop at the end of the workday is my reminder.
  • Body doubling.
    • Things that take excutive function are easier to do when you have someone else that you’re doing it with.

    Good luck! Abandon guilt, embrace progress.