Coffee, water, oats, dishes, oats, coffee, oats, coffee. Even the simplest tasks when done in parallel make me ache in a dull quiet scream. My body is begging me to stop.
Coffee, dishes, oats, coffee, oats. I’m cutting the apple in practiced motions. Chop, chop, the end is near. If I can just push this dull ache over the hill, I’ll be done with making breakfast.
Coffee, oats. Switching tasks is difficult, I have so little available memory to store each task; new details overwrite the old. Where was I?
Dishes, coffee, oats. Oats. Much of the memory is flooded with anxious thoughts. Fears, worries, guilt, shame, grief. Touch wood, tap, tap, tap. I call on thoughts that can dig diverting trenches, dopamine to cope, 3D print, Arduino, new project. Tap, tap, tap, touch wood, prime numbers.
There’s comfort in thinking, a brief respite from the boiling pot of water. I love drawing parallels, I was thinking about Arduino code being structured in a synchronous loop, meaning that it will process only one operation at a time. Isn’t that a bit like the mind? The mind isn't actually capable of multitasking, it task switches.
The oats are burning. Apple, coffee, water, chop, chop, chop, prime numbers, tap, tap, tap.
Breakfast is ready!