Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Why is everything so complicated?

I imagine most people get up in the morning, take a shower, brush their teeth, get dressed, eat breakfast and leave the house without much consternation. For me, such rituals are not automatic. They take an insane amount of willpower and stamina that I often have little of at the beginning of the day. First, there's waking up. Always an adventure. If I had a bad night's sleep (which is more often than not), I am often in a lot of pain. If I had a good night's sleep, I'm too comfortable to want to move. But assuming I actually do get out of bed, I feel overwhelmed by the things I need to do to get ready for my day.

"Normal person" morning routine:

  1. Wake up.
  2. Get out of bed.
  3. Shower.
  4. Dress.
  5. Breakfast.
  6. Leave house.
My morning routine:
  1. Wake up.
  2. Hit snooze. (20 minutes)
  3. Lie in bed reading my email or checking Facebook until semi-coherent. (20 - 30 minutes)
  4. Take pills. (I have a water bottle on my night stand)
  5. Get out of bed.
  6. Pee.
  7. Get back into bed for "just a little while longer." (10 minutes)
  8. Get out of bed again. 
  9. Put on loud music to motivate myself to move. (This is VERY important.)
  10. Oh gods, gross, I need to shower. 
  11. Shave. (Yes, I shave my mustache. What of it?)
  12. Dry hair. (This takes forever and is my least-favourite thing to do.) 
  13. Put on make-up. (30-40 minutes from Step 10 to Step 13)
  14. Dress. Jewellery, bra, panties, socks, jeans, and shirt, in that order.
  15. Change shirt because it didn't "feel right" for today.
  16. Pet the cat. Get distracted. 
  17. Still sitting there in my bra because I got distracted. Check Facebook.
  18. Finally find a shirt and put it on.
  19. Feel exhausted.Fiddle with my hair. Pick out the right earrings. (10-20 minutes from Step 14- Step 19.)
  20. Crap, I need to eat. Fiddle around with something in the kitchen until food happens. (10-15 minutes)
  21. After eating, feel disgusting and need to let food settle before going out. (I'm not sure why I always feel gross after I eat breakfast, but I do.) Facebook/ games/ music again. (30 minutes)
  22. Check to make sure none of the cats are trapped anywhere.
  23. Check to make sure all doors and windows are locked.
  24. Check to make sure cats have food and water.
  25. Check to make sure I have my pills with me.
  26. Crap, I forgot my ____, where is it!? Oh, there it is.  (10-20 minutes from Step 22- Step 26)
  27. Headphones. Music again. Essential for walking. I won't walk without music.
  28. Finally leave the house.
Yeah. So... see how this is a problem? It's a three-hour ordeal for me just to leave the house. There has to be a way to make this less painful. Just getting up and leaving the house should not be so hard. Sometimes, I shower, shave and dry my hair at night, and that helps somewhat, but I don't feel quite clean enough when I leave the house, and that sets me on edge. Crap. Am I really this OCD? Or is it ADD? Or both? 

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