What follows is a repost (as a thread) what I wrote not too long ago (as a comment) because it bears repeating. Many of us struggle with task completion and carry around a ton of grief and guilt because of it. HOWEVER, we should reframe all of that, which this post is a reminder to try to do. Good luck, everyone.
This Twitter thread was recently posted to reddit. You decide whether it's insightful, depressing, or both. Excerpts (highlights are mine):
Modern life consists of *tasks*. A never-ending series of clearly-defined simple-to-achieve Things. To. Do.
Not problems to solve, questions to answer, ideas to have, dances to learn, or universes to imagine.
Tasks. To complete.It's not simple to pay a bill. It's not simple to call a support line. It's not simple to mail something to something. It's not simple to do any of the billion simple things we are each expected to do every day.
And if you have ADHD, there is no reward. Only lack of punishment.Think about that. ADHD people who heal their trauma and their relationship to panic and anxiety and shame *suddenly find themselves unable to do their jobs or focus on their responsibilities*. Why?
Because fear was all that was motivating them. They have to relearn how to want.
This part is, for me at least, the most uplifting:
Let's go back to that trail of half-finished art projects. Do you know why you didn't finish them?
Because there's nothing more there for you to learn.
That's it. Why would you finish them?Your projects are your way of asking the universe a question, and then digging and digging and digging until the universe answers.
You are motivated by curiosity, and that is a blessed gift, not a source of shame. Your unfinished work is the testament to your growth.Those aren't abandoned projects -- those are the remaining scaffolds from the the space ships that they launched.
It was never about finishing the thing. Forgive yourself for that.
Oups, I misremembered: the game is called Core War. In it, MARS ("Memory Array Redcode Simulator") is the name of a virtual machine that executes Redcode instructions. As a player, you write small programs ("warriors") to be loaded on the virtual machine where they try to prevail while klling off (overwriting) opponent programs.