Tick Tock Tick the clock slowly moved,
Tick Tock Tick the hands slowly inching to my doom,
Tick Tock Tick dread pooled in my stomach,
Tick Tock Tick my mind swirling with excuse after excuse,
Tick Tock Tick reasonable and unreasonable,
Tick Tock Tick my thoughts are making me sick,
Tick Tock Tick as I rushed through life at light speed,
Tick Tock Tick as I reflect on my actions, that life sometimes happens,
Tick Tock Tick the voice from within whispers you had time, you simply didn't make it,
Tick Tock Tick it is simply in your nature and you can’t be helped,
Tick Tock Tick as you race against the clock, in minutes instead of hours,
Tick Tock Tick fear, anxiety, and adrenaline,
Tick Tock Tick fighting the chemicals in your own mind and not be captive of your own body,
Tick Tock Tick as days go by,
Tick Tock Tick taking it one day at a time,
I've run out of time
original poem
Tick Tock Tick the clock slowly moved,
Tick Tock Tick the time went by,
Tick Tock Tic dread pooled in my stomach,
Tick Tock tic my mind pulled excuse after excuse,
Tick Tock tic reasonable and unreasonable,
Tic toc tic as I rushed through another project at light speed,
Tic toc tic and as I reflect on my actions, that life sometimes happens,
tic toc ti another voice whispers you had time, you simply didn't make it,
tic toc t that it is simply in your nature and there is no helping it,
tic toc as you race against the clock, making work that should have taken hours of consideration in minutes,
tic to as fear, anxiety, and adrenaline,
tic t and fight your own mind and body,
ti as seconds go by,
t one day at a time, getting the work done on time ?
I've run out of time
In My Nature
What is ADHD? ADHD, four letters that to most people can be nothing, to me is everything. I have never thought these letters affected me, but the older I get the more I realize how much it impacts me everyday. A D H D, Sometimes it's just that. You can't get the motivation to do stuff when you're supposed to do it.
For many people with ADHD, symptoms cause problems in daily life. Symptoms can make it hard to get things done; interfere with school, work, or other activities; and strain social relationships. Children with ADHD are at increased risk for injuries, social problems, family stress, and poor grades. (NIHM)
This poem is a perfect illustration of how things feel in my mind. The clock slowly gets smaller as the project/assignment is completed. The clock haunts me sometimes and I tried to illustrate that within the poem. It had more rhythm and more of a beat. It invokes imagery of sand inside the hourglass, slowly filling up. The use of the word disappearing made it seem more personified. It allowed the word to feel less of a hold on my psyche such as the anxiety disappears as the poem ends.
This poem encapsulates my ADHD. I suffer from severe executive dysfunction and completing tasks can be difficult. My mind pulled excuse after excuse, reasonable and unreasonable. This line is a direct reference to ADHD. Just not finding the time, when life gets busy, or when you think you have the time when you really don't. Sometimes it's just excuses, sometimes it's unreasonable, sometimes it's your fault you should have done this earlier. I rushed through another project at lightspeed, and I reflected on my actions. Another voice whispered, "You had time; you simply didn't make it. That is simply in your nature, and there's no helping it." And as you race against the clock, making work that should have taken hours of consideration and minutes, maybe I'll leave that last line for later, but let's talk about that "simply in your nature and there's no helping it." It's talking about how my brain is wired, with ADHD. Unfortunately that is the complexity of living with ADHD. Sometimes you're on top of things, sometimes you're not, sometimes you just can't bring yourself to do it until the last minute.
The Ted Talk, “Inside the Mind of a Master Procastinator” by Tim Urban and it focuses on people who procrastinate and leave things to the last minute. Basically my brain is wired to avoid doing the hard stuff that I'm supposed to do and my brain does the easy thing, the fun thing. My brain is led by the “instant gratification monkey”. We are focused on the moment and what is easy. “The Panic Monster” wakes up when we are aware of the deadline. We end up in “the dark playground” where you're like I'm supposed to be doing this and then you don't get around to it. “The Panic monster” terrifies the “instant gratification monkey” and just runs and so the responsible part of my brain goes like time to get work done.
In the TED Talk that's one of the lines; “that it is simply in your nature”. There's no helping it, it’s in my nature to leave things to the last minute and I just feels terrible the 24 hours before, knowing there is a little bit of time that you have before you have to turn in something and when you scramble to get the task done. It's a terrible feeling but the system somewhat works. I get my work done but it's it's very difficult. Because what happens when you don't have the deadline. He talks about that in the Ted Talk and it's like you don't have the steering wheel,the deadline. The procrastinator monkey who wants instant gratification has the steering wheel and without the Panic monster absent of the deadline you don't do it. You don't do the work, it's very scary because at the back of your head there is just anxiety.
My piece was meant to reflect my daily struggles just how the tick tock goes from big to small shows the imagery of the Sands of time playing their tune in my head. I was creating this piece; it was for an assignment on imagery and reflection. We were supposed to write down an essay reflecting on past experiences and situations that had profound meaning, and as the time slipped by and as moments became seconds and the sands of time just flowed, all I could think about was the exact situation. I was writing about doing things to the last minute and how you felt during that moment in your gut, a sense of dread in your mind, drawing excuses in the back of your mind.
Sometimes those excuses are unreasonable, and sometimes they are personally reasonable, and as you see the seconds go by at the corner of your screen, you just start working, and you just start writing, and you just do work that should have taken hours and minutes as you fight your tired body that just wants to go to sleep, and you force your body to do work that you should have done an hour ago.
Work Cited
National Institute of Mental Health. “Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).” National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 2024, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd#hts-intro. 5 Dec. 2025.
Urban, Tim. “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator.” TED, www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_master_procrastinator. Accessed 5 Dec. 2025.
Roberto Montante a student at Houston City College