Naturally, we are envious that so many creatures, big and small, around us have mastered and perfected the skill of hibernation, which still escapes our understanding. Is it because we are too obsessed with trying to make sense of what we can see and measure […]? Our efforts to understand hibernation go against its entire idea—to disappear, to disconnect, to stop time, to become one with the world. Is this why understanding hibernation eludes us? »

So the standard “hide all your unsightly things by doing xyz” may look nice for the first week or so, but by the end of the week it’ll look like a tornado made of pure inhuman frustration ripped through the house as I try to find the fucking advil.

To give you an example of the kind of hell I’ve been fumbling my way through the last 20 odd years: dishes will be washed and left in the drying wrack but never put away. Which means I can’t wash more dishes, which means dishes pile up, which means I can’t make food, which means I don’t eat, which means my CFS gets worse, which means I don’t have the energy to put the dishes away, and so on so forth until I have a meltdown, cry to ETD (who also likely has ADHD but has never had it confirmed) about how I can’t cope with life, and then we fix it for a while, but inevitably end up back at square one within about a week.

Pinsky’s solution to this was “remove an obstacle between you and your goal, if that means taking all the doors off your kitchen cabinets to make things easier, so be it.”

And lemme tell you, fucking revolutionary.

Laundry never ends up in the hamper??? why???? is it a closed hamper??? Remove the lid. Throw it out the window. Clothes are now miraculously finding their way into the hamper??? Rejoice????

Mail ends up spread out over every available flat surface? Put a sorting station right where your mail arrives. Put a shredder or “junk” basket under it. Shred or dump the junk immediately. Realize you only actually have two real letters that need attention, feel less overwhelmed, pay your bills on time.

Like I’m not saying this book is miraculous, but it did help me realize that I was effectively torturing myself by trying to conform to certain ideals of “perfect house keeping”, and presenting a certain image rather than just allowing myself to live in my space as effectively as possible. And why? Why was I doing that? Cause people with different lives and capabilities are perceived as the norm? Fuck that. If this was a physical problem I wouldn’t be forcing myself to conform to an ableist standard, so why am I doing it with this?

I don't tell myself "I need to wash the dishes piling up in the sink." I tell myself "I need to get the scrub brush and turn on the facuet." That's easy, so I do it and bam, I've started the task.

"I need to brush my teeth" -> "I need to get my toothbrush wet and put toothpaste on it."

"I need to write this essay" -> "I need to pull up the assignment guidelines and open a word doc."

"I need to go to the store." -> "I need to put on my shoes."

[image: FB screenshot of mine, text as follow:

I found the ultimate ADHD life hack for chores

There’s….There’s no rules, y'all

You don’t have to do… everything at once

You’re in the bathroom for a few minutes? Just put a couple of things away and wipe down the faucet and then leave. You don’t have to clean the WHOLE THING at once

This is both an ADHD life hack AND a disability life hack

SO OFTEN I feel helpless and useless because I can’t do chores. But. What if. I do. SMALL things. I can wipe a countertop down while my coffee brews. I can sweep up just a small area. I can only put away half my clothes.

ANY progress is good. ANY AT ALL!

R e v e l a t i o n