Fuck this one hits home.

Sharing this from my twitter because I think a good amount of artists can probably relate to this, ADHD or not ö

For those of you who are on mobile (or.. y’know, have ADHD): a small selection of excellent tags from this post to help you feel Less Alone

Aight fellas here’s my takeaway after reading through these individual accounts:

1) HORRIFYINGLY, we are not bored enough. The onset of adulthood comes with more freedom to AVOID boredom, and all the instantly-accessible, hyper-stimulating technology & entertainment available to us probably doesn’t help us seek out activities that are less immediately rewarding… aka, our chosen crafts.

2) Now that we’re AWARE of this, we can begin to figure out which environments help us each to thrive the most creatively, & try to replicate those circumstances in our adult lives! 

3) NEURODIVERGENT CREATIVES STOP BLAMING YOURSELVES WHEN PASSION ALONE ISN’T ENOUGH 2K21

YES also i come bearing a tip!!!

i actually discovered this about myself last year when I was working from home and not being monitored via cameras while working. AND I discovered along WITH that that the best way for me to get something creative done, writing, reading a book, whatever, is to literally lock myself out of my tech. run the battery out on my switch, activate the parental device lock on my phone, anything.

the key for my brain is to make that Thing THEE most desirable thing to do. AND BONUS! IT CAN HELP WITH CHORES TOO!

Hey, it me

For those of you with ADHD who cannot relate (like me, who is genuinely busy all the fucking time but still feels like I cannot get anything I actually want to do done):

I think our problem isn’t that we’re not being stimulated enough, it’s that the stimulation is draining rather than energizing.

Like, ADHD was not a big problem for me when I was in school, at least not for my favored subjects (I aced AP English the same year I failed my Algebra II/Trig final). I find academia and reading and analysis and interpretation to be infinitely pleasurable. So even though I was spending 8 hrs a day 5 days a week at school, and spending a lot of hours either at marching band practice (Silk Squad!!) or at performances, and also being in plays, I was writing a lot of fanfic and seeing my friends. Even in college, ADHD wasn’t that big of a problem for me…I still graduated cum laude, and never once felt overwhelmed enough to even consider dropping out. Same thing when I was in seminary, and even in MT school. And it wasn’t a problem for me at all when I interned at the art museum at HUC.

ADHD became a noticeable problem for me when I started working at the hospital full-time, and I honestly think it’s because this work is boring. I’m more drained, and therefore forgetful and listless, after eight hours entering data in the ER than I am after six hours giving massages (that’s four massages, fyi), something that is a lot more physically demanding but is also a lot more intellectually engaging. My creative output, not just in the amount of words I write but also the crafts I do, the amount of company I’m looking forward to entertaining, the necessary tasks I remember to complete (or even remember that I have to do), hell even the amount of words I read has fallen dramatically ever since I took a job that used to make me cry because of how relentlessly dull it was.

So…I kinda opened this diatribe with my thesis but it bears repeating (and honestly not just for ADHDers): look at the kind of stimulation that’s in your life and try to assess whether it’s energizing you or draining you. In the words of Kondo Marie-sensei…Does it spark joy? If not, maybe that’s why you don’t have the spoons to do your hobbies, when you’re using them all up just to get through the day.

.... i have never felt so seen

that ADHD feel when ur trying to get back into a productive mindset after taking a break from work like

And then the feel when it won’t let you stop

This ADHD and Autism Venn Diagram was requested even more highly than the ADHD and PTSD diagram, and I finally got round to making it…

there’s a reason ADHD & autism are considered “cousin disorders” (or, less pejoratively, “cousin conditions”) and it’s because they share many traits and yet are distinct

irresponsible adhd top tip #???

sleep with the curtains open because you can turn off six hundred alarms but you can't turn off the sun without effort

irresponsible adhd top tip #??? + 1

once, a guy in my dorms came back from a hazing for a sport that you wouldn't think is the kind to do hazing. he was bloodied, crying, throwing up, and he had to be carried by two older students.

the conceit of the hazing was― they got the freshers drunk, and told them all that the person who ran hardest at the wall would avoid the hazing.

staring at a task, willing yourself to do it, is like running at that wall as hard as you can. it is, by design, not going to work. you will get bodily fluids on your sheep onesie.

you have a mind that lends itself perfectly to switching between tasks. let it wander. let it return in time, fresh and ready. if you keep running at that wall, you will get nothing in return but guilt and a headache.

irresponsible adhd top tip #??? + 2

with adhd, the easiest way to make a goal feel impossible is telling yourself you will do x thing every day from now on no matter what.

good news: this also works for obsessive habits you want to break. nothing makes you want to procrastinate on using social media more than giving yourself a specific goal about how to use it.

you could tell yourself to post 10 times or like thirty posts or use x feature every day or something. maube set a timer, and force yourself to not leave the app until 20 minutes have passed. you will be desperate to do anything else after that.

the negative brain patterns you have programmed into the 'i must do this' categories in your life can be hacked into the things you want to stop doing. you have that power. you've learned the techniques already, now you can apply them to the things you want to use them on

irresponsible adhd top tip #??? + 3

sleep clothes aren't mandatory and getting changed in the morning can delay the day by hours. before you go to bed, just change into the clothes you would usually spend the day in. you can always change again once you're up and about and it feels less herculean a task.

irresponsible adhd tip #??? +4

you want to do a thing? you need to do a thing? reverse psychology yourself:

do it for exactly thirty seconds and then force yourself to walk away.

your brain won't like that very much.

OP why did you imply that with effort I CAN turn off the sun

We know where it is and we know what it's made of. Anyone who knows those things about me could kill me

What to do when you’re having a poor executive function day/been sitting in front of your computer for a few hours wondering why you can’t do your work: 

1. Take a deep breath - Let out all that anxiety over the project you’re doing so you can think clearly

2. Pull up a clean sheet of paper and something to write with - You can use a fresh word doc, new page in your journal or planner or whatever else works for you, the idea is that after this you will have a physical list to look at to help keep you on task.

3. Identify your obstacles (i.e. What is keeping you from doing this task?) - For example: Is it scary? If so, why? Does it feel too hard? Is there something else that you feel needs to be done first? Write these down!

4. Plan how to overcome your obstacles - This can take some creativity and some thinking to best figure out how to overcome the obstacle. I’ve included examples below for potential plans.

Example 1:

Example 2:

Example 3:

5. Encourage yourself and commend yourself for filling in the gaps actively that your brain couldn’t do on it’s own today. - You’re doing a great job!

Sincerely,

A Graduate Student with Adult ADHD

The adhd modes of food

1. You ate that burger so fast. You ate that burger so fucking fast and now the whole Red Robin is staring at you god what the fuck

2. You started eating like a normal person, but then you started talking or daydreaming and now the waitress is handing you the check but you’ve still got half a plate of cold fettuccine

3. You were going to go out to eat, but then you saw a video in your YouTube recommendation that drew you towards it like moth to a flame, and now it’s 10 pm and you’ve got an empty bag of tortilla chips in your hand and shame in your heart

4. Mac And Cheese

5. You got engrossed in a project, suddenly you feel like you’re going to die, or faint, or both? Oh. you’re hungry.

6. You’re hungry.  But every food you can think of sounds disgusting.  Time for your 15th day of lunchables for breakfast in a row.

The adhd modes of food

1. You ate that burger so fast. You ate that burger so fucking fast and now the whole Red Robin is staring at you god what the fuck

2. You started eating like a normal person, but then you started talking or daydreaming and now the waitress is handing you the check but you’ve still got half a plate of cold fettuccine

3. You were going to go out to eat, but then you saw a video in your YouTube recommendation that drew you towards it like moth to a flame, and now it’s 10 pm and you’ve got an empty bag of tortilla chips in your hand and shame in your heart

4. Mac And Cheese

5. You got engrossed in a project, suddenly you feel like you’re going to die, or faint, or both? Oh. you’re hungry.

6. You’re hungry.  But every food you can think of sounds disgusting.  Time for your 15th day of lunchables for breakfast in a row.

7. You have food in the house. You did good. You made a meal plan(ish). You made a shopping list. You bought good food to cook with. Now you’re either too tired to cook after planning, listing, shopping and putting it all away and you order in or there’s Too Many Choices and your brain has shut off and you order in

8. you’re bored. food is stimulation. you’ve eaten eighteen snacks today and not one full meal, and that bag of plain wheat flour tortillas is calling you with a siren song you are in no position to resist.

‪GOD I found another article about why ADHD kids say “I don’t know” so much. my entire childhood was getting yelled at for doing some ADHD shit and me not being able to offer an explanation when asked why I did something. ‬

Adding to this, its cause of our executive dysfunction and emotional dysregulation (naturally there’s more things at play than just these two but I’m naming main aspects).

We tend to have alexithymia, meaning we have difficulty identifying and describing own feelings. 

You can’t say how you feel if you legit don’t know.

Self monitoring is an executive function; our self awareness about how we are doing presently .. which is hampered in ADHDers. 

You can’t say what you think if you legit don’t know.

oh my god

My life goals VS Executive Dysfunction. Or not knowing what you want from life because if you’d want it you’d do it...right??

This one is a little sad because I don’t have the answer myself yet. (I only have this problem unmedicated though)

And yes, this can apply to autistics. We are cousin neurologies, and lately advocates have been wondering if ADHD might actually be on the larger Infinity Knot Spectrum of the autistic stystem. If, like me, you are both ADHD and Autistic, your existence is in for some wild times. 😺

“This Is Why You’re Always So Tired”

A twitter thread sent to me on disorganization

She forgot how ppl with adhd can't focus on reading this entire thread - like me. I gave up after 7 screenshots. And that was quite the record.

Time blindness is the weirdest aspect of executive dysfunction and so weird as an experience to live with. It’s like you see the clock, the clock says 3pm, you look at the clock again and it’s 3:02, then 3:05, and then you look again and it’s 8pm and WHAT THE FUCK.

You don’t even need hyperfocus. But hyperfocus is like the Warp Speed:tm: version cause when that hits, it’s 3pm and then it’s the next day and why is the sun rising and when did i last eat and oh god i need to use the bathroom. And oh, also, you’re EXHAUSTED. The act of your brain tunnel visioning on something drains you (but that’s another topic).

Time blindness is…. having the general knowledge that today is Wednesday, and you need to do something on Thursday. Thursday is logically tomorrow, but the mysterious void of time is like ‘that’s like next week or something.’  It’s knowing you have to do something in three weeks on the 21st. And as the days creep closer, the 21st is stuck in a constant state of still being 3 weeks away, despite the fact it’s now tomorrow.

It’s wild. ADHD is literally living in a constant state of “There is Now. And there is Later.” and there’s no in between; no dates, no times; no hours, weeks, or months. It’s just Now and Later, and oh god why is is X o’clock already!?

This is a thing for autism, too.

I have ADHD and I am autistic so I don’t know which diagnosis is responsible for this in me but I do know it is Not Appreciated.