Normal stuff you wish you could do

[Darkdiamond]

Mine is wear jeans. I have the flattest, most rectangular shaped bottom and every pair of jeans (or any trousers actually) I have ever tried on look horrendous from behind. I have found jeans that look good everywhere but when I turn around its a different story. I just could not feel confident in jeans unless I jave a long top on over the top. I would love nothing more than to just throw on a t shirt and jeans because I just love that look but it looks awful!

The second is drive anywhere beyond my few tried and tested routes. I have been driving the same few routes for years and I cannot deviate from them. When I try its like I have been punched in the face: I can't think properly, all of the signs completely overwhelm me, I become so anxious my heart hammers in my chest and I make really rash and dangerous decisions out of panic. I go into immediate flight, fright or freeze mode and it feels like I am being made to.solve a really difficult calculation while someone is hitting me around the face. When I try to push myself out of my comfort zone (and I have) it usually results in people beeping at me and me pulling over to burst into tears. My tried and tested routes are completely fine and I am safe, careful and attentive on the road.

Anyway, those are two regular, run of the mill things that I feel like I cannot do.

What are yours?

Sing
Get on public transport without a panic attack - although it has made me a very confident driver.
Have regular bowel movements without constipation or diarrhoea - it’s really hampering my everyday life.

I can do lots of things, paint, decorate, deal with plumbing issues, tile a wall, drive well, weild a chainsaw without bloodshed, build a website, fix your computer/phone/tablet but I cannot cook. I can bake a cake but the idea of actually cooking a meal my dcs will eat is a pipe dream. Anything beyond a simple bolognese or carbonara sends me into panic mode. Weirdly I’d trade in all the thing I CAN do to be one of those mums that whips up a lasagne with no fuss or swearing at the bbc food app

thank you for the suggestion! Unfortunately I already do this and I STILL can't stand to watch it long enough for it to come to the boil 😂

Why not microwave them instead?

Since the thread seems to have descended into pea-cooking tips, mine is not to cook them at all, just stir frozen peas into whatever you just cooked and use them to cool it down quickly. I’ve even put a layer of frozen peas on a plate and plonked fish out of the oven on top. By the time I’d eaten the fish the peas were cooked.
NT tips don’t work consistently for ND brains, we just end up with shame about not being able to stick to simple routines.
@thestudio just do whatever works for you, even if it seems odd from the outside.

In Lidl once I bought a microwave bowl with a steaming lid for about 3 pounds and you put the peas in it with some water ( not much ) and the steamer bit is up and microwave for a few minutes ( it’ll be on the pea bag how long to do them ) They come out really hot and soft that way and no pan to wash up.
In a pan on the hob I tend to boil the water first then add the peas. I know some boil them up together, but it can also depend on the brand you use as to how they turn out as well.

I wish I could go on long bus or car journeys without getting SO travel sick. It is so limiting and has such an impact on holiday planning. If I get travel sick it triggers a migraine and it knocks me out for days. I am so jealous of people who can just jump carefree on a bus trip, read a book, look at their phone...
I also wish my hair would dry nicely naturally. Because it becomes an awful frizzy mess unless blow dried, I never feel fully relaxed in the sea or a pool as I know of it gets wet Inwill have to dry it later...

Ah thank you. TBH it is the least of my weirdnesses and I have managed to embrace most of them.

All this talk of driving and dyspraxia has been so interesting tho - I'm physically quite well co-ordinated, but I get incredibly overwhelmed driving on the motorway and often, for eg, worry that in a crisis I will veer towards a hazard rather than away from it. Processing all the inputs feels horrendous. Because of this thread I have googled and discovered that dyspraxia is 50% comorbid with ADHD and that it doesn't always show up as a lack of spatial awareness - it can be a difficulty processiing the inputs required by spatial awareness, which is really interesting.

See also 'have driven through Hackney a thousand times and still can't find my way around... ' 😂

OOH good idea! I'm often using the microwave to re-heat some bit of the meal but when I'm not I will do that!

I think they've cleaned because they're expecting you!

Also - if it genuinely makes you unhappy (I get to a point where the untidiness starts to make it hard for me to think or relax), you can build it in to your life.

But you will have to lose something else that might also be important. I think that thinking about it in these terms makes it easier to either get on top of it, or put it to one side for another stage of your life when things are less frantic.

Cook rice
Draw
Knit, crochet etc

Bit more niche - drive round Leeds without getting lost!

For the dyspraxics among you, do you find it gets worse with your period? I literally cannot think about anything when I am due on. My brain is an absolute pile of rubbish. A big pile of scrambled egg.

Swim

You’re being ridiculous about the jeans. No one else cares what they look like. Just wear them.

Whistle, cook, clean, not be nervous in the water, do administrative tasks (I worked in an office fifteen years ago now and miss it but I have forgotten everything and everything’s moved on anyway!) Oh god I’m crap😂

OP

Investigate different underwear, some have padding to help what nature didn't bless you with.

I wish I caught see, as in buttons, fix clothes, hems that sort of thing. I also wish I knew how to look after a garden property.

Running. I've been "training" for months, I "run" at least three times a week, joined a running club. I cannot fucking do it. Im still in the slowest walk-jog group at club. My park run times are getting worse!! I don't understand why every other fuxker in the world can just "take up running" but for some reason my stupid body just can't do it. DH joined club to keep me company and is flying up through the groups and smashing a PB at park run every week, without even doing anything in between. The whole thing is demoralising and making me furious 😆🤣

I used to know my way around Leeds like the back of my hand. Since they introduced the one way system and built the new roads from the M1 to the East of the city even my satnav gets confused.

I feel your pain.

Me too @ RamptantIvy. I could navigate Leeds 20 years ago! DS has an internship as Jimmy’s coming up… I’m dreading it.

I wish I could picture things in my mind.

Wish I could knit. I’ve tried so many times and it never sticks for me

not care what people think - I’m mid 40s and I’m still waiting for that “not give a damn” part to kick in It holds me back from so much

braid hair. I cannot do my daughter’s hair in nice styles at all. Even my own hair I cannot braid it nicely where it doesn’t look a mess

Work and drive

That's the route I struggle with. Good luck to him. DD has some elective clinical placements at the LGI later this year and I foolishly agreed to take her.

Same as you OP - drive out with my comfort zone.

On a lovely day like today, I’d love to have the confidence to just get in the car and drive 20-30 miles to somewhere scenic. Or take myself 100+ miles to the Lake District.

But as soon as I have to deviate from either of the two very short and straight motorway routes that I know of, it’s game over.

Also swimming. I can swim, but only badly and for a very short distance. I think I could really love it and get a lot of benefit if I took some lessons.

And cooking. Just never get it quite right when trying anything new, and a lot of them time it’s only me eating it, so doesn’t feel worth it.