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If you have ADHD, does this resonate with you?

67 replies

DaisyDooordont · 24/03/2025 10:48

Yesterday DH was getting the table set for dinner and had a bit of a moan at me about a pile of picture frames I’ve had on the chairs/table for a few weeks. He’s basically just sick of seeing them just sitting there and having to move them around to use the table – fair point.

We’ve recently moved and I explained to him that I really wanted to get the pictures/frames up on the walls, but the idea of it was somehow a bit overwhelming. Like trying to decide what I want to go where, which pictures to use, which way to hang them. I use command strips so it’s not an issue of worrying about putting holes in the walls. More just the whole idea of how I actually want something to be is too much for my brain to cope with. I will do it at some point, I just don’t know when the moment will strike when I feel like that’s the job for me.

I’ve been told by a councillor/therapist that she thinks there’s a possibility I could have ADHD but that she was not qualified to assess/diagnose and this had played on my mind since.

I know one isolated thing like this is far from enough to just label myself like that, it’s just the first time I’ve been able to explain a situation like that in the moment to someone and why it feels like it’s too much to complete something really quite simple, so I was curios if this is something that people who have diagnosed ADHD would resonate with?

OP posts:
xanthomelana · 24/03/2025 11:00

I’ve got ADHD and yes, this could be me. I’d procrastinate for ages because actually putting them up would mean a commitment to their placement and I might not like it once it’s done. It’s not about being lazy, it’s just one of those things that might overwhelm you a bit. Saying that if I was in the zone I’d have no problem putting them up, even if it was midnight because once the idea is in my head I can’t rest until it’s done. People who don’t have ADHD wouldn’t understand why something as simple as this is a huge task, sometimes I don’t understand it myself and wish I could just do simple things like hanging pictures but it’s not that easy.

frozendaisy · 24/03/2025 11:06

So put the frames tucked in an upstairs room rather than in the active living space until you are both ready to tackle it.

Mightymoog · 24/03/2025 11:10

No. You're just indecisive like millions upon millions if other people.
What is this obsession with wanting a label fir every normal human emotion/ reaction?

BogRollBOGOF · 24/03/2025 11:10

frozendaisy · 24/03/2025 11:06

So put the frames tucked in an upstairs room rather than in the active living space until you are both ready to tackle it.

And then rediscover them in 5 years while looking for something random

Out of sight, out of mind

HundredMilesAnHour · 24/03/2025 11:10

Yes, this sounds very familiar. I have ADHD and I can see a picture frame and print on the floor propped against the wall from where I’m sitting as I type this. It’s been there since last year. 😂

NachoCheesed · 24/03/2025 11:12

I have diagnosed ADHD and this is exactly what I do. Then suddenly I’ll have a day of doing stuff whereby it has my full attention and I’m like a whirlwind but I have to be in the right frame of mind. This process could take weeks or months.

Biting · 24/03/2025 11:15

Yes, very familiar. I have empty frames in my bedroom that I bought before Christmas.

Friendofdennis · 24/03/2025 11:18

Possibly because you can stop ‘seeing’ the piles of stuff as well. On the other hand if you put the pile away you would just forget about it. If you suspect that you have ADHD it can be very liberating to realise that you are not lazy or disorganised and you can seek out specific tools to help you. ADDitude magazine and website has lots of useful information why not start assuming that you have ADHD and start seeking solutions to specific tasks that you put off

MrBiscuits24 · 24/03/2025 11:20

This is me. I don’t have ADHD. I do find life overwhelming and tasks like that can take months because I can’t decide.
I also currently have a stack of frames that gets moved around.

Mulledjuice · 24/03/2025 11:21

I have ADHD and both your piling and inaction and your OH's frustration with the stack of frames would resonate with me.

Piles of doom.

HundredMilesAnHour · 24/03/2025 11:21

NachoCheesed · 24/03/2025 11:12

I have diagnosed ADHD and this is exactly what I do. Then suddenly I’ll have a day of doing stuff whereby it has my full attention and I’m like a whirlwind but I have to be in the right frame of mind. This process could take weeks or months.

Exactly this. I’m either all over it and a whirlwind of activity or I really don’t give a fuck. There’s no middle ground.

I always thought this was just my personality until I got my ADHD diagnosis. 🤦‍♀️😂

chipsandpeas · 24/03/2025 11:34

HundredMilesAnHour · 24/03/2025 11:21

Exactly this. I’m either all over it and a whirlwind of activity or I really don’t give a fuck. There’s no middle ground.

I always thought this was just my personality until I got my ADHD diagnosis. 🤦‍♀️😂

snap

LBOCS2 · 24/03/2025 11:39

BogRollBOGOF · 24/03/2025 11:10

And then rediscover them in 5 years while looking for something random

Out of sight, out of mind

exactly that. If I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. Doesn’t matter that it’s still going to take me at least a year to get to the right frame of mind to actually deal with it - it will never happen if I can’t see it!

It also drives my husband bananas, to be fair.

BogRollBOGOF · 24/03/2025 11:43

LBOCS2 · 24/03/2025 11:39

exactly that. If I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. Doesn’t matter that it’s still going to take me at least a year to get to the right frame of mind to actually deal with it - it will never happen if I can’t see it!

It also drives my husband bananas, to be fair.

I drive myself bananas too Grin

No diagnosis (or assessment), but lots of traits and ADHD-friendly strategies certainly work better for me than mainstream advice while my concious and subconcious brain continue to bicker and sulk while a mental soundtrack of 80s novelty records plays in the background.

SusanSHelit · 24/03/2025 11:46

Could be. I bought two new loo seats on a whim last year. I installed one as soon as I got home (I had gone shopping after work, I work 12.5 hour shifts so it was around 9pm by the time I'd got in).

The other one is still in the box...

It drives me bonkers tbh, I don't know why I can't just do it

Edit to add I have diagnosed and medicated adhd. The meds help, but are not a cure, I still struggle massively with things like this and have many many doom piles

TickingAlongNicely · 24/03/2025 11:49

Yep. Procrastination then whirlwind sums it up.

I notice the same in my DD (who hasn't been diagnosed with anything but its quite obvious to people who really know her)

DaisyDooordont · 24/03/2025 12:03

Gosh, thank you for all the responses. I was worried I was going to get a lot of backlash so appreciate the kindness.

I'm not desperate to label myself, but there's lots of things that have been stickers in my life that I couldn't work out why I was like that. and I am wondering if that's the reason.

It's amused me how many others also have a load of picture frames just sitting, waiting to be displayed somewhere. I can assure those who suggested it, that putting them away in another room is definitely not going to help. They will never see the light of day again.

It's almost like I need them there, and then at some point my brain will go "right, you want that there and that there and ditch that one.....". And that clearly seems to be a pattern with lots of posters here.

Regardless of ADHD or not, perhaps looking up some of the strategies might be a big benefit to me.

OP posts:
ruethewhirl · 24/03/2025 12:04

Oh yes, totally. (That’s in response to your initial post OP, I do this kind of thing all the time! 😄)

procrastinatorgator · 24/03/2025 12:08

I have ADD and I have done exactly the same thing. I HAD to have the frames and marched out to get them and they're still sitting in their packets in the living room. They don't even have pictures in. I

SummerFeverVenice · 24/03/2025 12:08

Yes, I have ADHD and I do the same. Things are left out so I have a visual reminder that a task needs to be done. The out of sight, out of mind is very real. It is also hard to tackle a nonroutine project, I will procrastinate by wandering off and doing my daily rota…ie I can’t possibly do this because today is sheet washing day per the calendar.

I get very anxious if I can’t stay on top of my carefully constructed rota that keeps me organised and adulting. If I can’t complete something it gets added to the next day and I get more frazzled, so I try and avoid it. I can’t keep a tidy home, get to appts without my rota and multiple alarms and backup alarms for almost every thing I do…including brushing teeth, lights out, eat lunch..even basic things most people can just do on time and reliably.

SparrowsEatUpToHalfTheirBodyWeightADay · 24/03/2025 12:09

I've been diagnosed as a child and learned to absolutely push myself through things with very gritted teeth otherwise NOTHING would ever get done. Nothing. I hype myself up massively with music to just get things done.
Still have many projects hidden in various places as pp said out of sight out of mind😂

But anything encroaching on living space gets dealt with. Because there was a time when it didn't and my mind was such a bloody mess. I couldn't concentrate on anything at all. Now I have mess drawer as well. Helps

I also use concentration training exercises from my childhood. Alongside electromusic. Gaming music is perfect. It's actually designed to support concentration.

PsychoHotSauce · 24/03/2025 12:10

frozendaisy · 24/03/2025 11:06

So put the frames tucked in an upstairs room rather than in the active living space until you are both ready to tackle it.

If I put anything 'away' it ceases to exist! It must be in my way and a constant reminder of my failure to adult, until I get sick of kicking my own self esteem every time I see them and deal with it.

DramaAlpaca · 24/03/2025 12:13

Procrastination then whirlwind sums it up.

Yes, no diagnosis, but that's me in a nutshell.

And I have a picture frame on the floor in my living room that's been there since Christmas, just because I can't find the headspace to think about where I want it to go, so that resonates too.

inadequatepillow · 24/03/2025 12:42

Mightymoog · 24/03/2025 11:10

No. You're just indecisive like millions upon millions if other people.
What is this obsession with wanting a label fir every normal human emotion/ reaction?

Did you mean to be so rude? She’s not keen to label herself, a professional had suggested she might have an actual medical condition.

Bet you think ADHD kids are just naughty, too.

RaininSummer · 24/03/2025 12:45

I do this all the time. As far as I know I don't have ADHD but who knows.