In the past, I’ve always struggled to write to do lists. I struggle with Pervasive Demand Avoidance or PDA. This causes me to struggle with feelings of being told what to do. Making a to do list for myself felt like telling myself what to do in the past. Therefore, I refused to make those lists.
This inevitably caused a cycle of anxiety about having to keep checklists, inventories, and ideas all in my head at all times. That is not a realistic expectation of myself. I knew I had to overcome the PDA and start making lists.
I started by putting things on my calendar such as routine tasks (call the vet to make appointments). I told myself ever activity was optional, and I started by adding only a few things at a time.
I quickly found myself being less anxious about keeping everything up there at all times. This led me to feeling more secure about forgetting words in the middle of a session with clients at work. Next, I found that my infrequent moments of stuttering became mostly nonexistent.
Today I got a dopamine rush when I stumbled upon my list of goals for my business (disguised as work ideas) that I forgot I made and was able to cross off four things!
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