I always thought this was my ADHD talking, but from some googling… It could be this as well, or instead of. I’m definitely very monotropic and I also recognize the symptoms of Pathological Demand Avoidance in myself.
Unfortunately, at work I manage three different tracks which each have their own roadmaps and deadlines, so constantly shifting attention is required. It’s taken a decade of practice to get where I am – forcing my body and my brain past perceived obstacles and discomfort. It’s possible to train your brain out of certain desire paths with enough effort, but it’s not easy, and I wouldn’t say I’m cured to any measure. I’m just better at managing my symptoms and getting things done than I used to be.
I hate to say “it’s a bootstrap thing” but frankly there’s no magic cure, only increasingly difficult iterative steps that you achieve through a ton of practice. I do hope my neurodivergent compatriots here have been able to find jobs that work with their unique skills and brain structures, rather than against as I have found myself.
ADHD definitely has a negative synergy when it comes to autistic inertia, at least to my feeling.
I am indeed very fortune with my job, its a non profit so i don’t need to worry about my economic production value. People are aware i struggle but i am valued for my ability to think constructively towards clear improvements rather then doing tasks blindly.
Hell to the yes.
I’m annoyed Earth’s day is only 24 hours because it’s so inefficient; it’s hard to pack stuff into the day without feeling like I’ve half assed literally everything. It’s like, I only just started this damn task and it took me hours of mental preparation (thanks AuDHD), and now I need to stop doing it and start doing something else?! ARGH! So finicky and annoying and… inefficient!
I feel you. Your struggles are just like mine.
I have considered the Uberman sleep schedule, but I already subsist on only 4.5hrs per night as I work a desk job from 5am and a gig job in the evenings. I could do it but still have to support my family. But in my twenties I highly considered it.
Didn’t know what it was before seeing this post, but after looking it up I’d have to say a big yes. Starting tasks has often been hard for me, even ones I want to do, while there are times I start something and end up doing more than I intended, even stuff I didn’t want to really do. An example of that would be like finally getting around to cleaning one little thing, but then continuing on to the stuff or areas around it as well. I’ve tried using that in my favor by trying to convince myself to just do a little bit of something, hoping that I’ll end up doing more, but it’s been kind of hit and miss so far. Maybe it’s a skill that I can get better at? 🤷♂️ In any case, I will definitely be doing more research on this to try and help with it, so thanks for bringing it up!
You’re welcome. I appreciate it.
Every fucking morning i experience physically inertia and i am not sure if this is part of autistic inertia or even different. First to start working is my arms which i can use to sit straight. Then i grab my legs and lift them out my bed so i can sit. Then i use all the strength vested in me to push my body forward, somewhere just before i would fall and hit the wall my feet finally get grip and my leg mechanism springs in action. One of these days i fear it wont work and i am just going to fall face flat. The only exception here seems to be if for some event i wake up with pure adrenaline like my child screaming but than there are other side effects later that day.
I experience the standard autistic inertia pretty much whenever i do anything. Its such a miracle i get to be focused doing something the last thing i am going to do is breaking my flow by allowing even a single other thought before i am damn finished. I know i sound like i make a choice when i put it like that, but really its just a forced perspective to make it easier to live with my own disability.
What’s that?
“The commonly-experienced difficulty in starting and stopping tasks, especially in neurodivergent individuals.”
"a few common traits :- Transition challenges relating to difficulty with starting/stopping tasks
- Difficulty resuming activities after interruptions
- No control over actions despite desire
- Indecision, anxiety, or challenges with planning or starting tasks
- Time blindness
- Mind and body feeling separated
- Indifference over task urgency or task itself
- Motivation challenges
- Being able to focus on one thing for a long time easily once started (This can potentially be a major strength!)"
Why not just look it up and have the answer in the time it took you to write that? And you also don’t make others do work for you.
We can also be charitable to each other. If you don’t want to explain, you don’t have to respond.
He’s doing a service to those who don’t know Because then sooner or later somebody will show up who has a really good understanding of the subject and will do a really good job explaining
Like me.
I would have written that too, but you put it better than I could have. Thanks.
Me and my AuDHD deciding it’s time to code another metric on the excel spreadsheet and tweaking the colors instead of actually doing what I need to do.
I use to say that inertia equals mass, brain mass.
I do. any advice on how to deal with it?
Not sure. All I’m told by people is to just do something which is only common advice.
I’m not really an expert here.
