Poll Does Anyone Else Have Trouble Cleaning, Tidying Or Dealing With Personal Admin Tasks?

[who am i kim]

Do not give me any admin. tasks, I cannot handle those, as they stress me out far too much.

When I feel well in myself I can do some house work or tiding up occasionally. I have a rule that I am to look after myself first, the rest can wait another day. I do try and do one thing a day though.;)

 

[Abstract]

I think Stuff touches on exactly what I was thinking. Not being able to do anything and being intensely particular or over focused on organisation are probably different side of the same thing - fear. Just like rage and passive behaviour are two side of the same thing - difficulties dealing with anger.

The level that this stuff effects me is hard to live with. I hate myself for it. And it seems directly connected to increased symptoms. Some of it is probably linked to my depression symptoms but it seems to be bigger than that. And the worse I feel about it and harder I push myself the less it seems I can do. Controlling it seems to be a delicate balancing act of trying to move forward without causing myself to freeze up instead.

 

[Mallaky]

I am now tackling this problem as suggested by the "trauma therapy" in the self help section. It is painfull and slow but I start to recognize my emotions underlying this trouble. I figured it did not make any sense to try to "brute force" it, as I have been trying for six years, without success. Now I try to outsmart this. Progress is slow, but it is progress and much better then what I had before.

 

[Abstract]

I figured it did not make any sense to try to "brute force" it, as I have been trying for six years, without success. Now I try to outsmart this. Progress is slow, but it is progress and much better then what I had before.

This is exactly the case for me. It has been a hard lesson for me. Prior to that the way I would deal with anything was brute force. I would even say cruel brute force at times. And it got me ... into reverse. By acceptance and softening my approach with myself I have made huge progress relatively speaking and in context to how little I made before. Its slow, painstaking and frustrating. Its also totally counter-intuitive but I have pretty much come to terms with the fact that its the only thing that seems to work.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

In my case, I don't see PTSD as to blame for those issues I face with things like this. Rather I feel I have some issues with cleaning etc. becasue I never learned them to begin with. Most of what I know today I had to teach myself and that's no easy task.

 

[Froggie]

Good topic here. During the big boom of dealing with what was causing the PTSD, I was also trying to control the symptoms - so my energy went completely into that and working full time ! No time to do housework, I don't like housework - mostly because never learned as my mom didn't want us around her. Not that it was clean at home, actually disorganized. So had to learn on my own. But when PTSD came looming over me .... BOOM - no interest, letting go and isolating = dissociation, scenario making, lack of sleep (too scared of nightmares) so to tired to do housework. Took a while to get out of that rut !

 

[Changing4Best]

Being made to do the dishes because I'd fallen out of a tree and broken my arm was imposed on me. It was decided by my parents that I didn't have enough to do, so this was their solution, but it felt like a punishment. To this day and all throughout my adulthood, doing the dishes has just been something I cannot make myself do. My husband used to go NUTS with this. He bought a metal garbage can and gently placed my dirty dishes in it. When I ran out of dishes, I would finally get around to doing one. LOL...

These days, the county comes in and helps me to do chores I cannot do for myself. They send me a Home Health Aide once per week for two hours. She also takes me to the grocery, as I have no one to help me in my old age. I am a widow.

 

[shoulderblades]

I have spent many years frozen as a direct result of traumas. My anxiety gets so intense and overwhelming that I freeze up and cannot function. For years, I have had battles going on in my mind between what I should be capable of doing and what I find myself incapable of doing. I should be capable of washing the dishes, washing the clothes, vacuuming, cleaning, being organised and on top of everything. Something as simple as washing the dishes, however, can and often does lead to an anxious battle in my head, which often leads to extreme tiredness and fatigue, both physical and mental. I have been so terribly locked up inside myself for so many years that the simplest of tasks can seem like a mountain that I have to climb, especially when battling with invasive memories or invasive anxieties that take over all of my senses. I know that's not normal and I don't WANT to live like that. I'm hoping that with therapy and with time, that I will grow less and less locked up and frozen and more and more productive.

 

[Mallaky]

Hello. I just drop a link to my Boredom-Thread here, as I suspect there is a correlation between these two threads. Is there anything less stimulating then doing the dishes? When I manage to do the dishes or chores etc. I listen to interesting podcasts about history and science. If I do not the anxiety gets overwhelming. The plot thickens!

[DLMURL]https://www.ptsdforum.org/c/threads/boredom.35465/[/DLMURL]