Well, good morning and happy Friday. Or maybe it’s Saturday, depending on when you’re listening to this, or maybe if it’s even, it’s later into next week. So have you ever thought you lost something that was very was really valuable, precious, or meaningful to you. If so, I hope you were able to find it when you least expected it. When you are trying to find it, do you tend to tear the room apart looking for it and then get frustrated when you don’t find it? And even more so when you realize the mess you made and and have to put everything back where it belonged. I can think of many times when this happened to myself.
The first document is titled For Reasons People with ADHD Lose Things by Neil Peterson on May 17th from 2018. Many people with ADHD find that they have a blind spot when it comes to keeping track of their belongings. In fact, frequently losing things is one of the ADHD symptoms listed in the DSM. Why do people with ADHD have a tendency to misplace things,
though? I can think of at least four reasons. This is from the article.
1. Inattention. Staying up to date on the current location of a certain object requires constant vigilance. All it takes is a moment of inattention to lose the thread. You put your keys down in one room, then you leave the room without thinking about where your keys are.
2. Disorganization. People with ADHD are multi talented where inattentive, yes, but we are also disorganized. Which means that we create opportunities for objects to disappear into a mess of papers, fall off the radar in a pile of clutter, or float out into a universe of other random objects that lack any overarching organizational system.
3. Forgetfulness. Often people with ADHD are only sort of paying attention to what you’re To what they’re doing. This side of ADHD can be thought of as half attention or going on autopilot. You’re doing something, but your brain isn’t really focused on what you’re doing. 4. Milk in the cupboard syndrome. Sorry, that name just wants to make me chuckle a little bit. Then there are times when we lose something by just putting it in the hopelessly completely wrong place. Call it Milk on the Cupboard Syndrome. Keys in the Dishwasher Disorder. Whatever you want, in any case, it’s another effect of the ADHD brain operating on autopilot and of inattention, close quote. And sorry if I If by saying that I was going to chuckle at the name of that last one, if that, hurt
anybody who has ADHD or something similar, I just found the name was kind of funny. I probably do have a little bit of ADHD or maybe this is part of NLD. I’m not sure, but I can
remember.
I remember several times going into a room in my parents home, where I live, and putting my phone down and forgetting that I had done so when I walked out of the room, so I had to go back for it later when I realized I wanted to use it. I also remember, times when I misplaced something because of being disorganized and not, excuse me, remembering where I lost, saw that item I was looking for. I’ve misplaced some things that I was, that I did enjoy using, and haven’t found all of them, which bugs me. But I try to realize, do I really need them, or can I do without them?
I’m pausing because I wrote this script a while ago, but a while ago I lost my car keys recently and that bugged me a lot because I had some fun things planned that day, which I needed them for. Consequently, I had to cancel my plans. Yes, I found them later in the day and I was so frustrated and annoyed when I did find them because they were in the drawer that I had previously looked through, but not carefully enough.
This made me scream and it took me a few hours to cool down from the situation and be okay. The reason why I was pausing with that one is because I recently got in a car accident, actually, a couple weeks ago, and that’s why I didn’t put a post for an episode last week. Yes, I’m fine. And so is the other person, thank God. This is my fourth car accident, so I am taking a break, I don’t know how long the break will be from driving, it may be for a few years, it may be for forever, it may be for a few months, I don’t know. But for now I’m taking a break and, I also recently ended a relationship, so, I’m going through some changes that I need to make and, if you could, if you can tell I’m a little emotional right now, that’s just because I still feel raw from that car accident and through the breakup that I went through, but I’ll be okay. I’ve been through harder and more difficult things than this before, and I have to keep telling myself that, and keep taking it one day at a time, and, keep surrounding myself with people who love and care for me, and, Yeah, so I’ll be okay. Anyways, I also remember that when I have lost valuable things like gifts from others, that does bug me a lot. But I try to recall the good times I had with that special item, and sometimes that helps when I realize it’s okay that I lost it. Then sometimes I find it when I least expect it, and I’m very happy when that occurs.
I would like to offer some suggestions of how you can hopefully not misplace things so often. The second article is titled ADHD and misplacing things. Lost stuff. Lost time. Published on, the 29th of September in 2022. Reviewed by Alice, the mini ADHD coach. “How many times a week do you forget where you If you say plenty of times, don’t worry, you’re not alone in this
struggle. It appears that losing things is a common trait of people with ADHD.
How can we overcome this challenge? Find out here.
1. Find a specific place for each important thing, like a magnetic key holder.
2. When you do search for something, do it room by room
3. Use tracking devices on important things. Avoid unique hiding places for your car
keys or something more valuable.
Instead, place them where you can see them quickly. Provide a designated vessel or container for items that you use every day. Things like remote control and an Apple Pen or your wallet. You can use a small bowl or plate placed in a specific area to lessen the time you’ll spend searching for them. Get color coded labels and use them to mark where you placed your
things.
It can make organizing documents, school materials, and other office things more accessible. You can also use this tip when tidying up your house. When you lose something, and you need to find it, search systematically. Doing this can save you time going back and forth trying to remember where you put your things. If looking in a big area, search space by space, then room by room, there are specific ADHD tools that can try to that you can try to be more organized. Applications such as Evernote can help you take down important notes and keep track of your to do lists. You can also purchase GPS enabled devices to track your valuable likewise, alarm based devices can also assist you in finding what you are looking for.”
I think this article offers many good suggestions on how to not lose things so often when you’re neurodivergent. I hope that you can take note of some of these and use them yourself. I know I will. And kind of a funny story to end with, cause I was reminded of it when reading over this script.
I did in the past lose a, little stuffed, well it wasn’t a stuffed animal, but it was a puppet, a hand puppet that I actually still have. I’ve talked about her on the podcast before, her name’s Christmas Koala, or CK for short. And I used to take CK with me everywhere I went and, when we were traveling a lot, I would take her on every trip and, I put her in my backpack, I put her
on my ski pole or on my hand.
And I even, had a little special voice for her and a little break dance routine that one of my friends came up with that was special. And a couple times on the trips, I thought I lost her and, , found her. I always was able to find her again. One time I thought I didn’t even bring her.
It was like, Oh, wait a second.
We just spent like one night in this place and then we were going to a different place. So it didn’t make sense to unpack it. She’s still in the suitcase. Yeah. She was still in the suitcase. One time she fell out of my backpack cause it got, I had her in the net part of the camel back. I thought I had her in there safely.
Not really, but somebody we were walking with found her and gave her back to me. Thank goodness. And then another time, , my mom was speaking her cause they always do that when I was in a bad mood when I was little to try to cheer me up and it usually worked. And, she left her in like a little candle market, but I think we were in That was in town and realized that when I was going to go to bed, so I had to go back to the market and found her so that Icould go to bed cause I could not go to bed without CK.
I actually still sleep with her. So, , she’s very special to me. I’ve had her since I was like almost six years old, I think. And 20 years later, she’s still special to me. 21 years later, actually. So, yeah, I hope that this episode gave you some ideas of how to not lose items that are important to you, and to have some better strategies for finding them. If you do lose them, talk to you
next week. Or maybe the following week, depends on how I’m feeling. So I hope that episode was helpful to you, and that you were able to get something out of it, and it was meaningful for you, and that you can share that lesson with somebody else that you know who is neurodivergent or neurotypical, and will be able to help you with that challenge that, you feel like arises for you.
Or the lesson that you learned from the episode. And I hope that you take some time to journal about. What thoughts or feelings came up for you while you were listening, and I hope that you can Spread the word about NLD and being neurodivergent and try to spread the awareness with others as well Thank you for listening to living with a invisible learning challenge.
