I was diagnosed at a young age and this isn’t new, but I have become more and more frustrated with it: getting to do something often happens slow. In the gym my exercises are often interrupted by many minutes of getting stuck in my head, being distracted.
People talk about how it’s okay to take breaks but I sometimes lose HOURS at home because I just don’t do anything and it isn’t resting either because my head keeps churning without a goal. I call it a limbo between activity and resting. Sometimes my phone or another means of distraction is to blame, but other times it’s just anxiety to do something because “is this the best use of my time?” (in general I often have time anxiety)
It drives me crazy because I will have a plan of things to do that’s totally reasonable and achievable, but then I only achieve a small part of it because I keep wasting so much time, I then procrastinate on the rest. This mainly affects activities/plans I’ve set myself, those set by others let me just obey and not have to overthink as much.
Does anyone else relate and can they share means of dealing with it?
I’ve been dealing with it a long time. I’ve noticed that it gets out of control with caffeine, when I’m overstimulated, when I’m depressed, or when the activity I’m supposed to be doing is boring. So I quit caffeine. I practice mindfulness meditation and that can calm down the overstimulation, letting idle thoughts take over my head, and depression. I went on antidepressants. I can sort of hack my brain to convince myself that I actually am interested in doing the incredibly boring job.
I had a coworker tell me that I have a laser-like focus on everything but programming (my job). Now I got laid off a few months ago and I have a truly laser-like focus on the next step of my life. I have absolutely no problem working for myself. I’m motivated as fuck. I’m moving to a lower cost of living area and living a lower pressure life, inshallah. As a kid, and especially in my 20s, the whole time, my whole life has been learning to suck it up, ignore the cold hard fact that I hate it, and do the thing. I’m now trying to build a life and do what my dad does, live as cheaply as possible and talk to no one. I tell people you can’t wait for motivation, you just gotta do the thing, but you can’t ignore your feelings either. And I was never that aware of my feelings but I guess I totally hated it the whole time.