It makes sense, doesn't it, that we often see obsessing and ruminating as part of living with ADHD? After all, most of us have hyperactive minds, if not bodies to match, and our brain needs to be in hyper mode much of the time. So if there's nothing particularly pressing to think about, then what's an ADHD brain to do? Obsess, of course!

Having trouble making decisions is also a related ADHD brain torment, because once there's a choice to be made, we pull up every possible option to ruminate over. Just like we have a tendency to clutter our environment, we also find a way to clutter our minds.

This is a true story- it took me six weeks to decide what color car to purchase. I agonized and obsessed over that decision, weighing the pros and cons of the final three choices I was considering. I'd ruled out black (boring), blue (too conservative), beige (see black) and red (police magnet). I was left with white, silver or grey.

However, my last two cars were silver tones, so I needed a change. On the other hand, I only had to wash those cars three times a year, since it hid the dirt so well. On the other hand, every car on the street seems to be silver. On the other hand...well...you can see the obsessing process, right?

I'm fortunate that my family is pretty easy going with my little quirks, for I forced them to look at my final choices at least three times. Well, maybe four. There they were, all lined up on the lot, those little shining beauties. The car salesman was pushing for the grey car, which I later found out was because it had been sitting on the lot the longest. When I nixed that one (give me some applause here- I got down to two choices!), he zeroed in on the white. So now it was between the white and the silver.

My older daughter piped in that silver was totally boring. My younger daughter was more interested in which color interior would hide her future messes the best. But the consensus was to go with the white because the black details lent a nice contrast; a sharp, modern look.

I made my final decision and with all the energy that went into that, you would have thought it was about whom I was going to marry. Three days later, I drove away in the sparkling white car- that- will- never- look - this -clean again - and within 24 hours, I cursed my decision. Why? Because white cars show every speck of dirt that lands on them. The salesman lied when I asked about that possibility, muttering something about how road dirt dries whitish grey and would not be noticeable on this white beauty. I think he was referring to Texas mud. However, I live in Michigan where dirt turns to dark and darker shades of brown. I bought the car three months ago and already have had to wash it more than three times. I think I'll report this guy.

The point is, that the amount of energy I put into obsessing over the COLOR OF A CAR is, well, rather crazy. But I get into that mode all the time. When I used to cook (yes, "used to"), I'd obsess every day as to what I was going to prepare for dinner that night. That was one reason why I stopped cooking. The other was because no one would eat what I'd prepared.