I’m not so good at most self-care things. I don’t eat as healthy as I should, I need to exercise more, and meditation and therapy are foreign concepts. I have a hard time focusing on myself when I spend so much energy focusing on everything else in my life. Maybe that’s my ADHD, I don’t know.

I tend to try things that seem to work for a bit, then I fall out of the routine. I’m bad at building new habits, especially if it’s a habit that will take a good while to show results. I can focus on a task or a project, but if it takes longer than a couple days to complete, I know I have to plan it out within those two days or it will be gone forever. ADHD is like First 48, but for day-to-day things.

Now, let’s talk about why I’m writing this in the first place. I started journaling (again) recently and I really hope it sticks this time. I’ve been using the Apple Journal app on my phone and it’s reduced the friction of journaling quite a bit. Friction reduction is a huge deal for me and my brain, so this has promise. In the past I had used apps like Day One to try and get personal thoughts and feelings out of my head with limited success. The barrier for removal was just too high. I often forget in specific moments to write things down or to catalog my thoughts somewhere externally, and that often means that when I do remember to do it, I forget how I felt or what I was doing in a particular moment, and it makes it hard to have a successful and useful journal. I need a better way to externalize quickly while I’m still in the moment, and I think I found that way.

The Apple Journal app makes it easy by providing me with an audio capture tool. I added a shortcut to this tool to my lock screen, and can simply tap the button to have it automatically start recording my voice. Not only do the recordings sound great and help me really understand how I was feeling in that moment, they also have a great transcription that I can add as text to the journal entry.

Embracing this new method feels like a significant step forward for me. By removing the friction that previously held me back, the Apple Journal app’s audio feature has made journaling accessible and, dare I say, enjoyable. It’s allowing me to capture my thoughts and feelings in real-time, preserving the authenticity of each moment. While it’s still early days, I feel hopeful that this could be the habit that sticks—a tool to help me navigate my ADHD and focus more on self-care. Here’s to small changes making a big impact.