Bloganuary day 13! Today’s prompt is:

What does your ideal day look like?

You’d think coming up with an idea of what my ideal day looks like would be easy. But then chances are, if you believe that, you don’t have ADHD. 

Living with ADHD is an interesting experience, made more so by the fact that rarely are two days ever the same, nor would I want them to be. 

Then again, I guess I was interpreting this prompt to mean an ideal day as in all days would be the same. But as I’m writing this, I’m seeing it differently. Kind of a thing I do. 

One day I might feel that an ideal day is split up as six hours of work, six hours of writing, four hours of personal time and eight hours of sleep. Then I’ll get engrossed in a particular project for work, which might cause twelve hours to fly by unnoticed. Or the same will happen with writing. Now and then sleep will demand twelve hours of my time (though not often anymore). More likely my day will consist of a few hours of jumping between several different tasks, ending up in a deep dive of one thing, then maybe a different thing, then some more jumping around. 

The thing is that this chaotic approach to a schedule and life really does define my ideal day. Each one is different and unique and exciting. And my initial interpretation of this prompt really does signify how engrained our lives (or maybe just my life) is about the normal way of looking at things. For some reason I seem to feel the need to explain, and even apologize, for the chaotic ideal that suits me best. Because it’s not the normal or expected way to be productive or successful. 

Nothing about the way I function and excel is normal by most peoples’ standards and very few people understand it (other than my adult kids and friends who have ADHD). But personally, I love it. 

My most productive and efficient days are when I’m able to embrace the chaos – and that paints the picture of my ideal day. 

But here’s what’s interesting, for me, there also has to be order within the chaos. Oxymoron right? Told you, I’m different. But for the chaos to be productive, I need roadmaps, checklists, clear paths. Fortunately, I’m good at creating them. Armed with solid roadmaps for each different thing, I can flit around the chaos, back and forth, up and down, here and there – and at the end of the day sit back content with the results. Without them, nothing worth acknowledging gets done, most of the time.

So, we know writing fits into my ideal of organized chaos, but how does organized chaos fit in with an ideal day of writing? 

By being nimble when I need to be. I never stare at a blank page. So, an entire day of writing will flit between research, editing, knocking out a couple of solid chapters, adjusting my outline (because that’s my roadmap), wandering off down a rabbit hole for a bit, then write some more. And the order will change every time. 

If I were to ever find myself writing novels full time, I also know that it would mean needing to write multiple stories simultaneously. As in full steam ahead on story A until, for myself, I need to change to story B, and then back again, or maybe veer off on story C. Some stints would be longer than others. But it would be a constant ebb and flow with the wind. So long as I have my roadmaps (outlines), that would result in some massive productivity. 

In a nutshell, organized chaos without boundaries or limitations, is hands down my ideal day. And it never repeats, every day is a new adventure. 

Do you relate? Or do you have a much more peaceful approach to an ideal day?

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