Before I began working through any of kind treatment plan for managing my ADHD symptoms, I made myself a list of my most bothersome symptoms, so “Future Me” could come back later to review, compare, and — in theory — see drastic progress. Time will tell.
Here’s to hoping! Cheers!
The 20 Most Annoying Things My ADHD Makes Me Do
Thanks to my Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, I incessantly …
- Interrupt other people, including finishing other people’s sentences.
- Lose track of time and lose track of where I am on a task (mid-task).
- Try to do too many things at once.
- Forget things around the house (from room to room) — CONSTANTLY.
- Get overwhelmed easily (and quickly).
- Have difficulty making decisions (especially simples ones).
- Make clutter and then get overwhelmed by it.
- Have paperwork piles … and piles … and piles … and …
- Am unable to hold a thought while I wait for the appropriate time to execute it / share it / etc.
- Am emotionally dysregulated and sensorily sensitive.
- Am unable to pause well (or soon enough).
- have trouble paying attention to someone talking to me (or the TV). I really miss having DVR. The ability to rewind live television was miraculous.
- Have to reread … and reread … and reread … until I can finally catch what I just read.
- Forget what I’m saying mid-sentence (#squirrel).
- Am unable to even start
somethinganythingsomething. - Am anxiety-ridden about cooking regular meals in the kitchen.
- Am in a constant state of unease (quickly upset by things, easily panicked, often worried, agitated, irritable, etc) … though I do a bang-up job of hiding it (most of the time).
- (Not a big complaint) But — have trouble napping during the day. It has always been hard to nearly impossible (except when napping with my son back when he was a newborn and toddler). Nighttime sleep is irregular at best, but overall not terrible. I’m usually tired all day and yawn around the clock.
- Find myself completely unable to make myself meditate regularly.
- Perform below my potential (and I’m never able to accomplish all I wish to).
Small Steps Forward
Although I have yet to put all the legs of my treatment plan in place successfully, I am trying to recognize that I am, in fact, walking in the right direction and that I am, slowly but surely, making some progress.
My Biggest Improvements to Date:
- Now, I actually find I’m able to CHOOSE whether to interrupt someone or not.
- When I’m able to meditate regularly (and I don’t forget to take my medication), I’m more calm and content, allowing me to handle surprise issues and problems more resiliently than before.
- I can also handle more sensory input now. For example, prior to diagnosis, medication, meditation, bullet journaling, therapy, learning about ADHD and my particular flavor of ADHD, … being around a crowd of loud, active people would have made me uneasy, frustrated, agitated, irritable, and unable to think in straight lines. Now, that same crowd is way more tolerable and kind of just settles in like background music.
Fun (Momentary?) BONUS Improvement!
I’m completely excited to share this one with you, even though it may never happen again!
Without interrupting myself a bazillion times (while reading or writing) to edit, explain and/or rewrite the thing, … I was able to write (and read back to the Hubs) all-the-way through a long batch of text. For me this is huge. I literally fixed one typo. One. Just one! AND … I hadn’t … even … noticed. He pointed it out to me after he shook the shock off his face.
Normally, I would have interrupted my own flow so many times by half-way through, that he’d be completely lost and would’ve forgotten what I was even reading about in the first place! He said it was literally the first time I’d ever done that in the entire time he’s known me. Ya’ll, we’ve known each other for 23 years!
For the most part, I have not had that same perfect laser focus again when writing (or reading it back), … but man alive, it really is easier to write now than before! It makes the idea of writing this blog .. a thing. And I really love that it’s not entirely unthinkable now!
What About You?
With this in mind, what are some of your most annoying ADHD symptoms? What drives you crazy? Have you made any exciting progress you can share? I’d love to know in the comments below!
Wow! Wow! And wow!! I’ve read all your posts on this blog (at least I think I have) and I relate to so much of what you talk/write about. I was initially searching for info on girls with ADHD (for my daughter), but now I’m looking at both of us and wondering if we both need testing/diagnosing.
But back to this article… no. 7 about clutter had me in tears (of laughter)! I’m totally like that. Oh the clutter!
Anyway, keep writing and posting (I’ll be subscribing). Oh, and I love the post with the “superpowers”. I share many of those with you.
Hi Gabi! I’m so sorry I’m just replying! I honestly thought I had! I’m so glad you felt a connection and hope you and your daughter are doing well. Hope you are still reading! Feel free to reach out any time!
I agree with y’all. I am 44 and suspected since my 20’s I had ADD the inattentive daydreamy type but my family said no way. I have always had low self esteem felt unworthy been rejected by kids when I was young, felt different, weird, like I don’t fit in. I was extremely Shy, very Naive, had ocd anxiety panic attack’s depression since I was 6yrs old. I would always speak extremely fast at home. I am clumsy, get told I’m odd, crazy, dingy and I also am very impulsive in many areas. I have time management issues, hate to cook, the thought of cleaning, decorating organization and where to start stresses me out,I lack motivation and feel like I could win #1 finalist in starting at the wall the longest, have spaciness, get asked our you back yet, want to say if u weren’t so damn boring I might have paid attention I blurt out brutally honest statements/ weird comments that just come to me, have no filter and I sometimes don’t even understand what I said that was wrong. I am a recovering addict many relapses just don’t learn, have always been A slow reader have to reread a lot, going on my 2nd bankruptcy and still have no clue how to budget my money because of my impulsivety and hard time a keeping boyfriend Get bored unless he extra wild and good in bed and have few friends cuz I won’t let them get to close to me to get hurt. I Have always been Overly sensitivitie, cry easy, deeply feel other people’s emotions and energies and I’m definitely an Empath. Going to dr a therapist this week to get diagnosed properly and can’t take stimulants cause I’m an addict. Also have an extremely hard time with directions, Mapquest says turn north yeah I’ll do that it I knew which direction that was, how about turn left or right, Jackasses. Now that I just sounded like Debbie Downer and sucked the life out of ya, I do have some great qualities very humorous can turn any depressing story into a funny one, quite witty, I’ve been told my astrology charts say I’m very creative and still looking forward to tapping into my creativity, whatever that maybe. I’m adventurous, love the outdoors and must get back into running because it made my anxiety go away and I was happy with laughter. I am very compassionate towards all people/animals. Once you get my shyness/ akwardness I’m a great listerner ( took me years to learn) and make sure to listen with an open heart and pass no judgement so they can open up and feel comfortable and I keep what they say in confidence. Working on Spirtuality and learning to love all and be forgiving because we’re all human and there is a deeper meaning to people and the reasones they do things,learning about all religions and metaphysics and very open to different people and their lifestyles. So that’s me in a nutshelI, I am finally ready to work through my childhood teenage and adult issues so I can always be the latter part of that story. 1 more thing before I leave, Not sure if this an ADD trait but very tech challenged, have to have someone show me visually in person over & over many times on my computer before I grasp the concepts and whoever wrote directions to follow and figure things out was an Non ADD so called “Normal” Idiot. ?
Hope this goes with my book I wrote (haha) very forgetful and descision making can take 2 hours not my best quality.
Hey Jess!!
So glad you wrote me your novel 😉 God, I feel you. One thing that stands out though … and just burns … is the fact that you can’t get medication due to the addiction issues. I know the whole medication issue is such a hot controversial topic … but it really breaks my heart wide open when I hear that because of previous addiction you aren’t allowed the medication that I swear could have prevented the addiction in the first place. So MANY times … we’re trying to survive in a world we don’t fit in trying SO HARD to fit … so hard to figure out what is wrong and what we need. We reach out for anything we can to satisfy our brain’s biological need for dopamine. I happened to seek self-medication with food, overspending, etc. And that’s really not so different. I just find it wildly unfair for you. It could make such a difference for you. Pills do not teach skills, but they can level the playing field to where you can actually LEARN the skills in the first place. #itakemypillsbecause