Here is one of the best descriptions of ADHD I’ve ever seen!
(Author unknown)
I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.
As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mailbox earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.
But then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left.
My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where
I find the can of Coke I’d been drinking.
I’m going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don’t accidentally knock it over.
The Coke is getting warm, and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye–they need water.
I put the Coke on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I’m going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realize that tonight when I go to watch TV, I’ll be looking for the remote, but I won’t remember that it’s on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I’ll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
the car isn’t washed; the bills aren’t paid; there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter; the flowers don’t have enough water; there is still only 1 check in my check book; I can’t find the remote; I can’t find my glasses; and I don’t remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day, and I’m really tired.
I realize this is a serious problem, and I’ll try to get some help for it, but first I’ll check my e-mail….
This describes my day exactly. But I will defend myself and say I was not always that way. A long, long time ago (I am 50 yrs old), I had a job that trained my brain to wander. I was the only one at this small business for the longest time (all through my 20′s). I answered the phone, waited on customers, produced amazing artwork, worked the camera, other equipment, you get the picture. I could never complete a thought without an interruption. After several years of this I felt my brains were scrambled. Since I quit in my 30′s i miss the busy shop work and get bored easily with repetitive work. I recently took a job scanning and would fall asleep, watch the clock, search for distractions. Now I embrace my full crazy life, but I do accomplish a lot… it just takes awhile.