I had the whole day off today. I should have been rested and ready to take on my arch nemesis... dinner. The boss level tonight was a buffalo chicken sweet potato bowl.
I start digging for a bowl, find one, then put the others back but they all fall over. Next I grab a knife to open the frozen veggie bags because stabbing sounds like more fun than scissors. I swipe the knife across the bag, misjudge the force and my precious bowl goes flying into the sink. Now I need another bowl.
Bowl fiasco over, but now the chicken is taking forever. I keep temping it and washing the thermometer over and over again. I finally cut the chicken into chunks so it will cook faster because I'm not washing that thing one more time! This is when I realized my brain was DONE!
What I was experiencing in those moments cooking dinner is quite common in ADHD, it's called decision fatigue. It's an overload that happens from all the millions of decisions you have to make all day. Most of them not even hard, but they all pile up until there's no more mental energy left.
Here are my 3 favorite things to do when I notice I'm in decision fatigue:
Check in with my self-talk - if my brain is being mean ON TOP of the decision fatigue that makes things even worse for me
Lower the bar - at some point my brain's had enough. That's when I go into energy conservation mode and decide what's absolutely essential and what can go
Fun afterwards is required - if I don't do something fun or interesting afterward, I'll never recharge and no one needs me grumpier than I already am!
Decision fatigue is not your fault. It's nothing you've done wrong. In these moments, conserve your energy and then do something fun afterward to recharge.