Sloths and other thoughts

Routine allows me to avoid needing to plan repeatedly. Planning is more difficult cause of executive dysfunction, so having a routine allows me to side step the need for it.

However, my ADHD brain also like novelty. Sticking to routine can feel restrictive, and honestly, can be plain difficult.

So what I've found works best is a middle ground. Broad strokes to give me a general framework but nothing hyper specific that I feel like I'm forced to stick to.

Essentially, I have to feel like I'm in charge of the routine rather than the routine dictating what I'm doing.

Why would I stick to the routine? Cause I want to do the thing but planning on the fly is hard.

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For example, every morning I take my meds with some coffee (don't judge me). The meds makes my stomach rumble which makes me eat breakfast.

I have lunch around 2 and dinner around 7.

I don't have to stick to those times but it helps give a structure.

aka possessions which are just possessions, but which have noticeably improved my quality of life: for when people ask you “what do you want for your birthday/Christmas/graduation” and you instantly transform into St Francis and pledge fealty to Lady Poverty because your mind went blank

nice. new. sheets. I cannot emphasize this one enough. if you’re still using the same sheets you had in college, you should probably get new ones. get yourself some 100% bamboo rayon sheets—they’re silky and perfect for summer and great for sensitive skin! or, if you’re cold all the time, flannel sheets!

kitchen knives. or even just one really good kitchen knife.

new curtains—blackout if you are a creature of the night like I am

fleece lined anything, but especially sweatpants and hoodies. wool lined socks are also good. if you don’t have the option of coming home after work and putting on an entire outfit that is loose and fuzzy, you should change that, because you deserve that option.

cookie sheets with a layer of air between the top and the bottom. the bottoms of your cookies will never burn again.

kitchen scale!!! no more leveling off flour with a knife and getting it all over the table!! now all your measuring is just shoveling stuff in and out of bowls like you’re at the beach. baking is both more accurate and also way more fun.

coffee bean grinder. if you want to upgrade your coffee experience, this is a great one-time purchase. just-ground beans have a much better flavor than pre-ground.

…YES

This!

I do this more than I thought…

Autism

an r/fakedisordercringe member made a bait poll o r/autism to see who was self-diagnosed and who was diagnosed. after a while, the poll was posted on r/fakedisordercringe and everyone on there had a fit about self-diagnosed people simply existing.

Full offense I didn't spend 18 years of life unable to take proper care of my hair because of society. People should've been more understanding, they shouldn't have stared and bullied me and treated me like the rest of me didn't matter, but they were right to be concerned. It was unhygienic.

There's never going to be a society with no difficult sensory input to tolerate, that's literally impossible. When I'm overloaded I can't function like usual. This could be improved with societal changes, but it'll always exist.

If everyone in society was accepting of my different social behaviour, I'd still miss cues and meanings that come naturally to most. That's disabling. Even if people are willing to explain, that's a disability accommodation. Accommodations don't make us not disabled.