Retiring with ADD

One thing that will make retirement interesting and challenging is my ADD.  According to all the experts in the field of ADD,  I really do need structure, organization, routines, and schedules.  Those things have always been anathema to me, and especially now that I'm retired.  Schedules and I have never gotten along.  I manage to keep them for a few days, maybe, and then I'm back to chaos.  Routines get boring, structure stifles my creativity, and I may never be organized according to the popular sense of  the word.  Yet, there is some method to the madness, or, as I've always thought, madness to my method.  Things do eventually get done, maybe not as quickly or as often as others would accomplish similar tasks, but eventually, the dishes are done, chaotic surroundings are a little more under control, and life moves on.  Yet, I know there is room for much improvement, and I have the time to experiment, so let's see what I can do.

Perhaps, I'll set up some routines that are totally off the wall, would make professional organizers and life coaches cringe and shake their heads in disbelief, but will work fine for me.  Maybe I'll invent some new way of doing things.  Maybe I'll even end up with some customized schedule that will actually work for me.  I have all the time in the world to do these things now, in retirement. 

Maybe, I'll just accept that I will never be good enough in the eyes of the experts in the world, but if I'm content, if I'm accomplishing things that are important to me, and valid for me, who cares what the experts think! 

Those Senior Moments

Does the brain retire, too?  If so, mine started retirement even earlier than I did.  I mean, my memory has been doing funny things for a while now.   But, it seems to be getting worse.

Sometimes I think I should rearrange my kitchen, and put the clean dishes in the dishwasher, and the dirty dishes in the refrigerator.  While I'm at it, maybe I should put the leftovers in the canned foods cupboard.  Well, anyway, it sometimes seems that's what my brain wants me to do.  No problem, though, I always catch myself, laugh a bit sheepishly, and shake my head at my silliness, and put the item where it should go.  There was one time, though, when I was putting the dishes away, and suddenly realized they hadn't been washed yet!  I guess I should get one of those little signs that says "Clean" on one side, and "Dirty" on the other side.  But, would I remember to turn it around?  That's the existential question of the day! 

I  can't see with my glasses when I'm on the computer, or reading, so I hardly ever wear them anymore when I'm home. Once I forgot I wasn't wearing them, and walked out of the house without them.  I was half way to the store before I noticed, and rather than worry about going back , I walked to and from the store without them, and was fine!  Of course, I wouldn't dare drive like that. 

My biggest problem with Senior Moments is when I can't remember a password to one of the many web sites I frequent.  Then I have to look frantically through scattered lists in two notebooks, and even then, sometimes I can't find the one I'm looking for. In that case,  I have to submit a request for a new password, which I then add to the lists of scattered passwords in two notebooks, and we go round and round the mulberry bush again!  Maybe I should gather them all up and put them all on one page in one notebook.  But, then I'd have to remember which notebook I put them in! 

I wonder why they call these episodes "Senior Moments". When I was a Senior, back in 1965, I had a wonderful memory, that lasted longer than a few moments.