I realized recently that like 90% of my things that my mom considers “junk” are art supplies of some sort. (The other 10% are various stim toys.) Yarn, sewing patterns, possibly a million bottles of paint, brushes that are broken on the handle but still have the best bristles for certain effects, a tub of beads, reams of drawing paper (because I always forget about the packs I already have), I could go on and on.
The problem is, I’m shit at organizing. My ADHD brain gets overwhelmed and I never end up succeeding. Besides, I cycle through hobbies but there’s no clear cut-off for when some interests change. I may keep out a crochet project because I had the steam to get halfway through, and I want it nearby so I can pick it up and add a few stitches when I feel like it. But then I decide I want to paint something, so I take out my paint supplies. Before that interest cycles completely out, I start wanting to mold something from clay…
And yeah. It gets out of hand sometimes, especially when I re-buy things I already had because I forgot I already had them. The chaos breeds more chaos. However, having to put away everything just to take it back out a few hours later sounds equally absurd. I know that’s the habit we’re all supposed to do, but for me if something is out of sight for too long, I could forget what I was even trying to make. I only complete projects that I keep coming back to, and any hinderance to that is like stepping on a banana peel on a stairwell, as far as my executive functioning is concerned. It makes it so much harder to arrive to the point where I’m actually done.
I realized recently that like 90% of my things that my mom considers “junk” are art supplies of some sort. (The other 10% are various stim toys.) Yarn, sewing patterns, possibly a million bottles of paint, brushes that are broken on the handle but still have the best bristles for certain effects, a tub of beads, reams of drawing paper (because I always forget about the packs I already have), I could go on and on.
The problem is, I’m shit at organizing. My ADHD brain gets overwhelmed and I never end up succeeding. Besides, I cycle through hobbies but there’s no clear cut-off for when some interests change. I may keep out a crochet project because I had the steam to get halfway through, and I want it nearby so I can pick it up and add a few stitches when I feel like it. But then I decide I want to paint something, so I take out my paint supplies. Before that interest cycles completely out, I start wanting to mold something from clay…
And yeah. It gets out of hand sometimes, especially when I re-buy things I already had because I forgot I already had them. The chaos breeds more chaos. However, having to put away everything just to take it back out a few hours later sounds equally absurd. I know that’s the habit we’re all supposed to do, but for me if something is out of sight for too long, I could forget what I was even trying to make. I only complete projects that I keep coming back to, and any hinderance to that is like stepping on a banana peel on a stairwell, as far as my executive functioning is concerned. It makes it so much harder to arrive to the point where I’m actually done.