Posted on 02/02/2019 4:05:24 AM PST by sodpoodle
Age-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder
This is how it manifests:
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 mail box 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 check book 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 Diet Coke I'd been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks, But first I need to push the Diet Coke aside So that I don't accidentally knock it over.
The Diet 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 Diet Coke, A vase of flowers on the counter Catches my eye--they need water.
I put the Diet 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 we 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 Diet 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 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..
.
Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!!
Happens to me all the time.....LOL!
I think you posted this back around Christmas, but I don’t remember for sure.
Sounds like just another day . . . .
Naps always seem to get accomplished..
“Forward this message to everyone you know,”
If you ever see this in a message....don’t.
Realize I need a Phillips head screwdriver to adjust a cabinet hinge.
Walk down to basement to get tool.
Arrive in basement knowing I came down here for something. What the hell was it?
It’s excruciating to read, but then it gets funny!
Have a good day!
What?
And here I thought it was just me.
Love ya Sod!!
Our nephew has ADHD. Our sons have ADHD. I have ADHD. Our daughter said she realizes now she has it, but has struggled past it. My dad had ADHD, his 9th grade teacher remembered him as a “day dreamer”. My mom has ADHD, she is in her 90s. She always did things like going to a baby shower on the wrong day. And at 92 it isn’t getting better, but not really any worse. I walk into a room and don’t remember why. I have to go back to the room I came from and look around and try to remember.
I did take Visual Basic computer programming and it helped my brain A LOT! I could finally think of things one at a time, instead of jumbled into a mess in my head. I retrained my brain to think of things one line at a time like in V.B.
But I am an elderly grandma now and often I am thinking of saying or doing something and it totally vanishes from my mind like in a POOF! I need to carry a notepad and jot things down!!!!
I do remember what they did TO NIXON and they tried to do to Reagan and “W” and what they are trying to do to Trump!!!!
The Prioritized To Do list has pay bills at number one. Bills get paid.
A quick run is next, that sets the day.
Missing keys are on locater fods.
Plants are on automatic watering.
Junk mail is taken care by the P.O. box company.
All that remains are Projects. Projects, never completed, keep a person healthy and happy.
There must be Online-Activated ADHD, too:
5:00 a.m. Login to computer to pay your bills online.
Your homepage has a news story about a local crime. Click link to read about the crime.
At the end of that article, a link to “Best Vacation Spots for 2019” attracts your eye.
Click that link to look at slideshow (even though you can’t afford a vacation.)
The end of the slideshow throws you into “Top 10 Easiest Recipes.” Click through all those recipes that you’ll never make.
Realize you’re wasting time, and close that screen which returns you to homepage. Now there’s an article on politics. Click to read article. Get angry and visit FR to blow some steam.
Notice an article on FR about 1970’s slang. Read all 200 comments. Remember that you logged on to pay bills. Open new screen, which brings up your homepage again.
The Facebook icon grabs your attention. You click on it, and 1 notification is waiting. It turns out, a friend shared a photo of her cat. You scroll through the rest of your news feed.
8:00 a.m. You still haven’t paid the bills. :-(
Walking from one room to the next causes the brain to adjust to the new surrounding overwriting the reason for entering the new room. Has nothing to do with age.
My dream house is ONE ROOM except for bathroom. :)
Old joke:
These days I find myself wondering about the hereafter. I go into a room and then say, “I wonder what I came in here after?”
“Diet Coke”
Read up on the effects of the neurotoxin Aspartame that is in it and you may get a clue to what the problem is.
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/04/16/aspartame-diet-soda.aspx
I signed onto FR to see if the big news story was posted yet, when I found your post. Good times! now what in the world was that big news story I was looking for?
“....often I am thinking of saying or doing something and it totally vanishes from my mind like in a POOF! I need to carry a notepad and jot things down!!!!”
I call that “poof” thingy “losing the bubble”. Notepads helped for awhile but increasingly found myself trying to de cypher either my handwriting or 2-3 three word shorthand.
You’re OK until the car keys your looking for are finally found - in the refrigerator. LOL
I learned more than a decade ago, to try to stop this.
Make a mental note to self instead of ever doing anything on “automatic”.
When “setting the keys down here”, say to yourself in your mind “I am setting the keys down here”. In other words don’t just do something, say to yourself you are doing it as you do it. First, you do remember all the little things much better and second your ability to focus improves.
When we are young memories are catalogued and indexed on automatic very well, and we are also better able to put distractions aside so that some goal can get done.
When we really start to age, both those skills have weakened.
But, if we add deliberate intention into memory retention - a process that employs a simple thought to conciously focus on what we are doing and make note of it, gradually memory and focus can improve. Think of it like exercise for an aspect of the brain that has gotten lazy.
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