building an ADHD-friendly mindfulness practice for managing overwhelm and anxiety + a pen log update

[@Autumnichi]

As someone with ADHD I didn't know an ADHD person could sound this relaxed 😂 I realised years ago that meditation wasn't for me. I felt a failure, especially as a spiritual and self-growth person. Then I discovered I was adhd and had a lightbulb moment! Of course I can't meditate sitting still and releasing thoughts! Haha, we are so NOT wired for that. Love;y watercolour :) TFS your journaling ad thoughts x

[@LittleCocoStudio]

haha, thank you for your observation! I admit that I normally talk too fast, and I have learned the hard way to avoid filming right after I've had coffee because I can barely keep up with my rambles and disjointed thoughts. 😅 Receiving my diagnosis resulted in a lot of lightbulb moments for me, too! Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm really grateful that you're here! 💗

[@phoebeyuu4525]

21:48 thank you, THANK YOU again for this video. Your video seems always coincidentally recommended to me whenever I felt stuck. And I've been in my burn out mode lately, spending time feeling so bad that it took me a long damn time to work on reports that's usually just take 5-8 hours to do. And everything you said here about your impulses to procrastinating and then to just cancel everything is so spot on. My long time struggle is that I often felt "unprepared" or "my gut tells me no" that I tended to cancel plans or calling in sick those days. And before, I never know that this was often felt by us ADHD peeps. Listening to you is always felt like listening to someone who actually understand my struggle, because I experienced the exact same experience as you and I've been called names for it. So again, thank you for sharing these tips. I did journaling, too, but never once I thought about journaling when I felt like I wanted to cancel things. I'll do it next time.

[@LittleCocoStudio]

Thank you for your kind words. I can relate so hard about tasks taking so much longer to complete during a burnout mode. I’m sorry to hear that you’ve found yourself in this place. It can take so much energy to get through even the smallest task. I hope you are able to find ways to be kind to yourself. You are not alone! 💗

[@ncivey]

Love your videos. I just wanted to add (as a meditation facilitator) I agree with what you said about mindfulness. Also meditation can be so many things. Sometimes when I wake up I just lie, other times I listen to a 5-10 minute guided meditation while doing my morning routine. There are so many different types of meditation, you just have to find what works for you. 😊

[@LittleCocoStudio]

Thank you for your kind words! 💕 I had this strange mental block with understanding “how to meditate,” which is partially why I’ve tried researching it to learn more. For some reason, I struggled to break free from thinking meditation = sitting still and thinking of nothing (actually, I think it may stem from how my mom tried to teach me to meditate and assuming that was the “only” way to do it 🧘). I love your example of just lying in bed for 5-10 minutes. I can’t really think of how often I allow myself to try that! What are some of your favourite guided meditations to listen to?

[@ncivey]

@@LittleCocoStudio The idea I had to quiet my mind by force put me off meditation for a long time. Now I think of it as an invitation to listen to yourself then with kindness saying “not now” to any thoughts or distractions. They can have their time later, but just acknowledging them is helpful. I have the Peloton app so I use that or I’ll search KZbin for something specific like grounding or self love. I facilitate sound bath meditations where I play crystal singing bowls but also provide some guided meditation. I hope you have fun experimenting.

[@LittleCocoStudio]

@@ncivey amazing! Thank you so much. Sound bath meditations sound so healing. Very cool that you facilitate those 🥹 Thanks for all of your suggestions!

[@ruonpaper]

Thank you so much for this video, Alison! Both for your honesty and being open and vulnerable in sharing your experiences, and for the incredible amount of ideas and advice you packed into the video. I'm definitely going to try some of these practices. Again, thank you.

[@LittleCocoStudio]

Thank you so much for your kind words, Ru! 🥹 I’m so glad you enjoyed it, and I hope you find some of the techniques and strategies helpful if you end up trying them! 💗

[@FrenchyInFocus]

I love all your videos, they just resonate with me and make me feel seen. This year my anxiety is through the roof, with more physical symptoms than ever before. It has thrown me off of my systems and ultimately has become a season of learning how to identify these new symptoms and triggers and re-wire my brain. I've embraced meditation and have been seeking mindfulness in all aspects of my life. I will never again underestimate the power of just breathing. I used to roll my eyes at the thought of meditation and box breathing, but now they are my most used tools. I will have to add leaves on a string to my tool box! Side note: You got the Pilot Custom 823!!!! It's so nice to hear your thoughts on this pen, as you know it's my grail pen ❤

[@LittleCocoStudio]

Thank you so much, Paris!

[@Ohanami.]

Your videos are so calming to me. And all the added knowledge you provide is a god's sent. Thank you so much for doing this :) PS: What you said about learning about symptoms, I can attest to that. Whenever I had mental health stuff going on (burnout, depression, grief) it helped immensely to just know what the heck was going on and what it did to me and could potentially do. Helps in accepting it and leaning into healing. For me at least.

[@LittleCocoStudio]

Thank you so much for your kind words. It means a lot to hear that you find it helpful. 🥰 I’ve experienced burn out enough times in my life that I’ve made it a bit of a mission of mine to learn as much as I can about it and how to manage it in hopes to prevent it. I agree that knowing what is going on is so important as a step toward acceptance and healing Thank you for being here; I appreciate you! 💕

[@kauru3844]

That looks like a very cozy sweater!

[@LittleCocoStudio]

Thank you! It is my favourite sweater and I wear it almost every day at home. It's the best!

[@b1rdeee]

Lovely thoughts and visuals as always!! As a fellow adhder i can 100% relate to that sort of immediate wall our brains tend to put up in response to certain tasks. Also i love your thoughts on meditation, as i don't feel like it gets talked about enough how difficult it can sometimes be for the adhd brain to slow down and try to meet the pace of traditional mediation practices (honestly i usually find it just adds to my stress lol). i'd definitely encourage you to start looking at things like journaling and art as forms of meditation, though!! To me a meditative practice is anything that really puts a focus on the thoughts or feelings i'm experiencing, even if it doesn't necessarily fit the mold of sitting silent with eyes closed. i believe it's Hailey (Haley? can't remember off the top of my head) Honeyman who has a video about journaling with adhd where she really breaks down the idea of 'active processing', and i found it so so helpful in breaking down my journaling process to understand what aspects were helping me and why. Definitely worth checking out if that's something you're looking to do more research on!

[@LittleCocoStudio]

Thank you so much for watching the video! It felt very freeing to expand what a mindfulness practice could look like. Journalling has always been helpful for me, but in a way, because I've been journalling my whole life, I think I got to a point where I wanted to explore other ways to stay mindful. Thank you for sharing Hayley Honeyman's channel - I just looked the channel up and am looking forward to watching her videos! Also - thank you for the suggestion of researching active processing - I'm very interested in this and am definitely going to look into it more! 💗

[@marshabowers3612]

I may have ADHD. I relate to EVERYTHING you said. I got screened this week. I’m looking forward to the results.

[@LittleCocoStudio]

Thank you for stopping by! I hope everything goes well with your assessment results and that it brings you some clarity and an idea of next steps!

[@marshabowers3612]

@ thank you so much! All the best to you as well! I’m a recent subscriber and I love your videos.

[@KenchanKrafts]

I knew you'd eventually get the Custom 823! :D It's a classic and totally fits your style and minimalistic way of collecting pens :) It's like the one pen to end need for all other pens haha, but I still enjoy my other pens even though i have the custom 823. I hope you enjoy and love it a lot! ^_^ Now time to listen to the rest of the video.

[@LittleCocoStudio]

Hehe, you’re totally right. I tried to resist it because of the price tag and I couldn’t find it at my local retailers to test. Watching videos like your fine and medium line comparison video were soooooo helpful. 🥹 I don’t know if it’s the fact that it’s my 2nd newest one (I also got the TWSBI Caffe Bronze lol - a true impulsive purchase), but the Pilot Custom 823 is all I ever want to write with. I’ve already refilled it three times with RO’s Toffee. I think my ultimate would be finding a waterproof ink that gives off the same warm, toffee brown vibes of RO’s Toffee. I’ve been experimenting with mixing different samples of De Atramentis document inks that I have, but if have any suggestions or brands to check out (that might be ok to use with my pilot custom 823), I would love to hear your thoughts! 😍

[@zenshaves1613]

Dang, came here to see which brown inks paired well with the amber Pilot Custom 823 (just ordered one). Didn't expect to relate so closely with everything else.

[@LittleCocoStudio]

Ahhh!! That’s so exciting about your pilot custom 823! What nib size did you end job getting? And what is your short list of inks that you think might be a good fit for it? I initially tried darker browns - FWP writing desk was the first ink I wrote with, and then I did a nib dip test with Pilot iroshizuku’s yama guri and Kobe shioya vintage sepia (gorgeous ink and lovely flow). I never got around to trying them in the pen, bc once I inked it up with RO’s Toffee, I fell in love. I’ve already refilled it three times with that ink! 🥹

[@MindfulVespers]

New follower; I’m enjoying your content so much. One of my favorite teachers (and writers) is Thich Nhat Hanh, and one of my favorite mindfulness practices is to sit down in a very comfortable place with my notebook dedicated to this ritual and jotting down one of his teachings, focusing on the joy of writing, the beauty of his words, and the meaningfulness of what I’m doing to my body and mind as I’m writing. “Peace Is This Moment” is the book I’ve used often to re-write (like common placing, perhaps?). I hope this inspires you as much as it has me. 🩷

[@LittleCocoStudio]

Thank you so much for your kind words and for sharing Thich Nhat Hanh. You're not the first person who has recommended him to me, and this is the nudge I needed to make the time to look up his teachings. Your mindfulness ritual sounds incredible. Thank you for inspiring me 💗