My Aunt Cheri posted this video on Facebook and I watched it while nodding repeatedly. If you don’t want to watch the video (or for whatever reason, can’t watch it), it’s about a middle-aged woman who was told by her doctor that she suffers from Age-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. She goes on to explain how the ADD manifests: It starts off with a chore that needs to get done but as she’s heading over to do it, she notices another chore she needs to do, but as she starts that chore, she notices yet another thing she needs to take care of. And it goes on, then the day’s over and she can’t figure out why nothing got done even though she remembers being very busy throughout the day.
I’m sure it’s safe to say the older crowd isn’t the only age who deals with this, though obviously it gets much worse as you gain more responsibilities over the years. I decided to make my own list of “ADD caused by trying to do everything at the same time.” I’ll just pick something at random.
I want to update my daily planner with what I did today. I’d gone to the market with my mother and bought some things off my grocery list, but I can’t remember everything, so I’ll go ask her what all we got so I can cross it off my list. Since I’m getting up, I might as well refill my drink, so I bring my glass into the kitchen. I put the glass on the counter and realize the dishes that were drying are now fully dry and ready to be put away, so I might as well take care of that. I should also wash the dishes that are in the sink, so I’ll let those soak while I put away the dry ones. (Note: We have a dishwasher, but it’s currently busted.) Before turning on the faucet, I go into the living room to see if there are any dirty dishes out there to put into the sink. Dad’s watching television and tells me to look at a funny scene in the movie he’s watching, so I stop what I’m doing to stand and stare at the tv for a minute. My dog thinks now’s a good time to play with me, but can’t find his tug-o-war toy, so I go to look for it. I thought I remembered seeing it in my bedroom, so I go in there and notice a pile of my laundry I’d meant to fold and put away hours ago. I walk over to start on that but remember I’d also meant to wash my bedding, so I strip off my sheets and head to the washing machine in the back of the house. As I’m passing my dog’s bowls, I notice he’s out of water, so I put my bedding on top of the washing machine and start back to my dog’s water dish. Mom calls me from the other room to ask a question, and while I’m in there, I remember I’d wanted to ask her something but I can’t remember what. By now, it’s dinner time and mom goes to the kitchen to start cooking, and asks me to go get her a fresh hand towel from the linen closet. I make a detour through the room with my desk and hear my email notification go off, so I walk over to my computer to quickly check my email and immediately forget everything I’d been trying to get done.
Then the day’s near over and I’m scrambling to finish all my chores as I’m walking around the house noticing all this half-finished stuff I’d started.
