My backpack contains notary equipment, a wallet, an assortment of writing instruments, a laptop, a tablet, chargers, a bus pass, a change of clothes, deodorant, cologne, first aid supplies, and IT tools.
There’s more, but at some point this becomes a manifest.
I carry doubles of things and enough backup supplies to support several possible versions of my day. Work. College. Whatever additional bullshit gets added after I leave the house.
From the outside, this probably looks like being prepared. And I am prepared. It just takes carrying a significant portion of my life around to get there.
Mostly fine. Apparently equipped to open a branch office.
The bag was built through trial and error
I didn’t randomly decide that my daily commute needed an inventory management system.
This developed through trial and error. Forgetting things. Figuring out what I need. Giving those things a place in the bag because having them with me makes work and class easier to get through.
“Just in case” starts taking up a surprising amount of space.
And it helps. That’s the annoying part. Carrying all this shit is an actual solution to an actual problem.
The backpack is physical evidence of effort that might otherwise be invisible. Someone sees the charger I brought. They don’t necessarily see the attention that went into making sure it was there.
There’s a bigger conversation here
Forgetting essentials, struggling to organize, and having trouble managing daily tasks can be part of ADHD. The National Institute of Mental Health describes how those difficulties can affect work, daily life, and relationships.
That doesn’t make my backpack a diagnostic tool. It does put this conversation somewhere beyond “Have you tried remembering?”
In a 2023 U.S. survey, an estimated 15.5 million adults—6% of adults—reported a current ADHD diagnosis. About half were diagnosed in adulthood, according to the CDC’s analysis published in 2024.
Those are ADHD figures, specifically. They don’t represent everyone who is neurodivergent, and they don’t tell us how many people carry emergency deodorant.
They do show that a lot of adults are navigating life with something that can make organizing and remembering harder.
For my own experience, “out of sight, out of mind” captures the frustration. Having something available, visible, or already packed makes a difference.
Unfortunately, everything I need to pay attention to doesn’t fit in a backpack.
What happens outside the bag?
I can put a lot of focus into being ready for work and college while my personal needs outside those things slip.
Or something in my relationship needs attention, and I haven’t given it enough.
That’s a harder inventory to look at.
I can unzip a compartment and confirm that a charger exists. Figuring out what I need personally, or what needs attention in my relationship, requires me to stop and actually consider it.
While I’m focused on making sure this part of my life functions, something else can fall out of view.
I’m still responsible for what I miss. Understanding the pattern gives me somewhere useful to start. Beating myself up doesn’t tell me what needs to change.
I’ve learned how to prepare for a lot of practical problems. I’m still figuring out how to give the less tangible parts of my life that same consideration.
A few things to try
I don’t have a completed system to hand out. I have a backpack and some questions.
But there are practical places to start. NIMH recommends writing down reminders, using consistent routines, and breaking large tasks into smaller steps. These ideas build on that guidance; they’re options to test, not things I’m claiming have already fixed my life. NIMH’s practical guidance.
Give the essentials a home. A dedicated pocket or a short packing list can reduce how much you have to reconstruct before leaving. Keep useful duplicates where they solve a recurring problem, if space and money allow. The goal is less friction. There is presumably a point where I should stop adding cargo.
Make reminders specific enough to act on. “Get your shit together” is a familiar sentiment and a terrible task description. “Put the charger back in the bag” gives you something you can actually do.
Put personal needs somewhere you’ll see them, too. A reminder to pause for food, rest, or something you enjoy is worth experimenting with. Work and school shouldn’t get exclusive rights to every available reminder.
Agree on a relationship check-in. A brief, mutually agreed time to talk about what needs attention could help create space for things that get missed. Each person gets to say what matters to them. Remembering the check-in and showing up for it remains your responsibility.
Review what the system costs. Is the bag helping? Is maintaining it becoming another job? What still gets missed? A system can be useful and still need adjusting.
I know why I carry the stuff. Trial and error got me here.
The part I’m still working on is remembering to look beyond whether I have everything packed.
There are parts of my life that need attention even when I have absolutely every fucking charger.