I always have Thursdays off work, so usually I pick my son up from school at 11am (half day because of he’s only young) and we hang out until he goes to a gymnastics class at 12:30. I then go home, make myself some lunch, and go back to get him at 1:30 and we’ll do something together.

So today I dropped him to school at 8:45am and by 9am I was called to work, and then while I was there I realised an important delivery hadn’t arrived so I had to go to a different store to buy it, and by the time I was done it was time to pick my son up. I took him to the park on the way home, then I made lunch for my husband and we took it to him in work, and my son fell asleep on the car ride home so I called his gymnastics class and told them he wouldn’t be coming today (he was up all through the night with leg cramps so I figured he needed the sleep) and then I went to go tidy up the kitchen since he was asleep.

It’s been two hours, and all I’ve done is move some items from the counter to a different part of the counter, and put some dishes in the sink. I’ve been standing in the kitchen looking at everything for literally hours, and I just can’t do it. I want to do it. I’m getting restless and fidgety because I’ve told myself that I need to do it, but I just can’t, and I’ve gotten so frustrated that I’m just sitting on the floor wrapped in a blanket and crying.

I hate that I’m like this. I think having my usual routine thrown out the window in so many ways this morning and also being tired from a poor nights sleep has just broken my brain. I’ve tried drinking some water, stretching, putting some music on, setting myself up a little snack to pick at to keep myself motivated as I’m cleaning- these all usually work very well for me, but today nothing is working. Its even worse that it’s something so trivial- like, there isn’t really a deadline or any expectation for this, but I can’t relax because I know I do need to do it at some point and I also really wanted to do it now while I had plenty of time. I’m giving up on it for now but I’m curious how everyone deals with this.

Any advice on how to get going again when task paralysis sets in?