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this has been in my projects for a year and i'm only posting it now for some reason. eliot, parker, and hardison from leverage x in the middle by dodie. for @blueskiesandstarrynights

ADHD can have a serious impact on your life and mental health. These are some of the things that were and still are the hardest for me.

There’s a portion of the observatory that leads form one floor to another, iirc, and the whole way down the hallway there’s a timeline on the wall of the universe as we know it, from the Big Bang to today, marked by various signs explaining each significant moment. I got to the end of it and read the last two signs and took a picture that still makes me emotional when I look at it:

I feel this. I do. I feel this so much.

But I have lived 45 years on this great green earth and I am telling you, I promise you:

This is executive dysfunction. It's not inherent to coding. IDK exactly why coding brings it out but it's not actually about the code.

This is a thing in your brain, and it's treatable. You don't have to live like this. You can take a magic pill that cuts this feeling by 80% or more.

Take my hand. Join me on the other side of executive dysfunction hell. Contact your nearest psychological professional and ask for an ADHD screening. (It may not be ADHD but that will get you started towards figuring out what it is.)

It's as painless as a uquiz and on the other side is magical competence drugs.

a) it will be OK. No one will eat you. No one will scold you for "taking up" "resources" that "belong" to someone "more disabled". It may be frustrating. It may be tiring. But it will be OK.

and

b) however long it takes, however many steps it is, however many rounds of "nope, not that, let's try this other thing" you have to go through, it will be worth it.

and

"too many authors in the current market are focusing on selling 'spice' instead of telling interesting stories"

"oh yeah, i agree. i started reading one that i heard a lot about and it just wasn't-"

"and it's all of these women reading their fucking mommy porn out in public like FREAKS"

... have... have we considered that perhaps the average reader just, like, knows what they like in a book? I mean... first sentences are famous for establishing things like *checks notes*... genre, tone, POV, pacing, character, voice, uhhh... writing style...

The average reader is putting your book down because they discovered it's in first person (or not in first person). The average reader put your book down because they wanted a cozy read, or they're sick of cozy reads, or romance, or grimdark, or assassin princesses, or vampires, or or or. The average reader put your book down because they just didn't like your writing style—no, not because it was boring... they just, get this, didn't like it.

The average critical reader put your book down because it had six grammatical mistakes in the first two sentences.

The average reader will read quite a ways if the premise intrigues them, they like the genre, the writing style doesn't get on their nerves, and the characters pop off the page. In fact, they'll probably read the whole book, so long as it delivers on its plot promises and doesn't drag in the middle section.

buy a pack of chapsticks and put one in the pocket of all of your coats and jackets because you always forget to bring one and chapped lips is sensory hell

leave important things where you can see them. if they go in a box or a drawer you will forget they exist

put any appointments or deadlines in your phone calendar As Soon As you get them. set a reminder for a week before, a day before, an hour before, as many as you need as often as you need them.

when that little voice in your head says "i dont need to write that down, ill remember it" that is the devil talking!!! write it down anyway!!

plan for down time. have a few hours at the end of every day to just do fun stuff like engage in your hyperfixations. even if you didnt get all of your work done that day, have the rest anyway. you probably spent the whole day beating yourself up for not doing what you Should be doing, so you still need the break.

if you never eat vegetables because its too much effort to chop and cook them, get the frozen or canned shit. it doesnt go off for ages and you just have to microwave it. theres no point buying fresh vegetables if they just keep going off and being left to rot in the bottom of your fridge

if you struggle to decide what to have for dinner every day, take the decision out of it. choose a set of meals and eat those on rotation until you get sick of them, then choose some new ones and do it again.