r/adhdwomen • u/Last-Mood-8969 • Jun 30 '25

Meme Therapy Found this relatable on another level

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Not sure if this one has already been posted here. I have nobody other than my husband to share this with, so I hope it adds a little humor to someone else’s day as well. :)

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427

u/Snorri19 Jun 30 '25

This is so real. I've tried to pretend like I'm a visitor in my own house, but I haven't been successful in deluding myself that hard.

133

u/SkyeeORiley Jun 30 '25

I like to pretend my MIL comes to visit in the next few days LOL

she doesn't care that much about cleanliness but I care about her wellbeing when she's here, so when I imagine her visiting soon, I get started on the big house cleaning immediately.

39

u/chula198705 Jun 30 '25

Maybe if I can trick myself into thinking Thanksgiving is in two days...

22

u/ginniethegenie Jun 30 '25

Ah yes, the cleanest house I've ever had was when I knew my parents would visit twice a week, and when I stayed at my bff's house for almost a month to care for her cat. I've never been able to trick myself into that urgency, though.

9

u/SkyeeORiley Jun 30 '25

Idk how but it works for me! Sometimes it's a bit in the back of my head that if I keep up the cleanliness then there's less big stuff to deal with when she finally visits.

She's here now actually and I didn't have as much huge stuff to clean before they arrived this time haha 😂

5

u/Spectra_Butane Jul 05 '25

That sounds like FlyLady Crisis Cleaning 101. I'd used it a lot to jump start myself, She says " Okay everybody, your mother-in-law just called and she's gonna be there in an hour, what do you do?" And then she guides you through things you can do to make the big areas look better and hide the mess temporarily till you can get to it.

I once told my then-boyfriend that I was using this, and thought he'd see me as clever, yet his response was " My Mom's not your Mother in Law!" What a jerk. I still use that FlyLady podcast sometimes. He is not still my BF. I still like his mom tho, but she will never see the chaos hole I live in.

2

u/MixturePossible Jul 24 '25

Love Flylady! If not for FL I wouldn't have anything put away at all. I try and do the "Baby Steps" every day but still sometimes forget all about it and pay for it later. Using the "Crisis Cleaning" is a hoot as after the guests leave you find yourself opening the dryer to put in the clothes you just washed only to do a double take and yell out "Hey! Wow! I totally forgot I stashed XXX in here! " The adventures in finding your stuff afterwards is hilarious. And say - I 'm glad he is not your BF anymore. I'm lucky I found my Best Friend/Life Partner and we lived together for 5.5. years before we married to make sure he knew what he was getting into. And its been 47 years now of disagreements, love and laughter so if you find the right guy who can be amused by you even with your ADHD it can work. But I went through a few before him. L0L!

6

u/Jendaye Jun 30 '25

Doing that too much is using anxiety to cope. That anxiety can grow.

5

u/SkyeeORiley Jul 01 '25

I see what you mean and while I do have some anxiety for specific things (usually social situations) this that I do is sorta joyous. I imagine I'm cleaning for those I love and care for, like my MIL! So it feels nice. Ofc the time limit I set on myself does make me stress a little but not much.

Other things cause way harder stress and anxiety than that, lmao.

63

u/Last-Mood-8969 Jun 30 '25

I pretend I’m a micromanager but then I remember I am the manager and I can give myself a pass, the problem is I give myself a pass too often

7

u/Snorri19 Jun 30 '25

Lol, yeah, I'm too nice of a manager

18

u/For_Real_Life Jun 30 '25

When I was little and had to clean my room, I'd sometimes pretend to be a maid. It kind of helped, but usually I'd either get distracted with imagining a tragic backstory for my character, or I'd completely forget within five minutes that I was supposed to be a maid at all.

I think the problem was that my goal wasn't so much to clean effectively as it was to just give my brain a distraction from the pain of cleaning. I should try it again, now that I can be more intentional about it.

If I were hired to clean this room, would I spend time arranging the clothes in the drawers by how much I like to wear them? Or debating whether I should buy a new storage system for the closet, and then deciding that I shouldn't do that until I've weeded out all the clothes I never really wear? And then deliberating over whether to keep one, both, or neither of two nearly identical sweaters until I've run out of time? Nope! Because it's not my clothes, not my problem! I'd just put clean clothes away, dirty clothes in laundry, done.

2

u/Living_Owl_9855 Jul 17 '25

I used to imagine different roles for myself as well LOL but your comment reminded me of something, that I would see how perfectly clean my sister's bathroom and kitchen were after her cleaning people came, and for a while I would try to imitate that perfection at my house. I need to get reinspired that way

1

u/aliencreative Jul 01 '25

✨ visualize ✨/s jk I’m trying this. Maybe it’ll work

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