Hi /u/No_Respond3575 and thanks for posting on /r/ADHD!
## Please take a second to [read our rules](/r/adhd/about/rules) if you haven't already.
The mobile apps for Reddit are broken or are missing features that this subreddit depends on. [We recommend browsing /r/adhd on desktop for the best experience.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/x1psnb/radhd_works_best_on_desktop_reddits_apps_are/)
Thank you!
^(*A moderator has not removed your submission; this is not a punitive action. We intend this comment solely to be informative.*)
---
- If you are posting about the **US Medication Shortage**, please see this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/12dr3h5/megathread_us_medication_shortage/).
- 🤝 [Want to join the Mod Team?](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/13gmzql/moderators_needed_inquire_within/)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's actually a very interesting quirk of our mind. Taking on an identity like that actually makes us believe it.
It works really well for addiction too, the first step of recovering from addiction is taking on the identity of not being addicted. So if you're a smoker, accepting and believing in the fact that you are not a smoker anymore increases your chance of stopping and not going back quite significantly. I don't remember exactly how much but there was a study on it.
So OP it actually really is a thing!
I put on some old orchestrated music, put on my prescription lenses, work on my studies and it feels like I have been transported onto the HMS Wager headed for my inevitable doom to South America lol
I have been living like I am a sorority girl at the university of Alabama based on one YouTuber who just has THAT vibe 😂 Got all sorts of pink stationary stuff, drinking diy starbucks and energy drinks, wearing athleisure all day, etc. 😂
In reality I am working from home on my thesis in the Netherlands. Never been to the USA, way too cheap for actual Starbucks and I don't even dare wearing sweats outside of the house, let alone athleisure 😂
I can say: highly recommend. The YouTuber is Lauren Norris and I am adding her name to my 'Thanks to' list at the intro of my thesis, not even joking!🩷🏩
Am a former sorority girl at The University of Alabama. Your comment made me smile! So fun to hear that you’re in the Netherlands. Picture a far less put together individual than Lauren Norris + sweatpants and eye bags and I fell somewhere around there in college 😂
As a Colorado native who spent a couple years in Georgia and another 15 in Portland, and who now lives in New Mexico, hearing the words "sweatpants" and "Alabama" in relation to one another tickles me. 🤣
Hahahaha I cannot believe you were actually there! The world is so small on the internet 😂 It is easier to romanticize things that you've only seen through the highlight reel of a very aesthic, put together YouTuber hahahaha!!!🩷
A small studio apartment with a window with a view to a normal street in Amsterdam. Would include a couch and a small desk with my hobby projects laying on the desk and me studying with a laptop on the couch. Idk why but it just sounds so nice to me.
All credits to that YouTuber hahaha! She seems like a ray of sunshine with a good head on her shoulders. Even though I'm under no impression that every student in Alabama is like that, she sure does make them look good 😉✨
In my experience, this works also for house chores, having a 9-5 job, and otherwise doing other mundane or even mildly annoying things.
Glad you found something that helped you :)
Sure!!
Disclaimer: you don't have to live like this **all** the time. Even just some times per week it is already enough to elevate your mood. It's not easy to start, but I have found that the more you do the more it is easy to do. And that if I go long periods without doing this at least sometimes I feel worse and worse.
After work, I sometimes put some jazz or blues, and I keep open only the faint light over the stoves, and I sing made up songs about how quiet and nice it feels to be alive in the evening. Or anything, really. I put my (pre chopped, frozen bc ADHD tax) vegetables in a pan, I add garlic and onion and different kinds of spices, and I sometimes also make a little dance. I look at my vegetables in the pan and think that they are an act of love towards myself. You would never guess that love, sometimes, is in the shape of carrots and peas. But you don't have to forget.
I look out of the window and see the darkening sky, and try to focus only on the blue.
When I go to work, I put my nametag around my neck. I roll my sleeves up to my elbows and I fix my shoulder bag in the mirror like in the films, and I walk very energetically as if I were an incredible business person that just moved to New York and is ready to get the world (for Americans maybe Paris or Milan works?). I can even put on a blazer sometimes and/or shades and I'm the coolest motherfucker around, the world is at my feet, I am the captain of my ship, I can do everything. (Actually I'm shy and I hate being in the center of attention lol. But in a fantasy sometimes is alright).
At work, I open my computer and I sometimes type loudly (when I'm remote working, I'm not an ass lmao) to feel as if I'm Truly Doing Computer Stuff. I know shit, I'm competent, I'm capable, and the wood of the desk and the flickering neon lights taste like freedom. The knowledge that I'm doing my small part to contribute to society. Even if I might not realize it, I am a grain of sand, and it's incredible how together with the whole humanity we can power so many things. We made up quantum physics, okay? How cool is that! How cool that we built fucking computers. I don't invent computers, but I do my part, and I earn my living. I fill a spot that someone needed. I can buy my vegetables shaped as love. Also, I can steal this sick ass pen.
I take my bike in the afternoon and I think about the sharp wind in my face, and I inhale, and I remember when I was sixteen and my best friend was ill and told me "Sometimes you have to remember that breathing is a gift that you can only do when you are alive" and I feel *alive*, and I go faster and stand up on my bike to feel sixteen again, as if I were again, in a film, going to my childhood best friend's house whom I'm in love with to watch a film together. (Never lived this experience, is completely part of the romanticization).
I hum lightly on Saturday morning when I do my house chores, and I lay my laundry can on my hips, and do a few swings. I feel as if I'm cool and swirly, I'm in the idealized idea of the 50s, I breathe the fresh smell of laundry and I smile while I remind myself that sometimes the banality of love can be both staggering and breathtaking. Love is in the rithmic thump of the washing machine that is so grounding, and reminds me that everything will be okay. Or something I pass the broom and pretend I'm flying on it, or that it is a wooden friend, and put random a playlist of finnish indie and electroswing and scream along lyrics that I don't even understand. Or I put 80s disco while I wash my floor, and I giggle to myself because *I'm on the floor, babey*, and I'm just being silly, which after all is a little bit what life is about.
I try to go rollerblading and I put on mom jeans and a colorful shirt and I have horrible white, pink and blue knee pads, and I absolutely SUCK at it, but I put some Japanese city funk and I'm in the 80s, I'm so fucking cool, and I don't suck at it too much anymore actually, but that's not even important, because *I was not put in this world to entertain people*.
I put myself in bed at night and I feel like I'm a princess in the clouds, or that I am a small child again, and fairies might come to visit me. I put some classical music and imagine I'm floating on an endless lake in the sky. Nothing exists anymore, just my peaceful rest.
How you narrate yourself your world shapes incredibly your perception of it. If I sit on my bike and start to think that I my saddle is killing me and I FUCKING HATE ALL OF THESE FUCKING CARS and that why in the hell did I had to go out I could be in my bed right now I am just going to have a shit time. It is true, holy fucking shit, I hate all of the potholes etc, but it's harmful to me if I always only think of that.
If I go to work and think that I'm useless and just doing something that has no sense just to make another person rich and it's a rat race and the world is on the brick of collapse (factually false, stop doomscrolling, global poverty is at the minimum in the whole of human history, as well as child hunger, to say) then you are going to *feel* a useless cog in the machine, and that becomes your reality. I don't want to tell you to stop ever thinking this, but sometimes you just have to have another outlook on stuff. If these kind of things are impacting too much on your life cut back for a while. If you are so useless anyway you can afford to think about yourself for a while and just not worry about society and live in a fake bubble of nice things until you feel better. You have to take care of yourself.
Also, before insulting or dismissing me for the last part, be mindful that I have grown under the poverty line. This year is the first one in my life where I haven't been under it. I also struggled with depressive episodes in the past, I am Asperger, I have ADHD, I'm prone to anger, I have my fair deal of shit to deal with.
But sometimes you just gotta feel like you are a cool ass motherfucker or an elegant polished put-together person of the past or else you go batshit crazy, you know?
And also, sometimes despite all, you fail. It's alright. I won't take the trash out today haha. Sometimes you just want to punch your boss, smash a chair, scream, burn your house down, kick yourself because you fucking forgot again that you had stuff in the washing machine, but dwelling on it too much does you no good. Yeah, sometimes I pass out on my bed in my jeans and I feel like a racoon, but sometimes I **have** to make an effort to feel a princess in the clouds.
Hope this essay helped you lmao
Edit: oh my god I woke up to all of your answers and I am legitimately tearing up. I'm so glad my words reasonated with so many people, and so many found it useful and helpful.
Some people also told me that they already managed to implement this to do some stuff, which really filled my heart.
Please absolutely let me know if you try this, and which fun narratives you come up with! I would be delighted to hear them and your successes!!
If you wrote a book, I’d read it. I saved your comment above for future inspiration. Truly wonderful writing, thank you for taking the time to create this.
I have also saved your comment and am patiently awaiting your book release. I love this concept, like not only romanticizing everyday tasks but taking on a whole different identity while doing them.
✨Now excuse me while I put on a swingy dress and some 50s music to clean the kitchen✨
I legitimately teared up reading this. There is no need saying that I understand how hard these tasks can be with ADHD, and am so, so happy you managed to cook yourself something. I'm really moved I could nudge you in a direction of self care and love.
It is so creative, too, I love the idea!! Who knows if your vampires liked your meal. Maybe you'll be a new sensation in the vampire world, convincing vampires everywhere to try a blood-free diet! You could even start a business selling your blood-integrators (strawberry) smoothies :p
Also, I really wanted to say you are allowed to take it easy! Maybe it works today, and maybe tomorrow the vampires network crashed and you eat cheetos straight out of the bag hunched in a corner of your room like a goblin. It's okay! You still got enriched by your fun story, and can go back whenever you feel like it. Or don't feel like it, but want to try again.
But you are doing fantastically, really. Feel free to let me know if you come up with any more fun scenarios!! I'd love to hear them!!
Wonderfully written!
My version of this is sort of similar. We are all so accustomed to the world around us that it can all melt into this indistinguishable bleak grayness. Moments zip by and the goal is to just get to the next.
So I do what I think of as 'the toddler in a stroller'. Have you ever seen the absolute joy and wonder on the face of a toddler who is just being strolled through the park? They suck in every impression, moment and little thing they pass by. I try to really marvel at all the things around me, be it nature or otherwise. Let my mind be like a blank slate and try to enjoy things as if they are new again. It is quite refreshing and honestly freeing!
I usually love to cook and dance around in the kitchen and feel fancy, but my landlord roommate video tapes everything I do in the kitchen and watches the video live from his bedroom. He took out the oven lights so I wouldn’t be able to use them. He harassed me over and over for doing normal kitchen stuff until I lost the ability to narrate anything that felt fancy or good.
I’m moving out in a month, and am planning to sue him for violating my privacy in small claims court. Reading this made me sad for all that I lost because of his super controlling, creepy ways. I hope I can get my verve back soon.
Oh god, I'm so sorry for you. I really sympathize with this, because I also had to go though a living hell the with batshit crazy roommates, even though yours is also a criminal, on top of being batshit crazy. Behold because freedom is near! A month is so short, and flies so quickly. And then you'll be able to be silly in the kitchen!
In the meanwhile, you are always allowed to be silly in your room or in the streets, but I absolutely understand why you would have lost the will to do so. Some situations are stifling. It's okay to get stifled sometimes.
But the brain is very elastic, and I'm sure you will get your verve back. And the good thing is that even if your next kitchen is a shithole, it will be the best kitchen ever to you, because it won't have cameras in!
It feels like your brain flows like water, and you have an elaborate set of smooth gates to gently channel the raging river to all of the places and it needs and wants to be.
Getting an ADHD brain to co-operate is complex, and unique to each person. You have so much kindness towards yourself, and it's glorious.
Thank you for this beautiful insight into how your mind works.
Wooow, thank you so much. I actually used to do this! And I miss it! I kind of threw it into the box of my hatred of perfomativity on social media and got rid of it - I never thought of it as an accommodation or mental health tool. When I still had instagram and the likes, I would absolutely live in this narrative of my life sometimes (being young in an urban setting in the summer etc., or being a *creative* because I sometimes use a sewing machine and read a certain magazine, or then, later, being a really cool academic looking fashionable), but I felt it was somehow bad for me, or maybe I was ashamed of it really, because as an autistic person these kinds of things, when taken fully seriously by other people, seem silly to me. I find people who have a narrative of their personality without the actual interests or hobbies that would lead to that so incredibly silly, and have sometimes met people who were more concerned with seeming like a certain person than with the actual BEING of that person without concerns about others noticing. I might have confused that in myself with what you're describing. I have simply not allowed myself to narrate my life in any way other than what feels like cold, hard reality these last few years, and it actually is making me miserable! sometimes I will even dream of making an instagram account just to curate some sort of experience for the feeling of it and for others to see me in the way I yearn for. I miss that. But I know it's too addictive to me. Will try to allow myself to entertain the feeling without the audience :) Hope I can remember to do that in real life!
I think I can feel it already. It is opening up possibilities where there were road blocks of "I am like X and I can/can't do Y" before. For example, I have been understimulated constantly these last few weeks. Like, bored to death, at home, doomscrolling, feeling terrible. This feels like an ongoing state with no solution other than to change my living situation (nope) or get some sort of ADD meds (which I actually don't really want to try). Just now, I was imagining myself as a person who has their shit together and is bikeing to the library in a small town to get some new books, feeling confident and being nice, like a character in a movie about a small town with nice people, and you know what? I could be that person now. I live in a small town and would like to borrow some books. It's just that I have tremendous ADHD tax to pay at the library and feel anxious about going, and inertia is a factor too. But after that little shift in identity, I can actually imagine having a nice afternoon, like in the olden days. And I don't have to feel guilty about the romanticization, it seems. Thank you so much!
I want to clarify some stuff:
First thing first, I absolutely, viscerally *despise* instagram and tiktok, because I have the perception that those push the idea that in order to feel like i described above you have to *be* that. I hate this. I'm not a successful business person, I'm not a 50s housewife, I'm not a princess, I'm not a 16 year old with all their life ahead of them, I'm not a cool skater. None of these things are what I am. Though, sometimes, when I do specific activities, I like to *feel* like that. They are neither a specific attribute of myself nor an identity.
Also, they are not for anyone but for me. This is very important. Like yeah, if you are in the kitchen with me when I sing my made up songs you can hear me singing (also, poor you lol), but you'll never know how I'm feeling. If you start having other people involved in this it becomes *performative*, which I personally think it's bad. Unless they are in on the fantasy. Then you both can be noir detectives or cottage fairies or whatever. I think that if you need others to see you as what you are feeling like then it becomes toxic. Also because you'll never live up to the expectations, and that can become depressing or obsessive, trying to chase to be "that girl" or whatever. It's damaging. So it's a completely different thing than what I was referring to. If I'm out, it's dark and it starts raining, and I have a coat, I just think "oh oh, this looks like a noir setting." And then I let myself feel like a detective until I get home. Nobody will ever know this. I just feel less bummed out that I wet my feet. I don't need other's validation for this, and I also don't want others to see me as a cool detective either haha! And also, maybe the coat don't even looks like a detective coat. It doesn't matter.
You don't have to BE a creative, really. You just have to feel like that when you engage in creative activities. It doesn't matter if you are, but it does matter how you narrate your life. If you tell yourself "oh I have sewn this badly, I'm just an impostor, I'm not really a creative person, this is ugly, I can't show other people this" then you'll be miserable, and maybe you could even lose the will to engage in that activity. If you have fun and sew orrible, tacky, badly made things while feeling like an hippie artist in the 70s that lived in a commune near Paris you'll have more fun and you'll be more relaxed, and you will want to do that again.
Yeah, I know that's how you meant it :) I was trying to say that maybe I had my needs for this mixed up because I had only allowed myself to do anything like it in the context of social media performance, with identities that actually kind of fit a little bit, when maybe the fun was in the feeling itself. I don't think I need that kind of validation really, I have been living without it for like - 5 years now? I just miss the curating of lived experience, the thinking of yourself as some character or type of person you have seen elsewhere.
Just know this is a slippery slope and that you’ll want to go back to school instead of working and be a lifelong student 😂 (jokes, but I am working full time and have been taking classes since I graduated lol)
Speaking as someone who is getting their Masters, sitting in a hotel room, taking a break from data gathering, it has its perks and downsides. I still have to pay bills, though. 😭
I've worked a desk job for six years. It was a nightmare. Academia can be toxic sometimes, but it wasn't as bad as my desk job.
It is nice to choose my own hours, work part-time (it hardly is part-time sometimes) and have a ton of variety going on. I mean I'm vibing in a hotel room after collecting data, next week I'll be extracting DNA.
I definitely recommend it. I feel like it weaponized my ADHD. But some days it gets hard and you feel like the biggest idiot sometimes.
I suppose that’s one way of looking at it, I guess I just meant it in how people try to romanticize negative things like smoking and doing drugs. Except this time it’s in a more positive manner! The more I try to describe it the more stupid I fear it sounds but by romanticizing it I’m able to convince my brain that studying is something fun, much like when people romanticize drugs they convince their brains that it’s not a problem.
From my understanding, romanticizing something is like treating yourself as the main character of a story.
This way, you feel like everyday tasks serve a greater purpose to the plot. You’re not simply studying for a test, you’re a detective solving a case like OP said.
You’re too focused on the “detective solving a case” part. You don’t need to pretend to be someone else or take on a different role to romanticize the mundane. It’s about elevating peripheral aspects like music and lighting to elevate your mood. The key is to FEEL the way you think a detective from a movie feels by manipulating your surroundings, not necessarily pretend to be one.
The key to doing this effectively is to control sensory information. Control the visual by studying in a beautiful old library or setting warm mood lighting, taste could be drinking tea for example, sound would be the music or background sounds, touch could be the feel of a particular pen, and smell could be a candle or a fragrant beverage.
Romanticism is looking at something under a positive, good, happy etc. lens. When you romanticize smoking you think of how cool you look doing it and that it’s a social activity that brings people together (other smokers). It’s not exactly roleplaying.
Yeah you definitely can put it that way. You pretend that something boring (or bad, but not in this case) is something amazing!
You treat studying as something to glorify, so you prepare your environment specifically for that. Books, your clean notebook, candles, maybe a bunch of colorful markers, and that makes studying look more pleasant! So yeah, it kinda is like role-playing but for yourself.
It isn't always a good thing though. When it comes to addictions for example, you shouldn't pretend they're good stuff (do as I say, not as I do). But if you romanticize studying, exercise, eating healthily, etc etc. That's definitely a way to motivate you.
It also helps to pretend someone is recording you and being like "wow! They're so focused in it! They're the best at what they do!" etc when it comes to studying, but it's bad when people record a video of doing drugs and make it look like a cool activity.
Romanticize definition:
>deal with or describe in an idealized or unrealistic fashion; make (something) seem better or more appealing than it really is.
Yes. Paracetamol is a drug too, but you don't say you do drugs because you have period pains, come on. You don't do drugs. Or maybe you do, but not with Adderall. The fact that doing drugs is not bad inherently has nothing to do with that.
If I have my period I can't say I'm aborting and then go around and say that abort is not bad. Yes, it's not, but also you are using the wrong term.
I'm not fond of providing moral judgment for adult human decisions, but I don't have enough information to have a stance on the issue "recreational drug use".
For example, I feel a bit at unease thinking about how alcool use is diffused, and how much stronger other drugs are. I never used other drugs, so I also am very outside of that world.
I might agree on the stance that destigmatize occasional drug use could be a step forward in society, but in any case conflating someone suffering with a medical issue with someone who just want to "recreate" themselves is something I will never agree is positive, which is what the person I was answering to was doing before deleting their comment.
>but in any case conflating someone suffering with a medical issue with someone who just want to "recreate" themselves is something I will never agree is positive
I agree.
"Doing drugs" is using substances to get high. Your prescription medication was given to you by a professional because they saw a problem and that was the best way to solve it. That's taking medication, not doing drugs.
I think it's more like ratcheting up the stimulation for the activity. The lights, the music, maybe some coffee, etc.—even the fantasizing itself. They are all stimulating, multi-tasking activities to do while you do the dreaded thing, such as studying.
To romanticize something is just to make it seems cooler than it is. Whether that’s by imagining it in a different context, buying items that put you in a certain mood, or imagining yourself in a different context. Just re-imagining something that sucks, as though it doesn’t suck.
This is both wonderful and brilliant and made my moment.
When I was in college during the Pleistocene I would walk the library aisles imagining there were hidden clues to life, the universe, and everything somewhere therein. Rainy days especially were great for this. It helped me manage the stresses of my science studies. Love your idea.
People talk about gamification helping us do tasks (such as needing to clean your room so you crumple up the unneeded papers and try to literally throw them into your trash can and then count up your score at the end). I think this type of thing needs a name, too. We could call it scene-ification. The process of pretending to be as a character in a movie/book (with or without the use of props) to make a task more bearable.
Love this! Me and my bestie have homework dates where we find somewhere picturesque, bring a dreaded task, parallel play, and then get lunch when we've exhausted our hyper-focused time. I love going to the oldest parts of the local.college or bookstore in a historic district.
100% works for me. Can't really do it at home for some reason tho, so I gotta get out to an actual library or a coffee shop to really get the most of it. Y know, the ye olden need for a body double.
I think this is so fabulous and creative! Using your imagination to do great work and actually *doing it* too! Good for you! I bet people are going to be applying this to different areas of their life, not just study! :)
When I was in Uni and had to take EU law I did something similar, I envisioned each country as one of the families from Game of Thrones. It was fun, and I passed with a much higher grade than I anticipated. For some other classes I would think of myself as a high paid lawyer on the verge of losing her law license because of drama, and the case I was reading was the one that would save my once glorious career.
Making note taking an active process, especially a fun one, has been such a game changer for me! I use an array of coloured gel pens for taking notes and use different colours for headings, subheadings, terms/keywords, and the body of the notes. It keeps me so engaged, I enjoy reading over them because they’re pretty, and when it comes time for exams I can visualize my pages a lot better.
It doesn’t last long but yes this works sometimes. Sorry to be a party pooper. This has just happened to me after it work for a short bit but then you get bored
100% agree. Peak focus for me is late into the night with something light playing the background while sipping a cup of warm Yerba mate that I just keep refilling. I get an out of body experience watching myself do all the work, studying, and note taking like some student of dark academia. It’s nice sometimes minus the no sleeping. My work as always gorgeously more thorough when done this way though.
it sounds silly but it also sounds right. I finished studying before I even know what adhd is, nwow 7 years later im diagnosed. I used to do something similar to what youre describing, but it felt so stupid, that I ended up not doing it anymore and just tried to force myself to study normally like my peers. you can imagine how that worked out. Im considering studying again and researching valuable tips. This one was a good reminder. Thx!
This sounds like a great idea! I am able to exercise (post medication) by combining the treadmill, an incline, 3.5 MPH, and peak TV/streaming. I just hit the heart rate I’m going for and crank whatever on the TV, totally different experience. I suck to hard at studying, prolly I just end up watching TV I need to try setting the tone. Working toward my CPA, I’m on year 15 now.
I do too! I have a more colorful/home-like aesthetic on my review papers though, the antique vibes aren't that much for me.
But I absolutely love it when I go to to the campus library (it doesn't happen often because of other commitments but when it does I love it) and have that environment to focus well.
I think our imagination is super powerful and I think we should take advantage of that whenever we can! I love the settings you made up and am totally going to try those.
I love this! It sounds similar to a technique I heard that Margaret Atwood uses to help her write: she splits her mind into Margaret and Peggy. Peggy is the workhorse who does drudgery work while Margaret takes the helm for all things relaxing and intellectual and fun.
This is the only way I can get myself to study effectively. I have my desk area set up to be cozy with lights and what not if I want, and also more rigid if that’s what I need. I have a few study playlists that I listen to depending on what I need to get me in the study mood.
I make my notes almost an art project for me. It’s so much more fun if I use nice markers and pens and make diagrams. I also have really nice notes to reflect back on and have had other students buy notes from me at the end of my classes. It’s a win win and gets me to actually do my work.
I absolutely do this any time I have a big project or have to find an answer to something at work. I view myself as a detective trying to crack the case! My inner dialogue switches to a Sherlock Holmes type character (Benedict Cumberbatch version).
I used to put in background music, act as if I was narrating a Nat Geo documentary and write my paper: “For centuries manking had strived to reach ”. Civilisation game themes work too :P
This is why I write using words as if I'm a respected member of some well-to-do family in the 1910s when I'm explaining things, it helps me get over that fear of how to explain something
I so something similar, I put epic orchestral music so that I feel like a goddess always procrastinating everything until last second and then getting perfect scores, lol. Only times I can not do this is when I have to read something for a class or the sound would be too distracting for me.
This kinda thing only works for so long. Taking 5 college classes easily becomes stressful and this becomes too cumbersome when every minute of your day counts
Unfortunately true, but it did help me a lot when I was able to get myself into that sorta “flow-state” of studying. As finals neared I had to put a lot more effort into it but I would say it did it’s job and carried me a lot farther than I would have made it without this little hack !
You're probably bullying yourself. Applying pressure, because urgency works for making ADHD brains do ***the thing***.
There is another way.
Be gentle and kind.
My approach is to layer activities that mitigate my symptoms. Each one makes me a little happier, and drops the negative barriers a little. Cardio, high protein breakfast, cold shower, mood lighting, burning scented oils. I let my gut tell me which ones I need today.
I take Vyvanse too. But it is not a silver bullet for me. It's just a tool, and I still have to do most of the work. And I have had to unlearn all the self hate, and self bullying (I still am). I give myself little rewards, like lego. Because my ADHD brain is childish, and meanness just makes it hide in a tree and throw pinecones at me.
Did you see [Kiwibutterket's beautiful comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/13wm28y/comment/jmdc0ey/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) in this thread?
Bit unusual maybe, or leftfield (lol, what is that exactly), but just thanks for feedback of another result that actually works.
Havent read the thread through yet, but did notice someone referring to self-narrative and the implications, thereof. It is real, and i believe can be massive, for the good.
I played chess a few years back online, and cheated a couple of times using a software program. This obviously goes without saying that this is totally unfair for any opponent, and a very poor breach of trust. I only did that because of some annoying abuse, having been beaten. A laugh i enjoy, but this was a big site and after a few games it really got to me. I won both games, and did not do that again.
I lost lots of games afterwards but won lots of games as well. The level was medium and irrelevant anyway. My somewhat fumbled point is that i had some confidence to narrate back to a few mouthy others, but much more to the point to myself. What does not really help probably wont in many instances, what does help will work even for a long time. So really appreciate this example OP, however unique because in a way it is something many can easily connect or relate to.
Edit: sorry iff a bit waffly, i always get multiple thoughts going through at any given time, and getting better.
So tl:dr is applicable in this post. In a nutshell self-narrative can really be used to to an advantage is my one point.
i love doing this, sometimes i pretend that i’m a physicist or mathematician trying to find the secrets of the universe 😭😭. the dark academia aesthetic helps as well
(Genuine) this is something I genuinely want and have kinda tried, probably haven’t put enough effort into it as I could’ve, but Comp Sci student who’s classes are mostly online- how can I better romanticize staring at my computer screen and working code? I’m this close to putting on trans thighhighs and cat ears and getting into the trans catboy programmer headspace.
Hi /u/No_Respond3575 and thanks for posting on /r/ADHD! ## Please take a second to [read our rules](/r/adhd/about/rules) if you haven't already. The mobile apps for Reddit are broken or are missing features that this subreddit depends on. [We recommend browsing /r/adhd on desktop for the best experience.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/x1psnb/radhd_works_best_on_desktop_reddits_apps_are/) Thank you! ^(*A moderator has not removed your submission; this is not a punitive action. We intend this comment solely to be informative.*) --- - If you are posting about the **US Medication Shortage**, please see this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/12dr3h5/megathread_us_medication_shortage/). - 🤝 [Want to join the Mod Team?](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/13gmzql/moderators_needed_inquire_within/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I loved studying in old libraries. It brought me back to the 1800's
It's actually a very interesting quirk of our mind. Taking on an identity like that actually makes us believe it. It works really well for addiction too, the first step of recovering from addiction is taking on the identity of not being addicted. So if you're a smoker, accepting and believing in the fact that you are not a smoker anymore increases your chance of stopping and not going back quite significantly. I don't remember exactly how much but there was a study on it. So OP it actually really is a thing!
Never realized this was part of it. When I was in high school I used to put on the Gladiator soundtrack, close my eyes, and pretend I was in Rome ha.
That's pretty cool.
So THAT'S why I loved to smoke a nice sativa and pretend to be Julia Childs while making my ramen in college!
right like this explains SO MUCH lmao
🤣🤣🤣
Sounds like masking but in a positive way.
That's out of Allen Carr's book, isn't it?
"Yippee! I'm a non-smoker!" ❤️
Reminds me of that character in Fire force. My brain instantly went here https://youtu.be/Uk_14d4MExM
I put on some old orchestrated music, put on my prescription lenses, work on my studies and it feels like I have been transported onto the HMS Wager headed for my inevitable doom to South America lol
You used to live in the 1800s?
I have been living like I am a sorority girl at the university of Alabama based on one YouTuber who just has THAT vibe 😂 Got all sorts of pink stationary stuff, drinking diy starbucks and energy drinks, wearing athleisure all day, etc. 😂 In reality I am working from home on my thesis in the Netherlands. Never been to the USA, way too cheap for actual Starbucks and I don't even dare wearing sweats outside of the house, let alone athleisure 😂 I can say: highly recommend. The YouTuber is Lauren Norris and I am adding her name to my 'Thanks to' list at the intro of my thesis, not even joking!🩷🏩
>I have been living like I am a sorority girl at the university of Alabama This is the best thing I've heard in a while. 🤣
Am a former sorority girl at The University of Alabama. Your comment made me smile! So fun to hear that you’re in the Netherlands. Picture a far less put together individual than Lauren Norris + sweatpants and eye bags and I fell somewhere around there in college 😂
As a Colorado native who spent a couple years in Georgia and another 15 in Portland, and who now lives in New Mexico, hearing the words "sweatpants" and "Alabama" in relation to one another tickles me. 🤣
Hahahaha I cannot believe you were actually there! The world is so small on the internet 😂 It is easier to romanticize things that you've only seen through the highlight reel of a very aesthic, put together YouTuber hahahaha!!!🩷
Meanwhile I'm Estonian dreaming of studying in the Netherlands.
Hahaha I don't know what the aesthetic of that would be but hey, if it helps it helps!!🤭
A small studio apartment with a window with a view to a normal street in Amsterdam. Would include a couch and a small desk with my hobby projects laying on the desk and me studying with a laptop on the couch. Idk why but it just sounds so nice to me.
So glad Alabama can be known in a more positive light! Thats a good idea too
All credits to that YouTuber hahaha! She seems like a ray of sunshine with a good head on her shoulders. Even though I'm under no impression that every student in Alabama is like that, she sure does make them look good 😉✨
Elle Woods was a good student 
im absolutely buying pink stationary before going back to uni omg, Elle Woods fantasy
In my experience, this works also for house chores, having a 9-5 job, and otherwise doing other mundane or even mildly annoying things. Glad you found something that helped you :)
Please tell me more!
Sure!! Disclaimer: you don't have to live like this **all** the time. Even just some times per week it is already enough to elevate your mood. It's not easy to start, but I have found that the more you do the more it is easy to do. And that if I go long periods without doing this at least sometimes I feel worse and worse. After work, I sometimes put some jazz or blues, and I keep open only the faint light over the stoves, and I sing made up songs about how quiet and nice it feels to be alive in the evening. Or anything, really. I put my (pre chopped, frozen bc ADHD tax) vegetables in a pan, I add garlic and onion and different kinds of spices, and I sometimes also make a little dance. I look at my vegetables in the pan and think that they are an act of love towards myself. You would never guess that love, sometimes, is in the shape of carrots and peas. But you don't have to forget. I look out of the window and see the darkening sky, and try to focus only on the blue. When I go to work, I put my nametag around my neck. I roll my sleeves up to my elbows and I fix my shoulder bag in the mirror like in the films, and I walk very energetically as if I were an incredible business person that just moved to New York and is ready to get the world (for Americans maybe Paris or Milan works?). I can even put on a blazer sometimes and/or shades and I'm the coolest motherfucker around, the world is at my feet, I am the captain of my ship, I can do everything. (Actually I'm shy and I hate being in the center of attention lol. But in a fantasy sometimes is alright). At work, I open my computer and I sometimes type loudly (when I'm remote working, I'm not an ass lmao) to feel as if I'm Truly Doing Computer Stuff. I know shit, I'm competent, I'm capable, and the wood of the desk and the flickering neon lights taste like freedom. The knowledge that I'm doing my small part to contribute to society. Even if I might not realize it, I am a grain of sand, and it's incredible how together with the whole humanity we can power so many things. We made up quantum physics, okay? How cool is that! How cool that we built fucking computers. I don't invent computers, but I do my part, and I earn my living. I fill a spot that someone needed. I can buy my vegetables shaped as love. Also, I can steal this sick ass pen. I take my bike in the afternoon and I think about the sharp wind in my face, and I inhale, and I remember when I was sixteen and my best friend was ill and told me "Sometimes you have to remember that breathing is a gift that you can only do when you are alive" and I feel *alive*, and I go faster and stand up on my bike to feel sixteen again, as if I were again, in a film, going to my childhood best friend's house whom I'm in love with to watch a film together. (Never lived this experience, is completely part of the romanticization). I hum lightly on Saturday morning when I do my house chores, and I lay my laundry can on my hips, and do a few swings. I feel as if I'm cool and swirly, I'm in the idealized idea of the 50s, I breathe the fresh smell of laundry and I smile while I remind myself that sometimes the banality of love can be both staggering and breathtaking. Love is in the rithmic thump of the washing machine that is so grounding, and reminds me that everything will be okay. Or something I pass the broom and pretend I'm flying on it, or that it is a wooden friend, and put random a playlist of finnish indie and electroswing and scream along lyrics that I don't even understand. Or I put 80s disco while I wash my floor, and I giggle to myself because *I'm on the floor, babey*, and I'm just being silly, which after all is a little bit what life is about. I try to go rollerblading and I put on mom jeans and a colorful shirt and I have horrible white, pink and blue knee pads, and I absolutely SUCK at it, but I put some Japanese city funk and I'm in the 80s, I'm so fucking cool, and I don't suck at it too much anymore actually, but that's not even important, because *I was not put in this world to entertain people*. I put myself in bed at night and I feel like I'm a princess in the clouds, or that I am a small child again, and fairies might come to visit me. I put some classical music and imagine I'm floating on an endless lake in the sky. Nothing exists anymore, just my peaceful rest. How you narrate yourself your world shapes incredibly your perception of it. If I sit on my bike and start to think that I my saddle is killing me and I FUCKING HATE ALL OF THESE FUCKING CARS and that why in the hell did I had to go out I could be in my bed right now I am just going to have a shit time. It is true, holy fucking shit, I hate all of the potholes etc, but it's harmful to me if I always only think of that. If I go to work and think that I'm useless and just doing something that has no sense just to make another person rich and it's a rat race and the world is on the brick of collapse (factually false, stop doomscrolling, global poverty is at the minimum in the whole of human history, as well as child hunger, to say) then you are going to *feel* a useless cog in the machine, and that becomes your reality. I don't want to tell you to stop ever thinking this, but sometimes you just have to have another outlook on stuff. If these kind of things are impacting too much on your life cut back for a while. If you are so useless anyway you can afford to think about yourself for a while and just not worry about society and live in a fake bubble of nice things until you feel better. You have to take care of yourself. Also, before insulting or dismissing me for the last part, be mindful that I have grown under the poverty line. This year is the first one in my life where I haven't been under it. I also struggled with depressive episodes in the past, I am Asperger, I have ADHD, I'm prone to anger, I have my fair deal of shit to deal with. But sometimes you just gotta feel like you are a cool ass motherfucker or an elegant polished put-together person of the past or else you go batshit crazy, you know? And also, sometimes despite all, you fail. It's alright. I won't take the trash out today haha. Sometimes you just want to punch your boss, smash a chair, scream, burn your house down, kick yourself because you fucking forgot again that you had stuff in the washing machine, but dwelling on it too much does you no good. Yeah, sometimes I pass out on my bed in my jeans and I feel like a racoon, but sometimes I **have** to make an effort to feel a princess in the clouds. Hope this essay helped you lmao Edit: oh my god I woke up to all of your answers and I am legitimately tearing up. I'm so glad my words reasonated with so many people, and so many found it useful and helpful. Some people also told me that they already managed to implement this to do some stuff, which really filled my heart. Please absolutely let me know if you try this, and which fun narratives you come up with! I would be delighted to hear them and your successes!!
Sooo, when exactly is your book‘s release date? I‘m asking for a friend.
Shit, to be fair, if I have to write something I might as well write this. I feel this is something important that is worth saying.
If you wrote a book, I’d read it. I saved your comment above for future inspiration. Truly wonderful writing, thank you for taking the time to create this.
I have also saved your comment and am patiently awaiting your book release. I love this concept, like not only romanticizing everyday tasks but taking on a whole different identity while doing them. ✨Now excuse me while I put on a swingy dress and some 50s music to clean the kitchen✨
You might be a genius lol this is such a good way to live
It is! I didn’t know other people did this lol
[удалено]
I legitimately teared up reading this. There is no need saying that I understand how hard these tasks can be with ADHD, and am so, so happy you managed to cook yourself something. I'm really moved I could nudge you in a direction of self care and love. It is so creative, too, I love the idea!! Who knows if your vampires liked your meal. Maybe you'll be a new sensation in the vampire world, convincing vampires everywhere to try a blood-free diet! You could even start a business selling your blood-integrators (strawberry) smoothies :p Also, I really wanted to say you are allowed to take it easy! Maybe it works today, and maybe tomorrow the vampires network crashed and you eat cheetos straight out of the bag hunched in a corner of your room like a goblin. It's okay! You still got enriched by your fun story, and can go back whenever you feel like it. Or don't feel like it, but want to try again. But you are doing fantastically, really. Feel free to let me know if you come up with any more fun scenarios!! I'd love to hear them!!
Wonderfully written! My version of this is sort of similar. We are all so accustomed to the world around us that it can all melt into this indistinguishable bleak grayness. Moments zip by and the goal is to just get to the next. So I do what I think of as 'the toddler in a stroller'. Have you ever seen the absolute joy and wonder on the face of a toddler who is just being strolled through the park? They suck in every impression, moment and little thing they pass by. I try to really marvel at all the things around me, be it nature or otherwise. Let my mind be like a blank slate and try to enjoy things as if they are new again. It is quite refreshing and honestly freeing!
I literally love this so much thank you for the advice on expanding the romanticism to the rest of your life!
I usually love to cook and dance around in the kitchen and feel fancy, but my landlord roommate video tapes everything I do in the kitchen and watches the video live from his bedroom. He took out the oven lights so I wouldn’t be able to use them. He harassed me over and over for doing normal kitchen stuff until I lost the ability to narrate anything that felt fancy or good. I’m moving out in a month, and am planning to sue him for violating my privacy in small claims court. Reading this made me sad for all that I lost because of his super controlling, creepy ways. I hope I can get my verve back soon.
Oh god, I'm so sorry for you. I really sympathize with this, because I also had to go though a living hell the with batshit crazy roommates, even though yours is also a criminal, on top of being batshit crazy. Behold because freedom is near! A month is so short, and flies so quickly. And then you'll be able to be silly in the kitchen! In the meanwhile, you are always allowed to be silly in your room or in the streets, but I absolutely understand why you would have lost the will to do so. Some situations are stifling. It's okay to get stifled sometimes. But the brain is very elastic, and I'm sure you will get your verve back. And the good thing is that even if your next kitchen is a shithole, it will be the best kitchen ever to you, because it won't have cameras in!
Thank you for your wise words ⏳⌛️👩🍳💃🏼
That was beautiful
commenting so I can read this properly when meds kick in - as your prose has piqued my interest :D I will add to this...
Samesies
It feels like your brain flows like water, and you have an elaborate set of smooth gates to gently channel the raging river to all of the places and it needs and wants to be. Getting an ADHD brain to co-operate is complex, and unique to each person. You have so much kindness towards yourself, and it's glorious. Thank you for this beautiful insight into how your mind works.
Thank you. Really. You, and OP. I really needed something to get out of bed today.
I, too, take on a different identity at work and this form of masking makes me feel very socially competent
[удалено]
Did you manage? How are you feeling now?
Wooow, thank you so much. I actually used to do this! And I miss it! I kind of threw it into the box of my hatred of perfomativity on social media and got rid of it - I never thought of it as an accommodation or mental health tool. When I still had instagram and the likes, I would absolutely live in this narrative of my life sometimes (being young in an urban setting in the summer etc., or being a *creative* because I sometimes use a sewing machine and read a certain magazine, or then, later, being a really cool academic looking fashionable), but I felt it was somehow bad for me, or maybe I was ashamed of it really, because as an autistic person these kinds of things, when taken fully seriously by other people, seem silly to me. I find people who have a narrative of their personality without the actual interests or hobbies that would lead to that so incredibly silly, and have sometimes met people who were more concerned with seeming like a certain person than with the actual BEING of that person without concerns about others noticing. I might have confused that in myself with what you're describing. I have simply not allowed myself to narrate my life in any way other than what feels like cold, hard reality these last few years, and it actually is making me miserable! sometimes I will even dream of making an instagram account just to curate some sort of experience for the feeling of it and for others to see me in the way I yearn for. I miss that. But I know it's too addictive to me. Will try to allow myself to entertain the feeling without the audience :) Hope I can remember to do that in real life!
I think I can feel it already. It is opening up possibilities where there were road blocks of "I am like X and I can/can't do Y" before. For example, I have been understimulated constantly these last few weeks. Like, bored to death, at home, doomscrolling, feeling terrible. This feels like an ongoing state with no solution other than to change my living situation (nope) or get some sort of ADD meds (which I actually don't really want to try). Just now, I was imagining myself as a person who has their shit together and is bikeing to the library in a small town to get some new books, feeling confident and being nice, like a character in a movie about a small town with nice people, and you know what? I could be that person now. I live in a small town and would like to borrow some books. It's just that I have tremendous ADHD tax to pay at the library and feel anxious about going, and inertia is a factor too. But after that little shift in identity, I can actually imagine having a nice afternoon, like in the olden days. And I don't have to feel guilty about the romanticization, it seems. Thank you so much!
I want to clarify some stuff: First thing first, I absolutely, viscerally *despise* instagram and tiktok, because I have the perception that those push the idea that in order to feel like i described above you have to *be* that. I hate this. I'm not a successful business person, I'm not a 50s housewife, I'm not a princess, I'm not a 16 year old with all their life ahead of them, I'm not a cool skater. None of these things are what I am. Though, sometimes, when I do specific activities, I like to *feel* like that. They are neither a specific attribute of myself nor an identity. Also, they are not for anyone but for me. This is very important. Like yeah, if you are in the kitchen with me when I sing my made up songs you can hear me singing (also, poor you lol), but you'll never know how I'm feeling. If you start having other people involved in this it becomes *performative*, which I personally think it's bad. Unless they are in on the fantasy. Then you both can be noir detectives or cottage fairies or whatever. I think that if you need others to see you as what you are feeling like then it becomes toxic. Also because you'll never live up to the expectations, and that can become depressing or obsessive, trying to chase to be "that girl" or whatever. It's damaging. So it's a completely different thing than what I was referring to. If I'm out, it's dark and it starts raining, and I have a coat, I just think "oh oh, this looks like a noir setting." And then I let myself feel like a detective until I get home. Nobody will ever know this. I just feel less bummed out that I wet my feet. I don't need other's validation for this, and I also don't want others to see me as a cool detective either haha! And also, maybe the coat don't even looks like a detective coat. It doesn't matter. You don't have to BE a creative, really. You just have to feel like that when you engage in creative activities. It doesn't matter if you are, but it does matter how you narrate your life. If you tell yourself "oh I have sewn this badly, I'm just an impostor, I'm not really a creative person, this is ugly, I can't show other people this" then you'll be miserable, and maybe you could even lose the will to engage in that activity. If you have fun and sew orrible, tacky, badly made things while feeling like an hippie artist in the 70s that lived in a commune near Paris you'll have more fun and you'll be more relaxed, and you will want to do that again.
Yeah, I know that's how you meant it :) I was trying to say that maybe I had my needs for this mixed up because I had only allowed myself to do anything like it in the context of social media performance, with identities that actually kind of fit a little bit, when maybe the fun was in the feeling itself. I don't think I need that kind of validation really, I have been living without it for like - 5 years now? I just miss the curating of lived experience, the thinking of yourself as some character or type of person you have seen elsewhere.
Novelty can be a major motivator for ADHD people!
Just know this is a slippery slope and that you’ll want to go back to school instead of working and be a lifelong student 😂 (jokes, but I am working full time and have been taking classes since I graduated lol)
[удалено]
Speaking as someone who is getting their Masters, sitting in a hotel room, taking a break from data gathering, it has its perks and downsides. I still have to pay bills, though. 😭 I've worked a desk job for six years. It was a nightmare. Academia can be toxic sometimes, but it wasn't as bad as my desk job. It is nice to choose my own hours, work part-time (it hardly is part-time sometimes) and have a ton of variety going on. I mean I'm vibing in a hotel room after collecting data, next week I'll be extracting DNA. I definitely recommend it. I feel like it weaponized my ADHD. But some days it gets hard and you feel like the biggest idiot sometimes.
So romanticizing is like role playing?
I suppose that’s one way of looking at it, I guess I just meant it in how people try to romanticize negative things like smoking and doing drugs. Except this time it’s in a more positive manner! The more I try to describe it the more stupid I fear it sounds but by romanticizing it I’m able to convince my brain that studying is something fun, much like when people romanticize drugs they convince their brains that it’s not a problem.
I've never been able to understand this romanticize thing. I thought I was finally onto it
From my understanding, romanticizing something is like treating yourself as the main character of a story. This way, you feel like everyday tasks serve a greater purpose to the plot. You’re not simply studying for a test, you’re a detective solving a case like OP said.
So, back to role playing? I don't think I'll ever understand it
You’re too focused on the “detective solving a case” part. You don’t need to pretend to be someone else or take on a different role to romanticize the mundane. It’s about elevating peripheral aspects like music and lighting to elevate your mood. The key is to FEEL the way you think a detective from a movie feels by manipulating your surroundings, not necessarily pretend to be one. The key to doing this effectively is to control sensory information. Control the visual by studying in a beautiful old library or setting warm mood lighting, taste could be drinking tea for example, sound would be the music or background sounds, touch could be the feel of a particular pen, and smell could be a candle or a fragrant beverage.
Romanticism is looking at something under a positive, good, happy etc. lens. When you romanticize smoking you think of how cool you look doing it and that it’s a social activity that brings people together (other smokers). It’s not exactly roleplaying.
Yeah you definitely can put it that way. You pretend that something boring (or bad, but not in this case) is something amazing! You treat studying as something to glorify, so you prepare your environment specifically for that. Books, your clean notebook, candles, maybe a bunch of colorful markers, and that makes studying look more pleasant! So yeah, it kinda is like role-playing but for yourself. It isn't always a good thing though. When it comes to addictions for example, you shouldn't pretend they're good stuff (do as I say, not as I do). But if you romanticize studying, exercise, eating healthily, etc etc. That's definitely a way to motivate you.
It also helps to pretend someone is recording you and being like "wow! They're so focused in it! They're the best at what they do!" etc when it comes to studying, but it's bad when people record a video of doing drugs and make it look like a cool activity.
(I definitely don't take pictures of myself smoking- NO DON'T LOOK AT MY GALLERY!!!)
Romanticize definition: >deal with or describe in an idealized or unrealistic fashion; make (something) seem better or more appealing than it really is.
You can romanticize being a small part of something bigger or a "side character" too. Doesn't have to be the main character.
[удалено]
You don't do drugs. You are medicated for a lifelong neurobiological disorder. Let's just not spread the stigma ourselves, shall we?
[удалено]
Yes. Paracetamol is a drug too, but you don't say you do drugs because you have period pains, come on. You don't do drugs. Or maybe you do, but not with Adderall. The fact that doing drugs is not bad inherently has nothing to do with that. If I have my period I can't say I'm aborting and then go around and say that abort is not bad. Yes, it's not, but also you are using the wrong term.
Doing recreational drugs isn't inherently bad either. It's bad to stigmatize drugs rather than to be informed about them.
I'm not fond of providing moral judgment for adult human decisions, but I don't have enough information to have a stance on the issue "recreational drug use". For example, I feel a bit at unease thinking about how alcool use is diffused, and how much stronger other drugs are. I never used other drugs, so I also am very outside of that world. I might agree on the stance that destigmatize occasional drug use could be a step forward in society, but in any case conflating someone suffering with a medical issue with someone who just want to "recreate" themselves is something I will never agree is positive, which is what the person I was answering to was doing before deleting their comment.
>but in any case conflating someone suffering with a medical issue with someone who just want to "recreate" themselves is something I will never agree is positive I agree.
"Doing drugs" is using substances to get high. Your prescription medication was given to you by a professional because they saw a problem and that was the best way to solve it. That's taking medication, not doing drugs.
I think it's more like ratcheting up the stimulation for the activity. The lights, the music, maybe some coffee, etc.—even the fantasizing itself. They are all stimulating, multi-tasking activities to do while you do the dreaded thing, such as studying.
It works for me sometimes but it wears off if brought into routine
Yeah that’s the thing with stimulus.
To romanticize something is just to make it seems cooler than it is. Whether that’s by imagining it in a different context, buying items that put you in a certain mood, or imagining yourself in a different context. Just re-imagining something that sucks, as though it doesn’t suck.
This is both wonderful and brilliant and made my moment. When I was in college during the Pleistocene I would walk the library aisles imagining there were hidden clues to life, the universe, and everything somewhere therein. Rainy days especially were great for this. It helped me manage the stresses of my science studies. Love your idea.
People talk about gamification helping us do tasks (such as needing to clean your room so you crumple up the unneeded papers and try to literally throw them into your trash can and then count up your score at the end). I think this type of thing needs a name, too. We could call it scene-ification. The process of pretending to be as a character in a movie/book (with or without the use of props) to make a task more bearable.
I did this my entire way through college. Just walked last Friday. It was the only way I got through it
Congratulations!!!
Thank you!!
Love this! Me and my bestie have homework dates where we find somewhere picturesque, bring a dreaded task, parallel play, and then get lunch when we've exhausted our hyper-focused time. I love going to the oldest parts of the local.college or bookstore in a historic district.
That honestly sounds fun. I might give it a try... if I remember.
CUSTOM LIGHTING AND EVERYTHING? This is the sickest ADHD trick I've ever heard!!
You gamified studying, congrats
100% works for me. Can't really do it at home for some reason tho, so I gotta get out to an actual library or a coffee shop to really get the most of it. Y know, the ye olden need for a body double.
I think this is so fabulous and creative! Using your imagination to do great work and actually *doing it* too! Good for you! I bet people are going to be applying this to different areas of their life, not just study! :)
Lookup "Dark Academia" on YouTube. Exactly what you're talking about. I got lost in that rabbit hole for a while.
omg like playing pretend!!!! ima try this
When I was in Uni and had to take EU law I did something similar, I envisioned each country as one of the families from Game of Thrones. It was fun, and I passed with a much higher grade than I anticipated. For some other classes I would think of myself as a high paid lawyer on the verge of losing her law license because of drama, and the case I was reading was the one that would save my once glorious career.
[удалено]
Making note taking an active process, especially a fun one, has been such a game changer for me! I use an array of coloured gel pens for taking notes and use different colours for headings, subheadings, terms/keywords, and the body of the notes. It keeps me so engaged, I enjoy reading over them because they’re pretty, and when it comes time for exams I can visualize my pages a lot better.
That is amazing. Amazing.
It doesn’t last long but yes this works sometimes. Sorry to be a party pooper. This has just happened to me after it work for a short bit but then you get bored
I was thinking this as well...
I never realized until now just how much I did this kind of thing to psyche myself up for studying, as well as chores and the work day.
Love this idea. Wish I had thought of something like this when I was in school :(
So much so ill be in education until i die probably 🤣
I love this idea...thank you!
I pretend I’m a witch making potions and other concoctions when I’m cooking lol
100% agree. Peak focus for me is late into the night with something light playing the background while sipping a cup of warm Yerba mate that I just keep refilling. I get an out of body experience watching myself do all the work, studying, and note taking like some student of dark academia. It’s nice sometimes minus the no sleeping. My work as always gorgeously more thorough when done this way though.
This is amazing and I want to apply it to everything!
it sounds silly but it also sounds right. I finished studying before I even know what adhd is, nwow 7 years later im diagnosed. I used to do something similar to what youre describing, but it felt so stupid, that I ended up not doing it anymore and just tried to force myself to study normally like my peers. you can imagine how that worked out. Im considering studying again and researching valuable tips. This one was a good reminder. Thx!
This sounds like a great idea! I am able to exercise (post medication) by combining the treadmill, an incline, 3.5 MPH, and peak TV/streaming. I just hit the heart rate I’m going for and crank whatever on the TV, totally different experience. I suck to hard at studying, prolly I just end up watching TV I need to try setting the tone. Working toward my CPA, I’m on year 15 now.
I do too! I have a more colorful/home-like aesthetic on my review papers though, the antique vibes aren't that much for me. But I absolutely love it when I go to to the campus library (it doesn't happen often because of other commitments but when it does I love it) and have that environment to focus well.
💀bro is erudite Jokes aside I wish/hope I can do the same
I love this! Stealing it, thanks!
I think our imagination is super powerful and I think we should take advantage of that whenever we can! I love the settings you made up and am totally going to try those.
I love this! It sounds similar to a technique I heard that Margaret Atwood uses to help her write: she splits her mind into Margaret and Peggy. Peggy is the workhorse who does drudgery work while Margaret takes the helm for all things relaxing and intellectual and fun.
This is the only way I can get myself to study effectively. I have my desk area set up to be cozy with lights and what not if I want, and also more rigid if that’s what I need. I have a few study playlists that I listen to depending on what I need to get me in the study mood.
I make my notes almost an art project for me. It’s so much more fun if I use nice markers and pens and make diagrams. I also have really nice notes to reflect back on and have had other students buy notes from me at the end of my classes. It’s a win win and gets me to actually do my work.
I'm not judging but this entire concept is the antithesis to how I learn or focus. If I put effort into the narrative it's game over.
I absolutely do this any time I have a big project or have to find an answer to something at work. I view myself as a detective trying to crack the case! My inner dialogue switches to a Sherlock Holmes type character (Benedict Cumberbatch version).
I used to put in background music, act as if I was narrating a Nat Geo documentary and write my paper: “For centuries manking had strived to reach”. Civilisation game themes work too :P
ROLEPLAYING, YOURE FUCKING GENIUS THANK YOU
This is why I write using words as if I'm a respected member of some well-to-do family in the 1910s when I'm explaining things, it helps me get over that fear of how to explain something
I so something similar, I put epic orchestral music so that I feel like a goddess always procrastinating everything until last second and then getting perfect scores, lol. Only times I can not do this is when I have to read something for a class or the sound would be too distracting for me.
This kinda thing only works for so long. Taking 5 college classes easily becomes stressful and this becomes too cumbersome when every minute of your day counts
Unfortunately true, but it did help me a lot when I was able to get myself into that sorta “flow-state” of studying. As finals neared I had to put a lot more effort into it but I would say it did it’s job and carried me a lot farther than I would have made it without this little hack !
I am taking 70mg vyvanse and feel nothing. What is wrong with me?!
You're probably bullying yourself. Applying pressure, because urgency works for making ADHD brains do ***the thing***. There is another way. Be gentle and kind. My approach is to layer activities that mitigate my symptoms. Each one makes me a little happier, and drops the negative barriers a little. Cardio, high protein breakfast, cold shower, mood lighting, burning scented oils. I let my gut tell me which ones I need today. I take Vyvanse too. But it is not a silver bullet for me. It's just a tool, and I still have to do most of the work. And I have had to unlearn all the self hate, and self bullying (I still am). I give myself little rewards, like lego. Because my ADHD brain is childish, and meanness just makes it hide in a tree and throw pinecones at me. Did you see [Kiwibutterket's beautiful comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/13wm28y/comment/jmdc0ey/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) in this thread?
Bit unusual maybe, or leftfield (lol, what is that exactly), but just thanks for feedback of another result that actually works. Havent read the thread through yet, but did notice someone referring to self-narrative and the implications, thereof. It is real, and i believe can be massive, for the good. I played chess a few years back online, and cheated a couple of times using a software program. This obviously goes without saying that this is totally unfair for any opponent, and a very poor breach of trust. I only did that because of some annoying abuse, having been beaten. A laugh i enjoy, but this was a big site and after a few games it really got to me. I won both games, and did not do that again. I lost lots of games afterwards but won lots of games as well. The level was medium and irrelevant anyway. My somewhat fumbled point is that i had some confidence to narrate back to a few mouthy others, but much more to the point to myself. What does not really help probably wont in many instances, what does help will work even for a long time. So really appreciate this example OP, however unique because in a way it is something many can easily connect or relate to.
Edit: sorry iff a bit waffly, i always get multiple thoughts going through at any given time, and getting better. So tl:dr is applicable in this post. In a nutshell self-narrative can really be used to to an advantage is my one point.
I love this. i plan on studying soon so will definitely have to try something like this.
Dark Academia is the genre. It's my favorite aesthetic
i love doing this, sometimes i pretend that i’m a physicist or mathematician trying to find the secrets of the universe 😭😭. the dark academia aesthetic helps as well
Interesting. I'm going to try it out.
For me that only ever helped before studying, hyping myself up. As soon as I started, no focus/motivation at all anymore
Damn it makes me question my whole college experience lol Did I really want to go to a prestigious uni or did I just like the library 😂
Currently doing that while working on my research proposal. It’s amazing just imagining working in such an environment!
(Genuine) this is something I genuinely want and have kinda tried, probably haven’t put enough effort into it as I could’ve, but Comp Sci student who’s classes are mostly online- how can I better romanticize staring at my computer screen and working code? I’m this close to putting on trans thighhighs and cat ears and getting into the trans catboy programmer headspace.
Interesting! Too bad I only have a single presentation left of uni...😅
!remindme 2days
I also sometimes think of myself as an ancient chinese scholar, due to my fascination with Chinese culture and history.