I rarely write blogs anymore. In fact, I've thus far published very few. Why? Because as I alluded to in my last post--almost a year ago--I have overcomplicated the process of blogging to the point where I just don't want to do it.
Because who wants to do anything that's going to take a long time and be unnecessarily complicated? Not me, and not you either.
I aspire to a more streamlined lifestyle. I want to stop trying to handle more than I can handle, even if "other people" seem to handle three times as much as me. I don't understand how they do it, and it doesn't matter anymore. Thirty years from now is anyone going to talk about how much I got done every day? How about in twenty years? Ten? How about in one year? How about next week? Does anyone really care about what I've accomplished or how well I did whatever I did?
So much of my worldview is filtered through what I think other people think or do. Other people and their opinions have to stop mattering to me. I need to live a life that works for me, a life that feels right to me. I want to be authentic, but I can't be authentic if I keep overthinking and overcomplicating things. I need to keep it simple. If it's not simple it will not work for me. Perhaps something complicated will work once or twice, but it won't be sustainable.
"Bearing Good Fruit" refers to the Bible verses John 15:1-8 in the New Testament. Jesus says that He is the True Vine and that God is the Vinedresser. Every branch that does not bear good fruit will be cut off, and every branch that does bear good fruit will be pruned and cleansed (carefully tended to) so that it can continue to bear good fruit.
How, you may ask, does this apply to ADHD? It's like this: If we (I) spend my time obsessing about all the things I "should" do but don't do because there are too many of them, I am like a tree that doesn't bear much fruit. I would bear more fruit, and better fruit, if I concentrated my efforts on what matters, and cut away what doesn't matter (things, projects, people).
Yes, even people. That doesn't mean I actually cut people out of my life, although I do need to pare back on listening to useless chatter from others (unhelpful opinions, attitudes, diatribes, etc.) that impede my fruit-producing efforts.
And this goes for household possessions too. Marie Kondo talks about keeping only items that "spark joy," but I like the fruit analogy even more. In fact, joy is one of the fruits mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23. "But the fruit of the (Holy) Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law." In other words, these fruits (attributes) are the litmus test for how I should decide what's important and what's not important in my life. Meditating on the fruits of the Spirit helps me determine my priorities and the way I do things. They instruct and guide me, helping me know which things to focus my emotional, mental, and physical resources on, and which things to cut away.
And going back to the topic of blogging, it can't matter how well I write or how clever my accompanying images on the posts are--it can ONLY matter that I share what is helpful to share. And I do hope this has been helpful!
