Oh shit, is that a sign of ADHD? This happens to me a lot and it's really tough to overcome, I end up jumping between tasks to do something else, remember the important scary thing, stare at it for a bit then task bounce again.
I'm really liking the posts along these lines because there's so much associated with ADHD that I haven't been aware was part of it and it's so accuratly described here. There's kind of this sense of living like a double agent or something, except in that scenario the person knows what it is they're hiding. I've gone through life having unconsciously learned that the actual reasons I do things aren't acceptable or at least not explainable so I'm always having to improvise something more plausible or different. It's sorta like lying, but not exactly, but there's the ever present fear that I'll be exposed for... something.
I almost feel like this life time of training would actually have helped me really be a secret agent if only all the other symptoms of ADHD weren't completely debilitating and would sabotage such work terribly.
I'm so lucky that rarely had to work in an environment with daily stand ups. One time I did and I kinda managed for a few months until one day I just had "an episode" and got up and walked out saying "sorry, I can't do this". I was also very lucky to be working for an employer who supported me through the following weeks of "sick" leave and a role change.
Since my current team's timezone is all over the place, we do our standup async via text, so it's not so bad. But still having to explain "What did you get done yesterday?" to the Slackbot at the beginning of my day is not always a great feeling.
This is pretty good. I remember seeing it a while ago.
Realizing I had all this wall -- emotional stuff -- in the way was a help. I could see what problem I actually had to solve first.
I find it helps to analyze what I am feeling and why and kind of talk through it.
And sometimes looking at the initial steps of getting started helps. If I can get started on one or two simple actions it is often enough to get over the hump and keep going.
E.g. I have this report to write ugh ..but let's see.... The first thing is I just need to open Visio and then the next hard thing is to find the architecture diagram...so maybe just open up that one team website cuz it might be there. So I go and do that and now I'm locked into finding the diagram, then starting to work on it for the report, and I can go step wise from there.
A big problem is just having the "juice" to start. If I haven't exercised in a while and am falling into depression, forget it. It's almost impossible. Whereas it is much easier if I am feeling good due to regular exercise.
My Rx helps, especially in the morning about 20-30 minutes after taking it. If I don't waste it on goofing off lol.
90% of the posts I never actually post are because I spend half an hour explaining my thought process and then I see the huge wall of text and then go "ah fuck that."
I don't know if it helps, but this is not really a lie, and you shouldn't feel bad about saying it. You have your own reason for not being able to do something you committed to. Someone else might have a different reason that is equally personal that they don't want to share. "I forgot and I'm sorry" is a socially acceptable way to take responsibility without sharing specifics and potentially making someone else feel confusion or pity.
You can still work on the "why wasn't I able to do the thing I felt I needed to do" without worrying about "why wasn't I honest about my reason".
Sorry but the anxiety that accompanies my add says that your two cents are good in all cases but mine because my contacts will both know I'm lying and care deeply
basically no symptom of ADHD is exclusive to ADHD. But as a rule, executive dysfunction as described here will happen much more frequently and for much more mundane tasks for people with ADHD when compared to people without.
It's not exclusively an ADHD, neurotypical, OR neurodivergence trait. Severity and effects on life matter. It can be a trait associated with a myriad of executive dysfunction disorders (e.g. Autistic Inertia), ADHD, anxiety, and some personality disorders as well. Finally, an otherwise mentally neurotypical person will behave the same way given a big enough stressor.
Severity and effects on life, that's the first measure to look at before asking "But everyone is like X or Y, sometimes".
I get like this with some spesific tasks. Other related tasks I breeze through quickly, but when I get reminded about the one I struggle like this with I just freeze.
As far as I know I am what they call neurotypical but I do wonder if I have some attention defisit at times.
Attention is really another aspect of executive function along with self motivation.
No doubt everyone sometimes struggles to get motivated to start something, once in a while. And no doubt people sometimes find it hard to focus on a thing. Or have trouble shifting their focus from one thing to another.
With ADHD, these and the many other symptoms tend to manifest quite frequently and have a significant impact on all areas of your life. Your career suffers, your relationships suffer, etc.
You're not the only one. My shrink says it's pretty common for adults to break down and cry after getting their diagnosis, because it's confirmation that there's something actually wrong and they're not just a lazy sack of shit.
Yup. Wonderful memories of childhood when people were asking me "what are you trying to achieve" and I'm just sitting there thinking "I just told you I can not function like you want me to".
I think I may have ADD. But I think I also have autism. Now I've read about PDD-NOS, but is that still a thing? And how easy would it be to diagnose my cocktail of things?
ADHD is usually fairly easy to get evaluated for, depending on where you're located. Getting evaluated for autism as an adult is usually much more difficult.
Pretty sure it's been changed around a bit lately but for shits n giggles, look up NLD (Neurological Learning Disorder) and see if that fits as well :p
It's more helpful to think of it as one thing, your thing. Better than collecting diagnoses as some people are fond of doing. All these conditions overlap because the etiology overlaps.
Personally I was diagnosed with NDD-NOS, basically the same as what you're describing, with the understanding that it most closely matches ADHD-PI in terms of specific disorders.