u/Future_Perfect_Tense

Why do I have 30yr old acrylic paint from elementary school? Why have I moved it dozens of times and thousands of miles, unused?

Long story short: CRIPPLING PERFECTIONISM!

The inner voice that says “don’t use that if you can’t use it perfectly.” The focus on productivity that lies to us and says that you don’t deserve the joy of frequent creativity. The falsehood that you must make a finished project - how dare you live in the moment and like it?!

These are my mental-health-preserving perfection-bashing perfectly imperfect pieces of trash art. Now it’s a race to use up this degrading paint and enjoy EVERY LITTLE BRUSHSTROKE (and not a moment more)! No guilt about stepping away to start something new, no pressure to finish, JUST JOY! 💖💖💖

We aren’t promised tomorrow. Find your joy today. Use it up, y’all!

Cardboard and 20+ yr old acrylic paint that I’m amazed hasn’t completely dried out or chemically separated. Took a little revitalizing and mixing, easy price to pay for free fun ✌️

1. Chaotic orange/pink/maroon finger painting with my non dominant hand. Kind of looked like flowers, so I added a vase.
2. Loosely based on friends’ engagement photo
3. Purple fjord, playing with color theory
4. Study of Egyptian and Hellenistic lotus motifs 🪷
5. Variety pack, trying to use up lots of purple and orange
6. Venue inspired by Ray Bradbury’s “All Summer in a Day” (again using up all this purple and orange)
7. Cardboard doodles
8. Variety pack of unfinished fantasy/LOTR stuff
9. Moon from forest floor
10. ADHD variety pack of 12 vignettes that I want to practice enough to make as gifts for family and friends

As a person susceptible to craft stores, I’m not buying art supplies until there’s no more trash to practice with!

On a spending freeze but need to keep the darkness at bay… cardboard box + 30yr old paints I’ve kept for no good reason = mental health trash art weekend! No right, no wrong, no money spent, just transforming something into a weirder state of being.

My expertise is starting and never finishing projects, so doing 12 vignettes at a time feels happy tingly in the ADHD brain ✨

Image: two Tiny Homes connected by a covered patio 🏡 _🏡 Not my image, but possibly my dream living situation! Anyone else feel like this is an accommodation that would radically improve your quality of life?

Word choice: I originally wrote “AuDHD partnership endgame? I think “living together alone” is the only way to SAVE my relationship” but changed it to “CARE FOR the relationship” because caring is more honest than saving.

We are a neurodivergent couple in a long term commitment relationship and each of us need easy ways to CARE FOR each other. Easy, because the rest of life is so hard… not easy because we’re lazy about loving each other. We weren’t lazy when we did elder care, buried our parents, faced massive career changes, moved, opened wild new chapters and closed tragically sad old chapters.

I don’t want to end the relationship, but living together for 10 yrs has raised my cortisol levels and destroyed my mental health. We had a great time when we lived separately and I could control the cleanliness and order of my environment. Right now I have a corner of our home that’s just my domain, but it doesn’t include things like a bathroom and kitchen like a tiny house would. Yes, therapy has helped. But also therapy has reinforced/validated that having a safe and tidy cocoon is REALLY GOOD FOR MY BRAIN’S ABILITY TO AVOID BURN OUT!

Anyone else dream about a two-home solution?

I love squeezing in to kiss both snoring snoots when they’re this close 💕🐾💕

Parks, picnic, errands, and some exquisite spring sniffs with my best girl 🌸🐾💕Gotta make up for whatever happened in her first 6 years, wish I could go back in time and make ‘em mine 💕🐾🌸