I just take my meds then stare at my phone for an hour. Lol.

Not sure if Ritalin has similar effects in this sense as Adderall, but I used to run into a problem where I’d wake up, take my meds, get ready and head out the door, then suddenly the most urgent need to #2. I was attending community college at the time, and parking was beyond terrible there, so I’d arrive at like 6:30a, only to find most of the restrooms still locked! Fun times.

Only the AI generated ones.

Maybe, but I might be busy avoiding responsibilities next week.

Nah, I don’t do things on weekends. Or Mondays. How about the following Tuesday?

I do often put my tongue between my teeth in an attempt to recduce damage to my teeth, but I still bite my tongue, which I think still makes the muscle tension worse. My current approach is to open my jaw as wide as possible and hold it for like 30 seconds to stretch the muscles. It seems to kinda help, but depending on where I am, it can be kinda awkward.

Cons: The side effects. It wasn’t always this bad, but they increase my tendency to clench my teeth, which can lead to enough pain by early afternoon that I can no longer focus on anything but the pain. I’m on a relatively low dose (10mg XR), and didn’t notice any benefit when I tried a non-stimulant medication.

Edit: I just need to shout into the void about this for a moment. No Adderall for at least 5 days, and no coffee/soda/energy drinks for even longer. It’s the weekend and I’m just vegging, so not a whole lot to be stressing about, but for some fucking reason I’m clenching and my jaw fucking hurts. 😬

So, there was this one time, back when I was in college (and very medicated), that I had a big research paper due, and I had a great idea: what if I get started “early” for once so that I’m not scrambling at the very last minute to finish? I’ll even have some time to proofread it and relax once I’m done, and it will be so nice to enjoy some downtime without the anxiety of the looming deadline!

I legitimately got started on it “early” and was reasonably focused. Most of my attention was directed towards the assignment, not cleaning my toilet or scrolling on Reddit. But guess what? I still wound up scrambling at the very last minute to finish and didn’t get to enjoy any of the supposed perks of starting early.

I think what happened was that since I had “so much time”, I got lost in the research portion of the assignment and really struggled to make much progress on the writing portion until that wave of adrenaline hit.

I realize this is just an anecdote, but that whole experience has made it even more difficult to try and get anything done early. I feel like if I start early, I’m not going to also finish early, instead I’m just going to spend more time on the task, so why bother?

I used to drive a lot, and other than traffic, I enjoyed it, especially when I had a fun little manual. I live in the middle of a city with decent public transportation now, and with all the traffic, driving is only enjoyable if I’m leaving the city. I no longer even own a car, so when I do drive, it’s an unfamiliar vehicle and unfamiliar roads, so the first few hours are pretty stressful. I’ve been considering owning a car again, but I’m fantasizing that full self driving will be a thing by then. Lol.