One of the characterics of ADHD is the inability to determine accurately how much time a project will take, or how much time it will take to get places. Time is a hard concept for many of those who struggle with ADHD.
So we asked several adults with ADHD how they handle their relationship with Time. Below are some responses (courtesy of ADDitude Magazine):
“I am only aware that time has passed when I look at a clock. Without that, I just think of the last time I checked and assume, ‘That must be what time it is.’ I know that sounds silly, but I really don’t know how long it takes to do simple everyday things, like make and eat breakfast, much less large tasks or projects.”
“Time is a completely fluid concept to me. I am chronically optimistic that I can do just one more thing.”
“It takes conscious effort not to succumb to the magical thinking that a week’s worth of tasks can be fit into a day. I’m a writer, and I’ve missed or pushed, with great anxiety, more deadlines than I can count. Same with arriving late to appointments. It’s as if any time between tasks disappears into a black hole. I would get many years back if I could retrieve that time.”
“I have downloaded and deleted countless apps in an attempt to keep track of my time. Turns out, my best solution is to set an alarm to go off every few hours with the label ‘THE PASSAGE OF TIME’ to make me stop and check where I am in the day.”
“I realized how bad my sense of time was when this conversation kept repeating itself in our house: Me: ‘It’ll take about five minutes to get there.’ My husband (looks at me funny and says): ‘Or closer to 20…’ And he was always right. Sometimes I play music while doing chores/errands, just because the changing songs mark the passage of time.”
