[nellie]

I have misplaced many a set of keys over the years, oddly they always turn up eventually at the bottom of some bag or a coat pocket and, like those above have mentioned, the black hole memory issue has prevented me remembering how they ever got there in the first place. I’ve also tried most of the prevention strategies mentioned above as well and for the most part they work. That is until I’m in some sort of frazzled, rushing mental state and POOF, they are gone again. So perhaps that is part of the issue, not forcing oneself to be aware of the moment. All good in theory, but how the heck can you force yourself to become present in the moment when you are not present in the moment? Keys are not the only issue, I’m sure we can all  recount a list of other items that have also disappeared in the same manner as those darn keys!

Incidentally, I’ve been wondering about the Tile locator gizmo, ,but what happens when you can’t find your phone either? 🙂

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[nellie]

Blackdog & Scatty, I have been thinking about this for the past couple of weeks after reading your response to my earlier  post. I started trying to consistently take meds earlier  regulate my sleep more. Although I haven’t gotten to a perfect routine quite yet but do find that the effort is worth it. I think I  have to resign myself to the fact that getting organized basically takes effort.

Actually, I just had an epiphany after reading your responses again just now. I think our ADD tendency to want things immediately is really the issue with making progress and I have to resign myself to the fact that it takes actual real hard work. I had a similar realization Some years ago while I was trying to lose weight. I felt as if my entire day was centered around thinking about healthy food choices and what I was going to eat at my next meal so that it was healthy. It occurred to me then that it took actual effort  and a concerted  thought process to make it work. The same I guess with having a system to stay on track be that with a paper agenda or otherwise. That said, I better get going since I have 30 minutes to get dressed and out the door to make it to my appointment on time 🙂

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[nellie]

Blackdog _ I think I could have written your post word for word 🙂 That’s just too funny – but at least we have a sense of humor! It’s amazing what turns up under the laundry isn’t it?:-)

Wasn’t this about organizing desk space though?:-)

Here’s my,ahem, tip of the day – In order to combat my piling tendencies, I bought a smaller glass top desk so am forced to tidy if I want more space to work. However, it seems I still accumulate piles anyway (surprise surprise!). So for the stuff that doesn’t get filed right away but needs to get off the desk, I bought  some clear plastic containers with  lids that I place under my desk.If I put it onto an adjacent shelf or something it eventually topples over.  I used to use bankers boxes but they essentially help contribute to the out of sight out of mind problem.

While the clear containers don’t empty themselves on their own , at least I don’t forget that there is filing/important stuff in them. I also made sure they weren’t too deep so I couldn’t put too much stuff into them. Every so often the guilt puts me into a cleaning frenzy and they magically get cleared up in a juffy. Not sure why I can’t do that in the first  place but hey, I’m too busy searching the under the laundry piles for lost keys and my agenda to worry about that now 🙂

 

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[nellie]

Blackdog, LOL the whiteboard falling off the wall thing happened to me to. It started out all fancy with lots of categories and color coding  to track my projects but in the end I guess it became visual clutter! I didn’t even notice it anymore till it fell down. The other day I was out somewhere and the thought actually popped into my mind that I should check it. However, something seemed odd to me since I couldn’t visualize it on the wall. Eventually it occurred to me that the thing fell off the wall behind my desk ages ago!

I’ve given up with all the fancy stuff and just use an agenda now. I try to force myself to check it daily but I still fall on and off the wagon with that and forget appointments once in a while.

 

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[nellie]

Hi all,

Just wanted to pipe in about the caffeine aspect – definitely notice a difference if I have too much coffee. I usually also wash down the vyvanse with my coffee in the morning since I need at least 2 or 3 cups to wake up my brain before the Vyvanse kicks in. Lately I noticed that the caffeine seems to be having an even stronger effect. I decided  to stop after the 2nd cup today  because it feels as if I had a glass or two of wine instead.

Proper sleep and eating habits  also makes a difference in terms of feeling alert. If I don’t get enough sleep  or forget to eat breakfast the Vyvanse makes me feel spacey.

Blackdog, when you said it works better if you take it really early, could that be because it takes 2 hours to take effect so you notice productivity  earlier in the day?  I also find that if I get up early enough and take the Vyvanse I get a better start to the day. If I get up later and then only notice it kick in closer to noon , I kind of drag my feet and don’t get much done. Basically  the day feels totally wasted. (Hope that makes sense!)

 

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[nellie]

oh wow sorry I missed it! I participated two years ago and it was the most insane fun week I ever had! One of our  group’s submissions actually even made it into the souvenir book. I was still  on a high for at least a week after it was over!

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[nellie]

LOL, KC I just read your post and for a split second thought ‘wow, can’t believe that happened!’before I came to my senses and remembered it was the humor section :-)Good one! Maybe a little to much Jack Daniels in my early days made me a tad overly empathetic toward the snake:-)

 

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[nellie]

Just Me,

If anything should give you a reason to get up in the morning  it is your children! Regardless of how bad things are  you have to  remember this.

No one can take your place and from what you write your love for your children clearly shines through.

Please draw on whatever strength you can find left  inside of you and continue to fight to get back on your feet. For your sake and for theirs. Your resilience and courage in seeing through this time will provide them with the greatest role model they could possibly have.

Obviously you have talents and abilities if you can run a business. You may have lost all the material things in your life but  those talents are still there. They are a gift  for you to use in a different way now  in order to get your life back on track.

I’m sorry that I don’t have any truly  practical advice to provide beyond take it one day at a time. Choose to do some small thing today to make it better – anything , even if it is only making your bed.

Are there any social services that you can draw on or a family member to enlist as an ally?

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[nellie]

In the past I have had jobs that were front line customer service and I really enjoyed the interaction with people. For me the boring jobs were the ones that don’t involve interaction with others. When you say customer service involves repetitive tasks I’m not sure I understand what you mean. What aspect of these jobs are your “kryptonite”?

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[nellie]

Well that’s really interesting Larynxa.

I always  felt that how I visualize number sequences was  to some extent connected to the math rods we used in first grades. Although this learned approach doesn’t correlate to my visualization of months and years. I can’t think of anything as a child that would have influenced it.  I also visualize countries as part of map and usually with a  label. But I since my father also has Synaesthesia I would sway in the direction of genetics being responsible.

 

 

 

 

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[nellie]

Hopefully this won’t end up as a double post – I just typed a long reply which disappeared when I hit submit.

Blackdog, I’ve come to like the big TV – but know what you mean 🙂 The HD is amazing so it might be worth “pretending” you’ve given in 🙂  Now that you mention it though, I should check that ours can’t spy on us somehow. We have it hooked to the network and can watch Youtube on it. I thought it was cool but not so sure now.

To clear your google history you need to sign in with your gmail account. IF you don’t have one I guess that’s a good thing! Just make sure to clear your Browser cookies and use private browsing.

Is there any more room in that log cabin of yours? To add more paranoia to the mix here’s another article I just read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/technology/personaltech/how-to-muddy-your-tracks-on-the-internet.html?_r=0

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[nellie]

Like Blackdog and Shutterbug, I  haven’t had much luck with those key finders either . Lost them or forgot to change the batteries when I did use them 🙂  I even have a luggage finder thingy that’s supposed to blink when it’s on the carousel. Never used it yet. Too much trouble  for my ADD brain to remember to attach it to the baggage before leaving on a trip 🙂

So far the best tracking device I use regularly is a carabiner attached to my purse. Since my car has a “smart” ignition I don’t have to detach the keys at all. This  also saves digging around in my purse.

Now to digress…Speaking of tracking objects:

I was shopping today and saw some sort of electronic device that you attach to whatever it is you want to track and it claimed to be able to find it with a your iPhone. At least I think that’s how it worked because I wasn’t really looking for anything like that so didn’t absorb the info. Anyhow, after reading the above posts I decided to do a Google search for the device on the store’s website but it doesn’t appear to be listed.

So did a broader  search and came up with a device called  The Tile.

http://www.thetileapp.com/#on-the-go

Sounds like an interesting concept at first glance but maybe a bit too big brother. Especially disturbing if you consider this: http://www.komando.com/tips/12337/household-appliances-will-spy-on-you

When I  came back here to the TADD Forum  directly from the Tile website I noticed that the pop up add that suddenly appeared was for the Tile. That really creeped me out! Although it is humorously ironic!

However, I immediately decided to turn off Google tracking.  It’s been bugging me for a while but have  been procrastinating.

Anyway,  Here’s another article you might want to read if you don’t like the idea of your online search activity being monitored and recorded forever:

http://www.komando.com/tips/11741/stop-google-from-tracking-your-search-history

Now I know how my keys feel 🙂

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[nellie]

Interesting link Larynxa.

Describes one of my kids to a t. Also interesting that they write that HSP kids are often misdiagnosed as having ADD.

 

 

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[nellie]

Well, I would have to  say I am also in the Scattybird and KC camp. Trying to see the humorous side of things helps although I also believe it’s important to allow ourselves to really  feel an emotion before  moving  on.  So if you are feeling sad then give yourself permission to be sad despite the emotional discomfort and inconvenience in terms of needing to be focusing on other things.  (Easier said than done, ofncourse!)

I once heard comedian Joan Rivers speak about losing her husband suddenly and how she dealt with the grief. She said she allowed herself to wallow in bed  for a month then got up and on with her  life. Now, I really hope you won’t need a month in bed  to get over hitting a squirrel! But the take away is to be sad if you have to , perhaps trying not to feel that way only makes it worse and not go away, if that makes any sense?

Scattybird’s pointing out the irony of  the animal being a squirrel prompted me to look up the lifespan of urban wild squirrels. I was surprised to learn how short it is – most don’t make it past a year. The  unfortunate aspect  is that this is partly due to being hit by cars 🙂

http://unis.mcgill.ca/en/uw/mammals/squirrels.html

http://www.boobooinc.com/sq/faq.html#live

Anyway hope you feel cheerier soon!

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[nellie]

I did attempt NaNoWriMo some years ago. Didn’t get far along with  my novel  and don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that I never ever finished it , but had fun trying!

Were I to do it again, I would make sure that I really cleared the month of other distractions and focused entirely on the novel writing. I’m not great at splitting my focus and have learned in the meantime that when I undertake a major project, I can’t dilly dally with a bunch of smaller ones at the same time.

I wish you the best of luck and look forward to hearing about  your final word count!

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