If you have the space and the means I would heartily recommend getting your cat a cat. Pets do get lonely and if he was used to a colony then there's a good chance this would improve his life. Bonus points if you can get your hands on one of the cats he was loving on at the shelter!
Do you have any morning or evening routines that you manage to do every day successfully? You might have more success if you link them together with your skincare routine. So for example if you manage to always brush your teeth 2x a day, just add skincare time right before or after that. Or even tie it in to changing for bed. And don't beat yourself up if you end up skipping a few days or weeks, it's just about getting back to it at some point.
Also think about location. Maybe if doing your skincare routine at the bathroom sink isn't working for you, then you may want to start doing it in your bedroom, or maybe even the kitchen! Try out different places, and maybe switch it up if you find yourself skipping a lot of days.
As for the routine itself, I find it helps to find a product you find pleasure in that also suits your skin type. I have acne-prone skin that's also sensitive and a touch on the dry side, so I cater to those needs. It might take a little experimenting to see what works for your skin.
Think about things like scents, colours, fun. Do you like having pretty bottles? Is your favourite scent strawberry? I do my washes with a goat's milk soap bar from an Etsy seller that smells amazing (and I get to feel good about using a product that leads to less plastic waste), but in the past I have also used the Laroche-Posay Effaclar cleanser, which was really good for my acne, and has a really nice texture. The Effaclar I used without any other products, in hindsight I probably should have at least moisturised after wash, but it's a good option for when you have little energy/time/interest because it's pretty effective by itself.
For the other products I found a routine that works for me using mostly The Ordinary products, which goes:
Every AM and PM wash face and neck, then:
Day 1 AM Azelaic acid > Moisturiser > Sunscreen PM Granactive retinoid > Moisturiser
Day 2 AM Niacinamide 10% with zinc 1% > Moisturiser > Sunscreen PM Salicylic acid 2% > Moisturiser
The moisturiser I currently use is their borage seed oil. It's probably the most important of all the steps (after wash), as dried-out skin produces more oil which leads to more acne.
As you can see it involves alternating products every other day, which gives me some variety. Most of the products are in little jars with pipettes, a little more fun to use than the squeeze tubes. And they're fairly simple products in their composition, so if you find one step of the routine doesn't work for you you can maybe swap it out with a different product. Most importantly for me, the products aren't too expensive, and you're using a few drops at a time so it takes a while to get through them.
You didn't go into specifics on your skin type so wherever you go you might want to get help from the sales associates. You don't have to get everything they recommend, try it out one product at a time and see what works for you.
Most of all be kind to yourself, ADHD is hard on the self-esteem and terrible skin is also hard on the self-esteem! I regularly miss out on skincare days but thanks to having done the routine successfully for months in the past (and also to getting older), my skin is a lot more manageable these days.
Good luck, and have fun trying new things out!
I think I was getting anxious about it because I've lost friends over not getting back to them in a timely way, but that was days or weeks versus hours.
Thank you for the reassurance.
My partner of one year has not been satisfied with our communication while away from each other. He'd like to know what I'm up to when not at work, and while I would rather have more sporadic catch-ups (say 2/3 times a day) I try to keep to his preferred frequency which usually ends up being once every two hours at minimum, because I know it's important to him.
He's currently visiting family outside the country for a month, and while away, and I've had several instances of not getting back to him - once for 5 hours when I was having a bad mental health day, which we argued about and then managed to come to terms with. And another time for 3 hours because I got sucked down a YouTube/research hole. These pauses in our conversation never actually felt that long to me cause I definitely get time blindness. I apologised and tried to explain about time blindness, but I don't really think he believes me.
The conversation about the second instance ended on a sour note. Since then we've still been texting and updating each other on our goings-on, but I now feel anxiety when I see any messages coming from him, and like I have an invisible timer to answer by otherwise things will blow up again. And while I used to put real thought into my messages (maybe too much) I now feel like I'm chucking any information I can think of at him to keep him appeased.
I know getting back to people on a social level is an issue with me - it's been a problem with friends in the past and it's something I'm trying to work on, but I feel like I have no method for getting back to my partner. I'm in my thirties and feel like I should have figured this out by now - not great for the self-confidence.
I'd love any tips for managing social communication with people or indeed any other input. Please be kind, I'm being pretty hard on myself right now already.
UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who commented, I didn't reply individually but I can promise you I read and took on board everything that was said. In honour of that, I thought I'd provide an update for anyone curious.
He came back from his trip and we had a talk, which led to us breaking up. Although he initiated the break up, and there were many elements to it, I think the fact that he was sort of hung up on his side of the story and his feelings of rejection over any desire to understand me or figure out a way for us both to work things out, kind of cements the fact that separating was the right thing to do. I've taken some time to heal, and will be keeping an eye out for this sort of thing in the future. Thanks again to all, I appreciate your time and concern!