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Saw this post on the autism community and made me wonder from an ADHD perspective, what would it be?
I imagine they can implement the incredibly unhelpful advice I’ve received so many times.
“Just don’t think about it.” Whatever “it” is at the moment.
Neurotypical people seem to have the ability to just stop thinking about stuff when they want and let their brain rest.
I usually associate that more with anxiety, which I don’t have, because I can sometimes short circuit the bad thought spirals by switching to the latest hyperfocus. Like playing through doom levels in my mind’s eye.
Kind of a big topic so I’m not sure where to focus.
A friend of mine has ADHD and we were talking about it. Specifically about why she always has dishes in her sink. She said what happens is she goes to do the dishes. She’ll wash one. Realize it’s the dish she had popcorn in, and she needs to clean the popcorn machine. She puts down the dish, and goes over to the popcorn machine. She goes to unplug it, and realizes the power strip it’s plugged into is kind of shitty. She’s looking up new power strips online, and no dishes are washed.
Contrary, I do my dishes. I wash one. I realize it’s the one I had popcorn in. I note I should clean that, too, later. I wash the next dish. I wash the next dish. I continue until the dishes are clean. I’m thinking about stuff but I’m still on task.
I don’t know if her experience is representative.
I wash one. I realize it’s the one I had popcorn in. I note I should clean that, too, later.
I think your friend had probably learned that if she just notes to clean it later, she will forget and it’ll never happen. I feel like there’s a sense of urgency you learn to develop, that the longer you wait between thinking of a task and completing the task, the more likely it is that the task will simply never get done, so you wind up jumping from task to task as you think of them.
And you seldom realize what you’re doing is wrong. You’re working on things, never finishing anything.
There’s a good Malcolm in the middle opening where Hal does this.
That is my favorite clip to reference to tell neurotypucals about how my mind works.
Thank goodness meds can help tame it somewhat!
