Published on 12, July, 2020
Does anyone else have issues with tidying up and cleaning? I don't actually have a diagnosis but have strong traits of autism and probably some of adhd too. I find things like tidying, cleaning, doing the dishes etc incredibly difficult. It probably comes across as laziness but I quite literally cannot face doing these jobs and usually let them build up far too much so it's an absolute mission when I do do them. Does anyone else have this issue? And can anyone shed any light on why I find this so difficult or if there is anything I can do to make it easier?
I am very untidy myself. And part of this I am sure is getting so engrossed in what I am doing, I don't notice until it is too late.
A bit like a garden which needs tending regularly. If the gardening is not done, a few weeds appear. They may not be noticed. But very soon, the weeds take over and what was a simple task to keep in check becomes well nigh impossible to sort out without help. And so it is with tidying. Something not put away and it soon becomes a lot of things, to not being able to find anything.
Related to this is my complete inability to be able to find things. And being something of a major hoarder. I am simply incapable of keeping things tidy, do not like to throw things away even if I have not used them for years and years. If I put something away I do not know where I've put it and then more mess is caused looking for it.
Combined with this is another inability of not being able to eat without dropping bits down my front and crumbs on the floor. Things just seem to jump off my plate onto the floor or I drop them or miss my mouth.
My flat is very very untidy I am ashamed to say. Some of this is related to chronic depression. Some more is due to 'not feeling like it' after a days work when I arrive home exhausted. A neurotypical would say the answer is to put things away when finished with. But this is something I appear to be incapable of in the long term.