#but most parents whether sah or working have a space that needs maintained too

[obsidianmama]

I've spent most of the last week barely sweeping the floor and keeping people fed. Dishes got done before I needed to use them, but the kitchen had seen cleaner days. And I was starting to feel bad about myself for it. This morning I woke up and swept the whole apartment, mopped a few areas where it was needed, cleaned both bathrooms, did a load of laundry, took the trash out, walked to the store and back with kiddo, did the dishes, cleaned the kitchen (not entirely, but significantly), and it's not even noon yet. Maybe that's not a lot for some people but personally I feel like I deserve a medal. Sure, L was watching videos of herself on my phone for most of that time, but I don't need to beat myself for letting her have prolonged screen time this morning, if it helped me take care of what needed taking care of. She'll be ok.

That's just how housekeeping with my ADHD is: I'll barely keep up for a while, then I'll do almost nothing for a few days and start to get down on myself, then I'll wake up one morning with the spoons to go on a cleaning frenzy and feel like a champion afterward. Rinse and repeat for eternity.

I've tried a few things to manage my ADHD better, but anything that works does so only briefly. Trying to rotate coping skills to keep them fresh is a chore in and of itself, and maybe I'll master it one day, but I don't have it yet.

And that's ok. It's ok for me not to be the Instagram or Pinterest or TikTok parent who cleans their house top to bottom and cooks 3 balanced, nutritionally-complete and aesthetically pleasing meals every day and bakes on the weekends. It's ok to do my best and not be "as good" as someone else, or even myself on another day. It's ok. I am managing, one day at a time. I've got this. If not today, then I'll try again tomorrow.