I'm sorry you're going through this, msbelle. I am glad you're posting.

"Uh, I have a LOT of anxiety and want to continue to get paid."

My anxiety usually results in LESS timeliness and Getting Things Done, so....

Today Mac skipped two classes and I am currently parked outside school waiting to pick him up since he cannot be trusted. The plan for the short term I guess will be to take him to school and pick him up everyday. I'll work from home after picking him up since he cannot be trusted.

Ugggghhhhhh.

Has it gotten through to mac just how close you are to breaking? Not in a yelly way, but telling him that you're really at the point of checking out and looking into getting hospitalized? Sometimes it's when the "intervention" gets through to how much ones behavior is affecting the health and welfare of others that it starts working.

msbelle, please don't stop talking about what's going on with you. We love you, and we are your support network.

This place was surely my support! Of course I was a zillion times worse than my boys or Mac when I was a teen. Kiss my mom goodnight sweetly, go upstairs to bed and right out the window. Pack my school lunch and books and leave at the normal time, but not go to school. I sucked, but I believe turned out okay.

It's a lot, msbelle, and I'm sorry you're going through this.

Have you considered disengaging from him completely? I know that's super hard to do, but sometimes taking all attention away from a kid who's acting out is the only way to get their attention.

msbelle, please don't stop talking about what's going on with you. We love you, and we are your support network.

This. Sending love.

{{{msbelle}}}

distilled anxiety

So you have a title for your TED talk about workflow management. Although I think the best possible answer might have been "The sad thing is, I can't teach it". From the standpoint of amusing me, I mean, not looking good to your employer.

Y'all. I just got my teeth cleaned with sound waves and a laser. Sometimes the 21st century is pretty impressive!

Although I think the best possible answer might have been "The sad thing is, I can't teach it". From the standpoint of amusing me, I mean, not looking good to your employer.

For real, my first reaction was to say "I have a lot of anxiety, so I write shit down in 4 different places. This plan will not work for people who aren't riddled with anxiety." But I pulled together a document and the freelance manager was very appreciative.

Steph, perhaps the people who aren't riddled with anxiety should be, since your process seems to be noticeably effective. Not that I'd advise extra anxiety on anyone, but perhaps having a system that actually works could help those who aren't doing as well.

I remember a job interview once (at LEAST 15 years ago, and I think I was interviewing to be a temp exec assistant) where the HR person asked me how I organized my tasks and communications and I started to describe how I use Outlook filters and color-coded categories, etc, etc, and she interrupted me and said "But what if you didn't have access to all of that?" and I had NO idea what to say. I mean the real answer is, probably just forget to do stuff?