this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2023
10 points (100.0% liked)

Neurodivergence

3249 readers
2 users here now

All things neurodivergent and relating to the broader neurodivergent community (and communities).

See also this community's sister subs Feminism, LGBTQ+, Disability, and POC


This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Hi, so I've been wandering this all my life, but how do others get the energy to finish and do things?

My ADHD/Autistic brain has trouble getting the simplest of chores done, simply due to me not being able to start or continue past a mental block.

I've been taking meds for my depression, and it seems to have helped but... If anyone has some tricks they've used to get by, please let me know.

Thank you in advance for the help!

top 5 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I use my phone as the second half of my brain. Lots and lots of scheduled reminders. Which is not going to work for everyone, but it works for me.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Honestly I (AuDHD) tend to leave things until the last possible minute and then panic-crunch to do the thing out of a fear of disappointing whoever the thing is for. The problem of course is if the thing doesn't have a hard deadline or person who needs it done then I can put it off indefinitely.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

For hard things, that I don't like doing, this is quite an issue for me. I really have to do it now, or have a strict schedule for when I would do it. If I delay something till tomorrow, well, then it can probably also be done the day after that ... So generally I just try to avoid delaying things that don't need to be delayed.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As others on this thread have said, ADHD medication at the proper doses can be a real life changer for motivation on these tasks that feel totally walled off.

SSRIs and other antidepressants are super helpful for keeping you out of those deep dark days, but I didn’t find it helped me much with motivation alone. Once I found the right SSRI and the right stimulant medication (Prozac and vyvanse for me), I started finding it a lot easier to just get chores done when I thought of them. If it’s something I can’t do right now (like groceries), I just write it down in my Reminders lists so that I’m not scrambling when I go out to get groceries. The apple reminders app is basically my second brain, and I always write down stuff I gotta do that I’m prone to forget about in there.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Thank you, I'll ask my psychiatrist about it! Maybe I need stronger medication.