PSYCHOLOGY|MENTAL HEALTH
Cleaning Can Be A Serious Trigger, Especially For Those With ADHD
I never thought I’d learn so much from a story that was an exhausted, whimsical rant
On January 5th, 2022, I wrote and published the following story in less than an hour:
I was utterly exhausted…
Do whatever you need to do, but PLEASE, for the love of _______ (fill in the blank), CLEAN YOUR PHREAKIN’ HOME ON A REGULAR BASIS.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Exhaustedly yours,
KL Simmons
…and a bit frustrated with the degree of cleaning that I felt compelled to do in order to fully relax and fell comfortable in my new home.
I didn’t include any photos of my place when I posted that story, but I will share several in this one to show you all exactly what I mean.
BECAUSE that one story has created quite a ripple here in neck of the Mediumverse. No one has really “come at me” (yet).
It’s clear by some of the responses that the story has ruffled some feathers. However, overall, it has been well received.
There are 2 glaring things that continue to stick out to me though.
1- How (many) people tend to confuse being messy with being dirty or grimey.
2. People with ADHD tend to have serious problems with cleaning and organizing, which is something I never knew before.
I’ve addressed both points in my responses, but I feel that they are important enough to warrant their spotlight with a story.
Here’s an excellent article to help elucidate and decipher the former.
5. Your Kitchen
Having dishes piled up is fine as long as they have already been rinsed. However, if there’s dried ketchup along the sides of your sink, that is just plain filthy.
If you could prepare a meal with the remnants left in your sink, you know it has far exceeded the realm of messy.
There were grease splatters AND ketchup splatters in the medium-sized kitchen that took me 9 hours to clean.
I live in Germany where standing of what’s acceptable upon moving into an apartment are different than they are in the United States.
However, part of my dismay is that the couple (with a small child) before us agreed upon and signed a document stating that they’d do certain things (like paint the walls) and didn’t.
The dude is a contractor.
What the #!@*#$*% !@#)$%*….
…he does not have ADHD and if he did, he has enough money to hire house cleaners.
When I first read someone’s response telling me the challenges of cleaning for those who have ADHD, I was surprised, but it made a lot of sense when I thought about these twins I knew many years ago who had ADHD.
They were my first roommates and it was extremely hard to live with them due to their cleaning habits, especially at 18 years old.
Their cars were absolutely filthy since they were both chain smokers and didn’t care about the smell or look of their car’s interior.
Their issues run deep, however, I have more compassion towards them now, after learning how people with ADHD struggle with simple organizational and cleaning tasks.
Here are a few excerpts since first-hand accounts tend to be the best sources:
Julia Marsiglio (thank you for being the first to bring this to my attention!)
I have ADHD. What comes naturally to you really, really doesn't to me. I have to make myself housekeeping checklists and break down tasks others find simple into sequential steps. Everything needs bold labels and pre-ordained organization. If it is in a drawer, I forget it is there. It needs to be visible or labelled. That's the work I have to do before I start cleaning. Once I start, I need to be able to stay in focus--hyper focus. My kids are home because of Covid constantly now. This makes it harder. I lose track of what I am doing and move on to something else easily.
I have ADHD. Like the other commenter, I’ve designed a system of “hacks” that work for me. I own very few things. Less stuff to manage. I used to organize and label when my kids were still living at home. After they got grown, the labels gradually disappeared, but the other hacks stayed. …
When I can’t take it anymore, I retreat to my haven. I really don’t care how anyone else lives, as long as I don’t have to live with them.
A couple of other people have mentioned ADHD so I don't have to go into it fully, but I would invite you to do some reading about executive dysfunction, a problem for people with ADHD and also for people with depression and some other disorders. Hopefully you can find it in you to forgive us.
Clearly there’s nothing to “forgive” and Nyk was being sarcastic, but I wanted to look into this more for my own satisfaction and gain.
I thought that, perhaps, this information will be useful to others as well.
For most people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the condition doesn’t go away when you become an adult. You still face some of the same challenges you had as a child, they just look different.
Shout out my close friend, fellow writer and co-editor of Pure Fiction
JA Vassili for being SO CLOSE TO 100 FOLLOWERS!
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