As a single mom with ADHD, I don't hide my burnout from my kids

The author said she wasn't diagnosed with ADHD until she was in her 30s. Courtesy of Alexandria Mooney Photography via Olivia Howell.

There are nights when I look at my two boys, 13 and 10, and announce, "My battery is at 1%."

They know what this means.

I get much quieter. The pile of clothes I told myself I was going to fold gets moved to the floor and becomes tomorrow's problem . Video game sounds that normally wouldn't bother me suddenly send my whole system into overdrive . If both kids are talking to me at once, I sometimes have to say, "I can't process what either one of you is saying right now."

Eventually, I can hit what feels like an actual wall. I go into a burnout shutdown where decision-making becomes almost impossible. My brain feels frozen. I know there are things I should be doing, but I can't organize them into a next step.…