Relatable
A good friend of mine (who, unsurprisingly, is also neurodivergent) equates change with the swinging of a pendulum. It first swings from one extreme to the other, before eventually resting in a more balanced position.
This makes sense for neurodivergent (ND) folks who tend to be very black and white thinkers. I know for myself I rarely make small, gradual changes. I am much more likely to jump in with both feet, often without looking first.
I believe there are two reasons for this.
The first is cognitive rigidity. My brain often creates a false dichotomy, where I must go all-in on one or the other option, neglecting any grey area which may exist in between.
The second is motivation. Many ND folks struggle with motivation when it comes to tasks we find mundane, uninteresting, repetitive, or — conversely — difficult and overwhelming.
We may struggle to focus when something comes much too easily, feels boring, or doesn’t excite us. While we may love a challenge, we may also struggle with knowing where to start when the change we’re looking to make is significant.
We make menial tasks more interesting for ourselves by turning them into big projects. For example, I don’t tidy a little. I either deep-clean and organize the entire room or not at all. There’s that all-or-nothing thinking again, yes, but it’s way more interesting to rearrange a room than it is to simply tidy it up a bit.
Therein lies the rub.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Neurodiversity MB to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.