What's Executive Dysfunction?

 


Executive dysfunction sucks. But to understand it better, let me first describe its opposite. Executive function is the part of your brain that lets you pay attention, remember, and multitask. It's also important for getting things done. This can be as simple as getting dressed and getting ready to go to the store to buy something you need, or choosing a time to go mow the lawn, or anything like that. Large or small, any goal you set and steps you take toward that count as part of executive function.

Executive Dysfunction, however, makes it difficult to get things done. It shows up as problems organizing yourself, low motivation for getting things done, generally struggling to get yourself to work towards goals. This means sometimes simple things become a struggle. Checking your email, doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, and taking out the garbage, to name a few, seem too difficult, or you just cant find a way to motivate yourself to just get the task done. Getting out of bed, even when you really need to because your body demands it, or writing a blog post. Oh and heaven help us if we have important things to do, like going to work, making an appointment to go see the doctor, or finding interesting ways to get yourself to do things, like making a phone call that you really don't want to.

There's no good reason these things are so hard, but it's difficult nonetheless. The longer we deal with this dysfunction, the more we find creative ways to get things done. Sometimes we bribe the angry toddler in our brain saying No to doing the thing by promising ourself we'll get a milkshake or candy after we complete the task. Whatever it takes to get things done, we'll do. Or we'll get stuck and be unable to do the thing.

I bring this up because it's important to recognize that it's not procrastinating just for the sake of wanting to do it later , it's not laziness, and it's not like we don't know that we need to do the thing. It's just hard. I know in the past, I couldn't do a particular thing because it was too big, very confusing, and I needed help. But I needed help from one person in particular, and I had to get the timing right. So it didn't get done for a while, but it did eventually get done. So next time you see someone struggling to get simple things done, there's a reason, we're not being lazy, and maybe we need a bit of help.

💜💜💜

Dont forget!! The giveaway I'm doing with Joanna from Lilla Rose ends tomorrow at midnight! We're giving away a My Story flexi as part of Mental Health Awareness month, as well as a charm and some Lilla Bucks! Giveaway details are below with all the links you need.
(Also, buy a My Story flexi of your own and let me know! I'm going to be donating $5 to my favorite charity for each flexi bought, so let me know how much to spend.) ^_^

Giveaway ends May 29th at midnight. Winner will be chosen May 30th, and there are three ways to enter. 
First, you'll get 1 entry if you Like Joanna's Facebook page, and 1 if you like my Facebook page. Also, 1 entry for each Share and Comment on social media posts about the giveaway.
Second, you can get 5 entries if you buy a My Story Flexi from her website.
Third, you can get 10 entries if you donate any dollar amount to one of these charities: Mental Health America (MHA) or National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Do any of these and let us know by commenting either here on this blog or our social media posts. ^_^ (All donations to NAMI will be matched thru May 31st, up to $75k) 


Joanna, Lilla Rose:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/UpInHair

Contact Her Directly: https://shop.ami.co/upinhair/contact?ref=share


Vivienne's Facebook:

Vivienne Aulaire, Writer | Facebook


Charities: 

Mental Health America https://mhanational.org/

National Alliance on Mental Illness https://www.nami.org/home

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