🎙️ Prequel Episode

What Even Is a Doom Pile?

Spoiler: it’s not trash… it’s delayed decisions, emotional luggage, and at least one hot glue gun.

🎵 [Imaginary Intro music: whimsical, slow build with soft squirrel chatter and the sound of something toppling over]

Hi. I’m Angela. Queen of Focus-ish.
And before we spiral further into this podcast… we need to talk about something important:

Doom piles. Didn’t Organize Only Moved

No, not the kind you see in fantasy shows where a dragon guards a pit of bones.

We’re talking real-life, everyday, lovingly-ignored-but-slightly-judged-by-guests doom piles.

Let me explain.

✨ A Doom Pile. Defined: Didn’t Organize Only Moved

A doom pile is a stack of deferred decisions.
It’s not trash. It’s not clutter. It’s… limbo.

I learned about it on a random Instagram scroll day. The words lit up in my brain as I watched in awe. Didn’t Organize Only Moved. Doom pile. Yes, that’s what I have everywhere.

It’s:

• That bag you brought in from the car but never unpacked
  
  
• That stack of papers labeled “URGENT” in 2019
  
  
• A bunch of objects placed together not because they belong together… but because you couldn’t deal with them separately
  
  

Doom piles are sacred.
They’re where ADHD, perimenopause, and creative brain energy all collide like glitter in a tornado.

🧠 Why We Have Doom Piles (ADHD Edition)

Because ADHD brains often struggle with:

• Object permanence ("If I put it away, will I ever see it again?”)
  
  
• Time blindness ("That was three months ago??")
  
  
• Decision fatigue ("Keep, donate, toss, cry, scream?")
  
  
• And executive dysfunction ("This item now weighs 400 emotional pounds")
  
  

So we pause.
We place.
We promise ourselves:

“I’ll come back to this when I’m in the right headspace.”

Spoiler: that headspace doesn’t exist.

🔥 Why Midlife & Menopause Make It Worse

Because on top of the usual executive overload, now we’re:

• Forgetting why we walked into the room
  
  
• Sweating for no reason
  
  
• Feeling overwhelmed by the memory of a sock
  
  

Hormones? Chaos.
Focus? Fragile.
But doom piles? Oh, they wait. Patiently. Looming. Judgmental. And also… weirdly comforting.

🎨 Why Creative People Are Especially Vulnerable

Because creatives live in loops — not lines.

You make, you tinker, you start five things at once.
You see possibilities, not just objects.

So that pile of fabric scraps and beads and old receipts?
That’s not trash. That’s a multimedia art experiment that might become a gift for a friend named Tinsel.

🌀 And Most Importantly: Doom Piles Are Not Failure

They are proof that you’ve been trying.

You’ve been:

• Parenting
  
  
• Creating
  
  
• Navigating life
  
  
• Mourning old versions of yourself
  
  
• Attempting inbox zero while simultaneously reinventing your identity in the junk drawer
  
  

The doom pile is not your enemy.
It’s your unsorted story.

And this podcast?
It’s a love letter to that story.

🎵 So if you’ve ever had a “pile corner,” a “box of mystery,” or a “drawer of shame”...

You’re not broken.
You’re brilliant.
You’re overdue for a laugh.
And you are so welcome here.

Subscribe to Doom Piles & Distractions.
Next up: I try to find a power cord… and accidentally reorganize the spice cabinet, three closets, and my sense of self.

🐿️✨

Learn more or join the squirrel squad at AngelaDiCarlo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

…and now I’ve been emotionally hijacked by a folder from 2009.

🎵 [Theme music: bright + slightly unhinged piano flourish, like a raccoon learning Chopin]

Hi. I’m Angela. Queen of Focus-ish.

And today’s episode is sponsored by… the paper pile I just emotionally excavated from the back of my office drawer.

Let’s talk about paperwork.

No, not fun paperwork like coloring books or divorce forms.

I mean the other kind.

Mysterious folders filled with expired coupons, inspirational quotes I printed in 2013, and a sticky note that says “CALL BOB” — I do not know who Bob is. Or was. RIP Bob.

You know what I realized while sorting papers?

Paper is emotional.

Every piece of it is like a tiny time capsule from a version of you that thought:

“I’ll need this someday.”

No. No you won’t. You won’t need the instruction manual for your 2007 printer. You don’t even have the printer. What you do have is a mild panic attack every time you open the file cabinet.

So I gave myself permission.

I made a little system:

• 📸 Take a photo of anything I’m scared to throw away.
  
  
• 📦 Put the “unsure” pile in one box.
  
  
• 🗑️ And then I lit a candle. Played a power ballad. And started tossing like a confetti cannon of freedom.
  
  

I even found swag tucked inside the papers.

Because of course I did.

Burner stickers. Unused wristbands. A note to myself that said “Organize this stuff before it multiplies.”

I didn’t. It multiplied.

But here’s the moment that hit me:

I kept holding onto the paper because I was scared to let go of the dream attached to it.

A business I didn’t launch.

A workshop I almost hosted.

A project that fizzled, but still feels… tender.

And instead of judging myself?

I took a picture.

I whispered “Thank you.”

And I let it go.

So if your dining table is currently a “paper staging zone”…

If you’ve got a file labeled “IMPORTANT” that’s just old receipts and one Taylor Swift lyric sheet…

If you haven’t seen the surface of your desk since the Bush administration…

You are not broken.

You are thoughtful.

You are overwhelmed.

And you are very, very brave.

🎵 Subscribe to Doom Piles & Distractions.

Next episode: I try to sort my swag boxes… and discover 47 memories, 2 craft projects, and a missing ex-boyfriend’s bracelet.

Until then — remember:

You are not the paperwork.

You are the fire that can recycle it.

🐿️✨

Learn more at AngelaDiCarlo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🎵 Hi. I’m Angela… Queen of Focus-ish.

Which is ironic, because I once tried to find a power cord and ended up reorganizing the entire kitchen, pantry, and possibly my sense of self.

I’ve spent the last five days decluttering my house. Every cabinet. Every closet. Every expired bottle of optimism labeled “Ashwagandha.”

Turns out, if you ask an ADHD brain to throw away vitamins, it will hesitate. Not because they’re useful. But because you paid for them. During a phase. Possibly at 2 a.m. after watching one too many Instagram reels that promised “clarity and emotional peace” in a capsule.

And now I have a vitamin graveyard.

I should make a memorial shelf. With a candle.

“To all the supplements I never remembered to take… we barely knew ye.”

[Sound: tiny ghost vitamin voice: “Take me with food…”]

Anyway. The closets.

There is nothing more spiritual than cleaning out a linen closet that has not been touched since Obama’s second term.

You find things.

Like mystery cords that don’t connect to anything made in this decade.

And paperwork that feels like a ghost of your most ambitious self.

And swag. SO MUCH SWAG.

Regional burner swag.

Glittery name tags from events I don’t remember attending.

Half-melted lip balm labeled “Radical Self-Care 2018.”

I should start a podcast just for that.

“Swag Spiral: What Is This and Why Did I Keep It?”

Tagline: One trinket. One memory. One emotional crisis at a time.

[inhale]

But you know what happened in all that chaos?

I found clarity.

Because while I was scrubbing, sorting, and whispering apologies to my spice rack, I was dancing to songs I forgot I loved.

Voice-recording book ideas.

Writing blog posts in my head.

Feeling… dare I say… proud?

Because here’s the truth:

I used to think I was a disorganized mess.

Turns out, I’m just… a glitter tornado of intention.

So if you’re standing in front of your office like it’s a cursed temple…

If your vitamin shelf is one wrong breath from collapsing like a Jenga tower of regrets…

If you opened one drawer and ended up emotionally reliving your entire 20s…

You’re not alone.

You’re just part of the Squirrel Squad.

We’re focused.

Ish.

🎵 Subscribe to Doom Piles & Distractions.

Next episode: I label my shoe bins and accidentally have a breakthrough about boundaries.

Until then, stay squirrelly, my friends.

✨🐿️

Learn more at AngelaDiCarlo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.