This Relatively Common Habit Could Be A Sign Of ADHD

Osborn said she reads a lot of the comments on ADHD articles and sees so much criticism and hurtful attitudes: Things like “you’re just lazy, you’re just not trying hard enough, just buckle down, you’re immature, what a terrible awful wasteful person.”

What she wants people to understand is that ADHD is a disability of executive function.

“It’s not that we aren’t trying hard enough, it’s not that we’re lazy, it’s that our brains literally process information differently, and those differences really show up in situations like this,” she said.

When you’re talking about ADHD, you’re not talking about a couple of easy steps like “sit down, go through the box, donate,” Osborn explained.

“To the ADHD brain, it’s a series of hundreds of much smaller tasks, all of which are taking energy to process,” she said. “It’s not fun to feel so overwhelmed by a pile of stuff you throw it in the trash. When we do that, it’s because it’s a last resort.”

While you’re working through this, remember to be kind to yourself, Osborn said.

“It’s so easy to feel like a bad person for creating waste or to feel like you are powerless over your space,” she said.

“There are great resources available to help with learning organization strategies ― sites, podcasts ― and it’s really important if you have a kid with ADHD to teach them skills that work with their brains, not against it.”

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.