Overwhelm is real

Making space for important things is sometimes impossible if life is overwhelming

The trip to the care homes and my thinking afterwards yielded a few trains of thought I didn’t really expect

One of those trains was the urge to make our current home more appropriate for Matt’s current state

I honestly didn’t see that coming….but it was a complete recoil from what I saw as a suggested alternative….

So I dove back into the concepts of Environmental Dependence

Utilization behavior is a subset of the broader Environmental Dependency behavior classification

I think Matt definitely suffers from utilization behavior

Using AI, I found some deeper guidance

This is, apparently, a field that Occupational Therapists might work with, which was a bit of a surprise to me to learn

This isn’t fall prevention, this is reorganizing, rethinking the home environment to be more accommodating to the impulse driven behavior

I read the information linked, felt over whelmed immediately

”Can’t I hire a consultant to help me with this?” I asked, wondered

Apparently so…..

What would the benefit be of investigating, maybe reorganizing things in certain areas of our house?

Maybe both Matt and I would be happier, more successful living here with an adjustment of this nature

Much of this seems like common sense, but there probably is nuance here, obvious things that a professional would have an immediate response to that might take me some time, if ever, to think of

For example, small thing: beer and a canned pear vodka drink co-exist in the refridgerator

The beer is for Matt, he chose it, the pear drink is mine

He just went into the refridgerator and chose my pear drink to open, then he put it back into the fridge

So he essentially is wasting my drink

Infuriating…..I tried to say “if you open it you should drink it”

Apparently rules apply to other people, not Matt Busse

He just walked by me with the kitchen garbage can in his hands, meanwhile the sandwich I made for him at his request sits on the table unapproached

As to the trash can, I said “where are you taking that.” He replies “down the road”

”Can you please put it back where it belongs?”

He got close….. he found the right cabinet, but the plastic garbage bin and the white plastic garbage bag which had things in it were a source of focus

The bin was out of the rack, the white bag in the rack, out of the bucket….in and out…hole now ripped in the bag….there was only so long I could stand and watch

I took the bin, placed it the rack…..to which he started walking the garbage bag out to the sunroom….which is not the direction of the larger curb side pick up vessel….so I had to intercept that before garbage juice was spread all over the house

Now he is working on the kitchen door…..pushing the locking mechanism of the deadbolt out, trying to now understand why he can’t close the door

Bang, bang, bang

Just like we don’t know the answer to “who let the dogs out?”…….we don’t know the answer to what Matt is thinking when he does these things

Are there ways to change things, give Matt something to focus on so we can both coexist with some peace in this house?

Surely someone exists out there to toss me a lifeline!

<—Back to Uncle Lewy