Last Day Of School

No one in my house is in school so this ‘last day of school’ feeling I have is definitely misplaced but I’ll still roll with it.

Not much is changing between my spring and my summer really but I am definitely changing my perspective on my day to day.

I am insisting on slowing down.

Now I just have the figure out the mechanics of how that can be done.

This is one of the perils of ADHD – What is enough to do? When is a a good time to do it? Where is the line between relaxing and ‘slacking off’ ? Intellectually, I know that slacking off isn’t inherently bad but I also know that there is a point at which I have dialled things back so much that it is hard to start again.

Damned if I know where the line is though.

Foggy Outside & In

Yesterday was the foggiest day I have seen in ages. As I was driving along, the road seemed to be disappearing a little ways in front of me and the buildings at the side of the road would loom out of the fog one at a time.

Today is much clearer outside but I swear all the fog has moved into my head.

I know that I’m still getting over being tired from travel, being tired from my plane arriving at 2:45am, and being tired from…everything, but this is an additional layer of tired fogginess.

I’m just trying to go easy on myself and stick to the necessities.

Making those choices is hard work in itself, actually.

All peopled out

I’m really enjoying my conference but it’s really easy to get all peopled out.

I wish that, even in a crowd, I had some sort of personal bubble device I could step into and regain my equilibrium before stepping back out.

I truly love interacting with people and hearing what they have to say so this isn’t about them being a bother, it’s about my brain needing a break so I can be present as my favourite self.

Ugh, the weather

It’s downright disheartening to see everyone’s sunny Spring photos on Facebook and Instagram when our forecast looks like this:

A screencap of cloudy, chilly, rainy weather for the next 10 days.
Sigh.
Image description: a screencap from my weather app that shows no sunshine for the next 10 days, windy weather from now until Monday with temperatures ranging from -1 to 5, cloudy weather on Tuesday and Wednesday with temperatures from 0 to 10, and rainy weather on Thursday and Friday with temperatures from 2-10 and possible lightning on Friday.

I could handle the lack of sun if the temperatures were warmer. I could handle the chilliness if the sun would come out.

This though? This is no fun.

I’m just trying to focus on the fact that the temperatures are trending upward.

For four days next week, the temperature won’t drop below zero.

Let’s see that as a reason for hope, hey?

I don’t buy stuff at my door

Ok, that’s not strictly true.

I will buy chocolates or raffle tickets from neighbourhood kids.

I’m not a monster.

Well, not that kind of monster anyway.

But I’m always baffled by how big companies will send people door to door to try and sell their services.

I guess enough people must buy stuff so it is worth the company’s while but I hate the idea.

Yesterday, I was working when someone knocked at my door. Khalee was going bananas, barking and running around,

I was expecting a friend to be dropping something off so I assumed she was just letting me know it was there and I went down to collect it from the mailbox.

Instead, I see some guy standing in my doorstep with a tablet in hand. He says ‘Sorry, I didn’t see your sign about the barky dog until I had already knocked.’

I’m not a complete jerk so I stepped out (in the rain! ) onto the steps to talk to him. Holding the door open wasn’t an option because Khalee would keep freaking out.

He’s wearing a company lanyard and I say that I already deal with that company. He replies that that’s why he’s here and that he was shipped in from Nova Scotia to talk to existing customers.

That seems weird but big companies do weird stuff sometimes.

Then he starts on his spiel.

“I’m here to get you set up with our home security system, get you a break on your insurance. We’ll put the camera up here…”

Now, this is the worst thing you could possibly do if you are trying to sell me something. If you start your pitch as if I have already made up my mind, I am going to say no.

I mean, I already have a policy against buying anything major at the door – I need time to consider my purchases and that’s not possible at the door- but I will double down on my “No.” if I feel like you are being scammy.

And that kind of spiel may result in sales but it’s scammy and slimy.

It’s a way to reduce people’s resistance, to ease past their objections.

If you just want sales, I guess it’s a helpful technique.

But if you want happy, engaged customers, it’s just gross.

So, I said “No camera. I don’t want one.“ and grabbed the door handle to go back inside.

“How about an alarm system?”

“Got one.”

“With what company?”

“I’m not discussing this. I don’t want to change services. I’m going back inside. Good luck out there.”

And I go back inside.

I felt bad for this young guy. Maybe this is the only job he could get and it was definitely no fun traipsing around in the chilly rain yesterday.

But I am not signing up for a security system at my front door because ai pity him.

I don’t buy stuff at my door.

I definitely don’t buy scammy-feeling stuff at my front door…or ever.

PS – I do believe he was working for the company he said he was working for, it didn’t feel like that kind of scam. It was the technique, not the product, that felt scammy.