Featured Image Credit: Ekaterina Goncharova / Getty
We've seen simulations before that offer a window into experiences most of us couldn't even fathom including a heartbreaking video showing what it feels like for someone with dementia to try and walk home.
Now, YouTuber Olivia Lutfallah has shared what she calls an 'ADHD simulator,' showing what it feels like to be inside her brain for just two minutes.
The video begins with Olivia walking into her kitchen, where she spots a Post-it note on the fridge reminding her to clean up.
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She checks her task board to map out what needs doing for the day.
But almost immediately, her mind becomes flooded with critical inner voices, fixating on the state of the kitchen and telling her she 'never puts things back in their place.'
Olivia attempts to focus on tidying the cupboard, only for her attention to be drawn to how disorganised it is too, setting off yet another chain of tasks. She returns to her task board to try and bring some order to her thoughts.
Cleaning the kitchen leads to unloading the dishwasher, which leads to needing a drying rack for the dishes in the sink, which leads to clearing the counters, cleaning out the cabinets, buying bin bags and returning an overdue library book.
"Okay perfect, I just need to do seven tasks to do one," she says in the video.
In the YouTube caption, Olivia explained the video 'portrays how completing tasks with ADHD feels.'
She wrote: "It is my way of explaining WHY it's so difficult to complete tasks from the beginning to the end."
The response in the comments has been pretty emotional with many ADHD viewers describing feeling seen for the first time, while others without the condition were left stunned by the reality of it.
"This made me cry, thinking, wait…everyone else doesn’t think about a million things at once too?" one viewer commented.
"She forgot her first task, to get something to eat…. As someone with a lifetime of ADHD, this is very accurate !" another added.
"I’m actually in tears right now, I didn’t realise not everyone’s brain was like this. I truly didn’t know, I thought it was like this for everyone," a third viewer commented.
"I actually CRIED 😢watching this. I REALLY wish ppl without ADHD would see this so they’d understand what we go through," a fourth user claimed.
