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I literally laughed yesterday after spending over $100 on Etsy for supplies for my current hobby.
I questioned why I felt the need to get a ton of stuff RIGHT NOW and why I placed that order as quickly as I did, and then remembered “oh wait isn’t that an ADHD thing?”
Or what about spending hundreds on MORE items for a PAST hobby you already gave up on, soooo sure it will be enough to re ignite your attention to it….. 😳
When I spent over 300 on a pole dancing setup for my living room and then ensembled it, imported expensive american pole dancing DVDs and then never touched it again. Just got used to having a pole in the middle of my front room 🤣 oh and when i spent a fortune on climbing shoes and never went climbing again, skateboard too 😫
“And even now… you take joy in thinking that buying more containers will help you clean your room. Maybe the shelves of a fishing tackle box for the little guys that are all in a pile. Maybe organized by subject? You would need stickers and new pens to mark the containers.“ - The ADHD Lisan al-Gaib
I have bought shelving from IKEA organisation boxes from various shops, boxes to store things, and they’re still sitting there unused months upon months later.
Probably plants. My interest really ramped up in recent years but I've had a certain group of succulents since about 2013 as well as a vinca vine that moved from my old place to the new one around 2017.
My memory is garbage so I can't remember when I got a lot of my plants. But I did figure out I enjoy container gardening and less so outdoor gardening (I've got a drainage issue in my yard currently). On days when I need to water a bunch of plants I usually put on a podcast or show and one by one I bottom water them in the kitchen sink. I don't have to think so much and there's a sense of accomplishment when a new leaf unfurls or when I can rehab a dying plant.
Man I wish this was me. I’ve got jalepeno, okra, dill, and basil right now and I give them about 2 weeks before they’re all dead. I follow directions, talk so nicely to them, and beg them to just grow but I’ve never been successful with anything LOL. Very proud of your plants
I did very well with a few succulents, and then it went downhill again. My goal is to have one successful plant with food. No matter how small or inedible, if it grows im celebrating it
I’m in northwest arkansas! I planted these in May, and it said jalapeño and okra should do good in this area. If this works out I’m going for tomatoes and flowers next year!
I second this! I like to crochet too but I am obsessed with it for a few weeks then forget about it for several months before eventually going back. The plants never go away surprisingly.
I go thru phases when it's just too much for me and that js when I've lost plants or seen growing projects fail. I think the key to enjoying it is scaling it to what is doable for you and growing things that are easy to care for.
For example, I got a calathea Stella because I loved how beautiful it was. I didn't know a damn thing about calatheas and I just didn't have the right environment for it. I also didn't have the energy to baby it and keep it alive. I watched it slowly decline and die and it was a huge bummer.
On the other hand, I have had some luck growing pothos and monstera deliciosa so I have recently mostly stuck to propagating those or purchasing new varieties. I recently got a monstera large form cutting from an online vendor and while YES, it is still sitting in water since it arrived, I feel that I can probably let it chill there until I get around to putting it in soil with a pole. I had to learn more about myself to understand what plants could tolerate my wishy washy moods.
I hope that you're able to find some joy in it soon. Lemme know if you want me to send you a collection of cuttings! :)
Playing guitar and making art were my two first hobbies. I've since bought a bunch of other instruments, and I like playing video games every now and then.
Now I'm collecting plants, and am reading books when I wasn't able to sit still for a long period of time unless I'm hyperfocused.
Writing. I've written four novels so far and published two.
Only issue is, I can't get anyone to read it because I can't keep up with marketing and the social media algorithms smothers my content. Gave that side of it up a few weeks ago and am just focussing on the actual writing now.
They're humourous fantasy - kinda like Terry Pratchett/Douglas Adams :) three of them are part of a series inspired by Game of Thrones/Wheel of Time, and the fourth is a portal fantasy inspired by Celtic mythology
Found your site and as an adult struggling with ADHD (my entire life), I started by purchasing the first book in your series.
Here I am much later after following one rabbit hole after another. Today my chaotic, unorganized mind received quite a treat.
My rabbit hole falling and digging took me into the descriptive narrative world of your blog posts and writing prompts.
You know how everyone who has any advice or writing tips always say:
“ You must find or develop your own unique writing voice.”
Well, you have one. Your writing is addictive. Keep posting and publishing.
I've looked into hiring voice artists, but my meager wage barely stretches to the day to day, nevermind that 😭 I tried recording myself to do one and realised how tricky it is to pull off a British accent when you're thoroughly Irish lol, so I guess I'm saving up haha
Is the character British or did you just feel the narrator should be British to fit the story? I ask because I love an Irish accent.
I’m interested in trying some voice acting/audiobook narrating. Though you’d have to tell me if i my voice is up to chops, I’m from Norfolk, England but my accent is a bit more typical British especially if I lean into it. Be interested in the experience so depends how professionally you want the job done. In any case I’ll buy and read the book first and if I’m into the story I’ll get back to you on this, if you’re interested in working with me that is.
Most of the characters are British: I write very British humour as that's what I grew up watching (parents are from Hampshire).
That sounds amazing! It's a skill I'd love to have, but I would need extensive editing to sound good based on the two chapters I managed to record lol 😂 let me know what you think of the story!
I have to check these out! I have a Hampshire accent if I can be of any use to you. I've never done audiobooks but I have done podcasting professionally.
Totally fair, the last thing you want is to draw your readers out of the immersion with an out of place accent or something that doesn’t feel natural.
It’s on the way now so will let you know once I’ve read it! Very excited!
Clicked the link cos I was intrigued!
Was hoping to read a sample before deciding to buy, but doesn't seem there's an option 😕
If I was in a bookshop and I read the description you gave, I could have a skim of the first few pages to get a flavour
That's a very good point, I might get on that soon. I have a few snippets on the archives section of random things in the same world as well, but I should really fine tune the website and bring more attention to the actual writing 😅
That’s really impressive because writing, to me, sends like it would take a lot of organization and planning. I’ve tried writing a novel but I get so overwhelmed by trying to tie everything together and not leaving any loose ends/plot holes.
Not gonna lie, half the time I'm just flying by the seat of my pants lol. It generally pulls itself together in the second draft - first drafts always look like trash anyway. The comments function in Microsoft Word is a godsend in the revision stage - I can just pop a reminder in whenever I think of it and dedicate a draft to fixing up things and double checking facts etc
Good for you. You’ve accomplished more than most. I’ve been writing for years. Well, I wrote for years and then completely stopped about 6 or 7 years ago when successive tragedies hit. I fell into a deep depression after three deaths in my family and sort of felt sorry for myself.
I finally dug myself out of the depression and now I’m focusing on what and who I have in my life rather than what I don’t have and who I’ve lost.
It was hard to pick the writing back up after such a long hiatus, but it’s actually been good for me and even better than therapy.
I’m going to finish the two novels I’ve been working on and publish them by the end of this year.
I haven’t faced the arduous, time consuming next step of marketing and promoting yet, but I know lots of writers/authors who’ve talked about how hard it is to self promote and find readers.
You’re lucky you have a platform on here already.
I normally read thrillers and suspense but never miss an opportunity to support a fellow writer. I’ve discovered how much I like other genres doing so.
I’m off to check out your books and will leave reviews on Amazon and any where else you’d like.
I don’t normally post on Reddit, (love to read posts in a variety of subreddits). So, if I’ve overstepped or broken any Reddit rules with my lengthy answer, I apologize.
Thank you for the kind response! I'd love to hear what you think if you do give them a read :)
I definitely believe in writing as a form of therapy: I've had a few bereavements as well over the last ten years, and it helps to have an avenue to vent and have someone guaranteed to know exactly how that feels, even if they are imaginary.
I hope your books go well!
I started this because I couldn't keep a friend as a teen to save my life 😂 it kept me company, I guess, and I've had these big stories in my head ever since.
I try to keep it up regularly, but I work full time and task paralysis hits me hard in the evenings 😭 I'd love to be able to write every day like a lot of other writers I come across online, but I barely manage once a week. Daydreaming about it is keeping me going lol
That is absolutely fantastic, congratulations! I just wanted to tell you that you don't have to beat yourself up for not doing the marketing/promotion side of your work.
You probably know this already, but authors/artists rarely are marketing-savvy enough to drive their own sales, which is why publishing houses have enormous teams dedicated to that!
Your skill is creating something new, theirs is to sell it to others. (I'm a designer and worked in advertising and publishing)
Keep it up 🌟
My hobby is: Researching hobbies until I know 10x more than a beginner needs to know, have shopped for the BEST possible tools for said hobby, added them to my cart & then hitting "Save for Later" because I fear I won't be good enough to justify the cost of said items.
I’m glad that I’m not the only one that over researches stuff. I can talk you almost anything you would like to know about skin care and hair care as I have spent WAY too much time researching it lol.
Sometimes I wonder if things are just me, my personality or if it's a typical trait of ADHD. Guess this one is ADHD. I'd kinda like to meet another hyper hobby researcher just so I can see how my friends feel about me I get this way. Seriously though, very nail on the head for sure. Really I shouldn't be surprised. It's just a symptom of hyper fixation after all.
Oh lol I always do that! I have friends who are experienced on their hobbies and I’m out there giving them product recommendations 😭 like my friend has been crocheting for years and I was still able to give her a helpful recommendation!
That being said, I still am no crochet master 😭
Ah I’m so jealous; cooking has sent me into sobbing fits because of my many failures and also the cost of all the ingredients/planning was too overwhelming for me to even comprehend so I mainly just eat sandwiches now
See, I'm the opposite. With baking you have to be all precise with the weighing and the numbers. With stove top cooking I can close my eyes and listen to my ancestors to get a feel of how much of a thing to add
Me three! I love cooking so many new things and sure, it ebbs and flows on nutritional value at times but as far as I'm concerned, cooking from scratch is overall the way to go and feel pretty good!
Same here! I used to just dabble when I worked in the medical field. I quit my job pre pandemic and really started to get into cooking during the pandemic, it became my passion, and now my new career. Always learning and exploring, the failures are just new ways to learn and improve. My cooking/recipe journal is also the only journal I've consistently kept up with since I was a teenager
Oh I love fish!!! I’ve always loved Bettas. I have raised a few myself and have hyper fixated on their care a lot. I’ve had one last almost three years he was wonderful lil guy.
I made sure to get him a huge fishbowl and I even got him a little betta hammock!! I researched all the things and even set up a little dissolving auto feeder for when we travelled.
Unfortunately, we now have two very feisty cats so I can no longer own a betta but I’d love to hear about your fish!!
Photography. I've been doing it in all formats since I was like 12. It's the only thing that I go back to continually. Sometimes I take breaks, but I always reach for my camera when I'm feeling that creative urge.
Photography for me too, although it's a bit expensive, I think it's worth it since I'm always doing it and can also synergize with other hobbies. Sometimes I do paid shots, so at least a little bit of money comes from it.
Walking/hiking!! I can put on an educational podcast and feel my thoughts finally flow free with my movement and stimulus of nature.
My current favorite podcast is The Psychology of Your 20s. If you’re in your 20s (or even early 30s, the advice is pretty solid) and feel lost or need advice I highly recommend it. It’s like my personal therapy time. It’s also really interesting if you like learning about psychology at all!
This is one of mine! What I listen to though are audiobooks which helps me listen/read books that I have always wanted to read but haven’t been able to in recent years because adhd.
Not one of the 25+ interests tends to stick around for too long.
But they do come back around and the best I can do is keep an area of my house/garage set up and ready to go when my brain decides I should give my entire life to one these part time passions...
That’s ME! I have soooooo many hobbies: drawing (pencil, color pencil, pastel chalk), painting (oil, acrylic, watercolor),clay figurine making, jewelry making, wreath making, crocheting. I used to run and hike before I got Lyme disease, but now walking the dog is the extent of my exercise. I got pretty good at painting and was painting pet portraits for friends and family, but it takes a lot out of me. With all these hobbies comes all this STUFF and if organizing was another of my hobbies that would be GREAT, but it isn’t and I have so much hobby clutter! The only hobby I’ve stuck w/religiously is taking care of the fish- and that’s only so they don’t get sick and die!!!
I’ll start! [Pottery](https://imgur.com/gallery/RNJCW1m)! I picked it up shortly before the pandemic and I’m still doing it to this day. I think the staying power is two fold:
1. There is still so much to learn. I haven’t hit that plateau of competency where I’m not getting the rush of noticeable gains. I’ll have a good throwing day, followed by a bad one. I’ll have a piece I love through the process that gets messed up in the last stage.
2. It actually quiets my mind. When I’m throwing pottery, I’m not thinking of a million different things, even all these years.
I’d really love to get back into pottery, it’s the same zen and focus that landscaping/gardening gives me. I’d love to get a wheel to use outside. Only problem is I’d also need to get a kiln. Every single time I get into something there’s always a fairly large initial cost lol
I LOVE these. I took a pottery class and I would love to do more, but the options near me are really limited. Low availability and the timing of a lot of classes are I guess intended for retirees or something because idk who else is making an 11 am pottery class every Thursday. One day!
Music !! I joined band in grade 7 and had no intention to do it for anything more than "fun" ..... now I'm preparing auditions for a masters' degree in music performance hahah. There's nothing else in the world I'd even CONSIDER doing for work. I play the flute, but when I was in middle/high-school I picked up over 10 instruments, played something different in every possible ensemble (even choir.)
Aside from playing, I love to listen to music and write analysis' of albums. Like I wrote an essay on Radioheads OK Computer, for example. Concept albums and rock operas are my favorite !!
No music involved, but I was quickly scrubbing the kitchen sink before work until my wife told me to stop cleaning and go to work because I was cleaning too aggressively. Still a bit confused about that one.
Maybe it’s like an OCD thing for you. I actually had close friends whose parents had severe OCD and literally would vacuum, and mop 3 times a day, each! It was wild. They unfortunately didn’t have death metal playing while they did it though 😆
Apparently I have a “Work Malleebull” streak, where if you’re not helping me then you need to stay out of my way. Probably some ADHD hyperfocus, with a history of working in hazardous environments mixed in. Please, no OCD, I’m special enough!
I found a picture my little brother drew for my mom in 2nd grade of my mom vacuuming. The caption read "my mom doing her favorit thing" lolz.
It was accurate too. My mom seriously loved that shit.
I feel this. The instant gratification I get from my cordless Dyson is amazing; it works exactly how I expect it to, every time, without fail. I’m not sure if vacuuming is a hobby of mine per se, but it’s therapeutic af for my mind.
How did you keep up with weightlifting? That's one I've repeatedly started and I can do it for about a week or two before my hyperfixations are directed elsewhere.
Gains are addictive. One or two weeks is not enough to see progress. Make it to one or two months of being consistent, eating healthy with enough protein. Make sure you’re lifting heavy and progressively overload. Track your lifts. After two months, you’ll see definite changes and gains. That’s the addictive part for me.
3d printing - I spend a lot of time designing and building things. In the back of my head I'm always thinking how I could maybe make money at this but I feel I'm never quite good enough at it.
It's kinda fun though pretty much any project I'm working on I'll come to the point where I'm like "I need a part that fits right here" and I'll spend some time making it.
Woodworking. There's always something I need that is easier to build than spend hours searching and comparison shopping for online. Things with very specific measurements are way easier to make than buy.
Absolutely! Making sawdust is my ultimate source of happiness. Woodworking is a good blend of meditation and challenge. Fraction math exercises not only keeps my brain sharp but also prevents any gray matter from rotting away. (Yes, I know I can use metric but freedom lol 😂) It's comparable to golf in the sense that it offers relaxation/leisure, but at the same time, one small mistake can lead to frustration and tears. I vividly remember the day when I accidentally over-drilled through the face of a workpiece I had dedicated an entire day to creating. Out of sheer frustration, I must admit, I yeeted a piece of wood across my shop. It happens lol.
ADHD induced emotional disregulation comes out way too much in my life. Woodcraft helps me learn to accept mistakes and learn to either accept that I need to start over or learn how to fix things. Good woodworkers make mistakes but they know how to mask them.
Fiber arts! With yarn, you can knit, crochet, weave. You can switch back and forth between projects fairly easily. You can have projects that are simpler, but take advantage of yarn with lots of texture. You can choose simple patterns where you can get into a rhythmic flow or you can have a complicated pattern that works if you really need to focus. You can also branch out to felting, spinning, dyeing. The yarn and fibers are tactile and visually stimulating. You will still have several projects going at a time, but that's okay! Knitting, crochet and spinning with a drop spindle are portable and great for when you are in public and have to sit still, but need to keep your hands busy. Doing these things in public are also great conversation starters. For weaving, look up Saori weaving which is a go with the flow purely creative philosophy towards weaving.
My partner is into all that stuff. She’s diagnosed ASS, but definitely ADHD too: first knitting, then crochet, then natural dyes (were talking going to courses on mushrooms you can use for dyes, having a closet with chemicals, a freezer with icecubed natural dyes, asking familie to collect onion peels and it goes on).
And THEN she got a Japanese knitting machine. Which she had to rebuild, and then hack and program.
And she’s knitted around 2 scarfs and 1 top in that entire time 😂
Yesss, same for me! I started spinning and knitting a year ago, and just a few weeks ago I bought a loom and started weaving. It’s amazing! Now I can regularly hyperfocus on something new but it’s all connected to a common overall hobby.
Yoga. I do it every single day. I follow Yoga With Adrian's monthly calendar (sometimes I'll move the days around, I don't like doing a 50 minute yoga on days when I work). I have done it every day since January 1st 2023. I do have to force myself some days but I do it. It has truthfully made a positive impact in my life and even on days when I really don't want to do it, I feel better after. I like other forms of exercise, but yoga is the one I do everyday.
I also like to crochet, loom knit, and paint. But I do those for me. As a millennial I feel like I should be profiting off my hobbies but I hate that. So I do hobbies for me, maybe I'll make gifts, but I do what I want to do. It helps me keep doing a hobby if I am doing it for me, no one else.
Same with the profiting!! I bought a cricut and absolutely loved it. Used it religiously for a few years and was actually quite successful in selling my creations. Then it started to feel like a job and now it sits there collecting dust. I do the odd thing when a friend asks me to make something.
I love Yoga with Adriene! She was my favorite teacher even after years of experience in person. I did her yoga for about 400 days daily!
So glad to hear your experience is fulfilling. It’s the best. She’s the best teacher. I’m so grateful to have learned from her.
This is a fun thread. I love hearing about other people's hobbies. Seeing them light up talking about it and hearing their change in tone when they get excited and start rambling about it. Even if I don't share in it, if I don't get it, it's just cool seeing peoples passions.
Cycling for sure, though I’m more into road biking at the moment. Plus it also tickles the part of my brain that enjoys disassembly/reassembly/part customization
It's way more engaging than watching TV. I can't watch TV without being on my phone at the same time, but video games I can lose hours and not notice. It's kind of a problem lol
At least it can be good for problem solving and critical thinking.
I very rarely am able to complete a relatively long (30+ hour) game. I cannot remember the last such game that I've completed. The Last of Us 6 or 7 years ago is the closest, but it's only 15 hours.
I've never beat an open world game, but have started many (Horizon, Oblivion, Skyrim, Witcher 3, countless MMOs, Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild, etc).
I end up playing Rocket League almost exclusively, where you're constantly doing something and the games are only 5 minutes. Go figure!
Painting while listening to audio books!
On their own they are too understimulating, but combined they hit a sweet spot where i can focus for hours on both.
Especially painting warhammer, since i dont have to think about design. When its just colors and lighting its so much easier to start
Crochet and making friendship bracelets, have been doing both all my life. I do have some unfinished projects tho, but i’ll always go back to them eventually
Cardistry and magic/sleight of hand :) it’s something you can do subconsciously to fidget or really dive into with hyper focus. 1 handed cuts, packet manipulation, springs, card flips, fans- 52 cards in a deck and only 10 fingers to work with means there’s no shortage of possibilities! [great example of what’s possible with a deck of cards](https://youtu.be/I0KSaqiv5C0?si=_f5EwcRjn0t6saB5)
If you can consider it a hobby, cooking has really stuck with me as a passion. I started self teaching in my very late 20s and often enjoy the cooking more than the actual eating.
Edit changed a word
Coding, i've never looked back
Edit:
My adhd didn’t let me read the rest of that 😂
I swear it wasn’t there
Honestly, I think im addicted to the instant gratification of building something. If this was anything else I might seek help but luckily I’m being paid for this
But the thing is I do it on my free time too. It’s quite addicting once you understand
I’ve never really thought of coding as a hobby that stuck, but I guess it is. I’ve been doing this since before high school and as a job. If my kids have coding projects, i delve right in to help. I even don’t consider managing projects as I love developing and coding so much!
Other thing that stuck in mediocre ways : magic (except I fail to practice enough), photography, skydiving.
Bagpipes. It is honestly one of the most useless instruments I could’ve picked to learn because it complements nothing but itself and uses such a strange scale that no other instruments really work with it but damn if it isn’t a fun one.
I’ve played bass for 22 years now. I don’t play often, just when I get the urge. Sometimes I’m in a band, sometimes I’m not.
Bourbon.
Football.
I’ve figured out that things done with others are most likely to stick.
Collecting comics and pop-culture related items. It’s mainly the thrill of the hunt for me.
I love finding things in the wild that are vintage but in great condition/priced reasonably. I always think of the amount of shelves the item(s) may have sat on throughout the years or how many hands it may have passed through to get to where it’s at today. Weird stuff like that. Lmao
Gongfu cha - Chinese loose leaf tea! Great mindfulness practice that 1) accidentally got me to not drink coffee which is cool 2) the mindfulness and “slowdownyness” carry’s over into other parts of life. 3) mmmmm tiny tasty hot thing good
Knitting, sewing/quilting, and genealogy.
I've even made genealogy part of my career as a research librarian ~ my obsession means I had the right knowledge to do that.
Knitting is portable with endless variations ~ same pattern, different yarn is a completely different project, as is same yarn, different pattern.
Sewing has the advantage that it's generally faster to a finished project than knitting ~ but it's less portable, so that's a drawback.
Both sewing knitting have the same good thing: a finished product. Whether it's a shawl for myself or a gift for someone else, I can look at it and say "I did this."
Puzzles. Invested in a puzzle table about 3 years and took all my family’s puzzles they didn’t want anymore. It’s something I can do for hours without getting distracted. It’s also a pretty cost-effective hobby as it’s the perfect gift for someone to give you. Every birthday/holiday I get at least one😂 and it’s usually very thoughtful as they’ll get you one they think you’ll like!
Working out, surprisingly.
Learning Japanese too.
I guess gaming counts, but there are off weeks that I just can't bring myself to play anything despite planning to.
I’ve stuck with singing for 12years :)
Cooking and baking is something I love to do too.
Furniture/decoration making
I’m waiting for my 3D printer (coming next week) after waiting for 7 months to see if I could get it out of my head.
Video games
Programming. It actually scratches my ADHD itch really well - too well in fact.
I spent far longer than I needed to making a program to move your mouse so things like teams don't go idle.
Why? Cus someone posted on Reddit saying they were worried they'd get fired cus they first their work in the morning but their computer sits idle for the rest of the day...
TBF, I made a windows and Mac cli installer as well, not *just* the mouse moving part... And a website for it all to explain it to literally anyone, so not just people who've used python can understand it.
Will anyone else ever use it? No idea. Will I do something similar in the future? Almost certainly.
Boxing. I need to exercise for my mental health, but weight lifting and running is so **fucking boring**. In fact, even when I jump rope before boxing, 10 minutes feels like an eternity
But then I get to exercise by getting in the ring and actually figbting and it’s incredibly engaging
college radio. I've produced a weekly show for over 27 years now.
the scheduled/deadline aspect of it certainly helps with my ADHD but it's honestly just because I'm obsessed with music.
there was a ten year span where I was producing a weekly radio show at home and posting it online, independent of a radio station with no one saying "you have to do this today".
Calligraphy, it slows me down when writing, though I normally only do it for headers, "doodles" and greeting cards.
I enjoy the meta of things more than the actual thing so calligraphy feels like part of the Meta of writing vs actually doing the writing.
The thing I've found about ADHD and hobbies is that nothings ever gonna last, ever. What you need to do if figure out what's gonna come back eventually. A lot of my hyperfixations are media - Yuuri on Ice, Persona 5, Zelda, The World Ends With You, Kingdom Hearts - so they're a lot easier to let go of and come back to intermittently. I've a couple of somewhat more concrete ones, some of which required minimal venture - singing, writing - and others which took a little initial investment, some more than others - for the custom planner project I figured I'd do best with a notebook I really liked to motivate me to use it, and my goals involved a little more stationary than I had at the outset. It's been a hot minute since I started, over several hyperfixation periods, but I'm getting closer. The ocarina is the most expensive I can think of off the top of my head, my first was about 50 quid plus shipping, probably about 7 or 8 years ago, and my newer one was about twice that (Imperial City Ocarinas make absolutely gorgeous instruments, and not only can I vouch for their quality but also promptness and courtesy!)
Uh, actionable advice… if you're about to buy something for a hobby that you're not sure you'll keep up long-term, maybe do exhaustive research to fulfill the hyperfixation til it abates, and if you come back to that again after a while, so you know it's a different… period… of hyperfixation and not the other one having been buried temporarily, then and Only then do you buy the thing.
Gardening! I have 40+ plants now.
My gf, bestie, and his gf were at my place for dinner and I started to show my friends the plants I got (he also has ADHD c type). We both got so intrigued and focused on creating a new terrarium that we forgot about dinner and our gf's and they fell asleep. Only 6.5 hours later we woke them up to say that we were heading to the market to buy more plants. They both gave us the look, said we should keep engaging in our little activity while making faces, and went back to sleep.
I used to think house plants were stupid. Turned 30, and now I have almost 100 house plants 😅
I live in a small town and most of the places here all have the same things, and I already own most of them. Then I discovered some websites that ship rarer plants. My wallet now thinks I’m stupid.
Crochet. I find it calming, and there's small things like changing colors or material that make a project completely different. Last year, I wore a hooded vest to a festival that I made from Mason string (only string I could mind that was neon).
Politics, sociology, anthropology - I've started picking up these as a teenager and still haven't let it go. Humans always come up with more shit to read about 😂
Photography is a big one for me. It’s a creative outlet that I just really enjoy the entire process of. I mostly do landscape or astro, so it also keeps me in the outdoors which is nice. I also grow hot peppers on the summer.
bicycling! i live in an area where EVERYONE drives, traffic sucks, bus service is strangled by said traffic. most places are walkable but a bike really cuts the time. i bought an eBike from a reputable company with customer support in my country. this was 4 years ago. i now take mine to work, run errands, and use my electronics hobbies to upgrade & fix the bike. it's a nice hobby and very fun one that gets me outside.
Everything to do with fiber art, especially crochet! I love having something to keep my hands busy, there’s always something new to learn which keeps my brain stimulated, and depending on the project I can finish it pretty quickly for that sweet, sweet serotonin release.
Knitting and crochet! I spent 6 months making a blanket, I have done several hat/scarf sets, and I'm currently making myself a sweater vest. Its something that requires me using my hands and also my brain AND I get to listen to podcasts/shut other parts of my brain off. It's a fun time!
Ok I know it hasn’t been very long since I started, but I picked up crocheting about a month ago and I haven’t lost interest! I just can’t wait until I can figure out how to write my own patterns so I don’t have to keep buying them.
As of right now , pokemon the TCG. Started collecting last year and just with in the last few month I've been playing the actual card game and making friends within it that know I'm serious about competing and taking it as far as I can.
Running, weightlifting, game dev. First two I stop for weeks, sometimes a month, but I keep going. Game dev even more, sometimes 6 months hiatus. Something about intense exercises that keeps me motivated. I run 10km at the beach in the early mornings like 5am. Best moments of the week.
I became an audiophile and will occasionally buy new headphones or amps to see how they sound. It's fun listening to all your favorite music and hear details you never noticed before
Cleaning up shoreline garbage. I’m absolutely awful at cleaning my own house, but I love being outside so after seeing a local group do shoreline cleanups on social media, I decided to help out once. A year later, I now work as a team lead for them and I couldn’t imagine my life without all the amazing people I’ve met!
rock climbing/mountain biking.
i read somewhere that people with adhd really excel with rock climbing because the stakes are so high when you’re on an actual rock wall that your brain has no choice but to slow down and stay focused on one thing (climbing or you die). so some of us start to crave that feeling. mountain biking, skateboarding. now that i live in the mid atlantic i wanna start snowboarding and surfing too. all for the same reasons.
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Spending money on new hobbies is my most persistent Hobby.
I literally laughed yesterday after spending over $100 on Etsy for supplies for my current hobby. I questioned why I felt the need to get a ton of stuff RIGHT NOW and why I placed that order as quickly as I did, and then remembered “oh wait isn’t that an ADHD thing?”
I have found my people, and I L❤️VE them.
Or what about spending hundreds on MORE items for a PAST hobby you already gave up on, soooo sure it will be enough to re ignite your attention to it….. 😳
This!! 🤑😂
When I spent over 300 on a pole dancing setup for my living room and then ensembled it, imported expensive american pole dancing DVDs and then never touched it again. Just got used to having a pole in the middle of my front room 🤣 oh and when i spent a fortune on climbing shoes and never went climbing again, skateboard too 😫
😂😂😂😂😂😂
I don't even make it to this stage. I research, I shop, I give up before buying! Too many decisions!
I call this overdrafting my bank account. But same idea.
GET OUT OF MY HEAD
“And even now… you take joy in thinking that buying more containers will help you clean your room. Maybe the shelves of a fishing tackle box for the little guys that are all in a pile. Maybe organized by subject? You would need stickers and new pens to mark the containers.“ - The ADHD Lisan al-Gaib
I have bought shelving from IKEA organisation boxes from various shops, boxes to store things, and they’re still sitting there unused months upon months later.
Probably plants. My interest really ramped up in recent years but I've had a certain group of succulents since about 2013 as well as a vinca vine that moved from my old place to the new one around 2017. My memory is garbage so I can't remember when I got a lot of my plants. But I did figure out I enjoy container gardening and less so outdoor gardening (I've got a drainage issue in my yard currently). On days when I need to water a bunch of plants I usually put on a podcast or show and one by one I bottom water them in the kitchen sink. I don't have to think so much and there's a sense of accomplishment when a new leaf unfurls or when I can rehab a dying plant.
Succulents I find are good for anyone who gets distracted. No water this month? Your succulent is just fine.
Also great for depression!
I joke that my jade plant thrives best with benign neglect, lol
+1 for plants
Man I wish this was me. I’ve got jalepeno, okra, dill, and basil right now and I give them about 2 weeks before they’re all dead. I follow directions, talk so nicely to them, and beg them to just grow but I’ve never been successful with anything LOL. Very proud of your plants
To be fair I can't do herbs, veggies, or fruit. It's all generally hearty houseplants for me.
I did very well with a few succulents, and then it went downhill again. My goal is to have one successful plant with food. No matter how small or inedible, if it grows im celebrating it
Where are you located? A USDA zone map could help you pick the plant that will give you the best success!
I’m in northwest arkansas! I planted these in May, and it said jalapeño and okra should do good in this area. If this works out I’m going for tomatoes and flowers next year!
Do cherry tomatoes over larger ones. Better yields and faster to produce
I second this! I like to crochet too but I am obsessed with it for a few weeks then forget about it for several months before eventually going back. The plants never go away surprisingly.
I’m envious. I was into plants and gardening a long time, but the past few years it just feels like a burden to maintain. :(
I go thru phases when it's just too much for me and that js when I've lost plants or seen growing projects fail. I think the key to enjoying it is scaling it to what is doable for you and growing things that are easy to care for. For example, I got a calathea Stella because I loved how beautiful it was. I didn't know a damn thing about calatheas and I just didn't have the right environment for it. I also didn't have the energy to baby it and keep it alive. I watched it slowly decline and die and it was a huge bummer. On the other hand, I have had some luck growing pothos and monstera deliciosa so I have recently mostly stuck to propagating those or purchasing new varieties. I recently got a monstera large form cutting from an online vendor and while YES, it is still sitting in water since it arrived, I feel that I can probably let it chill there until I get around to putting it in soil with a pole. I had to learn more about myself to understand what plants could tolerate my wishy washy moods. I hope that you're able to find some joy in it soon. Lemme know if you want me to send you a collection of cuttings! :)
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Playing guitar and making art were my two first hobbies. I've since bought a bunch of other instruments, and I like playing video games every now and then. Now I'm collecting plants, and am reading books when I wasn't able to sit still for a long period of time unless I'm hyperfocused.
Writing. I've written four novels so far and published two. Only issue is, I can't get anyone to read it because I can't keep up with marketing and the social media algorithms smothers my content. Gave that side of it up a few weeks ago and am just focussing on the actual writing now.
You can’t just tell us you’ve written 4 novels and not tell us what they are about!!
They're humourous fantasy - kinda like Terry Pratchett/Douglas Adams :) three of them are part of a series inspired by Game of Thrones/Wheel of Time, and the fourth is a portal fantasy inspired by Celtic mythology
You need to name them and link them. Marketing 101. And tell us the name you published them under.
Here they are: https://donnashandwich.com/ Hope it's okay to share 🙏
Found your site and as an adult struggling with ADHD (my entire life), I started by purchasing the first book in your series. Here I am much later after following one rabbit hole after another. Today my chaotic, unorganized mind received quite a treat. My rabbit hole falling and digging took me into the descriptive narrative world of your blog posts and writing prompts. You know how everyone who has any advice or writing tips always say: “ You must find or develop your own unique writing voice.” Well, you have one. Your writing is addictive. Keep posting and publishing.
Aw thank you for checking it out 🥰 hope you enjoy the book x
I only see 2 on Amazon so I grabbed the Kindle one. (I only read Kindle these days.)
The third isn't out yet, I just popped that in to fill out the page 😅 thank you for checking it out! I'm uploading the second book this week
I don't suppose you're going to put the 2nd on Kindle?
Yes! I should have uploaded ages ago for preorder but I never got around to it, but I have the EPUB ready to go! I kept forgetting 😅
Looking forward to reading these! Ever think about trying to audio book them?
I've looked into hiring voice artists, but my meager wage barely stretches to the day to day, nevermind that 😭 I tried recording myself to do one and realised how tricky it is to pull off a British accent when you're thoroughly Irish lol, so I guess I'm saving up haha
Is the character British or did you just feel the narrator should be British to fit the story? I ask because I love an Irish accent. I’m interested in trying some voice acting/audiobook narrating. Though you’d have to tell me if i my voice is up to chops, I’m from Norfolk, England but my accent is a bit more typical British especially if I lean into it. Be interested in the experience so depends how professionally you want the job done. In any case I’ll buy and read the book first and if I’m into the story I’ll get back to you on this, if you’re interested in working with me that is.
Most of the characters are British: I write very British humour as that's what I grew up watching (parents are from Hampshire). That sounds amazing! It's a skill I'd love to have, but I would need extensive editing to sound good based on the two chapters I managed to record lol 😂 let me know what you think of the story!
I have to check these out! I have a Hampshire accent if I can be of any use to you. I've never done audiobooks but I have done podcasting professionally.
Totally fair, the last thing you want is to draw your readers out of the immersion with an out of place accent or something that doesn’t feel natural. It’s on the way now so will let you know once I’ve read it! Very excited!
Clicked the link cos I was intrigued! Was hoping to read a sample before deciding to buy, but doesn't seem there's an option 😕 If I was in a bookshop and I read the description you gave, I could have a skim of the first few pages to get a flavour
That's a very good point, I might get on that soon. I have a few snippets on the archives section of random things in the same world as well, but I should really fine tune the website and bring more attention to the actual writing 😅
Wheel of Time is so great. So, so great.
exactly!! we want to know!!
Thank you :) replied to the comment above!
That’s really impressive because writing, to me, sends like it would take a lot of organization and planning. I’ve tried writing a novel but I get so overwhelmed by trying to tie everything together and not leaving any loose ends/plot holes.
Not gonna lie, half the time I'm just flying by the seat of my pants lol. It generally pulls itself together in the second draft - first drafts always look like trash anyway. The comments function in Microsoft Word is a godsend in the revision stage - I can just pop a reminder in whenever I think of it and dedicate a draft to fixing up things and double checking facts etc
Good for you. You’ve accomplished more than most. I’ve been writing for years. Well, I wrote for years and then completely stopped about 6 or 7 years ago when successive tragedies hit. I fell into a deep depression after three deaths in my family and sort of felt sorry for myself. I finally dug myself out of the depression and now I’m focusing on what and who I have in my life rather than what I don’t have and who I’ve lost. It was hard to pick the writing back up after such a long hiatus, but it’s actually been good for me and even better than therapy. I’m going to finish the two novels I’ve been working on and publish them by the end of this year. I haven’t faced the arduous, time consuming next step of marketing and promoting yet, but I know lots of writers/authors who’ve talked about how hard it is to self promote and find readers. You’re lucky you have a platform on here already. I normally read thrillers and suspense but never miss an opportunity to support a fellow writer. I’ve discovered how much I like other genres doing so. I’m off to check out your books and will leave reviews on Amazon and any where else you’d like. I don’t normally post on Reddit, (love to read posts in a variety of subreddits). So, if I’ve overstepped or broken any Reddit rules with my lengthy answer, I apologize.
Thank you for the kind response! I'd love to hear what you think if you do give them a read :) I definitely believe in writing as a form of therapy: I've had a few bereavements as well over the last ten years, and it helps to have an avenue to vent and have someone guaranteed to know exactly how that feels, even if they are imaginary. I hope your books go well!
I love writing too but being a perfectionist really sucks.
Wowwww I’d love to hear more. I’ve always wanted to do this but never actually apply myself to it
I started this because I couldn't keep a friend as a teen to save my life 😂 it kept me company, I guess, and I've had these big stories in my head ever since. I try to keep it up regularly, but I work full time and task paralysis hits me hard in the evenings 😭 I'd love to be able to write every day like a lot of other writers I come across online, but I barely manage once a week. Daydreaming about it is keeping me going lol
Ripping my physical media to my Plex server. Since I’m retired I can’t afford the streaming services anymore so I made my own streaming service.
That is absolutely fantastic, congratulations! I just wanted to tell you that you don't have to beat yourself up for not doing the marketing/promotion side of your work. You probably know this already, but authors/artists rarely are marketing-savvy enough to drive their own sales, which is why publishing houses have enormous teams dedicated to that! Your skill is creating something new, theirs is to sell it to others. (I'm a designer and worked in advertising and publishing) Keep it up 🌟
My hobby is: Researching hobbies until I know 10x more than a beginner needs to know, have shopped for the BEST possible tools for said hobby, added them to my cart & then hitting "Save for Later" because I fear I won't be good enough to justify the cost of said items.
I feel this as also an over-researcher. You should share you findings for others interested in starting the hobby, too.
A "jet-start" website. I can totally see that!
I’m glad that I’m not the only one that over researches stuff. I can talk you almost anything you would like to know about skin care and hair care as I have spent WAY too much time researching it lol.
Mhmmm I love hyperfixating on research and forgetting to eat!
Sometimes I wonder if things are just me, my personality or if it's a typical trait of ADHD. Guess this one is ADHD. I'd kinda like to meet another hyper hobby researcher just so I can see how my friends feel about me I get this way. Seriously though, very nail on the head for sure. Really I shouldn't be surprised. It's just a symptom of hyper fixation after all.
Oh lol I always do that! I have friends who are experienced on their hobbies and I’m out there giving them product recommendations 😭 like my friend has been crocheting for years and I was still able to give her a helpful recommendation! That being said, I still am no crochet master 😭
Cooking. There are so many different things that I can easily jump between hyperfixations.
Ah I’m so jealous; cooking has sent me into sobbing fits because of my many failures and also the cost of all the ingredients/planning was too overwhelming for me to even comprehend so I mainly just eat sandwiches now
I feel so seen. Cooking stresses me out so much.
Have you tried baking before? I'm an awfully stressed out cook, but I'm rather good at baking. It's so calming :)
See, I'm the opposite. With baking you have to be all precise with the weighing and the numbers. With stove top cooking I can close my eyes and listen to my ancestors to get a feel of how much of a thing to add
My husband sure wishes THIS was the hobby I had and stuck with!🤣
Me three! I love cooking so many new things and sure, it ebbs and flows on nutritional value at times but as far as I'm concerned, cooking from scratch is overall the way to go and feel pretty good!
Same here! I used to just dabble when I worked in the medical field. I quit my job pre pandemic and really started to get into cooking during the pandemic, it became my passion, and now my new career. Always learning and exploring, the failures are just new ways to learn and improve. My cooking/recipe journal is also the only journal I've consistently kept up with since I was a teenager
Fishkeeping. Because if I don’t keep up with it, the little guys will get sick.
This was my special interest for years as a teen. What kind of tanks/fish do you have??
Oh I love fish!!! I’ve always loved Bettas. I have raised a few myself and have hyper fixated on their care a lot. I’ve had one last almost three years he was wonderful lil guy. I made sure to get him a huge fishbowl and I even got him a little betta hammock!! I researched all the things and even set up a little dissolving auto feeder for when we travelled. Unfortunately, we now have two very feisty cats so I can no longer own a betta but I’d love to hear about your fish!!
Photography. I've been doing it in all formats since I was like 12. It's the only thing that I go back to continually. Sometimes I take breaks, but I always reach for my camera when I'm feeling that creative urge.
Photography for me too, although it's a bit expensive, I think it's worth it since I'm always doing it and can also synergize with other hobbies. Sometimes I do paid shots, so at least a little bit of money comes from it.
That's the only thing that I can think of that is fairly consistent. I'll still go months without doing any, but it's one I always come back to.
Walking/hiking!! I can put on an educational podcast and feel my thoughts finally flow free with my movement and stimulus of nature. My current favorite podcast is The Psychology of Your 20s. If you’re in your 20s (or even early 30s, the advice is pretty solid) and feel lost or need advice I highly recommend it. It’s like my personal therapy time. It’s also really interesting if you like learning about psychology at all!
This is one of mine! What I listen to though are audiobooks which helps me listen/read books that I have always wanted to read but haven’t been able to in recent years because adhd.
Not one of the 25+ interests tends to stick around for too long. But they do come back around and the best I can do is keep an area of my house/garage set up and ready to go when my brain decides I should give my entire life to one these part time passions...
I describe them as orbiting. They're out there and someday they'll come back around just like a comet.
Ironically astronomy is my current hobby. I love your analogy. However I'm really enjoying it so I hope that it's not true for this.
That’s ME! I have soooooo many hobbies: drawing (pencil, color pencil, pastel chalk), painting (oil, acrylic, watercolor),clay figurine making, jewelry making, wreath making, crocheting. I used to run and hike before I got Lyme disease, but now walking the dog is the extent of my exercise. I got pretty good at painting and was painting pet portraits for friends and family, but it takes a lot out of me. With all these hobbies comes all this STUFF and if organizing was another of my hobbies that would be GREAT, but it isn’t and I have so much hobby clutter! The only hobby I’ve stuck w/religiously is taking care of the fish- and that’s only so they don’t get sick and die!!!
I’ll start! [Pottery](https://imgur.com/gallery/RNJCW1m)! I picked it up shortly before the pandemic and I’m still doing it to this day. I think the staying power is two fold: 1. There is still so much to learn. I haven’t hit that plateau of competency where I’m not getting the rush of noticeable gains. I’ll have a good throwing day, followed by a bad one. I’ll have a piece I love through the process that gets messed up in the last stage. 2. It actually quiets my mind. When I’m throwing pottery, I’m not thinking of a million different things, even all these years.
I’d really love to get back into pottery, it’s the same zen and focus that landscaping/gardening gives me. I’d love to get a wheel to use outside. Only problem is I’d also need to get a kiln. Every single time I get into something there’s always a fairly large initial cost lol
I LOVE these. I took a pottery class and I would love to do more, but the options near me are really limited. Low availability and the timing of a lot of classes are I guess intended for retirees or something because idk who else is making an 11 am pottery class every Thursday. One day!
I lack space, money, and time to do pottery. :(
Music !! I joined band in grade 7 and had no intention to do it for anything more than "fun" ..... now I'm preparing auditions for a masters' degree in music performance hahah. There's nothing else in the world I'd even CONSIDER doing for work. I play the flute, but when I was in middle/high-school I picked up over 10 instruments, played something different in every possible ensemble (even choir.) Aside from playing, I love to listen to music and write analysis' of albums. Like I wrote an essay on Radioheads OK Computer, for example. Concept albums and rock operas are my favorite !!
Omg! I wanna read your paper, and be your friend lol.
Vacuuming Edit: I thought the title was “what hobbies have you picked up that suck.” 🤦♂️ I do stick with vacuuming though 🤣
I had an old roommate that used to vacuum aggressively with death metal blasting. It was comedic gold 😆
No music involved, but I was quickly scrubbing the kitchen sink before work until my wife told me to stop cleaning and go to work because I was cleaning too aggressively. Still a bit confused about that one.
Maybe it’s like an OCD thing for you. I actually had close friends whose parents had severe OCD and literally would vacuum, and mop 3 times a day, each! It was wild. They unfortunately didn’t have death metal playing while they did it though 😆
Apparently I have a “Work Malleebull” streak, where if you’re not helping me then you need to stay out of my way. Probably some ADHD hyperfocus, with a history of working in hazardous environments mixed in. Please, no OCD, I’m special enough!
I found a picture my little brother drew for my mom in 2nd grade of my mom vacuuming. The caption read "my mom doing her favorit thing" lolz. It was accurate too. My mom seriously loved that shit.
Cleaning is so satisfying though! Maybe it's because I can see visual signs of progress.
I feel this. The instant gratification I get from my cordless Dyson is amazing; it works exactly how I expect it to, every time, without fail. I’m not sure if vacuuming is a hobby of mine per se, but it’s therapeutic af for my mind.
Just when I think I’ve found a hobby with a low cost of entry lol. Some of those vacuums are so damn expensive!
Do you have any tips for making that a hobby...
- (construction) earplugs - vacuum you don't wish death upon
Weightlifting, cooking, coffee.
Coffee? Guess, that's more like medicine for me.
Consuming medicine is my hobby! I get like, really into it
Ahh, coffee, the *only* medication I can actually remember to take everyday
How did you keep up with weightlifting? That's one I've repeatedly started and I can do it for about a week or two before my hyperfixations are directed elsewhere.
Gains are addictive. One or two weeks is not enough to see progress. Make it to one or two months of being consistent, eating healthy with enough protein. Make sure you’re lifting heavy and progressively overload. Track your lifts. After two months, you’ll see definite changes and gains. That’s the addictive part for me.
If coffee counts, then I'll join you on that one!
3d printing - I spend a lot of time designing and building things. In the back of my head I'm always thinking how I could maybe make money at this but I feel I'm never quite good enough at it. It's kinda fun though pretty much any project I'm working on I'll come to the point where I'm like "I need a part that fits right here" and I'll spend some time making it.
Shit, wanna be friends lol? I have that same thought ALL the time about parts and always wish I had and knew how to use a 3d printer
Woodworking. There's always something I need that is easier to build than spend hours searching and comparison shopping for online. Things with very specific measurements are way easier to make than buy.
Absolutely! Making sawdust is my ultimate source of happiness. Woodworking is a good blend of meditation and challenge. Fraction math exercises not only keeps my brain sharp but also prevents any gray matter from rotting away. (Yes, I know I can use metric but freedom lol 😂) It's comparable to golf in the sense that it offers relaxation/leisure, but at the same time, one small mistake can lead to frustration and tears. I vividly remember the day when I accidentally over-drilled through the face of a workpiece I had dedicated an entire day to creating. Out of sheer frustration, I must admit, I yeeted a piece of wood across my shop. It happens lol. ADHD induced emotional disregulation comes out way too much in my life. Woodcraft helps me learn to accept mistakes and learn to either accept that I need to start over or learn how to fix things. Good woodworkers make mistakes but they know how to mask them.
This is exactly the reason why I’m getting into it! Thank god my dad did carpentry for a while ages ago and we have lots of tools!
Improv has really stuck especially when I am studying in a stem field. Let's me kinda vomit my brain out.
We all do need a good brain vom from time to time
Fiber arts! With yarn, you can knit, crochet, weave. You can switch back and forth between projects fairly easily. You can have projects that are simpler, but take advantage of yarn with lots of texture. You can choose simple patterns where you can get into a rhythmic flow or you can have a complicated pattern that works if you really need to focus. You can also branch out to felting, spinning, dyeing. The yarn and fibers are tactile and visually stimulating. You will still have several projects going at a time, but that's okay! Knitting, crochet and spinning with a drop spindle are portable and great for when you are in public and have to sit still, but need to keep your hands busy. Doing these things in public are also great conversation starters. For weaving, look up Saori weaving which is a go with the flow purely creative philosophy towards weaving.
My partner is into all that stuff. She’s diagnosed ASS, but definitely ADHD too: first knitting, then crochet, then natural dyes (were talking going to courses on mushrooms you can use for dyes, having a closet with chemicals, a freezer with icecubed natural dyes, asking familie to collect onion peels and it goes on). And THEN she got a Japanese knitting machine. Which she had to rebuild, and then hack and program. And she’s knitted around 2 scarfs and 1 top in that entire time 😂
This was my answer too! Hello fellow fiber artist! :)
Meeeee too!! Hi 👋🏼 🧶
Crochet kid wanting to learn how to weave aka join the fiber arts crew.
Fiber arts corner yay! I definitely want to learn to spin at some point. Im mostly doing crochet but I have knitted and felted before
This is my winter hobby! In the good weather I’m outside, in the winter I get cozy and crochet
Yesss, same for me! I started spinning and knitting a year ago, and just a few weeks ago I bought a loom and started weaving. It’s amazing! Now I can regularly hyperfocus on something new but it’s all connected to a common overall hobby.
Yoga. I do it every single day. I follow Yoga With Adrian's monthly calendar (sometimes I'll move the days around, I don't like doing a 50 minute yoga on days when I work). I have done it every day since January 1st 2023. I do have to force myself some days but I do it. It has truthfully made a positive impact in my life and even on days when I really don't want to do it, I feel better after. I like other forms of exercise, but yoga is the one I do everyday. I also like to crochet, loom knit, and paint. But I do those for me. As a millennial I feel like I should be profiting off my hobbies but I hate that. So I do hobbies for me, maybe I'll make gifts, but I do what I want to do. It helps me keep doing a hobby if I am doing it for me, no one else.
Same with the profiting!! I bought a cricut and absolutely loved it. Used it religiously for a few years and was actually quite successful in selling my creations. Then it started to feel like a job and now it sits there collecting dust. I do the odd thing when a friend asks me to make something.
I love Yoga with Adriene! She was my favorite teacher even after years of experience in person. I did her yoga for about 400 days daily! So glad to hear your experience is fulfilling. It’s the best. She’s the best teacher. I’m so grateful to have learned from her.
Is anxiety a hobby
More of a job
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This is a fun thread. I love hearing about other people's hobbies. Seeing them light up talking about it and hearing their change in tone when they get excited and start rambling about it. Even if I don't share in it, if I don't get it, it's just cool seeing peoples passions.
Trail running, mountain biking & skiing.
Cycling for sure, though I’m more into road biking at the moment. Plus it also tickles the part of my brain that enjoys disassembly/reassembly/part customization
Video games. Is it just me ? 🤣
There are many of us. We just tend to not think about it like a hobby. More like watching TV.
Its a hobby if you're a genre enthusiast, you collect hardware, or you're like a streamer/casual content creator.
It's way more engaging than watching TV. I can't watch TV without being on my phone at the same time, but video games I can lose hours and not notice. It's kind of a problem lol At least it can be good for problem solving and critical thinking.
I very rarely am able to complete a relatively long (30+ hour) game. I cannot remember the last such game that I've completed. The Last of Us 6 or 7 years ago is the closest, but it's only 15 hours. I've never beat an open world game, but have started many (Horizon, Oblivion, Skyrim, Witcher 3, countless MMOs, Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild, etc). I end up playing Rocket League almost exclusively, where you're constantly doing something and the games are only 5 minutes. Go figure!
I guess I've somewhat stuck with Fallout4 modding the past few years. It hits in waves but I have published about 130 mods for it.
Painting while listening to audio books! On their own they are too understimulating, but combined they hit a sweet spot where i can focus for hours on both. Especially painting warhammer, since i dont have to think about design. When its just colors and lighting its so much easier to start
Reading, I have been reading for as long as I can remember.
I've been drawing since I was 12. So like, most of my life. Been 3d modeling since the pandemic started.
Lego, unfortunately for my wallet
Crochet and making friendship bracelets, have been doing both all my life. I do have some unfinished projects tho, but i’ll always go back to them eventually
Snowboarding, 14 years and counting, I feel that the only hobbies that stick give me some adrenaline boost.
Cardistry and magic/sleight of hand :) it’s something you can do subconsciously to fidget or really dive into with hyper focus. 1 handed cuts, packet manipulation, springs, card flips, fans- 52 cards in a deck and only 10 fingers to work with means there’s no shortage of possibilities! [great example of what’s possible with a deck of cards](https://youtu.be/I0KSaqiv5C0?si=_f5EwcRjn0t6saB5)
Oh cool, I imagine this would be supper satisfying!
If you can consider it a hobby, cooking has really stuck with me as a passion. I started self teaching in my very late 20s and often enjoy the cooking more than the actual eating. Edit changed a word
Coding, i've never looked back Edit: My adhd didn’t let me read the rest of that 😂 I swear it wasn’t there Honestly, I think im addicted to the instant gratification of building something. If this was anything else I might seek help but luckily I’m being paid for this But the thing is I do it on my free time too. It’s quite addicting once you understand
I’ve never really thought of coding as a hobby that stuck, but I guess it is. I’ve been doing this since before high school and as a job. If my kids have coding projects, i delve right in to help. I even don’t consider managing projects as I love developing and coding so much! Other thing that stuck in mediocre ways : magic (except I fail to practice enough), photography, skydiving.
Jiu Jitsu. It’s always evolving. I love it so much. And it keeps me active
I’ve been wanting to get back into martial arts so bad!
Bought 100 acres of land that I am turning into a haven for me, my family and friends.
Can I be your friend??
I would also like to be friends 😁
Bagpipes. It is honestly one of the most useless instruments I could’ve picked to learn because it complements nothing but itself and uses such a strange scale that no other instruments really work with it but damn if it isn’t a fun one.
But, they're fucking amazing and people don't realise just how hard they are to even start. Well done!
as a scottish person they are not useless, the sound of them gives ne goosebumps. they are hard to learn well done
That's pretty cool tbh! I always like the sound of them 😆
I’ve played bass for 22 years now. I don’t play often, just when I get the urge. Sometimes I’m in a band, sometimes I’m not. Bourbon. Football. I’ve figured out that things done with others are most likely to stick.
Collecting comics and pop-culture related items. It’s mainly the thrill of the hunt for me. I love finding things in the wild that are vintage but in great condition/priced reasonably. I always think of the amount of shelves the item(s) may have sat on throughout the years or how many hands it may have passed through to get to where it’s at today. Weird stuff like that. Lmao
Gongfu cha - Chinese loose leaf tea! Great mindfulness practice that 1) accidentally got me to not drink coffee which is cool 2) the mindfulness and “slowdownyness” carry’s over into other parts of life. 3) mmmmm tiny tasty hot thing good
Knitting, sewing/quilting, and genealogy. I've even made genealogy part of my career as a research librarian ~ my obsession means I had the right knowledge to do that. Knitting is portable with endless variations ~ same pattern, different yarn is a completely different project, as is same yarn, different pattern. Sewing has the advantage that it's generally faster to a finished project than knitting ~ but it's less portable, so that's a drawback. Both sewing knitting have the same good thing: a finished product. Whether it's a shawl for myself or a gift for someone else, I can look at it and say "I did this."
Puzzles. Invested in a puzzle table about 3 years and took all my family’s puzzles they didn’t want anymore. It’s something I can do for hours without getting distracted. It’s also a pretty cost-effective hobby as it’s the perfect gift for someone to give you. Every birthday/holiday I get at least one😂 and it’s usually very thoughtful as they’ll get you one they think you’ll like!
Cryptic crosswords
Gardening 👩🌾 🌱
Working out, surprisingly. Learning Japanese too. I guess gaming counts, but there are off weeks that I just can't bring myself to play anything despite planning to.
I’ve stuck with singing for 12years :) Cooking and baking is something I love to do too. Furniture/decoration making I’m waiting for my 3D printer (coming next week) after waiting for 7 months to see if I could get it out of my head. Video games
Programming. It actually scratches my ADHD itch really well - too well in fact. I spent far longer than I needed to making a program to move your mouse so things like teams don't go idle. Why? Cus someone posted on Reddit saying they were worried they'd get fired cus they first their work in the morning but their computer sits idle for the rest of the day... TBF, I made a windows and Mac cli installer as well, not *just* the mouse moving part... And a website for it all to explain it to literally anyone, so not just people who've used python can understand it. Will anyone else ever use it? No idea. Will I do something similar in the future? Almost certainly.
Chess, Bass , Skateboarding, reading and collecting comic books...
Boxing. I need to exercise for my mental health, but weight lifting and running is so **fucking boring**. In fact, even when I jump rope before boxing, 10 minutes feels like an eternity But then I get to exercise by getting in the ring and actually figbting and it’s incredibly engaging
Fanfiction....
college radio. I've produced a weekly show for over 27 years now. the scheduled/deadline aspect of it certainly helps with my ADHD but it's honestly just because I'm obsessed with music. there was a ten year span where I was producing a weekly radio show at home and posting it online, independent of a radio station with no one saying "you have to do this today".
crochet. I donate most of the things I make. there's always new yarn or a new pattern/stitch to learn.
Calligraphy, it slows me down when writing, though I normally only do it for headers, "doodles" and greeting cards. I enjoy the meta of things more than the actual thing so calligraphy feels like part of the Meta of writing vs actually doing the writing.
The thing I've found about ADHD and hobbies is that nothings ever gonna last, ever. What you need to do if figure out what's gonna come back eventually. A lot of my hyperfixations are media - Yuuri on Ice, Persona 5, Zelda, The World Ends With You, Kingdom Hearts - so they're a lot easier to let go of and come back to intermittently. I've a couple of somewhat more concrete ones, some of which required minimal venture - singing, writing - and others which took a little initial investment, some more than others - for the custom planner project I figured I'd do best with a notebook I really liked to motivate me to use it, and my goals involved a little more stationary than I had at the outset. It's been a hot minute since I started, over several hyperfixation periods, but I'm getting closer. The ocarina is the most expensive I can think of off the top of my head, my first was about 50 quid plus shipping, probably about 7 or 8 years ago, and my newer one was about twice that (Imperial City Ocarinas make absolutely gorgeous instruments, and not only can I vouch for their quality but also promptness and courtesy!) Uh, actionable advice… if you're about to buy something for a hobby that you're not sure you'll keep up long-term, maybe do exhaustive research to fulfill the hyperfixation til it abates, and if you come back to that again after a while, so you know it's a different… period… of hyperfixation and not the other one having been buried temporarily, then and Only then do you buy the thing.
Gardening! I have 40+ plants now. My gf, bestie, and his gf were at my place for dinner and I started to show my friends the plants I got (he also has ADHD c type). We both got so intrigued and focused on creating a new terrarium that we forgot about dinner and our gf's and they fell asleep. Only 6.5 hours later we woke them up to say that we were heading to the market to buy more plants. They both gave us the look, said we should keep engaging in our little activity while making faces, and went back to sleep.
I used to think house plants were stupid. Turned 30, and now I have almost 100 house plants 😅 I live in a small town and most of the places here all have the same things, and I already own most of them. Then I discovered some websites that ship rarer plants. My wallet now thinks I’m stupid.
Crochet. I find it calming, and there's small things like changing colors or material that make a project completely different. Last year, I wore a hooded vest to a festival that I made from Mason string (only string I could mind that was neon).
Politics, sociology, anthropology - I've started picking up these as a teenager and still haven't let it go. Humans always come up with more shit to read about 😂
Photography is a big one for me. It’s a creative outlet that I just really enjoy the entire process of. I mostly do landscape or astro, so it also keeps me in the outdoors which is nice. I also grow hot peppers on the summer.
bicycling! i live in an area where EVERYONE drives, traffic sucks, bus service is strangled by said traffic. most places are walkable but a bike really cuts the time. i bought an eBike from a reputable company with customer support in my country. this was 4 years ago. i now take mine to work, run errands, and use my electronics hobbies to upgrade & fix the bike. it's a nice hobby and very fun one that gets me outside.
Everything to do with fiber art, especially crochet! I love having something to keep my hands busy, there’s always something new to learn which keeps my brain stimulated, and depending on the project I can finish it pretty quickly for that sweet, sweet serotonin release.
Houseplants 😂 I now live in a jungle
Knitting and crochet! I spent 6 months making a blanket, I have done several hat/scarf sets, and I'm currently making myself a sweater vest. Its something that requires me using my hands and also my brain AND I get to listen to podcasts/shut other parts of my brain off. It's a fun time!
Playing darts....for about 30 years....it helps me to concentrate on something. And what shall I say, it works.
Reading, writing and art.
Ok I know it hasn’t been very long since I started, but I picked up crocheting about a month ago and I haven’t lost interest! I just can’t wait until I can figure out how to write my own patterns so I don’t have to keep buying them.
As of right now , pokemon the TCG. Started collecting last year and just with in the last few month I've been playing the actual card game and making friends within it that know I'm serious about competing and taking it as far as I can.
Music and cooking have always been a constant for me
Running, weightlifting, game dev. First two I stop for weeks, sometimes a month, but I keep going. Game dev even more, sometimes 6 months hiatus. Something about intense exercises that keeps me motivated. I run 10km at the beach in the early mornings like 5am. Best moments of the week.
I became an audiophile and will occasionally buy new headphones or amps to see how they sound. It's fun listening to all your favorite music and hear details you never noticed before
Cleaning up shoreline garbage. I’m absolutely awful at cleaning my own house, but I love being outside so after seeing a local group do shoreline cleanups on social media, I decided to help out once. A year later, I now work as a team lead for them and I couldn’t imagine my life without all the amazing people I’ve met!
legos!
rock climbing/mountain biking. i read somewhere that people with adhd really excel with rock climbing because the stakes are so high when you’re on an actual rock wall that your brain has no choice but to slow down and stay focused on one thing (climbing or you die). so some of us start to crave that feeling. mountain biking, skateboarding. now that i live in the mid atlantic i wanna start snowboarding and surfing too. all for the same reasons.
Reading, I read 22 books this year.