We have all seen the shirts about having OCD and ADHD, they say things along the lines of everything has to be perfect, but not for long. Though those maybe funny, they are rarely true. People ask what it is like to live with one or the other or maybe both, but honestly, it is different for everyone but it definitely sucks having not only one but both.
The obsessive-compulsive disorder manifests itself in many different ways, for some everything has to be clean, their bodies, room, clothes, everything. For others it can be an organizational thing, everything has a place and it must stay in its place, there are rules and they must be followed. Some people's rooms can be a complete mess but they know exactly where everything is, that is their idea of OCD. We are not always a perfectionist. It is different for everyone, some people may show OCD in one form some might in another or it may present in multiple ways.
ADHD is the same, it can manifest itself in different ways as well. Our minds are going at 100 miles a minute, running through every possible situation and outcomes and we can't stop fidgeting or moving our hands and yes we know it is distracting but so is you staring at us. We are aware of everything going on around us and in our minds. We do not all have our stuff everyone, actually, we can be pretty clean when there is stuff everywhere it can be overwhelming because we do not what to do first. We rant about a lot of random things and can change the subject at a snap of a finger and it can be completely unrelated to what we were talking about and we know that but it makes sense to us.
We may like for our stuff to be clean and in specific places but it doesn't mean we are any less "normal" than you. We require order and that is OK, we understand there are times where their maybe none and it will be harder for some of us than others. We know we are random you do not have to point it out, we know but we can't help it.
We can feel hopeless when there is no order and we feel overwhelmed by our own thoughts at times, we need you to be patient with us because as much as we want to stop there will be times we can't. We get confused easily and we may not like physical contact and we don't want you to move our stuff around without asking, we know we can be a lot but please do not define us by our attention span or little things that have to be a certain way.
Our minds are going a hundred miles an hour but it does not mean our stuff has to be everywhere. Having ADHD does not mean we are messy and having OCD does not mean everything has to be perfect every second of every day. ADHD does not make us any less intelligent it just means we think of more than most people at a faster rate but while having to be moving, so it is like multitasking in a way, but it can also be a huge distraction.
Some people will be more severe than others and we know we can be annoying asking a lot of questions and change subjects way too much, we know we it can be hard living with someone who likes things to be neat. We know all of these things and we know it sucks, but we can't do anything about it. So please do not tell us to sit down and be still or to just leave the mess or to clean it up. We are still people, it sucks for us too, just be patient.
