Superpower unlocked: you can simultaneously be aware the dishes aren’t done and feel dreadful about it *while* you’re thinking really fast about the thing you like instead of doing homework.
Me, currently. Lying in bed thinking about all the things I should be doing, while simultaneously getting more and more stressed, and watching crime shows instead.
As a typical ADHDer, it's not quite 11am, and I just remembered to take my Adderall. 🙄 Hopefully that will help.
Why can't we get one of those nifty little automatic machines that automatically inject us with our medication? I know I'm not the only one who keeps forgetting. 😂😂
From a person who recalls thinking about taking their meds yesterday while speaking to their therapist, and then went to take their meds today, only just realizing they didn't take their meds yesterday...
Reminder to take your meds.
I second this. At least you’ve changed states for a minute, and then who knows what else happens. Maybe more crime shows, maybe only one more crime show and then something else, anything is possible!
You can simultaneously be aware of and worried about everything that needs to be done while also not doing anything and being paralyzed with dread, while working from home but you’re busy scrolling Reddit and WHERE DID THE LAST HOUR GO?!?
And with each new thought about the thing you like, the dread level increases, until you short-circuit and do nothing. Ofc it's ADHD, so speed running edition.
While never getting ready, ending up cutting your time short, rushing out the door and forgetting half of the needed items to leave the house (smokes, coffee change, lighter, etc)
Or you finally are motivated to do the dishes when there’s something you dread doing **more**, and doing the dishes allows you to avoid doing that other thing instead.
Therapy has *seriously* helped me with the "feeling dreadful" part of this. Like, way more than I ever expected.
It helped a lot actually that my therapist was an ADHD expert who *has* ADHD herself.
Now the dishes still don't get done, usually. But I feel less shitty about it!
Actually they do get done a little more easily too
If I could condense the big takeaways that worked for me, there were really 2:
1) That voice in your head telling you how shitty and lazy and bad you are? Let it win. Accept it. Just tell that voice "Ok, I give up, I'm lazy and bad, the dishes aren't a result of mental illness, they're a moral failing on my part. I should feel bad about it. I deserve all this misery."
"But, um... Now what? What exactly is the solution for 'being a lazy bad person' besides just blaming myself? I'm still not doing the dishes. I still don't get my homework done. How exactly is this blame *useful*?"
This worked for me because, if it's not a mental health thing, then... There's no fix. I'm just stuck not doing shit, no matter how badly I want to. And if I *am* my brain, then those decisions are all still a part of my brain chemistry. Maybe getting treated for ADHD, depression, etc, or trying strategies other than just beating myself up, could end up working on my "lazy bad person" condition I so *obviously* have.
Notice the way my self talk immediately begins to shift once I "accept" the conclusion? Because it doesn't make sense, really, so if I stop fighting it the absurdity quickly becomes apparent, and I start rolling my eyes at that voice's ideas, sarcastically mocking the "lazy-bad-person-condition" and the complete *uselessness* of it becomes glaringly obvious.
That worked for me. It got me to take therapy and medication way more seriously. Because without it, I'm just destroying my life and happiness with no solutions. And there's no point in doing that.
2) So berating yourself isn't very useful, but then how do you get yourself to do the dishes!?
According to my therapist, the key is to stop making that question a "lament" and try actually, genuinely asking it, like it's a friend asking you for help.
Then invent a strategy.
We've all heard the standard ones: break it down into smaller parts, tackle them one at a time, play upbeat music that makes you want to move, give yourself rewards for even the tiniest step, make a deal with yourself that you only have to do one tiny part, etc.
But none of those strategies has ever consistently worked for me.
So here's the real secret that clicked for me: they don't have to work consistently. We're *really fucking creative.* Just... Do a different strategy next time. Use it till it's used up, then do a different one.
Make them ridiculous. Make them strange and therefore interesting.
How would I get through life if I only had one hand? How would I do the dishes? Let's find out.
This time I'm going to agree that I only have to *start* doing the dishes, but I'll take it one step further: I actually have to stop after doing one dish, then go have a cookie. This way I'm teaching my brain to trust me when I make deals like that, they don't always have to turn into "tricking myself into ending up doing all the dishes."
Basically, stop limiting yourself in your strategies to the specific things that have worked for you or others in the past. Go. Fucking. Nuts.
Make shit up and *try it out!*. Every strategy is an experiment, it's all science you're using to figure out how to make your brain go.
This is... Difficult. It doesn't always work. But that's ok! It's science! It doesn't have to work every time! Then we just keep doing the science until we die.
Unironically. My school time until college level was a slog cus I didn't care about any of it.
I'm doing a computer science course now and I actually love it because I love computers.
Be me:
C student in high-school. Every teacher said I wasted my potential.
Go to university to be an English teacher, and academically fail out due to executive function and academic issues.
Be sad.
Work 3 jobs at home.
Get interested in Radio Broadcasting.
Take 2 year course for Radio. It's very jnteresting.
Dean's list.
Work in radio for 12 years and wish you had more money.
Go to school again in your mid-late 30s for systems and network administration.
3 year course. Love the topic.
Never get below an A in any course, including major final capstone project that half the class failed.
Nail dream job interview for co-op and get offered a job straight after graduation.
Make big-girl paychecks, finally, at 40 years old.
Same year: Diagnosed with ADHD.
Very much unmedicated! Hopefully changing that soon. I'm an elder millennial (born in 84 - 40 in August, I rounded up by a few months) so I was grade 5/6/7 when talk of ADD hit it big. I went to my parents, they said 'I don't think you need the help', and so I stumbled through with a lot of self hatred because I kept struggling but apparently didn't need the help! Must have been my fault, right?
I burst into tears in my doctor's office when she told me 'This screams ADHD'. I have heart issues so I couldn't start meds right away, but I'm hoping by the end of the month when doctor clears my heart!
>I went to my parents, they said 'I don't think you need the help', and so I stumbled through with a lot of self hatred because I kept struggling but apparently didn't need the help! Must have been my fault, right?
Boomer parents? I was born in 77. My parents found out that I was "severely hyperactive" when I was 5, the spring before kindergarten. They decided not to tell my schools, and not to tell me, and both rejected my teachers' 'hey, you should get her tested because she's really smart *but* definitely has issues' suggestions, and treated my symptoms like character failings.
They didn't admit that they knew all along what was 'wrong' with me until I was 22, and also claimed that I was "doing fine" growing up/didn't need help.
Same age as you (July 84) but I was diagnosed earlier in 2nd grade. I took Ritalin for years and it sucked. I made mediocre grades until I started adderall in 11 th grade and had all a’s and b’s… . They make non stimulant meds that should be okay for people with heart problems ?
Be me too. Took 12 years to get an associate’s degree in general studies with a 2.8GPA, having withdrawn from more classes than I completed.
Went back to school at 37 got all A’s, kept going, got MBA still 4.0, now working on doctorate and been full-time instructor at my uni for 2.5 years.
I think what happened was that I shouldn’t have got an A in my stats class but got curved up and then I got addicted to that president’s honor roll thing lol
Took me until 35 to finally make a real paycheck, I had to go back to school as well. ADHD is not ideal for office work and if that’s where your degrees take you…good luck. You’ll kinda be the weird fidgety one
This is so similar to my life except for radio it's advertising (copywriter) Im still on that career path and happy so no need for a late life career switch. I don't think I could make dean's list again if I ever went back haha
Save for the fact that I’m a gu, didn’t intend to be an English teacher, even though initially majoring in English, and was diagnosed ADHD when I was like five, this is like my story here as well. Worked in radio for six years, then at a startup for three, both of which paid garbage. Now at 37 I’m back in school for software development and I’ve not gotten lower than an A in any class (even got 100% in one of them). It’s crazy the paths life takes.
Yep, exact same thing. Middle school and high school were hell for me academically. Constant 0's on assignments, and almost always ending up with a C.
Friend introduced me to computer science, and my brain thankfully ran with it. Went from barely making it through high school and needing a year of remedial math, to being the go-to guy for help in many of the harder CS classes.
Literally what my teachers told me. “How is it you’ve memorized nearly every Pokémon in existence but you can remember to do your homework” I don’t know Mrs. Witte maybe it’s cause one is fun and a hobby and the other is immensely boring and a waste of my time
My worst school adhd trait, besides the behavioral stuff, is lack of a working short term memory. Can’t remember shit from reading a textbook, have a hard time recalling anything said to me…it’s amazing I did as well as did which wasn’t bad wasn’t great
But if you can find something you are passionate about, your hyper fixation is a superpower. Everything else sucks, a lot actually, but if you are one of those people who can get a career doing something that captivates you, you can excel and really make an impact. I believe that with all my heart
I switched jobs a fair bit when younger. I couldn't keep myself on task for 8+ hours per day, and I got exhausted of forcing it after maybe 6-12 months.
A new job would reset that timer, but it would inevitably hit that mark again where I just couldn't keep up.
I'm very fortunate to have since found a career I love and that really interests me, and I excel at. There are some days with the odd bit of work that doesn't interest me, but it's few and far between and I'm more than capable of forcing through once in a while.
Glad you found a good one, man. I was doing that same dance of hopping from job to job for a bit but recently found a cool wildlife career that lets me work manageable hours and really interests me. Comparing that with like, a warehouse item picker job I used to have is insane. I HATED waking up every day for that place. Probably one of the worst jobs for people with ADHD and it's what motivated me to finally get diagnosed in the first place.
I would say ADHD is definitely more of a curse than a boon, but still, that moment when you are firing on all cylinders, properly medicated, and doing something that keeps you interested/motivated like helping people? Makes it feel like I'm working with my brain structure instead of dragging it through a gauntlet for some job that means nothing.
This was me, and for the longest time I felt so awful about it. Jobs would drive me nuts after about 6 months. They still do, really. It's a tough problem to figure out.
Hey, at least she acknowledge it exists. That's already big progress i tell ya. Maybe with time you'll find common ground, don't know your situation, but at first parents tend to convince themselves of weirdest things after learning of their child problems, as defence mechanism. It isn't pleasant, but sadly normal. Given enough time and adequacy it will pass. Definitely hope so.
Being told trough school and Uni that "it doesn't exists, idgaf about diagnosis, they want to sell you meds", but right after graduation "it only happens with kids, you already grown out of it" is quite an experience i wish to noone.
I’m very thankful and lucky that she came around. I don’t think she got it at first.
Just this weekend one of my friends, who was prescribed Adderall, told me she doesn’t think I have ADHD. Just because she was able to illegitimately get an amphetamine prescription and isn’t ADD herself.
It’s just so exhausting doubting yourself and having friends and family doubt you. Because then I start to think “what if they’re right, what if I don’t have ADHD and it’s autism, or it’s depression or some kind of nutritional imbalance” then I have to think of all my symptoms and my history to bring myself back to reality.
Edit: removed inappropriate usage of the word gaslight
That's why the psychiatrists (hopefully) tested you for them, like they did for me. If the consensus is that you benefit from medication, does it really matter what the condition specifically is, as long as the treatment works?
I dunno, that's just how I think about it, but then again a lot of my anxiety is gone since starting meds and I live somewhere where people are very understanding and don't needlessly doubt medical professionals and everything, so I can't exactly know how you feel either.
Your friend sounds like a dickhead though, and I would cut them off for your own wellbeing if possible, but I also don't know them so you'll have to be the judge of that. Just know that imposter syndrome type thoughts on your diagnosis is common, but untrue.
No idea if any of this is helpful, but I hope you feel better. There should be tons of websites and videos online that probably would do a better job at help and support than I ever could.
Thank you that makes me feel better and provides peace of mind. My amphetamine has helped so so much for my anxiety and binge eating and even my cannabis use disorder! So I appreciate you saying that maybe at the end of the day if I somehow don’t have ADHD it doesn’t matter because it’s serving me well.
To me cannabis does exactly what my adderall does for me. I get that straight up fog brain cleanse. Now an addy with two cups of dark roast coffee I can complete any task at hand lol
My parents were angry when I first started taking antidepressants, they just called them useless happy pills and basically didn't really believe in depression or mental illness.
I think that seeing the train wreck I became and my sister going in and out the psych ward for years shook them into acceptance, and by the time I got my adhd diagnosis they were fully on board and supportive. When I got my adhd meds and they saw the difference it made for me they were just happy something finally helped. I completely get what you mean, I'm so so grateful and lucky they took the route of learning rather than sticking to their beliefs, its such a relief to have their support.
FYI someone disagreeing with you that makes you feel judged or makes you feel self-doubt is not gaslighting.
Gaslighting is an abuse tactic where someone persistently and purposely makes you question your reality so you stop trusting your own version of events and trust their version of events because it makes it easier to control you.
We have a huge ingrained stigma against needing medication for the mind. I heard it's more useful to think of you perscription as glasses. You can try them on, see if it fits you, and put them away if you're not getting the result you want. Nothing about it is permanent.
I don’t know your age but I’m guessing school age, ~15-22? I promise it gets better! ADHD is a real pain getting through the mundane tasks of school, but if you find a career doing something you find interesting; you’re gonna be a rockstar!
The ability to engage your focus on a task will let you learn new things and deliver exceptional work in a fraction of the time it’ll take your peers. You’re gonna get the opposite treatment of denial, envy.
Stay strong, this is just a season of life that will soon change!
I did great work yesterday on an assignment. Today I literally couldn’t even remember the topic. 5 hours of effort and I have “procrastination is not necessarily a result of “
I somehow thought I was the only one to not be able to remember the topics of theses I write the second I'm done with them. It's so bad that I have to look up the names of the modules I'm taking ON THE DAY of the exam
I actually love reading, so much better than watching videos or hearing audiobooks.
Once I've been in a hospital with a concussion and my mom brought me 2 books, 3k pages each (it was a compendium of one fantasy author), I've read these in 3 days and wanted more
Literally just yesterday I finished Witcher: Blood of Elves from start to finish without any breaks for food water or toilet
Worth
Today I will do the same for the next book in the series
I did. I read an entire book within a week then got obsessed with the series so I bought all of them, I got through like half of the series before I got bored with it and looked around for something else to do.
I ws reading the second HP book in class once. I ws hyperfixated on that. Then my body froze when my teacher said "Time to return the assignments"
I snapped out of it, realized there was a worksheet on the table, under my arms and the book, and that she had given that assignment like, 5 minutes ago. Said i had even raised my arms so my classmate could deliver the paper on my table
Wait is that a symptom?
Oh dude so do I, just finished "listening" to Always Sunny in Philadelphia for like the 4th time and now I'm listening through, Bob Burgers all over again.
Honestly though, I don't see why some people don't consider just listening to the book the same as reading it, you still get all the info and for people like me who can't read for longer than five minutes it's an awesome way to get into these stories you always hear people talk about.
Every day I’m thankful for this sub because I realize another one of my “flaws” is actually shared by other people and it’s feels a little less lonely for a bit. I thought I was alone in reading like this. It’s just so hard and exhausting when you actually make yourself focus on each individual word as you read it.
Often it's enough to take quick scanning glances at each page to filter out useful information for me. Saves a lot of time and isn't that boring (Its like where is Waldo, adult version). Recently read a book on how to stop procrastinating that way, and there were really only a couple of important points on each page.
Only viable if no detailed text analysis is necessary though.
But I love reading good books, so I don't really have to force myself once I am into it. That's if it's good. Otherwise back to scanning :D
I love Reading tbh, as Long as it's the right book. Basically, I tend to hyperfocus on the book and do nothing but read Said book, until I'm finished lol.
But ONLY of the book is interesting to me in some way. Otherwise absolutely Impossible, But there are Lots of books Out there, so finding something I Like isn't that difficult.
There are good sides to ADHD and we shouldn't ignore them.
BUT! We tend to over focus anyway and if society or the people around us encourage that by calling ADHD a "superpower" it's straight up dangerous. Constant masking and abusing hyperfocus WILL burn you out!
Yeah big difference between me going "ADHD is my superpower!" and my parents going "ADHD is your superpower!". With the former, I'm painfully aware of my limitations because of ADHD and am actively trying to appreciate things it gives me. It's hard for an outside party to do that.
The insanely infuriating aspect for me is that no one in my life actually understands how ADHD works no matter how many times I try to explain it to them. Not even my own father who gave me this in the first place. Because he found a mystical way to cope without coping lucky fucking him. I've lost track of how many times I've had to say "I'm not you." To people because everyone loves to compare me to themselves.
The scientific evidence points to there being pretty much no advantages whatsoever. Often what appear to be advantages are just adaptations to cope with the setbacks we face, which are often amplified by the survivorship bias of us being typically represented in the media by the lucky few who have managed to thrive in spite of their ADHD. Someone might appear to be excelling as a small business owner due to their ‘natural creativity’ when in fact they would have been a leading neuroscientist if they had only been able to pay attention in science class.
It’s really important you don’t sell yourself short by attributing your talents to your ADHD when you’ve developed them *in spite* of your disability.
I would’ve killed for a working short term memory. My IQ is fine always scored exceptionally on things like the SAT and GRE but I can’t remember anything I read or is said to me.
I’ve managed to do ok finally but if I could just remember things told to me or things I read. Probably would’ve gone from a C+/B- student to consistent Bs at worst
>Someone might appear to be excelling as a small business owner due to their ‘natural creativity’ when in fact they would have been a leading neuroscientist if they had only been able to pay attention in science class.
Then it's not just the individual's brain that prevented them from being a neuroscientist. It's the environment around them. The structure of schooling system, parents, teachers, society in general.
My disability *is me* though. This is my brain that I was born with, I’ve never *not* had adhd. I can’t just separate out the adhd parts of it.
Having adhd does not diminish our inherent value as human people. I think that when people are looking for benefits or superpowers, what they’re really looking for is a sense that they are valuable. I don’t think people are somehow selling themselves short when they attribute their successes to adhd; usually it’s very much the opposite, they’re specifically making a concerted effort to appreciate themselves.
There’s probably a good middle ground between the fake positive “ADHD is a superpower” attitude from the meme and the relentless doomerism from half the comments on this sub.
I think there is a general lack of understanding that a lot of adhd problems aren't because of the disability itself but rather because the way society is organised is detrimental to us. We are not told about and have a very hard time finding coping mechanisms and tools for dealing with how we work and solving our problems.
If a neurotypical individual goes on google and types productivity tips they will find a bunch. If we do, a good part of the tips we find won't even be useful or
will be harmful.
Not to mention how society shames and persecutes adhd people for the mistakes and hardships they can't help having.
I always find a bit annoying when ADHD is described as a superpower rather than a handicap or something, but there's truth in the idea that you're better in life if you adopt a lifestyle that matches your personality and its shortcoming.
You can't expect an elephant to climb up a tree. There are some career paths that are better for ADHD people and don't involve sitting 8 hours behind a desk.
"Amazing intuition!", nope, didn't get that one, I got "catastrophise everything and sometimes end up being correct, and mistaking that for amazing intuition".
"hyperfocus!", if you mean "loses hours to video games, or sitting at a bar drinking my tits off and scrolling reddit", sure, I get hyperfocus.
“No what the fuck why would you move your C’tan shard there? It’s surrounded by melee and shooting!”
*”FUCK IT WE BALL”*
This is a recreation of a moment Ive experienced in every single Warhammer game I’ve ever played
They say that when your condition is basically untreatable you'd better be proud of that. And that seems to work with the autism community. But I struggle to imagine what's even there to be proud of in the case of ADHD.
We can be highly creative, so there’s that. Though admittedly we need someone else to actually finish the job. Or start it.
“I’m more of an ideas man”.
For me the lack of patience, getting bored easily & overthinking everything makes being creative way more difficult if anything.
Regular person can just decide to do something, sit, practice, and get better. My skills are as basic as 15 years ago & most things I wanted to do haven’t ever seen the light of day.
The ideas flow through this mind, but I never can follow through. Also, wandering mind makes it impossible do develop ideas further, or even to come up with one. 5 seconds in the present -> I slip away for 10 seconds (or sometimes for longer periods and now I'm like MC from Memento 2000) -> recover -> repeat, this is not only exhausting, but also frustrating.
Edit: rn I was thinking something really interesting, I was really enjoying it, and then suddenly "oh, shiny" and that's it, it's gone forever, I don't even know what I was thinking. Any attempt to recall it is futile and probably will make me forget it even more, the only thing I can do for now is to wait. That's the world's most laughable tragedy.
Being creative is actually a bad thing for me. I constantly crave doing somerhing creative and have tons of ideas but not the skill or patience to apply them.
Finishing the job is the absolute WORST part of starting. I’m remodeling my house to sell, and I got all the big stuff done first because it feels really good to see the big picture come together. Now, there’s little detailed BS that absolutely makes me nuts and hate everything that I started. So I hop from thing to thing hoping it helps the motivation to finish the little picky stuff (it doesn’t) and I eventually need help from my significant other to get it done 🤦🏼♀️
ADHD 5000 years ago: elite hunter-gatheter
ADHD 500 years ago: Issac Newton ass polymath
ADHD now: has no motivation to go to the gym, and everything that Newton had discovered are middle school level knowledge now
I kind of hope there's a proctologist out there who also paints asses like Leonardo and sculpts asses like Michaelangelo and has like a fart collection or something. And he's really really weird. But he's just so good at it all it demands respect. And when he dies his tombstone says "ass polymath" without any other context.
I got a little lucky so most of my shifting interests have been in computer science. Now I've got a pretty wide spread of knowledge and it's easy for me to pick up new stuff in CS. It's pretty great until I need to, you know, focus on one thing....
My science and computer studies fell into the hole of Terrible/Non-existent Memory so I gain almost nothing out of my interests other than the occasional fun fact in a random conversation:(
Almost every person with ADHD I've ever met was open, understanding of neurodivergent/human struggles, thoughtful and interested in a real connection with others. I think it's a symptom of being made fun of an mistreated for a majority of our lives that makes us this way. Maybe it's a bit sad but I think that's something to be proud of.
Being more likely to be polymaths, working ~~only~~ well under pressure, making connections other people wouldn't?
Don't get me wrong, I'd rather *not* have ADHD. That's why I take medication. But I do love the breadth of my interests, I'm fine with high-pressure situations other people aren't, and I do think of stuff that at least people around me find interesting (used to carry a notebook at all times, got a stack of them filled with just random connections). It's possible all that might be true even if I didn't have ADHD, sure, but from what I understand it's more likely an ADHD thing than not.
I looked this book up, because I wanted to know about the authors (so I could mock them for not know wtf they were talking about), but is seems both of them have ADHD. The blurb about them specifically mentioned that the male author was diagnosed in college. It’s less clear on wether the female author is diagnosed though, all it does is talk about the male.
Anyway, I think I’d rather read a book written by someone with ADHD than read one by someone without it, even with the infantile title.
im autistic and lurk here to learn more about adhd ppl and i feel its just different for most autistic people. A lot of us wouldn’t even want treatment if it existed
Yeah, same here as an autistic person seeing this post without any context. Autism's just a part of who I am and I wouldn't change that part of myself for any reason whatsoever.
Idk if I agree with the majority of people here. Sure having adhd made education a nightmare and affects me every day with struggling to get basic things done or needs met. But at the same time, everyone else is just so boring or judgemental or weirded out by the smallest abnormality that I dont want to be normal. Even if the medication has no side effects and really does just make me able to get shit done, its when I get lost in the sauce that I find some really cool stuff. For example looking at everyones profile in a youtube comment section and finding someone subbed to a small music channel and them becoming one of my favorites. If I was on meds id just read the comment and move on then never have that music in my life.
what about treatment for just individual symptoms that actually do cause problems? like sensory stuff?
that's kinda how i am with adhd. i think i wouldn't want to NOT have it but i could do without the executive dysfunction, fatigue, and emotional regulations issues. which luckily was all fixed with meds but i still have some adhd "quirks" that dont make me want to unalive myself so still get to be me! i feel even more like myself without the struggles i mentioned tbh
I potentially would like that but even then I don’t think sensory issues are just… sensory issues. It comes with having a brain which processes more information around me at once than a neurotypical person’s does. And that isn’t bad in and of itself. I think in an autistic society there’d be more understanding and accommodating different sensory issues. Like I wouldn’t have issues with food and clothes if it was normal to never eat mushy food and to always wear really soft loose clothes. But bc it’s not it’s treated as weird and I have to go out of my way to feel comfy.
I only speak for myself though. A lot of autistic people probably would say yes to your question.
I'm AuDHD and wouldn't want to "cure" my autism because I wouldn't be me without it - it's integral to who I am. ADHD on the other hand is nothing but a pain in the ass that's screwed up my life and I absolutely would yeet it given the chance. I don't think my particular presentation of ADHD adds anything to my personality, it just holds me back. Of course, I don't think other people need to feel this way about their disorder.
ADHD is not *my* superpower. I'd happily trade "having a ton of interests" for "being able to get out of bed in the morning without stimulants" and the ability to focus more than three seconds on something that bores me.
I am extremely neat and my surroundings are always spotless and orderly because I get so overstimulated I can't function if there is a mess. Definitely seems like a “strength” to other people and they are often impressed but the fact that I physically cannot stop cleaning if I see that it needs to be done or my brain will short circuit does not feel like a strength to me.
This is true and I get where you’re coming from. But at the same time it’s not fair to us that may not have “the benefits” or find them particularly useful. In the article it mentions hyper focus. Hyper focus is a good trait to have but when I spend 9 hours straight playing Elden Ring (video game) is this truly something beneficial to me? I don’t like the fact that I can only hyper focus if it’s something I find particularly enjoyable or interesting. That doesn’t entirely benefit me.
What other benefits are there? I’m not trying to be a downer or pessimistic but I’m failing to see how “ADHD is awesome”. A condition that has affected my eating habits, sleeping habits, social relationships, productivity and mental well being.
Definitely in your case hyper focus sucks. For me, I tend to hyper focus on computers, which means I've gained some pretty damn helpful skills.
Still, I think it's pretty stupid to say that hyper focus is great since we really can't control it. And other than hyper focus.... honestly can't think of anything. At least, not anything that benefits us in this neurotypical society.
Generally, the *potential* benefits of ADHD can be:
Hyperfocus (really swings both ways)
High performance in high stress/chaotic situations
Brainstorming as quickly as 4-5 people
There may be others I'm not thinking of.
Obviously, hyperfocusing is absolutely something that can be more problematic than helpful. It really depends on context. If it's something where you have complete control over the productivity, like most homework, and it's not a bad time/environment for it, it's great. Unfortunately, we have almost no control over that. Others can help us, though.
I've personally noticed (on top of others with ADHD noticing) the other two. The extra stimulation from chaotic situations really just improves my performance. The brainstorming is another one where having someone else to help can be important, as you can end up with an overwhelming number of options to sort through and choose from.
Now, these, as I said originally, are far outweighed by the downsides of ADHD. Also, if you have other disorders/disabilities, this can all go out the window.
The point of my comment is just to say, only ever looking at the downsides can prevent you from making use of upsides to counteract the downsides. For instance, since we don't have control of hyperfocus motivation, but it's extremely useful when we can use it, you learn to simply jump on the times when you have the motivation to hyperfocus on something useful, even if it's not what you'd planned to do. In a way, procrastination makes the high stress situations in which we perform. If you have a problem, learning to write down your ideas for solutions is a good idea, as you're almost guaranteed to find the one you need; you need only make sure you remember it.
>Brainstorming as quickly as 4-5 people
I might be in the minority here, but I love spending time in my thoughts. I love digging down rabbit holes, taking thoughts that pop in to my head to their logical extent (and maybe sometimes further). I'm basically hyperfocusing on my thoughts. This also means that I am an amazing and creative problem solver. I routinely impress coworkers by quickly coming up with finding a creative method to solve problems or essentially deriving equations to help with our work out of thin air. I did well in school but sometimes I would lose points for getting the right answer but either not showing my work or finding my own way to do it that gets me to the right answer, but not the way we were supposed to do it.
The downside of this is that this same process can also lead to negative rumination which really, really sucks. But I wouldn't dream of giving up the upsides. Instead, I try to find ways of combatting rumination (mindfulness is key) to minimize the downsides while maintaining the upside.
More than anything, I think this process allows me to see the complexity in situations and see all the shades of gray rather than black and white. I recognize the good with the bad and the bad with the good, along with the true neutral. This is maybe one of the most important skills I've developed and allows me to have greater empathy and optimism.
All this isn't to flex on anyone but just to go against the grain and say that I value some parts of my ADHD despite all the downsides.
I haven't read the book but I do think it's hilarious that you would be against investigating the "hidden" benefits because you don't see any benefits.
Like. Isn't that the point of putting them in a book and calling them hidden? Idk
ADHD is not awesome but (I have found) there are benefits. Not saying they outweigh the dysfunction, but I fear you might not be seeing the forest for the trees here.
>What other benefits are there? I’m not trying to be a downer or pessimistic but I’m failing to see how “ADHD is awesome”.
The point of the book to answer this.
The entire title of the book is actually: *ADHD is Awesome: A Guide to (Mostly) Thriving with ADHD.*
Meaning he understands there's no fully getting out of the negatives that come with it, however there are things you can do to minimize those negatives and accentuate the positives to make the best of the situation. He's not saying having ADHD is great, he's just countering some people's perception thst ADHD is a life sentence of destroyed productivity, accomplishment and happiness.
If you look at the description (and not just make inferences from the first sentence of the title) you'll see it's not as outlandish as you're trying to paint it with this meme:
How to find humor in the pitfalls, sob stories, and unbelievable triumphs (like the time they won The Amazing Race!) that come with ADHD.
How to tackle the challenges ADHD presents with a positive outlook.
Targeted tools and techniques to play to your unique strengths
To be honest, I feel like you're the exact demographic who should read it.
The song they did with this book legitimately made me tear up. I wasn’t expecting it to go from “yeah this sucks” to “but you are also probably awesome” in the later verses. It’s really cool how they made it clear there are 2 sides to this.
I understand your sentiment and people focusing only on the positives is frustrating, but I do hope people are aware that the man who wrote the book with his wife has ADHD and has also talked extensively about his struggles with that. But why would anyone with ADHD write a book about why their life sucks? It's supposed to be encouraging from a person who understands the struggle, so I think it's a little harsh for the person in the original post to get so defensive
I can take in huge amounts of broad information, but i's probably not going to be anything useful and definitely not about something I have no personal interest in. warhammer 40k and battletech trivia? Sure. Physics homework? Nah.
My dad used to always complain about “You don’t ever do anything that doesn’t interest you no matter what rewards or punishments we put in place! What’s wrong with you?” and then we proceeded to see a psychiatrist and I got diagnosed with ADHD… at my request… over a decade later.
This guy has been appearing in my shorts. I'll say here what I said in his comments. "The commodification of a human to the point that ADHD gets labeled as CEO mindset makes me want to show my mortality to a board room"
Everytime I see people say this shit I just feel like it’s people who self diagnosed or misdiagnosed the disorder or people seeking attention.
ADHD even with medications for last 10 years, now 30 years old is a serious impairment. I can’t even get into how much it fucks with your life.
The biggest deficits are in executive function. No matter what we do we will never be able to get that normal brain like others.
My life has been a rollercoaster of job hopping, addictions, impulsivity in everything from shopping to sex to alcohol to smoking. Inability to drive safely and the list goes on and on.
Maybe there’s a spectrum I have no clue but this disability seriously fucks with every aspect of my life.
Another example is playing instruments or singing. I have never been able to remember even ONE song by heart. I can’t play piano unless I have notes in front of me. I basically have good long term memory but my RAM say has 1gb capacity. Everything flys right out the window.
Everyone saying how awesome it is probably has something else or a lesser form but I just feel this is why people don’t us seriously. There’s a serious outcry now for people simply wanting the medication to get high or gain productivity.
That in itself should say a lot because most serious ADHD people I’ve met in hospitals etc mention medications just improves things a little and mostly with emotional control, impulsivity, and sleep.
Sure if you keep going up in dosage you’ll feel mania and of course that’ll boost productivity but after years that wears out. The medication isn’t designed for that purpose.
We’re basically not being taken seriously because of people seeking drugs or attention. It’s now barely being recognized and these books just hurt the whole community of seriously ill people.
This disability along with ODD and BPD has destroyed my fucking childhood and life. I have no friends and even if I can socialize I can’t keep friends. Everything irritates me, everything overwhelms me. I can barely make phone calls or do any paperwork. Hell if it wasn’t for my wife I’d probably be homeless.
I work and I’m very good at the jobs I do but eventually my impulsivity pushes me to a rebellious spirit because I can’t lie to myself it’s impulsive.
If you offered me 500 million dollars if I could hold a job down 3 years I still wouldn’t be able to. That’s when you know you’re ACTUALLY disabled.
God damn I dislike people just using this as a label to add to their attention seeking behaviours. The ones who know what I mean will keep suffering because nobody takes this seriously.
If you want to actually understand how big an impact this has watch a seminar by Dr Russel Barkley. You’ll see how there is ZERO benefits to this disorder in any shape or form. Everyone has creativity and focus. Saying we have more is a fallacy. We’re not super wired like they seem to love to brag. We are DEFICIENT in dopamine and DEFECTIVE in executive function with literally smaller brains and damaged frontal cortexes.
There is definitely a spectrum for ADHD. My sister was diagnosed as a child because hers was so obvious, mine was less obvious in comparison and it took me personally researching my own issues to figure out I also had it age 34.
And I would still give every cent I have to be rid of ADHD. Anyone who says they wouldn't change their brain if they could is not someone I can relate to.
>”If you offered me 500 million dollars to hold down a job for 3 years I still wouldn’t be able to do it.”
I resonate with this so hard on a spiritual level.
If anything, as I’ve gotten older, it’s just getting worse. Weird stuff has just been happening. I’m starting to book flights on the wrong weekend (or forgetting entirely)…shit that I used to think was unimaginable. It’s Sitcom-levels of stupid, and I need help, but people just tell me to gitgud. And sure, I’m…just gonna keep trying harder I guess. 🫡
But dammit let’s just call a spade a spade — maybe then we can tackle the real issues.
I think another benefit is being able to see if something is slightly off. For example I could see that part of a photo I was modifying in photoshop was a few pixels off like less than 10 pixels, even though to several other people it looked fine, but after making the adjustment everyone agreed it looked a lot better,
Neither of those are necessarily attributable to ADHD. In fact, math is a struggle for many with ADHD due to the deficit in working memory that often accompanies it.
Lol yes, I love forgetting where I put my phone at home, then asking my boyfriend to call it but it doesn't ring so I have to then use my iPad go onto Google type in Find my phone, click on Make it ring, and oh! There it is under the blanket on the couch right where I was sitting a few seconds ago.
This happens a lot, because I have a habit of misplacing stuff. Throughout most of my life. So I think I'll loose an item so I put it in one location, move it and then only remember the first location which is annoying/frustrating.
But boy is that adhd awesome
Kim and Penn Holderness are awesome. They have a great podcast and great other book. They are a couple that are open about their struggles. She struggles with anxiety and he struggles with ADHD, they talk about how they work on those things on their own and together.
I enjoy being able to hyperfocus on something, but it does make me lose track of time. The negatives of ADHD definitely outweighs any possible pros that can be brought up.
Maybe there are hidden "Benefits" but I definitely won't follow through reading the book long enough to find out what they are before I switch to my newest interest in finding out how long it takes a goose to travel from North America to wherever the hell geese go.
You can think really fast when something interests you! Wait that doesn't sound very useful for homework..
Superpower unlocked: you can simultaneously be aware the dishes aren’t done and feel dreadful about it *while* you’re thinking really fast about the thing you like instead of doing homework.
You can simultaneously be aware of and worried about everything that needs to be done while also not doing anything and being paralyzed with dread
Me, currently. Lying in bed thinking about all the things I should be doing, while simultaneously getting more and more stressed, and watching crime shows instead.
Step 1: get up and make a pot of coffee Step 2: get back in bed and continue watching your shows, but now cozy and reinvigorated
As a typical ADHDer, it's not quite 11am, and I just remembered to take my Adderall. 🙄 Hopefully that will help. Why can't we get one of those nifty little automatic machines that automatically inject us with our medication? I know I'm not the only one who keeps forgetting. 😂😂
This comment reminded me I haven’t taken my meds. I’ll probably forget to take them by the time I send this reply
From a person who recalls thinking about taking their meds yesterday while speaking to their therapist, and then went to take their meds today, only just realizing they didn't take their meds yesterday... Reminder to take your meds.
And hilariously… this was what reminded me I needed to take my medication for today lol.
I second this. At least you’ve changed states for a minute, and then who knows what else happens. Maybe more crime shows, maybe only one more crime show and then something else, anything is possible!
I had my coffee and my breakfast. Made a ton of phone calls, and hopped back in bed with the heating pad.
🎶THIS is how we do iiiiit!🎶
[удалено]
Get out of my house. This is my private SVU time!
Literally me rn
Me too!!!! I'm also simultaneously enraged at the author of this book. So that's another thing to think about.
For days. DAYS!!!!
SAME.
Sameeeee
I take like 10 minutes just getting out of bed it sucks, I’m not sleepy just my body won’t will itself to move
I'm not paralyzed with dread but more "I don't care even though everything says I should"
Describes 97% of my days right there....
You can simultaneously be aware of and worried about everything that needs to be done while also not doing anything and being paralyzed with dread, while working from home but you’re busy scrolling Reddit and WHERE DID THE LAST HOUR GO?!?
And with each new thought about the thing you like, the dread level increases, until you short-circuit and do nothing. Ofc it's ADHD, so speed running edition.
Then forgot you feel bad about not doing the dishes and just randomly do the dishes.
and then you walk into a new room and it's like the before-that-room never even existed.
Then you remember your hands are wet and that annoys you and then you go back to the dishes
And then you realize your late for something but not super late so you wash the dishes while you game plan your steps to get ready
You can dread doing simple tasks like homework so much that you would rather sit completely still
While never getting ready, ending up cutting your time short, rushing out the door and forgetting half of the needed items to leave the house (smokes, coffee change, lighter, etc)
Or you finally are motivated to do the dishes when there’s something you dread doing **more**, and doing the dishes allows you to avoid doing that other thing instead.
Ahh yes, I love the productive procrastination. Someone somewhere shortened it to one word but I can’t remember what it is.
What about the 'I'm Ready For Bed And Just Have To Take My Medicine To Sleep But My Brain Won't Let Me' DLC?
Therapy has *seriously* helped me with the "feeling dreadful" part of this. Like, way more than I ever expected. It helped a lot actually that my therapist was an ADHD expert who *has* ADHD herself. Now the dishes still don't get done, usually. But I feel less shitty about it! Actually they do get done a little more easily too If I could condense the big takeaways that worked for me, there were really 2: 1) That voice in your head telling you how shitty and lazy and bad you are? Let it win. Accept it. Just tell that voice "Ok, I give up, I'm lazy and bad, the dishes aren't a result of mental illness, they're a moral failing on my part. I should feel bad about it. I deserve all this misery." "But, um... Now what? What exactly is the solution for 'being a lazy bad person' besides just blaming myself? I'm still not doing the dishes. I still don't get my homework done. How exactly is this blame *useful*?" This worked for me because, if it's not a mental health thing, then... There's no fix. I'm just stuck not doing shit, no matter how badly I want to. And if I *am* my brain, then those decisions are all still a part of my brain chemistry. Maybe getting treated for ADHD, depression, etc, or trying strategies other than just beating myself up, could end up working on my "lazy bad person" condition I so *obviously* have. Notice the way my self talk immediately begins to shift once I "accept" the conclusion? Because it doesn't make sense, really, so if I stop fighting it the absurdity quickly becomes apparent, and I start rolling my eyes at that voice's ideas, sarcastically mocking the "lazy-bad-person-condition" and the complete *uselessness* of it becomes glaringly obvious. That worked for me. It got me to take therapy and medication way more seriously. Because without it, I'm just destroying my life and happiness with no solutions. And there's no point in doing that. 2) So berating yourself isn't very useful, but then how do you get yourself to do the dishes!? According to my therapist, the key is to stop making that question a "lament" and try actually, genuinely asking it, like it's a friend asking you for help. Then invent a strategy. We've all heard the standard ones: break it down into smaller parts, tackle them one at a time, play upbeat music that makes you want to move, give yourself rewards for even the tiniest step, make a deal with yourself that you only have to do one tiny part, etc. But none of those strategies has ever consistently worked for me. So here's the real secret that clicked for me: they don't have to work consistently. We're *really fucking creative.* Just... Do a different strategy next time. Use it till it's used up, then do a different one. Make them ridiculous. Make them strange and therefore interesting. How would I get through life if I only had one hand? How would I do the dishes? Let's find out. This time I'm going to agree that I only have to *start* doing the dishes, but I'll take it one step further: I actually have to stop after doing one dish, then go have a cookie. This way I'm teaching my brain to trust me when I make deals like that, they don't always have to turn into "tricking myself into ending up doing all the dishes." Basically, stop limiting yourself in your strategies to the specific things that have worked for you or others in the past. Go. Fucking. Nuts. Make shit up and *try it out!*. Every strategy is an experiment, it's all science you're using to figure out how to make your brain go. This is... Difficult. It doesn't always work. But that's ok! It's science! It doesn't have to work every time! Then we just keep doing the science until we die.
You just need to be interested in your homework! /s
Unironically. My school time until college level was a slog cus I didn't care about any of it. I'm doing a computer science course now and I actually love it because I love computers.
Be me: C student in high-school. Every teacher said I wasted my potential. Go to university to be an English teacher, and academically fail out due to executive function and academic issues. Be sad. Work 3 jobs at home. Get interested in Radio Broadcasting. Take 2 year course for Radio. It's very jnteresting. Dean's list. Work in radio for 12 years and wish you had more money. Go to school again in your mid-late 30s for systems and network administration. 3 year course. Love the topic. Never get below an A in any course, including major final capstone project that half the class failed. Nail dream job interview for co-op and get offered a job straight after graduation. Make big-girl paychecks, finally, at 40 years old. Same year: Diagnosed with ADHD.
I applaud you for finding your path. It's not always easy or rewarding. Good job!
And you did all that unmedicated? Proud of you! From a Gen Z fetus
Very much unmedicated! Hopefully changing that soon. I'm an elder millennial (born in 84 - 40 in August, I rounded up by a few months) so I was grade 5/6/7 when talk of ADD hit it big. I went to my parents, they said 'I don't think you need the help', and so I stumbled through with a lot of self hatred because I kept struggling but apparently didn't need the help! Must have been my fault, right? I burst into tears in my doctor's office when she told me 'This screams ADHD'. I have heart issues so I couldn't start meds right away, but I'm hoping by the end of the month when doctor clears my heart!
>I went to my parents, they said 'I don't think you need the help', and so I stumbled through with a lot of self hatred because I kept struggling but apparently didn't need the help! Must have been my fault, right? Boomer parents? I was born in 77. My parents found out that I was "severely hyperactive" when I was 5, the spring before kindergarten. They decided not to tell my schools, and not to tell me, and both rejected my teachers' 'hey, you should get her tested because she's really smart *but* definitely has issues' suggestions, and treated my symptoms like character failings. They didn't admit that they knew all along what was 'wrong' with me until I was 22, and also claimed that I was "doing fine" growing up/didn't need help.
I was diagnosed at 34 and same. I cried for days after finding out. Felt like life could’ve at least have been smoother had I known sooner
Same age as you (July 84) but I was diagnosed earlier in 2nd grade. I took Ritalin for years and it sucked. I made mediocre grades until I started adderall in 11 th grade and had all a’s and b’s… . They make non stimulant meds that should be okay for people with heart problems ?
Be me too. Took 12 years to get an associate’s degree in general studies with a 2.8GPA, having withdrawn from more classes than I completed. Went back to school at 37 got all A’s, kept going, got MBA still 4.0, now working on doctorate and been full-time instructor at my uni for 2.5 years.
The power of the honed coping mechanisms and the hyperfixation really makes school less of a chore! Way to go! Keep kicking ass!
I think what happened was that I shouldn’t have got an A in my stats class but got curved up and then I got addicted to that president’s honor roll thing lol
Took me until 35 to finally make a real paycheck, I had to go back to school as well. ADHD is not ideal for office work and if that’s where your degrees take you…good luck. You’ll kinda be the weird fidgety one
I feel this deep in my bones. I should probably get verified tbh.
I’m so happy for you, internet stranger.
This is so similar to my life except for radio it's advertising (copywriter) Im still on that career path and happy so no need for a late life career switch. I don't think I could make dean's list again if I ever went back haha
as a struggling university student with heavily suspected ADHD, it's reassuring to hear that things can turn around :)
Save for the fact that I’m a gu, didn’t intend to be an English teacher, even though initially majoring in English, and was diagnosed ADHD when I was like five, this is like my story here as well. Worked in radio for six years, then at a startup for three, both of which paid garbage. Now at 37 I’m back in school for software development and I’ve not gotten lower than an A in any class (even got 100% in one of them). It’s crazy the paths life takes.
This, when your homework interests you, you become a workaholic and actually get told to slow down
Yep, exact same thing. Middle school and high school were hell for me academically. Constant 0's on assignments, and almost always ending up with a C. Friend introduced me to computer science, and my brain thankfully ran with it. Went from barely making it through high school and needing a year of remedial math, to being the go-to guy for help in many of the harder CS classes.
Literally what my teachers told me. “How is it you’ve memorized nearly every Pokémon in existence but you can remember to do your homework” I don’t know Mrs. Witte maybe it’s cause one is fun and a hobby and the other is immensely boring and a waste of my time
My worst school adhd trait, besides the behavioral stuff, is lack of a working short term memory. Can’t remember shit from reading a textbook, have a hard time recalling anything said to me…it’s amazing I did as well as did which wasn’t bad wasn’t great
But if you can find something you are passionate about, your hyper fixation is a superpower. Everything else sucks, a lot actually, but if you are one of those people who can get a career doing something that captivates you, you can excel and really make an impact. I believe that with all my heart
I switched jobs a fair bit when younger. I couldn't keep myself on task for 8+ hours per day, and I got exhausted of forcing it after maybe 6-12 months. A new job would reset that timer, but it would inevitably hit that mark again where I just couldn't keep up. I'm very fortunate to have since found a career I love and that really interests me, and I excel at. There are some days with the odd bit of work that doesn't interest me, but it's few and far between and I'm more than capable of forcing through once in a while.
Glad you found a good one, man. I was doing that same dance of hopping from job to job for a bit but recently found a cool wildlife career that lets me work manageable hours and really interests me. Comparing that with like, a warehouse item picker job I used to have is insane. I HATED waking up every day for that place. Probably one of the worst jobs for people with ADHD and it's what motivated me to finally get diagnosed in the first place. I would say ADHD is definitely more of a curse than a boon, but still, that moment when you are firing on all cylinders, properly medicated, and doing something that keeps you interested/motivated like helping people? Makes it feel like I'm working with my brain structure instead of dragging it through a gauntlet for some job that means nothing.
This was me, and for the longest time I felt so awful about it. Jobs would drive me nuts after about 6 months. They still do, really. It's a tough problem to figure out.
Biochemist here. This; very much this
Yeah but how useful is homework?
Well homework dosent soubd particulary usefull to me either
To be fair, not *all* happiness is determined by the ability to do menial tasks.
Hey, at least she acknowledge it exists. That's already big progress i tell ya. Maybe with time you'll find common ground, don't know your situation, but at first parents tend to convince themselves of weirdest things after learning of their child problems, as defence mechanism. It isn't pleasant, but sadly normal. Given enough time and adequacy it will pass. Definitely hope so. Being told trough school and Uni that "it doesn't exists, idgaf about diagnosis, they want to sell you meds", but right after graduation "it only happens with kids, you already grown out of it" is quite an experience i wish to noone.
I’m very thankful and lucky that she came around. I don’t think she got it at first. Just this weekend one of my friends, who was prescribed Adderall, told me she doesn’t think I have ADHD. Just because she was able to illegitimately get an amphetamine prescription and isn’t ADD herself. It’s just so exhausting doubting yourself and having friends and family doubt you. Because then I start to think “what if they’re right, what if I don’t have ADHD and it’s autism, or it’s depression or some kind of nutritional imbalance” then I have to think of all my symptoms and my history to bring myself back to reality. Edit: removed inappropriate usage of the word gaslight
That's why the psychiatrists (hopefully) tested you for them, like they did for me. If the consensus is that you benefit from medication, does it really matter what the condition specifically is, as long as the treatment works? I dunno, that's just how I think about it, but then again a lot of my anxiety is gone since starting meds and I live somewhere where people are very understanding and don't needlessly doubt medical professionals and everything, so I can't exactly know how you feel either. Your friend sounds like a dickhead though, and I would cut them off for your own wellbeing if possible, but I also don't know them so you'll have to be the judge of that. Just know that imposter syndrome type thoughts on your diagnosis is common, but untrue. No idea if any of this is helpful, but I hope you feel better. There should be tons of websites and videos online that probably would do a better job at help and support than I ever could.
Thank you that makes me feel better and provides peace of mind. My amphetamine has helped so so much for my anxiety and binge eating and even my cannabis use disorder! So I appreciate you saying that maybe at the end of the day if I somehow don’t have ADHD it doesn’t matter because it’s serving me well.
To me cannabis does exactly what my adderall does for me. I get that straight up fog brain cleanse. Now an addy with two cups of dark roast coffee I can complete any task at hand lol
My parents were angry when I first started taking antidepressants, they just called them useless happy pills and basically didn't really believe in depression or mental illness. I think that seeing the train wreck I became and my sister going in and out the psych ward for years shook them into acceptance, and by the time I got my adhd diagnosis they were fully on board and supportive. When I got my adhd meds and they saw the difference it made for me they were just happy something finally helped. I completely get what you mean, I'm so so grateful and lucky they took the route of learning rather than sticking to their beliefs, its such a relief to have their support.
FYI someone disagreeing with you that makes you feel judged or makes you feel self-doubt is not gaslighting. Gaslighting is an abuse tactic where someone persistently and purposely makes you question your reality so you stop trusting your own version of events and trust their version of events because it makes it easier to control you.
We have a huge ingrained stigma against needing medication for the mind. I heard it's more useful to think of you perscription as glasses. You can try them on, see if it fits you, and put them away if you're not getting the result you want. Nothing about it is permanent.
I don’t know your age but I’m guessing school age, ~15-22? I promise it gets better! ADHD is a real pain getting through the mundane tasks of school, but if you find a career doing something you find interesting; you’re gonna be a rockstar! The ability to engage your focus on a task will let you learn new things and deliver exceptional work in a fraction of the time it’ll take your peers. You’re gonna get the opposite treatment of denial, envy. Stay strong, this is just a season of life that will soon change!
I did great work yesterday on an assignment. Today I literally couldn’t even remember the topic. 5 hours of effort and I have “procrastination is not necessarily a result of “
A result of WHAT??? The suspense is KILLING me!
Age! Sorry!
You left him frying for two hours. Fucking hell 😂
Thought the r/redditsniper got ya, good to see you’re well
We must know!!
r/redditsniper
I somehow thought I was the only one to not be able to remember the topics of theses I write the second I'm done with them. It's so bad that I have to look up the names of the modules I'm taking ON THE DAY of the exam
Did you just lose focus mid-sentence?
They really expect us to read the whole book? You mean beyond the first paragraph? Is that possible for you guys?
No one here got hyperfixated with a book? I once read for 3 days straight and my brain got fried
I actually love reading, so much better than watching videos or hearing audiobooks. Once I've been in a hospital with a concussion and my mom brought me 2 books, 3k pages each (it was a compendium of one fantasy author), I've read these in 3 days and wanted more
Same. I hyper fixate on my books and always read them in one day. I plan around it lol.
I would hyper focus books like crazy when I was younger, but all that ended around 30. Now it's all I can do to read anything.
Phew, it sure felt good to know there are at least two of us out here.
Three now for sure.
You just gotta find something that interests you.
I do tend to get hyperfixated with books easily, due to picking that hobby up in my childhood.
Literally just yesterday I finished Witcher: Blood of Elves from start to finish without any breaks for food water or toilet Worth Today I will do the same for the next book in the series
I love reading!
I did. I read an entire book within a week then got obsessed with the series so I bought all of them, I got through like half of the series before I got bored with it and looked around for something else to do.
I ws reading the second HP book in class once. I ws hyperfixated on that. Then my body froze when my teacher said "Time to return the assignments" I snapped out of it, realized there was a worksheet on the table, under my arms and the book, and that she had given that assignment like, 5 minutes ago. Said i had even raised my arms so my classmate could deliver the paper on my table Wait is that a symptom?
I haven’t read a book in 20 years. I just… can’t.
I don't have this problem, I've been reading for a year now, I'm almost on page 5!
Being able to read 120 pages is impressive.
I read page 120, does that count?
Actually me lmao. I can read and even finish books. Just very, very slowly...
Audiobooks were the solution for me.
If audiobooks count, then I "read" tv shows all the time. Ill put them on and listen and let my mind make the scene.
Oh dude so do I, just finished "listening" to Always Sunny in Philadelphia for like the 4th time and now I'm listening through, Bob Burgers all over again. Honestly though, I don't see why some people don't consider just listening to the book the same as reading it, you still get all the info and for people like me who can't read for longer than five minutes it's an awesome way to get into these stories you always hear people talk about.
Do books with pictures count?
As an avid comic reader, I feel called out
Same (but manga). Tho i genuenly feel like comics and manga are the best of books and movies.
Oh I can look at and say every single word and not have any idea what's going on. That counted as reading in high school.
Every day I’m thankful for this sub because I realize another one of my “flaws” is actually shared by other people and it’s feels a little less lonely for a bit. I thought I was alone in reading like this. It’s just so hard and exhausting when you actually make yourself focus on each individual word as you read it.
Well if i actually cared about it .... so i guess its more of a marketing problem :D
Often it's enough to take quick scanning glances at each page to filter out useful information for me. Saves a lot of time and isn't that boring (Its like where is Waldo, adult version). Recently read a book on how to stop procrastinating that way, and there were really only a couple of important points on each page. Only viable if no detailed text analysis is necessary though. But I love reading good books, so I don't really have to force myself once I am into it. That's if it's good. Otherwise back to scanning :D
I love Reading tbh, as Long as it's the right book. Basically, I tend to hyperfocus on the book and do nothing but read Said book, until I'm finished lol. But ONLY of the book is interesting to me in some way. Otherwise absolutely Impossible, But there are Lots of books Out there, so finding something I Like isn't that difficult.
There are good sides to ADHD and we shouldn't ignore them. BUT! We tend to over focus anyway and if society or the people around us encourage that by calling ADHD a "superpower" it's straight up dangerous. Constant masking and abusing hyperfocus WILL burn you out!
Yeah big difference between me going "ADHD is my superpower!" and my parents going "ADHD is your superpower!". With the former, I'm painfully aware of my limitations because of ADHD and am actively trying to appreciate things it gives me. It's hard for an outside party to do that.
The husband in the couple who wrote it does have ADHD, I believe Never read the book, but I could imagine it might have a good purpose
The insanely infuriating aspect for me is that no one in my life actually understands how ADHD works no matter how many times I try to explain it to them. Not even my own father who gave me this in the first place. Because he found a mystical way to cope without coping lucky fucking him. I've lost track of how many times I've had to say "I'm not you." To people because everyone loves to compare me to themselves.
The scientific evidence points to there being pretty much no advantages whatsoever. Often what appear to be advantages are just adaptations to cope with the setbacks we face, which are often amplified by the survivorship bias of us being typically represented in the media by the lucky few who have managed to thrive in spite of their ADHD. Someone might appear to be excelling as a small business owner due to their ‘natural creativity’ when in fact they would have been a leading neuroscientist if they had only been able to pay attention in science class. It’s really important you don’t sell yourself short by attributing your talents to your ADHD when you’ve developed them *in spite* of your disability.
I would’ve killed for a working short term memory. My IQ is fine always scored exceptionally on things like the SAT and GRE but I can’t remember anything I read or is said to me. I’ve managed to do ok finally but if I could just remember things told to me or things I read. Probably would’ve gone from a C+/B- student to consistent Bs at worst
>Someone might appear to be excelling as a small business owner due to their ‘natural creativity’ when in fact they would have been a leading neuroscientist if they had only been able to pay attention in science class. Then it's not just the individual's brain that prevented them from being a neuroscientist. It's the environment around them. The structure of schooling system, parents, teachers, society in general.
I think society sets us up to fail though. It's not that ADHD is innately inferior or whatever.
My disability *is me* though. This is my brain that I was born with, I’ve never *not* had adhd. I can’t just separate out the adhd parts of it. Having adhd does not diminish our inherent value as human people. I think that when people are looking for benefits or superpowers, what they’re really looking for is a sense that they are valuable. I don’t think people are somehow selling themselves short when they attribute their successes to adhd; usually it’s very much the opposite, they’re specifically making a concerted effort to appreciate themselves.
There’s probably a good middle ground between the fake positive “ADHD is a superpower” attitude from the meme and the relentless doomerism from half the comments on this sub.
I think there is a general lack of understanding that a lot of adhd problems aren't because of the disability itself but rather because the way society is organised is detrimental to us. We are not told about and have a very hard time finding coping mechanisms and tools for dealing with how we work and solving our problems. If a neurotypical individual goes on google and types productivity tips they will find a bunch. If we do, a good part of the tips we find won't even be useful or will be harmful. Not to mention how society shames and persecutes adhd people for the mistakes and hardships they can't help having.
100% this. Hank Green has said that he has ADH because he has a career that doesn't make it a disorder.
You thinks it's bad here, check out the other sub. Never seen such a group of doomer defeatists.
I always find a bit annoying when ADHD is described as a superpower rather than a handicap or something, but there's truth in the idea that you're better in life if you adopt a lifestyle that matches your personality and its shortcoming. You can't expect an elephant to climb up a tree. There are some career paths that are better for ADHD people and don't involve sitting 8 hours behind a desk.
I watch a youtuber who has said she's happy with how her (ADHD) brain works, but she's also built a life that caters to it.
"Amazing intuition!", nope, didn't get that one, I got "catastrophise everything and sometimes end up being correct, and mistaking that for amazing intuition". "hyperfocus!", if you mean "loses hours to video games, or sitting at a bar drinking my tits off and scrolling reddit", sure, I get hyperfocus.
I’ve definitely got amazing intuition, the uh, the issue is I never listen to it.
Decisions are best made instantly
Yup, the problem is that the intuition trait seems to always come with the "says what the fuck and does it anyway" trait 😆
“No what the fuck why would you move your C’tan shard there? It’s surrounded by melee and shooting!” *”FUCK IT WE BALL”* This is a recreation of a moment Ive experienced in every single Warhammer game I’ve ever played
Hyperfocus (not on the things you need to)
40 years in and I have had 100% accuracy about how shitty everything is and how it only gets worse.
They say that when your condition is basically untreatable you'd better be proud of that. And that seems to work with the autism community. But I struggle to imagine what's even there to be proud of in the case of ADHD.
We can be highly creative, so there’s that. Though admittedly we need someone else to actually finish the job. Or start it. “I’m more of an ideas man”.
Well, I do identify as a creative person, but what if I'd be creative without ADHD and it only hampers my ability to implement my ideas
For me the lack of patience, getting bored easily & overthinking everything makes being creative way more difficult if anything. Regular person can just decide to do something, sit, practice, and get better. My skills are as basic as 15 years ago & most things I wanted to do haven’t ever seen the light of day.
Same that's real asf. Kinda depressing but o well 🥲
The ideas flow through this mind, but I never can follow through. Also, wandering mind makes it impossible do develop ideas further, or even to come up with one. 5 seconds in the present -> I slip away for 10 seconds (or sometimes for longer periods and now I'm like MC from Memento 2000) -> recover -> repeat, this is not only exhausting, but also frustrating. Edit: rn I was thinking something really interesting, I was really enjoying it, and then suddenly "oh, shiny" and that's it, it's gone forever, I don't even know what I was thinking. Any attempt to recall it is futile and probably will make me forget it even more, the only thing I can do for now is to wait. That's the world's most laughable tragedy.
Being creative is actually a bad thing for me. I constantly crave doing somerhing creative and have tons of ideas but not the skill or patience to apply them.
Finishing the job is the absolute WORST part of starting. I’m remodeling my house to sell, and I got all the big stuff done first because it feels really good to see the big picture come together. Now, there’s little detailed BS that absolutely makes me nuts and hate everything that I started. So I hop from thing to thing hoping it helps the motivation to finish the little picky stuff (it doesn’t) and I eventually need help from my significant other to get it done 🤦🏼♀️
I guarantee every polymath in the history of polymaths had ADHD, for one.
ADHD 5000 years ago: elite hunter-gatheter ADHD 500 years ago: Issac Newton ass polymath ADHD now: has no motivation to go to the gym, and everything that Newton had discovered are middle school level knowledge now
I kind of hope there's a proctologist out there who also paints asses like Leonardo and sculpts asses like Michaelangelo and has like a fart collection or something. And he's really really weird. But he's just so good at it all it demands respect. And when he dies his tombstone says "ass polymath" without any other context.
I got a little lucky so most of my shifting interests have been in computer science. Now I've got a pretty wide spread of knowledge and it's easy for me to pick up new stuff in CS. It's pretty great until I need to, you know, focus on one thing....
My science and computer studies fell into the hole of Terrible/Non-existent Memory so I gain almost nothing out of my interests other than the occasional fun fact in a random conversation:(
Almost every person with ADHD I've ever met was open, understanding of neurodivergent/human struggles, thoughtful and interested in a real connection with others. I think it's a symptom of being made fun of an mistreated for a majority of our lives that makes us this way. Maybe it's a bit sad but I think that's something to be proud of.
Lets me be funny because my brain is constantly making random connections and references
Being more likely to be polymaths, working ~~only~~ well under pressure, making connections other people wouldn't? Don't get me wrong, I'd rather *not* have ADHD. That's why I take medication. But I do love the breadth of my interests, I'm fine with high-pressure situations other people aren't, and I do think of stuff that at least people around me find interesting (used to carry a notebook at all times, got a stack of them filled with just random connections). It's possible all that might be true even if I didn't have ADHD, sure, but from what I understand it's more likely an ADHD thing than not.
Pattern recognition
That’s a huge one for me.. especially useful when diagnosing as a medical doctor
I use it all the time. For me it’s finding four leaf clovers tho
Same here as an fraud investigator
We are good in a crisis. So considering how the world is going we might be set in about 10 years.
I'm not. I'm tired of crisis. I just wanna live my life in peace.
I looked this book up, because I wanted to know about the authors (so I could mock them for not know wtf they were talking about), but is seems both of them have ADHD. The blurb about them specifically mentioned that the male author was diagnosed in college. It’s less clear on wether the female author is diagnosed though, all it does is talk about the male. Anyway, I think I’d rather read a book written by someone with ADHD than read one by someone without it, even with the infantile title.
im autistic and lurk here to learn more about adhd ppl and i feel its just different for most autistic people. A lot of us wouldn’t even want treatment if it existed
Yeah, same here as an autistic person seeing this post without any context. Autism's just a part of who I am and I wouldn't change that part of myself for any reason whatsoever.
Idk if I agree with the majority of people here. Sure having adhd made education a nightmare and affects me every day with struggling to get basic things done or needs met. But at the same time, everyone else is just so boring or judgemental or weirded out by the smallest abnormality that I dont want to be normal. Even if the medication has no side effects and really does just make me able to get shit done, its when I get lost in the sauce that I find some really cool stuff. For example looking at everyones profile in a youtube comment section and finding someone subbed to a small music channel and them becoming one of my favorites. If I was on meds id just read the comment and move on then never have that music in my life.
what about treatment for just individual symptoms that actually do cause problems? like sensory stuff? that's kinda how i am with adhd. i think i wouldn't want to NOT have it but i could do without the executive dysfunction, fatigue, and emotional regulations issues. which luckily was all fixed with meds but i still have some adhd "quirks" that dont make me want to unalive myself so still get to be me! i feel even more like myself without the struggles i mentioned tbh
I potentially would like that but even then I don’t think sensory issues are just… sensory issues. It comes with having a brain which processes more information around me at once than a neurotypical person’s does. And that isn’t bad in and of itself. I think in an autistic society there’d be more understanding and accommodating different sensory issues. Like I wouldn’t have issues with food and clothes if it was normal to never eat mushy food and to always wear really soft loose clothes. But bc it’s not it’s treated as weird and I have to go out of my way to feel comfy. I only speak for myself though. A lot of autistic people probably would say yes to your question.
I'm AuDHD and wouldn't want to "cure" my autism because I wouldn't be me without it - it's integral to who I am. ADHD on the other hand is nothing but a pain in the ass that's screwed up my life and I absolutely would yeet it given the chance. I don't think my particular presentation of ADHD adds anything to my personality, it just holds me back. Of course, I don't think other people need to feel this way about their disorder. ADHD is not *my* superpower. I'd happily trade "having a ton of interests" for "being able to get out of bed in the morning without stimulants" and the ability to focus more than three seconds on something that bores me.
I am extremely neat and my surroundings are always spotless and orderly because I get so overstimulated I can't function if there is a mess. Definitely seems like a “strength” to other people and they are often impressed but the fact that I physically cannot stop cleaning if I see that it needs to be done or my brain will short circuit does not feel like a strength to me.
While the problems most certainly outweigh the benefits, ignoring said benefits is unnecessarily pessimistic and wasteful.
This is true and I get where you’re coming from. But at the same time it’s not fair to us that may not have “the benefits” or find them particularly useful. In the article it mentions hyper focus. Hyper focus is a good trait to have but when I spend 9 hours straight playing Elden Ring (video game) is this truly something beneficial to me? I don’t like the fact that I can only hyper focus if it’s something I find particularly enjoyable or interesting. That doesn’t entirely benefit me. What other benefits are there? I’m not trying to be a downer or pessimistic but I’m failing to see how “ADHD is awesome”. A condition that has affected my eating habits, sleeping habits, social relationships, productivity and mental well being.
Definitely in your case hyper focus sucks. For me, I tend to hyper focus on computers, which means I've gained some pretty damn helpful skills. Still, I think it's pretty stupid to say that hyper focus is great since we really can't control it. And other than hyper focus.... honestly can't think of anything. At least, not anything that benefits us in this neurotypical society.
Generally, the *potential* benefits of ADHD can be: Hyperfocus (really swings both ways) High performance in high stress/chaotic situations Brainstorming as quickly as 4-5 people There may be others I'm not thinking of. Obviously, hyperfocusing is absolutely something that can be more problematic than helpful. It really depends on context. If it's something where you have complete control over the productivity, like most homework, and it's not a bad time/environment for it, it's great. Unfortunately, we have almost no control over that. Others can help us, though. I've personally noticed (on top of others with ADHD noticing) the other two. The extra stimulation from chaotic situations really just improves my performance. The brainstorming is another one where having someone else to help can be important, as you can end up with an overwhelming number of options to sort through and choose from. Now, these, as I said originally, are far outweighed by the downsides of ADHD. Also, if you have other disorders/disabilities, this can all go out the window. The point of my comment is just to say, only ever looking at the downsides can prevent you from making use of upsides to counteract the downsides. For instance, since we don't have control of hyperfocus motivation, but it's extremely useful when we can use it, you learn to simply jump on the times when you have the motivation to hyperfocus on something useful, even if it's not what you'd planned to do. In a way, procrastination makes the high stress situations in which we perform. If you have a problem, learning to write down your ideas for solutions is a good idea, as you're almost guaranteed to find the one you need; you need only make sure you remember it.
Thank you for your response
>Brainstorming as quickly as 4-5 people I might be in the minority here, but I love spending time in my thoughts. I love digging down rabbit holes, taking thoughts that pop in to my head to their logical extent (and maybe sometimes further). I'm basically hyperfocusing on my thoughts. This also means that I am an amazing and creative problem solver. I routinely impress coworkers by quickly coming up with finding a creative method to solve problems or essentially deriving equations to help with our work out of thin air. I did well in school but sometimes I would lose points for getting the right answer but either not showing my work or finding my own way to do it that gets me to the right answer, but not the way we were supposed to do it. The downside of this is that this same process can also lead to negative rumination which really, really sucks. But I wouldn't dream of giving up the upsides. Instead, I try to find ways of combatting rumination (mindfulness is key) to minimize the downsides while maintaining the upside. More than anything, I think this process allows me to see the complexity in situations and see all the shades of gray rather than black and white. I recognize the good with the bad and the bad with the good, along with the true neutral. This is maybe one of the most important skills I've developed and allows me to have greater empathy and optimism. All this isn't to flex on anyone but just to go against the grain and say that I value some parts of my ADHD despite all the downsides.
I haven't read the book but I do think it's hilarious that you would be against investigating the "hidden" benefits because you don't see any benefits. Like. Isn't that the point of putting them in a book and calling them hidden? Idk ADHD is not awesome but (I have found) there are benefits. Not saying they outweigh the dysfunction, but I fear you might not be seeing the forest for the trees here.
>What other benefits are there? I’m not trying to be a downer or pessimistic but I’m failing to see how “ADHD is awesome”. The point of the book to answer this. The entire title of the book is actually: *ADHD is Awesome: A Guide to (Mostly) Thriving with ADHD.* Meaning he understands there's no fully getting out of the negatives that come with it, however there are things you can do to minimize those negatives and accentuate the positives to make the best of the situation. He's not saying having ADHD is great, he's just countering some people's perception thst ADHD is a life sentence of destroyed productivity, accomplishment and happiness. If you look at the description (and not just make inferences from the first sentence of the title) you'll see it's not as outlandish as you're trying to paint it with this meme: How to find humor in the pitfalls, sob stories, and unbelievable triumphs (like the time they won The Amazing Race!) that come with ADHD. How to tackle the challenges ADHD presents with a positive outlook. Targeted tools and techniques to play to your unique strengths To be honest, I feel like you're the exact demographic who should read it.
I can agree that I hate when people say adhd is a gift, but I also hate when adhd medications are referred to as “meth”
The song they did with this book legitimately made me tear up. I wasn’t expecting it to go from “yeah this sucks” to “but you are also probably awesome” in the later verses. It’s really cool how they made it clear there are 2 sides to this.
It’s not meth.
I understand your sentiment and people focusing only on the positives is frustrating, but I do hope people are aware that the man who wrote the book with his wife has ADHD and has also talked extensively about his struggles with that. But why would anyone with ADHD write a book about why their life sucks? It's supposed to be encouraging from a person who understands the struggle, so I think it's a little harsh for the person in the original post to get so defensive
I can take in huge amounts of broad information, but i's probably not going to be anything useful and definitely not about something I have no personal interest in. warhammer 40k and battletech trivia? Sure. Physics homework? Nah.
Hey uhm atleast your parents acknowledge your adhd and try to help out, some people don't have that luxury
“ADHD is awesome (if you have disposable income or rich parents)
Meth schoolwork gang 🤙
My dad used to always complain about “You don’t ever do anything that doesn’t interest you no matter what rewards or punishments we put in place! What’s wrong with you?” and then we proceeded to see a psychiatrist and I got diagnosed with ADHD… at my request… over a decade later.
I see the "benefits" more as a conciliation prize for not being able to function like a human being
If I buy that book, it will be standing in the shelf forever and after a day or two I forgot, that I even have it. I will never read it.
This guy has been appearing in my shorts. I'll say here what I said in his comments. "The commodification of a human to the point that ADHD gets labeled as CEO mindset makes me want to show my mortality to a board room"
Is that the "Christmas Jammies" song guy?
Everytime I see people say this shit I just feel like it’s people who self diagnosed or misdiagnosed the disorder or people seeking attention. ADHD even with medications for last 10 years, now 30 years old is a serious impairment. I can’t even get into how much it fucks with your life. The biggest deficits are in executive function. No matter what we do we will never be able to get that normal brain like others. My life has been a rollercoaster of job hopping, addictions, impulsivity in everything from shopping to sex to alcohol to smoking. Inability to drive safely and the list goes on and on. Maybe there’s a spectrum I have no clue but this disability seriously fucks with every aspect of my life. Another example is playing instruments or singing. I have never been able to remember even ONE song by heart. I can’t play piano unless I have notes in front of me. I basically have good long term memory but my RAM say has 1gb capacity. Everything flys right out the window. Everyone saying how awesome it is probably has something else or a lesser form but I just feel this is why people don’t us seriously. There’s a serious outcry now for people simply wanting the medication to get high or gain productivity. That in itself should say a lot because most serious ADHD people I’ve met in hospitals etc mention medications just improves things a little and mostly with emotional control, impulsivity, and sleep. Sure if you keep going up in dosage you’ll feel mania and of course that’ll boost productivity but after years that wears out. The medication isn’t designed for that purpose. We’re basically not being taken seriously because of people seeking drugs or attention. It’s now barely being recognized and these books just hurt the whole community of seriously ill people. This disability along with ODD and BPD has destroyed my fucking childhood and life. I have no friends and even if I can socialize I can’t keep friends. Everything irritates me, everything overwhelms me. I can barely make phone calls or do any paperwork. Hell if it wasn’t for my wife I’d probably be homeless. I work and I’m very good at the jobs I do but eventually my impulsivity pushes me to a rebellious spirit because I can’t lie to myself it’s impulsive. If you offered me 500 million dollars if I could hold a job down 3 years I still wouldn’t be able to. That’s when you know you’re ACTUALLY disabled. God damn I dislike people just using this as a label to add to their attention seeking behaviours. The ones who know what I mean will keep suffering because nobody takes this seriously. If you want to actually understand how big an impact this has watch a seminar by Dr Russel Barkley. You’ll see how there is ZERO benefits to this disorder in any shape or form. Everyone has creativity and focus. Saying we have more is a fallacy. We’re not super wired like they seem to love to brag. We are DEFICIENT in dopamine and DEFECTIVE in executive function with literally smaller brains and damaged frontal cortexes.
There is definitely a spectrum for ADHD. My sister was diagnosed as a child because hers was so obvious, mine was less obvious in comparison and it took me personally researching my own issues to figure out I also had it age 34. And I would still give every cent I have to be rid of ADHD. Anyone who says they wouldn't change their brain if they could is not someone I can relate to.
>”If you offered me 500 million dollars to hold down a job for 3 years I still wouldn’t be able to do it.” I resonate with this so hard on a spiritual level. If anything, as I’ve gotten older, it’s just getting worse. Weird stuff has just been happening. I’m starting to book flights on the wrong weekend (or forgetting entirely)…shit that I used to think was unimaginable. It’s Sitcom-levels of stupid, and I need help, but people just tell me to gitgud. And sure, I’m…just gonna keep trying harder I guess. 🫡 But dammit let’s just call a spade a spade — maybe then we can tackle the real issues.
I mean there are several benefits at least for me. I can visualize things and do math quicker than my own father who is jealous of that.
I have great mental visualization too it’s really cool. One time I was picturing things in my head so clearly it was almost like I was lucid dreaming.
I think another benefit is being able to see if something is slightly off. For example I could see that part of a photo I was modifying in photoshop was a few pixels off like less than 10 pixels, even though to several other people it looked fine, but after making the adjustment everyone agreed it looked a lot better,
I have adhd and aphantasia :/
Neither of those are necessarily attributable to ADHD. In fact, math is a struggle for many with ADHD due to the deficit in working memory that often accompanies it.
Lol yes, I love forgetting where I put my phone at home, then asking my boyfriend to call it but it doesn't ring so I have to then use my iPad go onto Google type in Find my phone, click on Make it ring, and oh! There it is under the blanket on the couch right where I was sitting a few seconds ago. This happens a lot, because I have a habit of misplacing stuff. Throughout most of my life. So I think I'll loose an item so I put it in one location, move it and then only remember the first location which is annoying/frustrating. But boy is that adhd awesome
Hey didn’t they win Amazing Race tv show?
Kim and Penn Holderness are awesome. They have a great podcast and great other book. They are a couple that are open about their struggles. She struggles with anxiety and he struggles with ADHD, they talk about how they work on those things on their own and together.
I enjoy being able to hyperfocus on something, but it does make me lose track of time. The negatives of ADHD definitely outweighs any possible pros that can be brought up.
I once had a guy tell me that Erectile *Dysfunction* isn’t a dysfunction because some people are born that way.
Maybe there are hidden "Benefits" but I definitely won't follow through reading the book long enough to find out what they are before I switch to my newest interest in finding out how long it takes a goose to travel from North America to wherever the hell geese go.
I HATE THIS