Do you ever feel like you're overwhelmed with information? People with ASD or chronic depression often struggle to manage simple daily tasks that end up being too much to handle.
How can daily life be so hard? As tasks grow, there are more decisions to make, figuring out which ones to attend to requires more thought and energy but they will strive to the point of failure.
The depressed person can't get out of bed to do simple tasks because they just don't have the energy. The person with ADHD can be overwhelmed with options, stimulation, and data.
It's hard to understand how a seemingly normal adult can't function or take a long time to get things done. It's easy, what's the problem? Your arm isn't broken, you manage to dress and talk alright, why do you need help?
Because your asking a desk calculator to land a spaceship- like Apollo 11. As they approached the landing, an alarm went off that Buzz Aldrin had to repeatedly shut down. Turns out it was the on board computer saying "I'm overwhelmed and about to crash." It took two skilled pilots to land the craft safely. Sometimes we all need help.
The skills to do certain tasks don't always translate to others. I know a brilliant physicist who can't figure out how to record a message on the phone. I have good basic mechanical skills but I'm immediately frustrated working on a bike.
Idiot- savant used to mean people like the character in "Rainman." It was dropped for being insensitive but it's kind of accurate. Some abilities are heightened while others simply aren't there. Everyone has good / bad ability but some are more challenged than the others because of the inability to compensate. Bear this in mind the next time you experience system overload.
2 comments:
Your article is on point and most timely, what with this storm and its damages. I have been going through this overwhelm lately because my purse got stolen on top of e everything else
Is there a way to help someone in this situation, or does offering to help just make things worse?
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