One of the most profound things I read in my original journey to ADHD diagnosis was what Dr. Ned Hallowell calls “the cough drop sign” in the book, Driven To Distraction.

I’d never felt more seen before reading this quote.

It comes from one of Hallowell’s ADHD patients:

“Someone left [a cough drop] on the dashboard of our car.

The other day I saw the cough drop and thought, I’ll have to throw that away.

When I arrived at my first stop, I forgot to take the cough drop to a trash can.

When I got back into the car, I saw it and thought, I’ll throw it away at the gas station.

The gas station came and went and I hadn’t thrown the cough drop away.

Well, the whole day went like that, the cough drop still sitting on the dashboard.

When I got home, I thought, I’ll take it inside with me and throw it out.

In the time it took me to open the car door, I forgot about the cough drop.

It was there to greet me when I got into the car the next morning, Jeff was with me.

I looked at the cough drop and burst into tears.

Jeff asked me why I was crying, and I told him it was because of the cough drop.

He thought I was losing my mind.

‘But you don’t understand,’ I said, ‘my whole life is like that.

I see something that I mean to do and then I don’t do it.

It’s not only trivial things like the cough drop; it’s big things, too.’”

– @

I feel like this all the time. I want to do something, but I have such a hard time following through. Perhaps it’s why I only have one other blog post on this site that I meticulously planned out. I love the *IDEA* of creating something, but when it comes time to generate the content, I just can’t.

Perhaps I’ll start that change today. Or perhaps I’ll let my ADHD get the best of me… again. Either way, it’ll be okay. And I’ll have a cough drop when I need it. 🤷🏼‍♂️