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Whoever said “if they wanted to, they would make an effort” never took neurodivergent people into account

Sometimes I can’t even bring myself to watch Netflix. Not to mention answer your text

Helena Mathiesen
4 min readSep 19, 2021

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Going out is a real accomplishment for me. Not because going out itself is something I wouldn’t like; but because my executive dysfunction sometimes stops me from doing even the things I like.

Most people, apparently, if they set their mind to something along the lines of “today I’ll do laundry and go for a coffee with my friend” will accomplish these two tasks in the first half of the day, probably. Me? Well, I put the machine to wash and then leave the clean clothes in. They’ll probably start smelling damp because I couldn’t bring myself to get up, or I just forgot.

Relationships are kind of like that laundry. See, I’m really good at making plans, and really bad at following up. I’ll talk to someone about having a board game night next week or make plans for a date to go for a coffee, and then just forget or can’t force myself. My close friends know this about me, and it’s okay; double or triple texting is totally fine and even encouraged, because I probably saw the message, but dismissed the notification and forgot to answer. But with new acquaintances? Not as simple.

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