NearFate Art Blog

- DON'T say to yourself "I need to take a shower"

-showering is a long multistage process that requires you to be vulnerable (naked, wet, blots out sound, what if someone calls/rings the doorbell, etc)

-INSTEAD say to yourself "I'm just gonna go turn on the water right quick"

-small one step task checked off your list

-your anxiety brain is a dumb motherfucker and it will be none the wiser that you have tricked it into BEGINNING the shower process

-once the water is running you are already there in the bathroom with the water running so you might as well finish the job

NOTE that this trick works for like. Fucking everything.

-Don't "work on your WIP"-- just open the document

-don't "make the scary phone call" -- just pull up the number in your contacts

-don't "make lunch" -- just pull out a loaf of bread

-don't "do the dishes" -- just open the dishwasher. Literally just open it

Remember ur anxiety brain is a dumb motherfucker and that you CAN therefore TRICK it into being functional

also bonus tip: for those times when u just need to lie on the floor and be a worthless lump of anxiety-ridden garbage for a few hours, download Duolingo and pick a language. Are you going to be fluent in a week? No. But it's easy to focus on and that way when you've been down there for half a day and your shitty fukken brain is trying to convince you you're garbage because it KEPT you there, you can counter with "excuse you I just spent the last four hours TEACHING MYSELF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE you punk ass bitch."

Tell yourself that you don’t have to write the whole scene, you just have to write one sentence, and then see how you feel. And if, having written that one sentence, you feel that you cannot write any more... you get to stop.

Tell yourself that you don’t have to empty the dishwasher, you just have to open it, and see how you feel. And if you feel that you can’t do any more, don’t.

Because the thing is, for me at least, a big part of executive dysfunction is the struggle to start, and once I have started, often it suddenly turns out oh, actually, I can empty the dishwasher. I can write the scene. No big deal.

But the bargain with myself to make that start only works if I know it’s not a trick. If I know that the offer to stop once I’ve done that one thing is genuine. Because I can’t, fundamentally, trick myself. And the part of me that struggles with things like this is often, fundamentally, very child-like - sulky, obstinate, over-dramatic, emotional - I don’t wanna, you can’t make me - and it is very easy to lose its trust. And ADHD already gives me enough reasons not to trust myself without adding more.

hello everyone! So, uh- i know i don't post as regularly as i used to (Which i apologise for), but all this time I've had, I've come to realise some things about myself. And, obviously I'm still figuring mysekf out, and obviously i don't plan on doing anything about it until I'm 18+ (Here in the uk your considered and adult at 18), but, i thought I'd come out to you all.