🧠 Blog Post #2: “The Grocery Store Meltdown (In My Head)”

I’ve always been a bit intense about grocery shopping.

What should be a simple trip for oat milk and bananas sometimes turns into an epic mental boss battle. Like today — I walk into the store with a plan, a list, and five internal pep talks. Ten minutes later, I’m frozen in the cereal aisle, brain overloaded, fighting the urge to abandon my basket and sprint for the exit.

Too many sounds. Too many choices. Too many people standing directly in front of the item I need. It’s like my executive functioning is a weak Wi-Fi signal — constantly dropping just when I need it most.

Since getting my diagnosis earlier this year (ADHD, Autism, and HPI), these moments make more sense. I used to think I was just “overreacting” or “lazy” for needing to recover from basic errands. Now I know that my brain processes the world differently — more intensely, more chaotically, sometimes more beautifully too.

After escaping the store with the wrong brand of oat milk (classic), I sat in my car and gave myself a moment. And here’s the thing: I didn’t shame myself for it. That’s new. That’s growth. That’s neurodivergent self-compassion.

I used to mask moments like this — slap on a smile, push through the overstimulation, and beat myself up later for struggling. But now? Now I’m learning to accept that these small daily battles are part of my experience — and that doesn’t make me broken.

It makes me human.

It makes me me.