I have come to realise that Miss Chaos and I share more than anxiety. There's also a healthy dollop of executive dysfunction in there. Well. Not that healthy. It's a bad thing to have and it can mess up your life.
For the peeps in the cheap seats, Executive Dysfunction is when you consciously know you have to do a thing, but there's a disconnect between knowing you have to do it and actually doing the thing.
Sometimes, it's like this comic from HyperboleAndAHalf. Sometimes, it's just... brain fog. There is a thing that must be done, but it's far away and on the other side of this immense ocean of brain static.
And shinier things than must-do-its are closer and happier.
Sometimes, an entire day is just spent... spacing out.
For Chaos, it's huddling. She's worse when it's cold. She will leave her room and stand in the middle of the room, arms wrapped around herself and making shivering noises. After some severe prompting to (a) get a jumper and (b) get something warm to wear, Chaos will inevitably choose (c) huddle on the couch in the dark and make shivering noises, with an option for (d) watch cartoons instead of doing anything at all.
As you can guess, it's a bit of a battle with Chaos when it's cold.
Since I'm also super-foggy in the headspace of late, I shared my winning technique to maintaining focus: Talking To Yourself!
Yes, all new Talking To Yourself! Honed from generations of mystic fog-heads, Talking To Yourself really, really works!
Ahem.
I got Chaos to laugh about it, which means that it might just sink in for next time. I use it whenever my memory is not the best, and both my little darlings have seen me roaming the house repeating things like "pills," or "coffee" over and over again.
On the plus side, it hasn't been "pants". Yet.