When Thanksgiving Comes Late: ADHD-Friendly Strategies to Get Ahead for the Holidays
If you live with ADHD, the holiday season can feel like a juggling act of deadlines, decisions, and details that all seem to happen all at once and all of the same importance.
This year Thanksgiving lands late in November, adding in extra details and decisions and taking away time. Now there are fewer weeks and less time. It is easy to feel behind before the season even begins.
The good news is that with a few ADHD-friendly strategies, you can reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed and enjoy the holidays even with fewer weeks on the calendar.
Create a visual tool to help you track tasks and time.
When Thanksgiving is later in the month, time feels like a blur between the holidays. Urgency can turn to paralysis.
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Use a visual calendar to map out the next six weeks. Color-code tasks like shopping, decorating, travel, and rest.
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Work backwards and write in time blocks for key events and deadlines. These are the critical priorities for the season such as purchasing, mailing, wrapping and delivery.
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Set reminders with transition times built into the process. Multiple alarms beat one last-minute reminders.
Break projects into actionable micro tasks.
Big projects like getting ready for the holidays are overwhelming. Instead, write out clear, specific micro tasks that can be completed with as little decision making as possible.
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Instead of “decorate,” try “find the box of ornaments.”
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Instead of “shop for everyone,” try “order one gift online.
Create a flexible plan and expect changes.
Managing expectations means creating a plan but keeping it flexible. Having a plan gives you scaffolding, managing it with flexibility keeps it on track.
Think of your plan as a flexible framework:
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Keep a master to-do list and highlight only three priorities per day.
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Use sticky notes or a digital board so you can easily move tasks around.
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Celebrate progress, not perfection.
Work with your energy.
Extra activity can be energizing and draining. Work with your energy to preserve your self-care. Both introverts and extroverts benefit from using their energy wisely during the holidays.
- Set up boundaries for task completion and make it known that done is perfect.
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Schedule “no-peopling” days before and after major events.
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Say “no” (kindly!) to commitments that don’t light you up.
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Build in recovery time after social or family gatherings.
- Set up bedtime routines as sacred.
Keep it simple especially at Thanksgiving.
A late Thanksgiving might mean skipping or reimagining some Thanksgiving and holiday traditions. Find ways to get help with a team of elves, semi-homemade foods, or enlisting your family. Get creative about what each holiday preparations are and imagine how to accomplish these easily. Be sure you have moments during the holidays season that bring you personal joy.
A late Thanksgiving can be a reminder about what is most important about this season of gratitude. Pause, plan, and create systems that support you and how your brain works best. Start small, start today, and make space for what really matters this season.
I love that Thanksgiving is later this year. It gave me more time to prepare and feel less rushed. We don’t do big holiday celebrations after Thanksgiving, so the fact that it’s later isn’t as significant to me as it might feel for some.
All of your suggestions for preparing and pacing are terrific! I especially like your ideas of managing expectations, breaking things down into small manageable pieces, and building in recovery time. The idea is to enjoy the holidays without being so stressed out that you miss the joyful, wonderful moments.
Thanksgiving really is LATE this year. I’ve noticed many more of my neighbors have their outside Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving this year. I’m always on the fence with that, especially when I am the one hosting Thanksgiving. If I were going away, I would be inclined to follow suit and start a bit early with the decorating.
So true about maybe letting a tradition or two go. I think every year is different. It isn’t an annual contest to see if we can endure it. It should be a time of gratitude and celebration (that sort of feels like a part-time job LOL!)
I couldn’t do it without my lists and calendar. I may add an alarm or two. Another trick that helps with distraction is music. When I start a specific type of task, I’ll put on music and let that entertain the part of my brain that would like to “run away” and do something else.
So much recovery is needed after big events!
Alarms are an easy way to help reduce cognitive load. It is a great idea with so many deadlines and distractions.