SO: asks a yes/no question
Me: elaborates first for 5 minutes, forgets to say yes or no
Haha my mom does this all. the. time. Rarely ever when I ask a yes or no question does she just answer yes or no or anything along those lines.
BUT! when I ask her a question that’s like “would you like [option A] or [option B]?” THAT’S when she just says yes or no! Usually it means she heard the first option and then stopped listening lol.
Me: “Would you like juice, water, or tea for your drink?”
My mom: “Yes, thank you!”
Me:
(Can you guess where I got my super bad ADHD from? Lmao!)
I could probably ask something like “Would you like a slice of cake or would like me to kick you in the face as hard as I can?” and she’d happily answer “yes, please! :D” hahaha!
My social anxiety would love to give a one word answer and move on, my ADHD/self-doubt/trauma says “are you sure that’s enough? they’ll think you are an idiot and don’t know what you’re doing if you don’t elaborate”
I always start with a single idea in mind, talk about something related to it for 15 minutes and then forget what the fuck my original point was. Like the other day I wanted to just explain how Portal can display an unlimited number of “mirrors” for the hall of mirror effects if you change a console command, but then went off talking about the momentum and physics of the portals instead.
Coworker/friend/loved one: “So why is XYZ happening?”
Brain: Aww yiss. I will anticipate all possible questions and forks in the conversation, say it all, thus saving everyone time.
Brain: Wait. Remember how you’ve been trying to keep it brief? Try that now.
Me: “Well, it was 8:30am after all.”
Coworker/friend/loved one: “Er … I’m sorry what now?”
Brain: They took the bait. THIS IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE
Me, 5 mins later: “… yeah so anyway, what was the question again?”
My goodness, it’s like you’re in my head! I could’ve written this exact comment word for word! I feel so seen and understood :)
When my kid hears me start a sentence with “okay, listen:”, he gets a look of terror and regret on his face.