Flamin’ word-based maths problems, task avoidance – Where did it all begin?

I have always struggled with starting tasks.  Once I actually get started, hyper-focus takes over and I plough through the task and finish up by wondering why it was such a big deal to get started.  A random Facebook post just reminded me of where it all started, word problems in maths class.  We all know the ones.  They took extra mental effort and time to figure out what they were actually asking us to do, and honestly, who could be bothered with them?  Cue the doodling on the cover of my copy book when I got to the end of the chapter in my 'Busy at Maths' textbook from 1^st class onwards.  Every chapter ended with word-problems.  I just could not motivate myself to try and start figuring out the answers to these problems. 

Word problems short-circuited my executive function.  They were boring and the deadline for them being marked was generally too far in the future.  As the class went on, the doodling continued, time got away from me and I was off in a world of my own, hyper focusing on the doodles – badly drawn animals, my name in different fonts and colours, and abstract scribbles.

As a result, I was often sent home with maths homework when everyone else was not.  I had to hide this extra homework from my parents or I’d have been met with extremely unfavourable responses at home.  What this led to was lying awake at night for hours waiting for everyone else in the house to go to sleep so I could sneak downstairs in the middle of the night, put on one small light and take up position on the floor behind the sofa at 3am doing flamin’ word-based math problems.  Why was I suddenly able to do them in the middle of the night by one small light while in terror of someone waking up and finding me there?  The answer to that is a looming deadline and a little bit of motivation stemming from fear of getting caught and fear of the issue escalating if they were not done in time for the next day’s class.

My middle of the night efforts often left me zombified the following day but no-one ever seemed to notice.  A quick google search found me some word-based maths problems, I wonder what the answers are, but I have no intention of figuring them out.  I’m supposed to be doing my third assignment for my healthcare course, instead I’m blogging about word-based math problems.  The task avoidance in this one is still strong.