6. Feeling like a Ghost

Page 1

[Panel 1] NARRATOR: “Every day I wake up convinced I’ll finally do the thing I’ve been wanting to do for so long,”

[Panel 1] NARRATOR: “but I’ve gotten so tired of waking up every day knowing that nothing has changed.”

[Panel 2] NARRATOR: “Another day and I still haven’t cleaned the table so I can cook,”

[Panel 2] NARRATOR: “still haven’t filled out important forms,”

[Panel 2] NARRATOR: “haven’t thrown out the spoiled food I put next to the fridge a week ago,”

[Panel 2] NARRATOR: “still haven’t unpacked the luggage from 9 months ago,”

[Panel 2] NARRATOR: “and I lost a letter and am too ashamed to ask for a copy.”

[Panel 2] SIGN: “Cheez”

[Panel 3] NARRATOR: “I do the wrong tasks, don’t finish, or get paralyzed before being able to start anything.”

Page 2

[Panel 1] NARRATOR: “When I can’t do something, it’s not:”

[Panel 1] ALIEN: “It’s not fun so I won’t bother.”

[Panel 1] ALIEN: “I don’t wanna do it.”

[Panel 2] NARRATOR: “It’s more like I feel dread and my body yells back at me:”

[Panel 2] BODY: “you won’t feel rewarded for this, so you’re wasting survival resources and energy.”

[Panel 2] BODY: “DON’T DO IT”

[Panel 3] NARRATOR: “I can’t even explain why I don’t do things, so people don’t believe me.”

[Panel 4] NARRATOR: “I’ve started isolating because gathering my courage to ask for help and being shamed hurts so much.”

[Panel 4] OTHERS: “You’re just looking for excuses”

[Panel 5] NARRATOR: “It feels like I’m a ghost, unable to make meaningful changes to my life.”

[Panel 6] NARRATOR: “An existence unseen and unheard, having to hide so as not to trouble others.”

Page 3

[Panel 1] NARRATOR: “All I can do is watch my life fall apart in slow-motion,”

[Panel 1] NARRATOR: “as people watch and ask themselves “why doesn’t she just do something?""

[Panel 2] NARRATOR: “Every day I would fight myself to great exhaustion without any result to show for it.”

[Panel 2] NARRATOR: “So after a while, I gave up fighting.”

[Panel 3] NARRATOR: “Not because I had a negative mindset, but because I knew what I was doing was futile.”

[Panel 3] INNER VOICE: “No one is coming to save you, stop being so self-defeating!”

[Panel 3] SFX: “Huff Huff”

[Panel 4] NARRATOR: “One person saying:”

[Panel 4] SUPPORTIVE VOICE: “I believe you.”

[Panel 4] SUPPORTIVE VOICE: “I will help you.”

Page 4

[Panel 1] NARRATOR: “It’s not that that no one has helped me before, but no one believed how much help I needed.”

[Panel 1] NARRATOR: “No one believed me.”

[Panel 1] WOMAN: “I’m sure you can do it!”

[Panel 2] NARRATOR: “It’s not that I can’t do anything - I can do many things that others can’t.”

[Panel 2] SIGN: “Gallery”

[Panel 2] NARRATOR: “It’s just that where my mother needs help using the PC, I need help organizing my day.”

[Panel 3] NARRATOR: “People aren’t made to survive alone - without any help.”

[Panel 4] NARRATOR: “I am still my own person, I have my own morals, agency, hopes and dreams.”

[Panel 4] NARRATOR: “And if I get help to have a solid ground to stand on on, I can not only live, but thrive.”

Part of ADHD Alien comics.