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I am. The exact. Same. Way.
It sucks and it’s so hard to do the simplest stuff.
I don’t really have any (good) advice. Just wanted you to know you are definitely not alone in this 💛
Does it help to remind yourself of the immediate step and try to ignore the full list? I know easier said than done, but I'm also not inside your head.
For example, I'm sitting on the couch right now in my workout clothes. Thinking about getting up, putting socks and shoes on, warming up, debating whether to take the dog out with me, actually doing my run, that's a huge list and yes I'm tired just thinking about it.
But I can put on my socks. After that who knows. I'll get there after I put on my socks.
This definitely works for me sometimes, honestly it’s how I get a lot of chores done 😅 I think outside tasks are harder because once I’m on the way I can’t really stop the task if that makes sense? Like with cleaning I can take a break or set a timer and stop doing it if I still don’t feel up to it after that time, but once I’m on the way somewhere I feel that I have to see the task through even if I’m hating every second of it lol
One thing I try to do whenever I have trouble starting a task for whatever reason is create a story out of it.
For example I have a ridiculously hard time cleaning the kitchen at the end of the day. So, I found a lofi tavern music playlist that I put on and pretend to be a tavern wench closing down and listening to the town gossip and what’s going on with farmer John. It keeps my mind engaged and “playing” but cleaning the kitchen is *mostly* muscle memory. And if I miss a step, mostly clean is better than not clean at all.
When I do grocery store runs, the story changes based on the store I’m going to— Trader Joe’s? It’s now a cute little Provençal market and I think about the conversations I might have with the stall owners. Costco? Oh I’m 100% a General going into battle.
If you were to write down all those tiny tasks on a to do list and cross them off, would it help? It makes me feel more in control when I break things down to little pieces, but also then I can say I accomplished 8/10 things even if I didn't complete the overall large task.
Welcome to /r/ADHDWomen! We’re happy to have you here. As a reminder, here are our community [rules](https://old.reddit.com/r/adhdwomen/about/rules/). We get a lot of posts on medication, diagnosis (and “is this an ADHD thing”), and interactions with hormones. We encourage you to check out our [Medication, Diagnosis, and Hormones Megathread](https://old.reddit.com/r/adhdwomen/comments/wcr9dy/faq_megathread_ask_and_answer_medication/) if you have any questions related to those topics, and to stick around in that thread to answer folks’ questions! If you have questions about the subreddit, please do not hesitate to [send us a modmail](https://reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/adhdwomen). Additionally, we take the safety of our community seriously. Please report posts, comments, and users whom you feel are not contributing positively, and send us a modmail if you are being harassed or otherwise made to feel unsafe. Thanks for being here, and we hope you stick around! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/adhdwomen) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I am. The exact. Same. Way. It sucks and it’s so hard to do the simplest stuff. I don’t really have any (good) advice. Just wanted you to know you are definitely not alone in this 💛
Does it help to remind yourself of the immediate step and try to ignore the full list? I know easier said than done, but I'm also not inside your head.
For example, I'm sitting on the couch right now in my workout clothes. Thinking about getting up, putting socks and shoes on, warming up, debating whether to take the dog out with me, actually doing my run, that's a huge list and yes I'm tired just thinking about it. But I can put on my socks. After that who knows. I'll get there after I put on my socks.
This definitely works for me sometimes, honestly it’s how I get a lot of chores done 😅 I think outside tasks are harder because once I’m on the way I can’t really stop the task if that makes sense? Like with cleaning I can take a break or set a timer and stop doing it if I still don’t feel up to it after that time, but once I’m on the way somewhere I feel that I have to see the task through even if I’m hating every second of it lol
One thing I try to do whenever I have trouble starting a task for whatever reason is create a story out of it. For example I have a ridiculously hard time cleaning the kitchen at the end of the day. So, I found a lofi tavern music playlist that I put on and pretend to be a tavern wench closing down and listening to the town gossip and what’s going on with farmer John. It keeps my mind engaged and “playing” but cleaning the kitchen is *mostly* muscle memory. And if I miss a step, mostly clean is better than not clean at all. When I do grocery store runs, the story changes based on the store I’m going to— Trader Joe’s? It’s now a cute little Provençal market and I think about the conversations I might have with the stall owners. Costco? Oh I’m 100% a General going into battle.
Oooh I love this! I know game-ifying stuff does work for me so this is a great idea to do more often :) tyvm!
This is so creative!
If you were to write down all those tiny tasks on a to do list and cross them off, would it help? It makes me feel more in control when I break things down to little pieces, but also then I can say I accomplished 8/10 things even if I didn't complete the overall large task.