Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D.
(Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder).
This is how it manifests:
I decided to wash my car.
As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is
mail on the hall table. I decide to go through the mail before I wash
the car. I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in
the trashcan under the table, and notice that the trashcan is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and
take out the trash first. But then I think, since I'm going to be near
the mailbox when I take out the trash anyway, I may as well pay the
bills first.
I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there
is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the
study, so I go to my desk where I find the bottle of coke that I had been
drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to
push the coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I
see that the coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the
refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the coke a vase of
flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need to be watered. I set
the coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that
I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first
I'm going to water the flowers. I set the glasses back down on the
counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV
remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when
we go to watch TV, we will be looking for the remote, but nobody will
remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back
in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I splash some water on the flowers, but most of it
spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table,
get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I
was planning to do.
At the end of the day: the car isn't washed, the bills
aren't paid, there is a warm bottle of coke sitting on the counter,
the flowers aren't watered, there is still only one check in my
checkbook, I can't find the remote, I can't find my glasses, and I don't
remember what I did with the car keys.
Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done
today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and
I'm really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to
get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.
|
|