For the last two weeks, I’ve been meaning to put screenwash in the car.

I’ve remembered it in the shower (apparently my brain’s idea of a boardroom), during work calls, while playing with the kids, mowing the lawn… and of course, while driving.

But when I’m actually in a position to do it? The thought is gone. Nowhere to be seen. Until the next time I step into the shower and think, “Oh yeah – the screenwash!”

The Leaky Brain Analogy

My ADHD brain is a bit like an overstuffed rucksack with a broken zip – you put something in, but as soon as you add another item, something else slips out and lands in the gutter.

For most neurotypical people, their working memory (the brain’s mental “scratchpad”), can hold around 4 to 7 bits of information at once: a few ideas, numbers, or instructions. In ADHD, that scratchpad is smaller, and the writing smudges faster.

I can usually only keep 2 to 3 bits in mind before something falls out the rucksack – especially if it’s a multi-step task or anything visual. It’s like trying to cook a meal with only one hob working: every time you start on the next dish, the first one goes cold.

This means a neurotypical brain can juggle more thoughts at once, while for an ADHDer we have to swap them in and out constantly – which is why something as my simple as “fill the screenwash” keeps falling right through the cracks.

Before I Knew Better

Pre-diagnosis, I’d absolutely tear myself apart over this stuff.

• Feeling useless.
• Embarrassed that I wasn’t doing what I’d promised.
• Angry at myself for “letting people down”.

And it’s never just small stuff like the screenwash. It’s the work task I agreed to complete, the invoice email that still isn’t sent, the friend I keep meaning to check in on… and yes, even the child I almost forgot to collect from holiday club (don’t worry, only almost!).