The Faces of Cognitive Distortions
Emotional regulation is HARD when your mind distorts reality. This ‘Faces’ series is based on common distortions from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
ADHD and Errands
I don't make time to run errands. I find them annoying and time-consuming. But the longer I put them off, the more they pile up... until I get so overwhelmed and intimidated that I feel too paralyzed to start.
Everyone finds errands boring. That’s not the ADHD part. The ADHD part is what happens when “boring” turns into a list so long that starting any of it feels impossible.
Everything still on the list
The comic sets a person with ADHD beside someone without, who shrugs: “Nobody likes running errands. It’s called being an adult.” Underneath sits the pile that shrug doesn’t account for:
- Cash check I received months ago
- Order license plate
- Buy mom birthday card
- Pay bill that I misplaced
- Grocery shop for first time in weeks
- Pick up meds
- Clean gross shower
- Return item I bought 29 days ago
- Cancel gym membership
- Fill up gas tank
- Buy more shampoo
- Get oil changed
- Schedule dental appointment
- Donate old clothes
- Wash my car
- File expense report
Why the pile grows instead of shrinking
Look closely at the list and almost every item is small. Buy shampoo. Fill the tank. None of them are hard. What makes them hard is that each one needs the same thing in short supply: the ability to start something with no urgency attached to it.
So the return window closes on day 29. The check sits for months. And each item that lingers makes the whole list heavier, until it stops reading as a set of five-minute jobs and starts reading as proof you can’t manage your own life. That’s the part the shrug misses.
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