AAADD - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder
This is how it manifests . I decide to water my garden. As I turn on
the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs
washing. As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the front verandah
table that I brought up from the mail box earlier, just after the
mailman had made the delivery.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I put my car
keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage bin beside the table,
and noticed that the bin is full. So, I decide to put the bills back on the
table and take out the garbage first.
But, then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take
out the garbage anyway (and the mailman picks up the mail at noon) I
may as well pay the bills first. So, I take my cheque book off the
table, and see that there is only 1 cheque left. My spare cheque book
is in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I
find the can of Coke I'd been drinking earlier this morning.
I know I was going to look for my cheque book, but first I need to push
the Coke can aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. The Coke is
warm, so I decide to put it in the refrigerator to make it cold again.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the
dining room table catches my eye -- they need water.
I put the Coke on the dining room table and 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 put more water in the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the table, go to the kitchen sink to get
a jug and fill it with water and suddenly spot the TV remote on the
window sill. Someone left it there.
I realise that tonight when we go to watch TV, I'll be looking for the
remote, but I won't remember that it's on the window sill, so I decide
to put it back in the lounge room where it belongs, but first I'll
water the flowers. I pour some water in the jug, but spill some on the
floor.
So, I set the remote back on the kitchen bench, 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 cheque's aren't written for the bills to be paid
- there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the dining room table
- the flowers don't have enough water,
- there is still only 1 cheque in my cheque book,
- I can't find the remote,
- I can't find my glasses,
- the garbage hasn't been taken out
- 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, and I'm really tired now.
I realise this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for
it.
Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!
GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY.
GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IS THERAPEUTIC
(Sorry, couldn't find the source. Saw this a few times back around 2005-6. It obviously made an impression on me since I kept it!)
Momcrieff - self diagnosed with AAADD.
Lisé Gessert
This is remarkably similar to my husband's rendition of how it takes me two days to clean the house (but can hire someone to do it in four hours)!
Holger Marten
Good God that's funny. I have the same problem.
Amelia
Thanks for posting this. Was looking for this info all over the web.