About Executive Dysfunction; for neurotypical people

beowulfstits:

Friends, family members and loved ones of learning disabled and mentally ill people need to have a working knowledge of what Executive Dysfunction is, and respect the fact that it is a prominent feature of that person’s psychology and life.

Executive Dysfunction is best known as a symptom of autism and ADHD, but it also features in depression, anxiety disorders schizophrenia, OCD (which by the way is also an anxiety disorder), personality disorders; etc, a whole myriad of mental illnesses and disabilities can result in executive dysfunction.

(fact: I have personally known people diagnosed with each ofthe above mentioned disabilities. let me tell yea having mental disabilities in aneurotypical world turns your life upside down and we often feel suffocatedand trapped by it with no way out)

Years ago when I was like 14 and had recently learned of my autism diagnosis, I watched a youtube interview between autistic people, and an autistic woman said something along these lines, “Sometimes, a lightbulb will burn out, but I cannot change it. I have the physical capability to change the lightbulb, and I want to change the lightbulb, and I know I need to do it, but because of my autism I just don’t do it. So the lightbulb remains unchanged for weeks. Sometimes people have to change the lightbulb for me.”

When she said that I related so much, because constantly throughout my whole life I have wanted and needed to do things with my wanting and needing being akin to my spurring an extremely stubborn horse who refuses to move. For the first time I learned that I wasn’t just “lazy”, I had a condition that prevented me from doing things as easily as other people can, but unfortunately it took me years since then to understand that.

Actually, I like the horse analogy. Imagine that you are a horserider, but your horse is entirely unwilling to move even if you want to move. You dig in your heels, you raise the reins, but the horse refuses to respond. Your wants and needs are the rider, and your executive functions (the parts of your mind responsible for getting things done) are the horse.

I think it’s incredibly dangerous for neurotypical loved ones to not understand, or be aware of, or respect executive dysfunction. Neurotypical can assume that we are just being lazy, careless, selfish or difficult, when in reality we want to do the thing but our brains prevent us from consistently and reliably doing the thing.

That misinterpretation can lead to toxic behavior and resentment on the part of the loved one, which will harm us emotionally and do us a lot of damage gradually over time.

That damage can take the form of internal self-criticism, complicating executive dysfunction even further and making it worse.

#THAT'S THE THING #THAT'S THE THING I DO #I JUST SAT HERE LIKE :O OH MY GOD THAT'S THE THING #autism #health stuff #things my mother needs to see #favourite #executive dysfunction #procrastination
me: hello dear brain, do you think we can get started on that thing we wanted to do today
brain: no :)
me: ah, you're right, as usual, thank you
#gpoy #text posts #procrastination #panties are pink and neck ties are blue #Dean is bisexual and this is a queue

appropriately-inappropriate:

beytamacs:

breastforce:

“Particularly prone to serious procrastination problems are children who grew up with unusually high expectations placed on them…or else they exhibited exceptional talents early on, and thereafter “average” performances were met with concern and suspicion from parents and teachers.”

Holy SHIT

WELL THEN

Yep.

They actually tested me for a learning disability in high school because I was consistently failing math.

They discovered that I actually scored in the 80th percentile in that sort of learning.

Problem was, in every other subject, I was in the 99.8th percentile.

I had never learned how to study because I never needed to—and then, when something proved to be even the slightest bit challenging, my brain went

“LOL nope this is impossible abort”

Meanwhile, this entire time I’m scraping by in subjects like English. The assignments I did turn in, I’d score top marks—but I’d avoid turning in projects I didn’t think were “good” enough.

Essentially, my brain had two settings: “100%” or “0%”.

This sort of Baby Genius shit makes kids and adolescents neurotic and self-destructive.

#gpoy #ultimate gpoy #about me #procrastination #children #the road to hell is queued with good intentions

n0se-bleed:

everyday

#gpoy #procrastination

exuberantliving:

artmonia:

The creations by Dangerdust a duo of students who have decided to anonymously requisition the blackboards of their school, to offer every Monday morning a new creation combining inspiration, motivation and typography on blackboard.

#inspiration #quotes #that one about #procrastination #is my favourite and it speaks to me #life #long post #art #typography

iamverysorry:

camiekahle:

fartgallery:

i dont want to do anything ever

I’ve never related to anything more

THIS IS ME. THIS IS ME RIGHT THE FUCK NOW

#gpoy #procrastination #AND ON THAT NOTE I'M GETTING OFF TUMBLR AND GOING TO WRITE THE THING I NEED TO FINISH WRITING #BYE

ilovecharts:

nevver:

A Field Guide to Procrastinators

This is just painful.

#I do literally all of these things except delegation #mostly because I work alone and don't talk to anyone and everybody else wouldn't do it right #gpoy #procrastination #currently I am procrastinating on going to bed #I've been doing this for 6 hours now

Reasons why you should do Thing ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ

cairovercoat:

1. Every hour you spend doing Thing right now is an extra hour you will get to sleep. (◡‿◡✿)

2. Every hour you spend doing Thing right now is an extra hour you will get to read or talk with friends or watch that new episode of your favourite TV show or do something else you really love doing. ヽ(‘ ∇‘ )ノ

3. You will have to do Thing eventually whether you like it or not! Face Thing head-on and get it over with. You will look back and say to yourself, wow, I am so glad I did Thing three hours ago.  ∩( ・ω・)∩

4. You will spend the same amount of time doing Thing whether you do Thing now or at 4am. You might as well get Thing done earlier! ≧(´▽｀)≦

5.  Every time you do not do Thing or do Thing really late when you’re tired and cranky and stressed out you feel like crap about yourself. If you do Thing now, you can avoid that stress and crankiness. Future you will be happy! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

6. It is midnight in a scary house and all of a sudden you see Thing! It is huge and scary and it has lots of teeth and you want to run away and hide. But then Thing meows and you realize that Thing was just a little kitty cat and you were seeing its shadow reflected on the wall. You should not dread doing Thing because your mind has made it seem a lot bigger and scarier than it actually is. Once you start working on Thing, you will realize how silly it is to make huge scary monsters out of kitty cats!  ヽ(‘ ∇‘ )ノ

7. Do not curl up into a ball and think about how horrible you are for not getting Thing done earlier! You are not alone. We all do it! We all procrastinate and avoid doing Thing. It is alright. For now, try to numb yourself and just focus on doing Thing. It will be okay. (*´・ｖ・)

8. Stop every half hour and remind yourself of all the reasons why you should not procrastinate and do Thing earlier. I promise you that you will be able to gather the courage to do Thing. Good luck! (´ω｀★)

#BY REBLOGGING THIS IS AM POINTEDLY NOT DOING THING #procrastination #motivation #inspiration #writing
It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.
—  Hugh Laurie (via cordealia)
#inspiration #procrastination #Hugh Laurie #quote

lexingtonand52:

if you give me a task with no deadline i will literally never do it but if you give me a deadline i will get it done exactly 1 hour before the deadline even if the deadline is in six years

#yup #procrastination #gpoy

It turns out procrastination is not typically a function of laziness, apathy or work ethic as it is often regarded to be. It’s a neurotic self-defense behavior that develops to protect a person’s sense of self-worth.

You see, procrastinators tend to be people who have, for whatever reason, developed to perceive an unusually strong association between their performance and their value as a person. This makes failure or criticism disproportionately painful, which leads naturally to hesitancy when it comes to the prospect of doing anything that reflects their ability — which is pretty much everything.

But in real life, you can’t avoid doing things. We have to earn a living, do our taxes, have difficult conversations sometimes. Human life requires confronting uncertainty and risk, so pressure mounts. Procrastination gives a person a temporary hit of relief from this pressure of “having to do” things, which is a self-rewarding behavior. So it continues and becomes the normal way to respond to these pressures.

Particularly prone to serious procrastination problems are children who grew up with unusually high expectations placed on them. Their older siblings may have been high achievers, leaving big shoes to fill, or their parents may have had neurotic and inhuman expectations of their own, or else they exhibited exceptional talents early on, and thereafter “average” performances were met with concern and suspicion from parents and teachers.


—

David Cain, “Procrastination Is Not Laziness” (via pawneeparksdepartment)

(via eccecorinna)

#gpoy #procrastination

girafasolas:

I even procrastinate the things I want to do.

#gpoy #procrastination