Misplacing / finding objects.

Post Reply New Topic

I’m an expert in loosing or misplacing objects. Example: I’m at work, using some kind of tool, and I get a phone call. I go to the phone and when finished talking, you can bet your ass that the tool I held in my hand, when interrupted, is gone when I’m back to what I was doing before the interruption.
Now the real fun begins; finding the tool. If I’m lucky I brought it with me to the office, and forgot it by the phone. So that’s what I assume, then. Back to the office, no tool. That’s the most common version. For some strange reason I often bring the tool along, but put it down somewhere on the line from a to b. Next step is to walk the route over again and pick it up where I left it. Quite easy, but now the stress sets in. I can follow the route I used again and again, but no tool is to be found. I can stop somewhere and just stand there looking for many seconds, even if I can say within an eye blink if it’s there or not. Usually I start doing another task, the stress disappears, and now I usually find it some obvious place.
It’s like this when I’m shopping too. I can’t find things, what I’m looking for maybe right in front of me, but I just stand there looking, like what the eyes see, never reach the brain.

I lose things quite alot as well. Most times I retrace my steps and hope it hasn't been moved. Doesn't cause me stress tho unless it is a cellphone or my lighter.
I am an expert at finding things other people have lost tho.

i do too. i misplace things everywhere. i think it is linked to my executive function problems.

My favorite is when I'm looking for something, and I think to myself, the last time I had it, I put it somewhere so I wouldn't lose it. When I do that, then it's lost for a long time.

Yeah, I'm always asking myself, "How can I lose something I had in my hand 15 seconds ago?"

One day, I spent 2 and a half hours looking for my car keys, and I missed whatever it was that I was going to. Try explaining that to an NT. Like if it were work, I'd be fired because I lost my car keys.

I think what happens... I'm doing something, and I get interrupted (either by an outside source or from my own self like, don't forget to grab the cigarettes on my way out the door, so I have to put everything down and search for the cigarettes, and then I can't find the stuff I sat down after I find the cigarettes). First, I get frustrated because the interruption becomes a distraction, so when I finally in that matter of seconds accept the interruption, then what I'm doing (like holding on to the car keys and cell phone) becomes a distraction. So, I lay them down somewhere without any thought to it because I don't immediately think that I'm laying them down here as much as I'm getting rid of them to free my hands to do something else. Only when I verbally tell myself or my husband so he knows when I ask do I remember.

What I also have working against me is that I have a 2 year old. I can't help to ask myself, did I lose this or did my daughter take it? In many cases, I seem to lose the same thing often. Like I have a crap load of flat heads laying around the house, but I never can find a Philips screwdriver. So, I went to Walmart, and I bought 5 of the cheapest Philips Screwdrivers, and I need to buy more again cause I'm getting low on them. Yeah, it's sad when things like pens, screwdrivers, hairbrushes, etc. gets replaced more often than the toilet paper.

I also find it easier on things that you don't have to put back like batteries to have in one spot. But things that require you to return it after you are done, I try to keep a basket of "throw stuff here" in every room, so that way, I only have to search through those baskets at first. No it's not working out that well, but it's an improvement. The car keys are the worst, and my stupid key would have a smart chip in it, so I can't make a bunch of copies.