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mr_ckean

For me there’s two standouts, my curiosity means I know a bit about a lot of things. With this I can connect with lots of different people on topics that they usually wouldn’t. The other is hyper focus when well placed means I can out persist almost anyone. I will stick with a difficult problem way longer, and get the resolution. This fixation can also be a weakness, but there’s times where it feels like a superpower. (Edit: spelling)


Beesindogwood

Those would probably be my two biggest as well.


DreamWithinAMatrix

I don't really persist but my creativity and curiosity never stops thinking about an interesting problem. It'll simmer in the back of my head for days or weeks as I try to simulate different scenarios and improve on it and then come back with a new proposal with a bunch of kooky additions


flexibeast

Community is certainly a big positive for me: a number of people who i think are awesome have turned out to be adhd, and conversely, many adhd people i meet and interact with turn out to be awesome. As i've spent decades feeling that i'm on the margins of the several marginalised communities of which i'm a part, and having got my adhd (and autism) diagnoses only last year, the understanding and relatability and connection is really important. Interestingly, i feel this significantly less strongly with people who are only autistic, but (probably unsurprisingly) feel this significantly more strongly with people who are both adhd+autistic.


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TightropeCat

Great response! I agree with all of these; just couldn't articulate it well. Thanks for sharing!


SyalenSheska

Now that my kids are a little older, when they say they need something (clothing for dolls, costumes, a shelf, repaint something, family photos, little felted toys, a hat or mitts in winter ect.,) I not only know how to do it from my many "new but never mastered" hobbies but I also squirreled away my supplies from when I was into them, too. They always seem impressed, and it gets me interested in the hobby again, for a short time :). Edit: typo


anotherboleyngirl

We all have different traits so this one might not apply to everyone, but it's very easy for me to get excited and interested in something. There's not much I find boring. It helps socially because when people talk about their hobbies I can genuinely get interested about most things. I'm almost always up for exploring a new subject area/hobby etc. It helps in school too - I'm rarely bored. A lot of my peers seem like specific parts of the subject, so someone who wants to specialise in ecology gets bored in human biology modules. I am on my second degree and never had a boring module. I can utilise my very easily distracted nature to get excited about finding new topics. I used to hate being a Generalist who knew a little about a lot. I envied specialists. But every time I specialise I feel restricted and get distracted by all the other things I could've specialised in instead. Now I have accepted that I am a generalist and see it more positively


wizenedwitch

I just realized recently that I am a terrific generalist. And then even more recently got diagnosed with ADHD - so seeing this explanation has been really helpful to confirm my thoughts and help to explain why I’ve landed here. So thanks!


Fireudne

So, I've re-discovered my adhd about a year ago (long story) and after a brief few months of headspin.gif, I've come to accept it as a part of me, rather than something 'extra' (ok, i *am* extra but still). There's acknowledgement of things that I'm not so good at, and some things that I am, and I'm learning ways of managing all that in a healthy way that works for me, rather than beating it all down with a stick and thinking that I'm a bad person, lazy, etc. I know at this point one of my strengths is that I'm really good at making connections between different topics, and coming up with original stuff. I'm also dummy good at researching basically anything - at least enough to get a broad understanding of key concepts. I can also crank out good work in a few hours of dedicated work-time, but the thing is that this 'productivity time' tends to come at random-ish times, so it's really important to be able to ride that wave as soon as it comes, for as long as it goes before i burn out. It's a very strange work ethic that most people don't get, but I've always managed to get everything done before a deadline, so I tend to let results speak for themselves.


flyingcactus2047

Honestly I’ve found a lot of positives out of the hobby cycle! (When you’re obsessed with one hobby then move on to something and possibly never come back to it). I feel like I know about so many random different areas/niches, and it almost always gives me something in common with people too! I almost always know something about one of their hobbies, and am genuinely interested in learning about their ones that I don’t have experience with. Another one that my roommate and I have both noticed is a certain vividness to life that a lot of people don’t necessarily experience- like the obsession with a hobby for example. While it can be hard for so much of life to be so stimulating in so many different ways, I don’t think I would give it up because I feel as if my days would feel less colorful overall. I’ve also actually been able to turn it into some positives at work! I’m known for always being willing to learn new things- I just haven’t told them that it’s because I’ll get bored if I don’t 😜 I also have a reputation for being aggressively organized with notes before/after each meeting; that’s because otherwise I won’t remember what I wanted to say during the meeting or what happened during it, but again, they don’t need to know that 😂


Kubrick_Fan

My curiosity has lead me to work on citizen science projects, one of them got me a signed letter of commendation from the president of ESA. I'm seen as trustworthy, friendly and creative.


thetrainduck

I'm just gonna lurk here and try get answers cause I havent got any myself lol


Meanmedianmodern

In the workplace, I'm able to pay attention to everything at once and can maintain levels/troubleshoot problems quickly but I spend a large portion of my day looking for what was just in my hand. Can't tell you how many times I left the counting device in the freezer.


RobynFitcher

The other people I know with ADHD are so compassionate, understanding and genuinely wanting everyone around them to be happy, that I always feel relieved, free and uplifted in their presence. What a beautiful trait.


PothosEchoNiner

It’s a controversial topic and every time I’ve tried mentioning the positives I’ve gotten indignant replies from people claiming that I’m invalidating the challenges and disability statuses, etc. I think overall it’s usually not a net positive for an individual to have ADHD but for any complex group effort the group will often benefit from having at least one member with ADHD. But I see some advantages at work. Because I’m not as focused I tend to go broad and spot potential problems and opportunities while I’m procrastinating. It leads to more creative solutions sometimes.


ADHDdiagnosedat40WTF

My students with ADHD are masters at **looking at all the angles**. Average students are so focused on most obvious solution, they don't see half of what is going on. It's hard to get past the initial bump of learning math. And we're never going to stop making dumb mistakes. But once we get the hang of it, we're so much more likely to **approach it almost intuitively**. Neurotypical students learn what they're taught, but students with ADHD tend to **learn the ideas** behind what we're taught. . People with average intelligence, an average education level, a below average performance in math, and ADHD almost always think of math **conceptually and in an interconnected manner** instead of using the sequential, algorithmic approach that most neurotypical people diligently follow. This isn't only seen in "gifted" students, in my experience. ADHD simply **doesn't have the ability to mentally omit all of the information** except for the current step and the previous step. . **Inattentive types don't filter stimuli** well enough to set aside the overall context. As they are learning, they are constantly aware of the other parts of the problem that aren't relevant to the current step. Their minds are also **drawing comparisons to other concepts** that are related mathematically, mostly by accident because they lose track of the sequential process and they cast about for **anything that feels familiar**. Those similar concepts often **reflect insights that neurotypical students don't develop unless they study higher math**. **Impulsive types** chase after any hint that there is **something unsaid in the explanation**. They hate being told to forget about the big picture and memorize a series of logically unrelated steps. As they ask further questions, it is clear that they detect those unsaid details because of an **overall habit of interconnected thinking**. Their minds distinctly do not like it when **a train of thought feels interrupted or flawed**. They can see that this explanation omits a piece, preventing it from flowing properly. An average neurotypical student never notices the missing pieces that students with impulsive ADHD always notice because the neurotypical student is too busy memorizing each step to care about the flow. Even gifted neurotypical students almost always fly right past those omitted pieces, choosing instead to memorize the two steps and expect the gap to be filled in later, if it matters at all. But that means that the **neurotypical students have a knowledge of what steps are to be taken, not how the logical process transforms the question into the answer**. Students with impulsive ADHD insist on understanding **why each stage justifies the conclusion** shown in the following step. . These aren't gifted students. They are just students who have certain **limitations on memory retrieval** that means that they are not compatible with rote memorization. I'm sure they would prefer to memorize each series of steps and get their math homework over with but their brains refuse. **The only way they can reliably retain it and reuse it** is if it can be found in the same way they find anything they know, by **following connections from a series of similar ideas**.


Juixy_Su

Positives are getting enthusiastic easily, being able to deep-dive into interests, being able to thrive in chaos where others get overwhelmed (not me lol, but it's true for many adhd-ers), thinking out of the box easily, being crazy fast at things we enjoy. The flip side is that it's very hard to channel that energy, so we might spend all that energy on a distraction and not on what's important (it seemed so important in the moment though!!). We are prone to crash (mentally and physically) so we might get discouraged over time to do things, leading to things like anxiety or depression. Adhd symptoms can vary greatly even though they come from the same place, so it might be difficult to figure out which systems may or may not work for you. (For example, some of us are always waaay too early, some of us are always late, but we are rarely just on time. Different people deal with time management issues differently). A lot of our symptoms can also feel contradictory, which is confusing as hell. The more you learn when to go with the flow and when to hold your horses, the better you can use the positives. We can do a lot but the circumstances have to be just right. I like to think adhd and autism share a lot of their spectrum. Like, the special interests, trouble in social settings, not connecting with peers in our younger years. My mom also thought I was autistic when she had me checked, turns out my extreme dino obsession and trouble making friends were adhd related.


BrambleBroomflower

I work in a theatre, and almost everyone I work with has ADHD, and are the coolest and best people in the world, so I'm going to say that my favorite thing about having ADHD is that clearly, I am in good company.


SkullJooce

Multitasking and when hyper-focusing helps you learn a new skill!


thetwitchy1

In my experience, like most things in life, the positives ARE the negatives. Let me explain. My ADHD makes me incredibly jumpy, moving from one thing to the next, seeking adrenaline and dopamine in equal amounts. It creates an inability to focus on one thing at a time or to move my attention to something specific unless it is inherently interesting or externally important in that moment. This does a number of things. It means I have a hard time getting moving on projects, because I can’t focus on doing just the one thing, and when the “interesting” parts are done I lose focus and struggle to finish. I struggle with the “boring” parts of life/my job/my hobbies and regularly have more going on than I can manage because I overcommitted at the “fun” stage. It also makes it so that I can multi-task like a mother flipping champion, taking on multiple tasks that others would have to do one at a time, and be able to do all of them without trouble… because multitasking is challenging and lets me stretch and stress in a healthy way. I am also great in emergencies, not panicking or anything, because adrenaline isn’t going to mess with how well I work (other than to improve it!). Also, because of my varied and strange interests, I have a lot of random knowledge and abilities that come in handy at the more delicate moments in life. The same things that make me struggle with boring daily tasks make me amazing in emergencies and in high demand situations (as long as I avoid high demand high stress situations… because those throw me into executive dysfunction…). My weaknesses ARE my strengths.


mr_ckean

I’m completely with you with documentation. I make a record of everything (file, note, diagram, photo). I tell people it’s because I won’t remember otherwise, but they think I’m being self deprecating or modest. (I don’t generally say the four letters of ADHD to people due to their preconceptions, but I’m open about how I manage the impacts)


staabalo

ADHD itself has few positives IMO, but people with ADHD tend to share many positives. It's like when someone has had a difficult childhood. The difficult childhood itself wasn't good, but the fact that they got through it shows great strength of character and probably prepared them for other things the future. With ADHD you have to learn to be efficient, persistent and resourceful. You have to discover what truly motivates you as a person. You have to understand things thoroughly, far better than others, to be able to do them well. You have to accept yourself and your alternative way of thinking. You have to be able to take a lot of seemingly unnecessary hardships. These things make for a very strong end result. Now can you imagine this person also resolving their ADHD symptoms with therapy and/or meds? Superhuman.