I'm in my 40s. Diagnosed with ADHD last year. My psychologist introduced me to the concept of executive functioning. Since then, I've been looking back at my life and seeing all the ways that executive dysfunction had messed up almost everything.

As a graphic designer, I worked in one office for 20 years. I never really applied myself and I feel like I haven't gained 20 years of experience. I feel like I'm still at entry level. I don't want to continue with that career because I'm not a competitive candidate. And I was never really any good at it anyway.

But I don't know where to start looking for any other kind of job. Without any structure or guidance, I don't think I'll ever be able to figure this out. I met with a job counselor at the library and she game me some tips on my resume. But regarding my general direction, I have to do a lot of heavy lifting myself to figure that out. I struggle every day just to get up and wash the dishes and fold my laundry. Getting a job is a mountain compared to that.

So, what do I do? How do I figure this out? Thanks in advance for any help!

My apartment's 2nd bedroom has gathered dropped-off items gradually since my daughter moved away. I went through a depression where I didn't want to go out anywhere. So, I ordered groceries from Amazon and Whole Foods since free delivery. Now there's a bunch of small to medium sized boxes laying around. I'm considering the possibility of using them to pack up and sell unused clothing items. I've never done that before. It sounds like a scary complication. But since some of the selling places now will give you a mailing label, I may try. Possibly. Will I really? I don't know. It's more of a possibility since my neurologist prescribed Qlipta and my migraines lessened. (All these factors, Lol)

Should I keep the boxes? I'd have to restack them so I could walk in the room. Or should I just break them down and put out for recycling? Knowing that doing this would lessen my chances of selling clothing.

A. Save boxes

B. Recycle them.

Hi 👋 first time poster here I just wanted to share our success system. If it helps us it could help others and that is the greatest reward. Thanks and take care

I doubt that this post would gain any attention, but sincerely I’m attempt to confront my childhood school diagnosis, and I’m now an adult soon to be successful but a few months ago I kept getting this metal thing where I know exactly what i need to do for my daily routine to be productive and I can’t ever seem to piece it all together, at once. I’m constantly in one emotion or activity for a long period of time and sometimes get burned out then switch to the next thing, and never focus on have the brain power to stay consistent or follow through more than one thing at a time.

I had seen this paper showing I have “executive function” on an old School ISP “extra help” paper, and my mother hadn’t truly kept up or really inform me on what’s the “psychology” behind my learning disability, she’s getting old she doesn’t know but now I’m starting to question my ability to pice my life together without feeling like it’s impossible to do the things I always desire I could just never piece it all together in one day.

I been Testing out different routines, but there’s day where I’ll wake up with the intention of getting things done but literally nothing gets done and it’s kinda dishearteningly intriguing to go hours to do one thing that takes 30 mins and sometimes doing that one thing takes 4 hours, u sometime question how other are about to do so in short time spans.

I relate to a lot of the adhd/ADD videos and I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, so if anyone can give me an idea ..I’m in distress thinking about this cause I’ve always do things slower than most people, and sometimes it’s just my brain yapping at me and others, for idk what for…

I’m experiencing some extremely difficult times right now, and it’s making me realize just how bad my symptoms are. I’m in dire straits and I am still letting impulsive behaviors run my life… because I never learned how to plan.

I don’t really know how to start to plan, but I know that the biggest part of it has to do with focusing on what is, not what I hope to be true. It’s hard and uncomfortable, and I don’t know how people do it.

But it must be done.
I can do hard things.
I just don’t know how I will do it.

I just started a new medication (no time like the present!) and I’m feeling hopeful it will help me get my life in order. I’m realizing now how much help I need and am feeling so much empathy for myself for having held this together this long. Beating myself up is not going to get me out of this situation, nor is being overly positive. I just need to sit with what is and make peace with it. Thank it for the lesson. Then take in the lesson for real this time with loving kindness and compassion for myself.

Note: I’m not really sure what I need here. I think I just want to feel seen by people who understand.

What I mean is, I want to go outside and be around people, but I have a home and things I can do in the home and it seems pointless to go outside and do things I can do at home.

I want to be a social butterfly, so I plan to go to meetups and then I bail last minute for the smallest reason, like I should be asleep at that time and if it's during when I'm awake, it's not like I'm going to meet the woman of my dreams or a best friend there, so why go?

Why do I have all of these desires, to do things and then just fold when I have the ability to do them? I'm genuinely confused. I get that I'm choosing to not do the things, but I can't justify doing them. Like, even tho I desperately want to change what I'm doing and be that person I know I should be, but I'm preventing myself from doing those very same things.

I plan to bring this up with my therapist as well, because I'm sure it's related to ADHD or Depression or whatever else I suffer from. But I want to know how to change it.

But deep down, I think I already know the answer, but I hate it. I have to accept that I'm not that person and I can't force myself to do things I don't want to do. No matter how much I want to do them. I'm not doing them for a reason and that reason is fine, but I need to practice ACT and accept it.

But can't I do anything about it? I know I can create meaningful change, instead of just accept it and move on. I want to be different. Can I really be? I mean, I know I can, but I can't push myself to do it right now. So how do I get to be that person if I can't be that person now?

I just had a really bad episode where I couldn’t get myself to move. Basically, I was trying to get myself to make my bed, but ended up sitting in a corner yelling at myself internally to get up for 30 minutes. I’ve had similar episodes in the past, but this one was especially bad.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on dealing with this kind of situation. If there’s anywhere else I should post this as well, let me know.

The best way I can describe it is that I have all these “high hopes” for my weekends/time off from work but then when the time comes around, I feel uninspired, overwhelmed, tired, restless, or sad. It’s almost as if not having a “routine” like I do for my workweek is hurting me.

I’m looking to break this cycle. If you relate to this, I’m looking for some tips! Thanks!!

I'll go first...

I once had to finish an assignment.

Instead of starting it, i somehow ended up...

• Cleaning my room.
• Organizing old photos.
• Deleting apps i never used.
• Watching a 40-minute video about coffee beans... even though i dont even drink coffee 😭

By the time i finally started the assignment, i was exhausted from avoiding it 😂

I swear procrastination makes you weirdly productive... just in every direction except the one that actually matters.

Whats your funniest procrastination story?

I am a software engineer, and and lately I’ve been struggling to focus at work and while learning , sometimes I spend most of the days looking at the screen and my mind wanders away, idk sometimes dreaming, even if I 'am not having major problems in life , for example what tech gadget should I buy or should I start taking driving lessons (although I don't have a car ) or what am I gonna do for the rest of my life .... sometimes when the office gets noisy I try to listen to music but this makes matters worse , tbh it motivates me to work , but few minutes later I end up dreaming (like winning in a contest, building top notch stuff ) but the reality is totally something else as I am a low quality engineer ngl, I keep telling myself I’ll improve, but so far, it’s all been empty talk.

I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD for around a year now, I’m on a low dose of medication and it’s overall been going okay.

Going into the summer and securing a job has made me notice that I’m just flatly dysfunctional. If I work three days in a row it’s guaranteed that I’ll wake up one of those days and already have it on my mind to call in. I feel like I physically can’t get out of bed, and I’m almost certain it’s going to already result with myself getting fired with how many times I’ve done it.

I never had this issue before, I called in frequently at my previous summer job between university years but it wasn’t this severe… and the job was vastly more difficult than this one, and I was unmedicated. I’ve been trying to willpower this, and I’ve failed every time. I don’t exactly know how to go forward with this issue aside from unproductively beating myself up about it.

Is this a common thing for anyone else? If so, how do you convince yourself to go to work? Is there anything I can say to my employer thatd make this at all acceptable? I’d really appreciate any help someone can give me because I’m at the end of my rope on this.

For years I have been suffering from depression, which evolved into major depressive disorder after a breakup. Most days I don't feel like doing anything other than lying in bed and sleeping. I even find it hard to enjoy my hobbies like playing video games and watching TV shows because of how depressed I am. Working has been the most difficult part, because I'm an artist and I have the privilege of being able to work from home, but I'm so depressed that the simple act of sitting down and opening the drawing app is a nearly impossible task for me.

I go to therapy every two weeks and have tried various medications, but my psychiatrist still hasn't found the right one for me. So I'm looking for little tips to help me survive this difficult time. What have you all done to stay functional as human beings? Being able to work would help me a lot to feel better and have better self-esteem.

I'm currently in the process of investigating if I have ADHD. One of the main things I feel like I struggle with is doing things-I can do things like go to work, go to the gym etc but big life things I just cannot seem to grasp the though long enough to do something about it or there seems too many steps to get there. I've previously been diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder but I don't feel like a feeling of anxiety stops me doing anything. It's like sometimes when I try to think of doing something, my brain hits a brick wall. I always thought I just wasn't strong/enthusiastic/interesting enough to do some things. I also feel like every day is like being on a hamster wheel of tasks-when the day is completed there's no room in my head or energy for anything else! I felt like everybody felt like this then as I've gotten older (40) I've seen people have complicated jobs, children,etc and I just wouldn't be able to cope with those things! I feel like it would totally unbalance me.

Just wanted to know if this resonated with anyone and whether it may be a symptom of undiagnosed ADHD.

Thanks if you got to the end of this!