How a Whiteboard Became My ADHD Bestie

MJ Wynn
May 22
2 min read

Updated: May 25

Picture this: It's 10 PM, I'm sitting cross-legged on my bed, surrounded by scattered sticky notes and half-finished to-do lists that look like they've been through a paper shredder. My cat judges me from the tree while I'm having what I like to call a "productivity spiral" (you know, those moments when you realize you've spent two hours organizing how to organize your life?).

That's when it hit me: Maybe my brain isn't broken. Maybe it just needs... a bigger canvas.

The ADHD Plot Twist I Never Saw Coming

For years, I played this fun game called "Everyone Else Has Their Life Together." I'd watch people smoothly navigate their days while I'm over here forgetting my coffee on top of my car (again) and wondering why my brain feels like a browser with 74 tabs open. And not the organized kind - we're talking chaotic, auto-playing videos, pop-up ads, the works.

I kept thinking I just needed to try harder. Download another app. Create another system. But trying to force my scattered thoughts into neat little digital boxes felt like trying to convince my cat that the expensive bed I bought is better than the Amazon box it came in.

When Analog Meets ADHD Brain

So there I was, wandering through Dollarama (as one does), when I saw it: a basic whiteboard. Not one of those Pinterest-worthy command centers - just a plain, $5 whiteboard that somehow felt like it was calling my name. Like when you lock eyes with a shelter pet and just... know.

I didn't expect it to change anything. But sometimes the most mundane purchases end up being little life rafts we didn't know we needed.

Plot Twist: Simple Actually Works?

Here's the thing about whiteboards: they're basically your brain on a wall. Messy? Sure. Random doodles in the corners? Absolutely. That weird quote you wrote at midnight that made total sense then but looks like ancient hieroglyphics in the morning? Check.

But it's exactly that messiness that makes it work. No pressure to be perfect. No "aesthetic" to maintain. Just pure, unfiltered brain-dump realness.

The Late-Night Revelation

You want to know the real game-changer? It's not about organizing your thoughts. It's about giving them somewhere to exist outside your head. Like finally being able to put down a heavy backpack you didn't even realize you were carrying.

My whiteboard has become this weird mix of diary, life coach, and that friend who lets you ramble at 12 AM without judgment. Sometimes I catch myself staring at it while prepping my morning hoot, adding random ideas between dabs, erasing and rewriting and somehow making sense of it all.

A Truce With My Brain

These days, my relationship with my brain feels less like a wrestling match and more like... interpretive dance? We're still figuring it out, but at least now we have a stage to perform on. My whiteboard isn't a solution - it's more like a meditation space where my thoughts can stretch out and breathe.