Time Blindness

I am often late. Sometimes on purpose (because I didn’t really want to go in the first place) and sometimes not. Apparently, my time management skills are (and always have been) lacking.

The truth is, even with all my planning, I’m a bad judge of how long something takes to do. Even stuff I do every day. As a result, I’m perpetually rushing and, more often than not, late.

I rush to get dinner on the table at a reasonable hour because it takes me awhile to get into a writing groove and then I lose track of time.

I rush to get to meetings and appointments on time because I’m always convinced I have enough time to quickly throw in a load of laundry or empty the dishwasher before leaving the house. (News flash: I don’t.)

I rush to meet work deadlines because either I over-schedule myself (thinking I have enough time to get it all done) or feel overwhelmed by the assignment so I procrastinate until the last minute.

Even when I’m traveling a route I travel often and know well, I’m still always rushing (and don’t account for the expected traffic). And I think I finally know why …

Time blindness.

I heard this term on a podcast recently and apparently it was even discussed on a Today Show segment a few months ago.

On the podcast, the host was interviewing Jessica McCabe, a YouTube creator and the author of How to ADHD. I’ve never been officially diagnosed with ADHD, but I sure do have a lot of the symptoms, so I was intrigued.

A good read (or listen in my case, since I prefer audiobooks).

One of the traits Jessica explained was this notion of time blindness, which is characterized by difficulty sensing the passage of time (therefore losing time) and/or difficulty estimating how much time is needed to do something (resulting in lateness or missed deadlines).

Sounds like me, so I did a deep dive (as I do when I’m interested in a topic) and found a number of articles explaining it—including this one from Psychology Today, a reputable source. (SIDE NOTE: I also listened to the audiobook version of Jessica’s book, How to ADHD, and let me just say … I feel seen.)

I still don’t know if I have ADHD time blindness or if it’s just a combination of my post-menopausal/autoimmune brain fog, midlife, and the mental load of motherhood (which I wrote about back in 2021). Regardless of the diagnosis, this is me. Rushed, struggling to be on time, and super impatient when I have to wait.