Procrastination or ADD?

This tangled web of “should’s” in my head…is it procrastination or Attention Deficit Disorder?  I never really thought of myself as a procrastinator but looking around and thinking through my list of things to do and things I feel need to be done and things I’d like to do, maybe I am a procrastinator.  I always thought of ADD as a childhood ailment but have learned in my adult years that adults definitely suffer from ADD and if you ask my husband, he may not say it’s ADD but he would more than likely tell you that his off-the-wall bride is “forgetful” or “unfocused.”  I can start one thing, and that one thing quickly turns into a list of 30 things and that first thing is still unfinished and maybe even completely forgotten about after a short time.

Here is a very typical day and scenario for me:  (If you’ve been following my blog for very long, this may sound familiar).

I start most days by checking my email and Facebook in the morning with my coffee.  If there are any dishes in the sink when coffee is made, I like to get them into the dishwasher right away and start the day with a clean kitchen.  I sit down with a cup of coffee…answer a few emails, comment on a few new status updates or new photos from my friends as I slowly wake up.  I took a cute photo of the dog last night and I upload that to Facebook and wait for comments.  An ad on the side of the page catches my attention…the link takes me to a website with what looks like an interesting article.  I don’t have time to read it right now but I leave that tab open in my browser to remind me to read it later when I have more time.  There’s mail on the table beside my laptop from yesterday that I haven’t gone through yet.  Ugh.  I should do that.  I try to clear the space there and go through the mail and other items left there previously to be done “later.”

To keep from holding onto catalogs that come in the mail that I may not want, I thumb through a few pages of a couple of them and find a cute blouse I’d love to have!  I quickly log onto the website to order the blouse and find more things I’d like to have.  Too many other things to do right now so I leave this tab open in my browser to come back to later.

Beside the mail, the bank statement that I left here on the desk a few days ago really needs my attention.  I open my Excel spreadsheet and my bank website and begin the process.  *yawn*

I really have to pee.  On the way to the bathroom, I pass the trash and burnable trash cans.  The trash will start to stink if I don’t put it out soon so I better do that now and it’ll just take a second to dump the burnable stuff in the barrel outside.  Out to the barn to toss the trash in the dumpster & the burnable trash in the barrel to be burned later.  On the way to the dumpster, I see the alpacas are in the barn and looking for food and fresh hay.  So, I take the trash to the dumpster, fill feed bowls and distribute & play kissy-poo with Sierra, the last alpaca we have that likes to give kisses.  One of the water buckets needs to be scrubbed out and refreshed and the other just needs to be “topped off.”  From here, I walk out about 50 yards to the horse pasture and see that the horse’s stock tank needs water as well.  I go back to the barn, turn on the water and start to fill the stock tank.  I know it takes exactly 8 minutes to fill and knowing how I can be, I head back into the house to grab the timer so I don’t forget the water is on, which I’ve done far too many times to mention.  Once in the house, I pass the washer & dryer & remember that there’s laundry in the dryer from last night, I re-start it to “fluff” out the wrinkles from overnight and continue on to the bathroom.

Back to my desk, I check email again and Facebook of course.  Oh yea, I never finished going through the mail.  Back to the pile of mail, there’s a bill from the vet.  I thought I paid that?  I get out my checkbook and look to see if a check was written and sure enough, not.  I realize there aren’t any checks left in order to write one, so I go into the other room to get a new book of checks and notice the empty medication bottle that needed to be called in for a refill.  I should call that in.  It’ll just take a second.   I pick it up, take it to the kitchen and make the call.  Now I can throw the bottle away.  I head to the trash can and start to put it in the trash.  I realize there’s no trash bag in there which reminds me that I took the trash out earlier and also started to fill the horses’ stock tank and the water is still running!!!!  I set the bottle down, & RUN back to the barn to shut off the water that is now running over the top of the tank, down the paddock and out into the pasture!

Back inside,  I reach for the empty prescription bottle, & notice a dribble of something running down the silverware drawer and cabinet below.  I go to the sink, wet a cloth with hot water and proceed to wipe the cabinet & drawer.  The drawer beside this one looks dusty…wipe that one too…I see fingerprints around the handle of the next cabinet.  An hour later, the kitchen cabinets have all been wiped down as well as the stove, microwave, dishwasher and fridge.  The inside of the fridge is wiped out, old food discarded, now the sink is full of dirty dishes again.  I load the dirty dishes into the dishwasher & wipe off the counters.  I grab a Diet Pepsi from the fridge and sit down to check email and Facebook once again.  I’m drawn in…emails with links to interesting blogs to read and that page leads to something else equally as interesting…someone commented on the photo I posted this morning on Facebook, better go check that out and comment back…so many interesting things going on and my email box is getting fuller and fuller.  I try to stay focused and only do what I sat down to do…oh yea, that was to check email & Facebook…I’m pretty good at that.

So, here it is, time for lunch (or later) and there’s still mail on the table, I haven’t written the check to the vet, haven’t ordered the blouse, haven’t balanced the checkbook or burned the trash.  I haven’t folded the laundry that’s still sitting in the dryer and has already dried twice, I now have a prescription ready to be picked up, I need to run the dishwasher now and there’s more work to be done now than when I got up this morning.  How does this happen?  What needs to be set aside so I can spend some time doing fun stuff like spinning yarn on my spinning wheel or those important things like brushing the dog, sweeping & mopping the floors, etc.  Sometimes it seems like I’m running in circles, backwards.  It seems like ADD to me but maybe I just have too many things on my plate?  It doesn’t sound like procrastination to me…or maybe it’s just that I’m a terrible manager of my time…you tell me.  Doctor reader…what is your diagnosis & what is the prognosis?