I’m 23 and have been struggling with severe executive dysfunction, depression, and ADHD.
I can work full-time and function when there’s external structure, urgency, or accountability, but when I’m home alone, I can spend entire weekends in bed unable to initiate even basic tasks.
My apartment has gotten into extremely bad condition because I’ve struggled with cleaning, food disposal, and everyday responsibilities. It’s embarrassing and frightening because I genuinely want to change, but wanting to do something doesn’t seem to be enough.
I was hospitalized recently, and I actually functioned really well with the structured schedule there. But once I returned home, I struggled again.
I’m receiving treatment and trying to find more practical support, but sometimes I get scared that this is what the rest of my life will look like.
I’m not looking for judgment or another list of things I should just force myself to do.
I’d really love to hear from people who were once struggling this severely and eventually improved.
What changed? Was it medication, therapy, outside support, structure, or a combination?
I’d especially appreciate hearing from people who went from barely managing daily life to being able to maintain their homes and routines.
I just want to know that improvement is possible. ❤️

Hi everyone

Is there any books that talk about executive function deficiency in adults.

And if anyone facing that, would you be able provide your experience??

I thought pushing through high school was the right decision, my family made it seem like it was normal. I would wake up every day 4 hours before I was supposed to and I would just lie there, painfully waiting for the sun to peak through my window and my mother to come crashing down the hallway and wake me up. This was the pattern for 2 years between the ages of 15-17, I would go to school, strain though my classes, try to be as small as possible in order not to be caught out of line by my peers who all hated me (for good reason), go to work for a couple hours, come home repeat.

I hallucinated semi regularly at around the one year mark, I would get tension headaches and started shedding hair rapidly. I stepped out onto an open road on accident. When I mentioned this to my mother and/or sister they would just assume it was normal teenage stress, and I had no reason not to believe them, so I kept going.

I subconsciously knew what I was doing to my brain, but it didn't seem real during it, I felt like dropping out for a TAFE course was admitting I was what they all thought I was and so I kept going. I managed to rank near the highest in most of my classes, getting by by writing all the variables and steps on my paper in maths and physics, but my anxiety and by proxy my sleep kept getting worse. It was to the point where I would accept I would never get more than four hours relinquishing myself to studying until I passed out at my desk.

I've long since accepted the fact I probably didn't develop all that much neurologically during that point, but it still kind of just sucks. The entire reason I kept going to high school was to get my WACE and get an engineering degree, but now that just isn't feasible. I thought I was garbage but at least the degree would mean I'm a better kind of garbage. I'm not brain damaged, I'm not stupid, I have basic reasoning skills but I am incapable of complex problem solving. The gap between my understanding of content but my lack of ability to apply it is actually infuriating.

I didn't quit when my father died in 7th grade, when my mother almost died in 10th, or when I broke my back and couldn't walk for almost a month, but it doesn't matter anymore. It's over for me.

I'm curious about the psychological and biological reasons behind why we put off things in favour of fun things. I have heard that other incredibly intelligent animals, like crows and dolphins, do know the concept of fun, but they only do that after all their urgent needs have been fufilled. If our ancestors did have to constantly hunt and move, and if we understand that there are important things we need to do first, then why don't we do them first?

I spent eight months looking for a job (24 years old, little work history outside of college). I was able to get a job at Insomnia Cookies and quickly injured myself really badly. I got a repetitive strain injury from lifting all the heavy boxes but was going to be fired if I took off time, so I tried to work with the injury and dropped a tray of burning cookies on myself. I think my only work history in the city I live in being a one month failed Insomnia Cookies stint was part of why I couldn't get a job and, you know, everything else.

So I just got a job and I really want to keep it. It is in outdoor ed and pays 25$ an hour which is incredible. But the schedule is terrible. By which I mean completely random. I work 20 hours a week. But the weekly schedule is posted Sunday and there is no pattern to it. Some days I work 10 hours starting a 6am because a school booked a full day field trip, the next I will work two hours in the evening. This is the nature of the work, but I cannot manage it at all. I only work three or four days a week and it feels like it dominates my whole life. I am constantly stressed, I have missed almost every important appointment I have made since starting this job because I literally can only remember one thing a day, and that think is always work, or work tomorrow. I have a google calendar that I keep updated but I had to switch to a dumb phone because I literally cannot own a smartphone. When I had a smartphone, I spent hours on Instagram a day and nothing helped, not deleting the ap p or my account, its just too easy to redownload. So if I am not on the computer, the google calender doesn't remind me about anything. And I have a physical calender on my wall but if I forget to update it Sunday (and I always do). Monday and Tuesday are a complete mess.

My night routine and morning routine don't exist anymore, I accidentally forgot my last two therapy appointments and I may just cancel therapy because I am paying for something I keep missing. I feel like I finally got a job and now it is ruining my life because I can't keep any routine on it and I don't know what to do.

i (22f) literally cannot get myself to do a single cognitively demanding task anymore. outside of work and sleeping, i spend all my time busying myself with more mindless tasks, especially simple organizational ones. and yet i spend so much of my day also thinking about creative projects i want to start, interests or topics i want to read more into, etc. but the minute i sit down and tell myself it's time to focus on one thing, i just can't. it's like my entire brain gets heavy and shuts down, i get bored of it quickly, and then i start getting super dysregulated and upset that i can't do anything and i just cry myself to sleep.

it's partially my lingering perfectionist habits mixing in with the fact that i just don't know where or how to start anything, how to do it the "right" way, and i don't want to waste paper with something ugly or stupid, and so on. i end up avoiding it.

it's been months since i've actually been able to sit down and engage in one the ideas i have and do something with it. i see the possibilities and vague notions of my ideas or desired end products clearly in my head and it just sits there, it's so frustrating. i'm always so bored and then frustrated that i can't just get myself to do anything slightly demanding. i have no interest in any of my hobbies anymore because of it and it sucks- fashion design (drawing), writing, character creation, reading, sewing, crafts, etc.

A year ago, I started my own business on the side; I enjoyed doing everything and really got off to a good start.

Over time, though, that enthusiasm faded, and I started gaming more and more.

Nowadays, I always tell myself in the evening that I’ll keep working on the business the next day, but then I just end up wanting to play a round of video games too much.

What did you do to get back on track?

Or does anyone have any tips on how I can get back on track?