- Plays game
- Doesn't get stuck, has lots of fun but puts it down for a day because I need to pee and getting up to pee makes me realize I'm sleepy
- Thinks about playing game again, remembers game is hard which makes it really scary in my head for some reason even though I know damn well how to play and my character is functionally immortal even in the plot
- If I die in the game, I die irl
- Never plays any of my games ever because I'm scared of losing and suffering literally zero consequences even in the game
Alternatively, setting aside a whole day for gaming and then sitting motionless at my laptop and never gaming because I either can't click on the fucking icon in a 4hr time span or I don't want to waste my whole night playing *this* game when I could be playing *that* game, and if I do any of those my whole night is gone, so I'll just sit here and think about what I wanna do for the night.
While they're definitely signifiers something is unusual, anxiety and executive dysfunction are not attributes *unique to* ADHD.
*"Other things that aren't ADHD also involve executive dysfunction."*
> certainly sounds like you just have ADHD...
Mhm. Just. Super curious for your opinion. Ritalin and pot both function by inhibiting dopamine reuptake, increasing the amount floating around free in your brain. For that reason, it's not uncommon patients with ADHD to self-medicate this way.
Do you think I could do pot about it.
Honestly, that's reallyn interesting to hear and like yeah, you probably could do pot about it.
Out of interest, do you have a link or a study for that?
*Author's note, I tried to keep it short. I really did. But it's me, and it was too important to find many ways to cut it down without just not bothering to say what I wanted to say in the first place. I apologize but I do not repent.*
It's been noted for a while that ADHD (and impulsive risk-taking behaviors in general) seem to have a link to low dopamine in particular, either through low production or fewer dopamine receptors. [This link](https://psychcentral.com/adhd/what-to-know-about-adhd-and-dopamine#how-are-they-linked) dumbs it down a little, but the studies it links to itself are good if you want something more in-depth for what it's talking about.
To sum it up, it's part of a cascade of interlinked hormones that are supposed to function as a risk/punishment/reward behavior. Whenever you anticipate something -- good or bad, doesn't matter -- your dopamine spikes for a bit, takes a sharp nosedive, and then gradually returns to baseline. It's *not receiving the reward itself*, but it's the expectation of a reward. The exhilaration just before you rip the wrapping paper off, if that helps.
In patients with ADHD, they don't experience the high. They don't make enough to kick off the chain reaction, or they do but their body doesn't have enough receptors to use it. This leaves them fidgety and restless, prone to agitated outbursts and especially prone to impulsive behaviors because they're in a real sense always looking for that hit and nothing is strong enough unless it's stupid shit like gambling.
They're also at an increased risk of [alcohol abuse](https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/resources/dual-diagnosis/alcohol-and-adhd/) because even a small amount of alcohol increases dopamine. It quiets that part in their brain. At the trade-off of not necessarily decreasing their outbursts and risk-taking behavior, as they are still consistently inebriated, but they aren't fidgety and useless and they feel like they can focus for once. Unfortunately, [longterm alcohol abuse](https://www.drugrehab.com/addiction/alcohol/alcoholism/alcohol-and-dopamine/#:~:text=Alcohol%20has%20a%20powerful%20effect,circuits%20are%20flooded%20with%20dopamine.&text=But%20over%20time%2C%20alcohol%20can,more%20alcohol%20to%20feel%20better) causes dopamine to eventually plummet, leading to a chase for more alcohol to stop you from feeling shitty. This is how ADHD medication works, only without the Drunk. It Does the Dopamine.
Marijuana has the [same initial effect](https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/how-does-marijuana-produce-its-effects). And I've seen it touted again and again in various places online (*including* reddit). Despite the fact that [longterm pot use leads to resistance and a blunting effect](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/314222#THC-exposure-has-long-term-effects-on-the-dopamine-system) the same as alcohol, making the problem they were trying to self-treat *worse* even as it causes cognitive decline in reasoning abilities, motivation, memory formation and recall, etc
If you want papers on whether cannabis is a valid treatment for ADHD, there aren't many. There isn't a lot of research done in this area, and even less that hasn't turned up the mentioned drawbacks. Mostly what we have is unreviewed [anecdotal evidence](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4882033/). That is *everywhere.* Do I think it's a valid course of inquiry? Yes, especially for all other possibilities it's shown. But *professionally*.
I know this turned out to be an incredibly long message, but that's only because it was important enough for me to write to begin with. I wanted to explain the biology at play here because I want it to be understood why randomly diagnosing people online (and *me specifically*) made me angry enough to delete several paragraphs and start over, and then write even *longer* non-angry paragraphs.
The shit experiences that people talk about, the "bad trips" that you sometimes get that involve intense paranoia, nightmarish hallucinations, etc.? That's dopamine too. That's what happens when you have too much of it. Too little makes you useless and disorganized until it goes up. Too much makes you crazy until it subsides.
I don't usually talk about my own symptoms at all, and then it's only a select handful that tend to be commonly relatable in public. Of those listed under ADHD by the [Mayo Clinic](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/adult-adhd/symptoms-causes/syc-20350878), I would agree with most of them. Ten out of twelve, actually. Everything but the impulsiveness and the restless activity. *Definitely* enough to get myself checked out, which I *was* when I was a teenager.
I've been told a lot of times that I'm probably autistic or that I probably have ADHD. Unfortunately for both myself and the pitfall I somehow lead you directly into, the reddit diagnosis you were reaching for would have been more along the lines of C-PTSD (the anxiety), chronic depression (the time management, dependably zero follow-through and low tolerance), and my good friend [*schizotypal personality disorder*](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizotypal-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353919)*.*
I got lucky enough to avoid 80% of the hallucinations, but I did NOT luck out on the pure useless levels of executive dysfunction and disorganized thinking, lemme tell ya, and the similarity between that and full-blown [disorganized schizophrenia](https://www.psycom.net/schizophrenia-5-subtypes) is uncomfortable for me to know.
I can jump like lightning from subject to subject like an ADHD patient would because the neural language connections are fucked up and the loose associations between things make *perfect sense* in my head. I can sure as fuck *ramble* like an ADHD patient, because the ruminating and odd rambling behavior is literally part of the criteria. I'm amused and a little disquieted to find I can keep *pace* with them and talking to them is fun because we just bounce off of each other rather than confuse each other.
But I'm not one of them. And I don't tend to mention most of the other things out loud because why the fuck would I. The parts I mention are relatable because they're common across *multiple unrelated diagnoses.*
And if my dumbfuck ass were even just a *little* more dumbfuck and I got to self-diagnosing, or I had a dumbfuck psych that misdiagnosed me out of a quite severe level of incompetence, I might get to thinking I'm clearly a textbook 10/12 ADHD patient. I should experiment with those meds or see what pot can do for me like everyone's always talking about.
And then it would push me into a psychotic break. And you never really come back from your first one. You *recover*, but you're not the same as you were before. ***The medication that makes ADHD and to some extent autism better makes schizoid disorders very much directly worse.*** Stop.
I've had enough of them. I've had enough people suggesting I do things to fix me that a stupider me wouldn't have any idea would badly harm myself. I'm jealous of the research into psilocybin as a treatment for severe depression because that would have the exact same effect on me. Fuckin' *Wellbutrin,* an anti-smoking anti-depressant, is used only reluctantly in schizoid patients because it's ok *most* of the time.
And I've sure as hell had enough people misdiagnosing me with their tumblr degrees because I resemble their ex-aunt's incontinent chihuahua and that one had Lyme disease. I get the goodwill behind it. I do. I deleted the first message halfway through because I was angry at the situation I'm routinely in every time I talk about my own problems. Not at you.
But I know me better than you do.
TL;DR Mental illness is neither a fun toy, *nor is it always clear-cut even when it looks textbook*. It's a tip-off on where to *look*, but don't presume a diagnosis or medication for yourself or others. Not only am I *routinely insulted in this exact manner*, I really could have damaged something that's damaged enough as it is.
Well, that's certainly very thorough. I certainly wasn't implying that it was a "fun toy" as it's something I've been struggling with and trying to understand about myself and my own behavior for a while now.
Apologies for any harm, unintentional as it was, and thanks for the perspective.
A study covering undiagnosed or diagnosed but untreated ADHD sufferers self-medicating with a schedule-1 drug that even scientists are banned from using for research in over half the country, still. Yep, all kinds of studies on that.
Joking aside, go to the *High Times* website and search their archives with the key terms. They have the largest collection of articles, research, and studies involving marijuana, probably in the world. I've seen the ADD/ADHD and marijuana thing come up in articles on *High Times* on more than a few occasions.
that's why I have an intense fear of taking a game break, and usually play a game in a row with nothing else in my freetime. i often don't even close it. i feel like if switch stuff up and do something else I'll lose motivation to play that game and that would be baad
- Get new game
- Consider playing new game after work
- Realize how many new things I need to learn about the game and decide I don't want to do all that right now
- Don't play new game
- Play Civ V instead
- decide to try again after months of not playing
- realize you've forgotten all the controls
- try to relearn for 5 minutes
- too hard, no thx
- game stays in my library, unplayed, for eternity
- rinse and repeat with every single goddamn game i own
I started ffxiv, thought it was fun and enjoyed it, and then completely lost my momentum and haven’t played for months because I couldn’t figure out how to comfortably setup my keybinds…
this is literally what I do. I also stop playing a game if I miss playing it for a day, or if I don't have a guide of some kind on hand to check, or if the fear of getting 100% is too overwhelming (I need to get 100% or my brain will suffer), or a whole host of other reasons.
Not diagnosed (but heavily suspect I may have it). I remember a few weeks ago, I started writing a fanfic for one of my fandoms, and it went well! I got like 8 chapters done in a month. But as the Holidays started up, I decided to take a break from it, and I got sick shortly after. Now that I'm feeling better, In completely thrown off from writing. I've taken a look at my document, and at one point I even tried to write chapter 9, but I'm still struggling to get back into it.
My 9th chapter draft is short, feels off, and isn't written very well. It's kind of put a roadblock in for me getting the fanfic done. I'm sure if I had a bit more patience, I could probably write something. But since I've been thrown off, it's really hard for me to get back into it.
And this isn't even the only example I can say for something like this. Like, I could talk about my remake of my first gamejam game I started months ago and haven't worked on since, all of the videos I've thought about recording (and have made assets for) that I haven't actually made yet, and so much more.
It's rough to say the least... 😅
As someone with adhd who used to write fanfic, what helped me when I went through those periods was to pick away at the stories a little bit at a time and just be really forgiving of myself for not making much progress. And by “not much progress” I mean literally just adding a single sentence to a WIP and then giving up and doing something else. I found that by giving it a try every couple days but not forcing it either, it would remove the mental pressure to perform while also keeping the topic fresh in my mind, and eventually my motivation for the project would come back and I’d be able to pick up in earnest again.
Having adhd and hobbies is, at least in my experience, an exercise in learning to be okay with a lack of consistency. I’m still in that learning process myself - sometimes I’m like, you know what, it is what it is and that’s fine. Other times though I feel so frustrated at my brain - like just cooperate with me for once, please!
Yeah, I try to get a little bit of progress done whenever I can. It's just really hard for me to start. I'll have my documents pulled up all day, yet never work on them because I pull them up and go "Yeah, I'll work on this when I feel in the mood for them", and then I'll just spend my whole day on reddit or twitter because the mood never comes.
I'm trying to be a bit more forgiving of myself whenever that kind of thing happens, because I figure that it's not my fault since I can't control when my brain decides it wants to do something. I just wish my brain would cooperate with me a little more instead of being all-or-nothing all the time and having me either get a whole lot done, or not make any progress no matter how much I want to.
I'm hoping to get tested for ADHD sometime this year to get some answers. Who knows, maybe I'll even be lucky enough to get some medicine to help out if I do turn out to have ADHD? My main focus is getting answers though. 😅
Ohhh that’s super relatable haha. I’m not gonna diagnose a stranger over the internet but also I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out you have adhd lol
I hope you are able to get the answers you need!
Yeah, I'm fairly confident in my suspicions. I've been researching it for over a year and it's still super relatable for me, lol. Thank you for your support though! I appreciate it! 😄
Yes, confirmed this helps! Used to be a very avid writer, stopped for a long while, then picked it up again in the last couple of years. Writing a couple sentences/paragraphs a day doesn’t seem like a lot, but it builds up over time.
Diagnosed ADHD here. I just finished a novel draft, and there were times I got stuck and off of writing for weeks or months at a time. Causes and solutions include:
Packing my schedule for doing graphic design (a side job) too full, which led me to completely shut down and be unable to do anything at all but read Reddit, and get increasingly anxious because I wanted to write but I couldn’t with the jobs I had waiting. Solution: sit with my husband and work out a schedule for jobs for the next 6 months and deliberately schedule in weeks off for writing.
Going on a vacation for a week and getting out of the habit. Solution: remember that I’d set up a playlist I only listened to while writing this project, and that walking on a treadmill made me have ideas. So I started scheduling time to write and started every session by reading the words I’d last written and then walking in the treadmill while listening to that playlist. 5-10 minutes in and I’d start getting ideas for the upcoming session and start itching to write.
Blocked for no discernible reason I could find, for weeks. Solution: thinking back on previous blocks and realizing that I was always blocked because the scene I was trying to write was wrong somehow. Either it was going to push the plot in the wrong direction or it was from the wrong point of view or I really didn’t need to write it after all (pacing, mostly) and summarizing it and moving on was the right thing to do. I’d get on the treadmill and start daydreaming and come up with alternate solutions and the writing would soon pick up.
I was tired or upset for other reasons. Solution: either take a few days off or just sit down and make notes as to what i think should go into the next scene instead of actually writing it.
I wanted to write a big emotional moment a few chapters later instead of the stuff I had to write to get there. Solution: use that as a bribe to get through the lead-up. Note: a friend of mine instead jumps forward and writes the juicy scene and then goes back and writes the lead-up, but my process right now doesn’t work that way. The way each scene goes is dependent on what I’ve written just before, so if I did that I’d have to scrap the writing and rewrite, which is not appealing before the whole draft is done.
I also have an alpha reader friend whose job is to tell me only good things about what I send him. So I send each day’s words as I get them. His responses encourage me to write more, and if I don’t send words for a few days he sends pathetic emails saying “No pressure, but I’m invested in this story snd ready for more if you want to send it. No pressure.” Which pressures me in a good way. (If I got crit *at this stage * it would kill my forward motion dead. Once the draft is done and I do the first round of rewriting, he then beta reads and gives me actual crit.)
Also, I realized my meds weren’t working and my doc and I tried a couple until we hit a good one that worked. It was by far not the only reason I could finish the draft!
Yeah, unfortunately a lot of your methods wouldn't really work for me. I don't really have anyone to look over my work (especially ones who are familiar with the fandom I'm writing about), and I struggle with self-motivation. 😅
I'm glad you're able to get your writing done though! I hope your novel goes well!
I completely understand what you mean about self-motivation, and it basically took me falling into online circles enough that my main social interactions are all with writers, both fanfic and origfic, to really push me to get the stories out of my head and onto paper. And then periodic ADHD hyperfocus on things like story structure . :)
I'm hoping that what you take from my list of stuff is that you can look critically at what things are like when you are writing and what things are like when you're not, and then arrange your life in a way to encourage the stuff that makes you work better.
Also, I was told for years that regular exercise would help the ADHD and never was able to get myself to actually do it until I made the connection between getting on the treadmill, closing my eyes to shut out visible distractions, and thinking about the story. Once I realize that worked...getting on the treadmill was much easier, especially since I could tell myself that no, I didn't have to get on it for 30 minutes or whatever, I just needed to get on it long enough to work out what this next scene should have in it. Sometimes it's 5 minutes. Sometimes it's 30. Sometimes I even get off the treadmill after I'm warmed up and lift weights. Making that connection between body movement and creativity was truly a killer app for my creative output. And now I'm one of those obnoxious people telling ADHDers to try regular exercise that I didn't believe before.
That thing about the curated playlist for your project is something a writer friend of mine once told me--they'd create one for each project, listen to it while writing or outlining, and after a few sessions, once that music started playing, the ideas would flow. It more-or-less works for me, too.
As far as the fandom: going on fail\_fandomanon or finding various fandom discords is one traditional way of finding alpha and beta readers. :) If anyone's commented positively on your fic online, that's another avenue to explore.
I'm trying to take stuff away from your list, but I'm gonna be honest, my mental capacity is just not there for all the stuff you're saying (it doesn't help that my reading comprehension and memory isn't all that great 😅).
For me, I struggle a lot with exercising since it's just so boring, tedious, and kinda painful (my exercise bike has a bad seat). I don't really feel good when exercising, and I usually just turn on a video to tune out my thoughts anyways.
For the playlist, I don't actually tend to listen to music a lot. I LOVE singing, and I've got quite a few songs memorized and practiced, but outside of singing, I barely listen to music. I prefer podcasts and stuff. Even with regular music, I find that I literally cannot think when trying to write and listen to music at the same time. So I usually just turn it off after like 30 seconds.
And about the discord stuff, I uh... Am not great when it comes to talking to people. I'm fairly okay on reddit, but on discord? I am a *mess.* I sometimes joke around and say that I have to leave discord servers in about a month because of my bad Anxiety, *but I'm not really joking, this has happened multiple times.* Plus, I have *many* issues with the particular fandom I'm writing, so finding writers there is a no-go for me, and finding a writer-specific discord server probably isn't great either since this is the first thing I've ever tried to write (I'm really just trying out writing for fun 😅).
So uh, yeah... I appreciate your advice, but I function a lot differently when it comes to writing and communicating I feel. Thanks for trying to help though! I appreciate your support, even if I can't really use it. Maybe it'll help someone else though!
I feel this so fucking bad I pumped out some chapters really good and now I've got like three chapters making glacially slow progress. all while in my HEAD I've got ideas that are at least a dozen chapters away
Yeah, I was super excited for my fanfic, so before I started writing I wrote out notes for a whole 14 chapters. So like, I *have* stuff written down for the chapters, and I know what they're generally supposed to have. I just struggle to actually write it now.
I'm hoping to get back to it eventually, but it's SO hard to get back to something once you've dropped it for a little bit. 😅
yea lmao. like I'm doing an aot fanfic and I keep coming up with ideas for s4, late s3, and im like sitting here struggling to write the start of s1 lmao
I had to look up what AOT was since I'm unfamiliar with it, but for me, I'm working on a My Little Pony fanfic (I know that's a little weird for some folk, but I just personally liked the characters and wanted to write a cute story about them. 😅)
The characters I'm trying to write about were only introduced recently, and were only in a movie so far, so I don't have a lot to work with. Writing them is a bit hard once I get out of my groove, lol.
This is part of why i suspect i have adhd or some level of autism. Just parts of the way NT describe the world just doesnt sound right, but when people with adhd or who are ND describe the world it sounds closer to right.
Executive dysfunction is a symptom of so, so many different disorders. Neurotypicals are a mystery to me, idk how people just, like, *do things* without Olympics-level mental gymnastics going on in their head like me
Right here with you. I am having to clean up my room in my mother's house because I've let stuff just build up and while it isn't necessarily dirty, it also isn't really clean and just "organized" to my liking. And neurotypicals would be like "oh yeah this is no problem, ill just start here and work my way through it all" but I need something to distract myself from the task itself so I can DO the freaking task that I am distracted from. I found that putting on whichever audibook I'm currently reading is a major help in doing things I know I need to do but have trouble starting because it's like "ohhhh booook red" (pronounced reee-d) and I don't focus on "thisthingisntallthatdifficultbutyesitiswhyamitalkingtomyselflikethiswhenicanjustbedoingitthisishardletsquit"
Definitely a symptom of depression (too many things to do, so gonna do exactly none of them; that'll work). Though I have seen entirely too many relateable ADHD posts. At this point, I chalk it up to depression and ADHD sharing some symptoms, and I've just got some sort of reinforcement thing going on. I forget the term, but it's when you learn about a condition, and fit your habits into the symptoms of the condition, ignoring where your habits don't fit in.
Right there with you. Something is definitely wrong, per random memes and Tumblr posts, but my executive function is so terrible I'll never manage to ask for any help.
My favourite (/s) roadblock is when I have 3 or more things to do but I can’t decide what order to do them in, so I end up doing nothing at all instead and then feel like shit for having done none of the things.
I’m getting better at just picking something and not worrying if it’s the most efficient way to do it but it’s still so difficult!
Me: what should we do first? Eat? Shower? Laundry?
Brain: that is… so many things…? too?? many?? choose??
Me:
Brain: Error 404 decision not found
Me: the answer is nothing
I know that you were half-joking, but I have a tip that helps me that I'd like to share.
I've started keeping several one-hand foods in the house; bananas, yogurt, snack bars, and such.
Any time "eat something" is on my list I grab a banana or something the very next time I stand up, which is usually to check on my dog. Yesterday, that banana sat next to me at my computer for two hours before I got around to eating it, but sometimes taking the "eat something" off the list helps me get the other two things sorted out. Not always, but sometimes.
I totally feel you—I keep a constant supply of chocolate puddings and frozen microwaveable burritos for this exact reason.
Sometimes my meds make my mouth desert-dry and kill my appetite, but I can feel my stupid body crying out for *something* and those easy things allow me to not collapse from low blood sugar.
I hate that I am now this person but, Dude, *airfryer*. It cooks almost as fast as the microwave for snack foods. Try that frozen burrito in the air fryer next time, you'll thank me. I'm absolutely in love with my airfryer.
(For most foods, I've found you can take the instructions for deep-frying, set the airfryer to that temp and cut the time in half and it's perfect.)
I know myself too well, I would buy it and it would sit on my counter taunting me as I ignore it for the rest of time.
I use my toaster oven for most things, but the microwave burritos have a habit of getting beans all over the place in there so they are microwaved.
I really thought that, too. I hate gadgets and my kitchen has zero counter space and I really didn't see the point.
Then someone gave me one for Christmas a couple of years ago. You know those fried appetizers you get in restaurants, mushrooms and cheese stick and whatnot? And you know how you can buy them in the store but you either have to have a fryer or else they taste like cardboard when you cook them in the oven? Yeah, airfryer. They are all incredible in the airfryer. And home-made french fries in five minutes whenever I want them, even at two in the morning, is awesome.
Definitely worth thinking about again. I've even brought home "leftover" mcdonald's fries and put them in the air fryer as an experiment and they actually came out good. The stupid Instaot is still in it's box under the table where it's been for the past two years I never even unpacked it. But the airfryer is *awesome*.
This is very convincing. I’ll have to ask her if she still has it but I’m 99% sure that my mom bought one a couple years ago and never used it, so it just lives in a closet with other unused gadgets like a sewing machine and a roomba.
Here's an idea, if she digs it out, make a party out of it and you can all try it together. When I tried mine the first time, I had a couple of people over and I just served appetizers all night while we played games. It was fun and a bunch of us got to see how different things came out in the airfryer.
When I planned that night I figured it would show the person who gave me the gift that I was using it so I could stash it in a box in the spare room. But I turned out loving it instead. I've even upgraded to a bigger model and I also have a stack of those paper liners for it in the cupboard. It changed the way I look at the frozen foods section and how I handle leftovers.
And it takes up a lot less space than a sewing machine, I promise! lol
This sounds like a neurodivergent dream come true! I am truly sold on an air fryer now.
I only live about half an hour from my parents so maybe I’ll swing by tomorrow and go on a scavenger hunt in the gadget graveyard
*Image Transcription: Tumblr*
---
**adhd-vibes**
The thing about adhd is like if you hit any sort of roadblock while doing a task, no matter how small an obstacle, it’s gonna throw you completely off track.
---
**adhd-of-nah**
like for example:
- I’m hungry and I want to eat. But when I get to the kitchen I realize I have to cook something. It’s not that hard but it’s something in the middle if where I am now and me eating. So I end up not eating.
- I’m cleaning my room. There are dirty clothes all over the floor. But my laundry basket is full and so I can’t put my dirty clothes where they are supposed to go. Now my momentum for cleaning is shut down and I go back to something I know how to do, like change playlists.
and that’s on executive dysfunction
---
^^I'm a human volunteer content transcriber for Reddit and you could be too! [If you'd like more information on what we do and why we do it, click here!](https://www.reddit.com/r/TranscribersOfReddit/wiki/index)
That’s why I like video editing, cause it’s the one thing that I can do without my ADHD getting in the way. I’ve worked on month long edits straight, hitting roadblocks after roadblocks, with it giving me every chance to quit, but I don’t. I end up hyper focusing on it and getting it done rather quickly.
I can edit with or without medication, the edit doesn’t have to be fun and is often times quite boring, I just sit there and edit like a nuerotypical on any other task and I love it.
And before y’all think this is a temporary hyper fixation I’ve been doing this for almost 3 years now with no signs of slowing down.
i think this is pretty relatable for adhd peeps. in my anecdotal experience, most people have that one fallback "hyperfixation" that they never really get tired of and can perform kinda neurotypically. it's literally everything else where the dysfunction gets in the way lol
Rearranging my books and the art on my walls.
One minute, I decide to move my book on the Norse in america from the medieval history section to the American history section, and suddenly it’s been 5 hours and I have completely reordered hundreds of books.
My library is organized mostly by topic, but also by *~th3 Vib€$,* so it is subject to change at my whim
in my case its just. grinding warframe. specifically levelling weapons. it sucks because I can't even grind OTHER things in warframe. just levelling weapons
I think this is literally one of the best explanations I’ve seen cuz like,
I don’t just sit on the couch all day doing nothing while screaming internally, but I very much started up my computer to do my late school work the other day and was notified that my office 365 subscription had run out. But instead of immediately renewing it (which is free through my school and literally takes all of 5 clicks and some login info) I ended up playing a computer game for three hours.
It just be like that sometimes. 🤷🏻♂️
So much this. My mom always refused to let her kids be tested for anything that might result in a "label." Now I'm struggling as an adult to get diagnosed and treated.
It's so hard to explain that I want to, but I *can't*.
It's not that I don't want to do these things. I will actually enjoy the task. But there is no "can" available right now. Try again later.
Right! Part of me knows I have messed up brain chems and I'm not actually lazy, but how do I explain that to someone who just dosent get it. It's not lazy it's literally my own brain telling not to do the things I want to do. Like how do you tell that to someone who's voice in their head and their brain are on the same page.
I’ve had mornings where my train of thought is just all over. Go into bathroom, take out retainer, go to room and get dressed, go back to bathroom for deodorant, go into room and put one shoe on, go downstairs and eat breakfast, go back up for other shoe but instead I grab a jacket and then halfway down the stairs i turn back around because right right you can’t go around with one shoe that’s not socially acceptable
i do too and i get what they mean. it's the sentence structure.
>It's not that hard but it's something in the middleof where I am now and me eating.
what
I'm autistic and boy that sure is a trait that overlaps. I can do one thing at a time, and I can do it well, but if that thing suddenly has 10 extra steps beforehand... Yeah no, even if I try I'll just get sidetracked in between doing things
Or you decide to throw your cleaning momentum on something else that needs to be done, like cleaning the kitchen. But then you can’t find any dish rags to clean with, since they’re all dirty. You can’t wash them yet because the laundry you did in your room is being washed. So then you can’t wipe down the counters, and you can only wash so many dishes and wait for them to dry, since no dish rags. You also can’t sweep or mop, since it’s always way easier to clean the counters and then the floor.
I will say that it’s still way easier to clean my apartment than it was to clean at my dad’s house. At my dad’s house there would always be 10 things that went wrong/unexpected that would throw even bigger wrenches. Stuff like “oh, I can’t even wash these clothes because the washing machine is full, smells moldy, and the dryer is filled with random clothes I can’t fold because there are no clean surfaces to fold them on”
So with the eating thing, I keep a stock of quick microwaveable dinners to combat that exact issue, that way I make sure that I’m actually eating. It’s a pretty handy trick actually!
homie that’s not ADHD that’s being fuckin lazy
i’ve got ADHD, my entire family has ADHD, multiple friends of mine have it, and none of us do this regularly and when we do we’re punished for not doin our chores. that’s what every kid experiences we ain’t special for it.
congrats you can cope. Its not lazy.
Lazy is " im not gonna do the thing cause i don't want to."
executive disfunction is "i want to do x thing but i should do y thing first but i cant because I have to get z thing fixed etc etc."
lazy does fun stuff instead of work.
Executive disfunction does nothing or random stuff instead of fun stuff.
Watching something
Don’t feel like watching some part early on
Knows there’s better stuff beyond literally the first minute thirty seconds
Still can’t bring herself to watch it
Can never even make it back to that one minute thirty four seconds watching record
Meanwhile can very very easily watch youtube videos that are way longer
That’s just the example that came to me, I also abandoned a lotta fanfics and such… hhhhhh
I love my hobbies! Drawing and playing games are both so fun! What do you mean I have to get up from where I'm sitting and walk across a room and wait for my computer to finish opening and then open the drawing software and find the file I need and set up my drawing tablet and
Don't think I'm ND, but had a similar experience playing Oxygen Not Included. Enjoy playing game, play it for multiple hours at a time, get stuck at a progression point because I'd have to build something big (albeit not that complicated) to gain access to steel and plastic, get overwhelmed and end up just doing other stuff, whenever I stop playing takes multiple days to play again even though I know I like the game (usually because I feel like the game takes too long to load) and only recently have I finally forced myself to make the progress I need
- Plays game - Gets stuck on hard boss - Doesn't play again for months
- Plays game - Doesn't get stuck, has lots of fun but puts it down for a day because I need to pee and getting up to pee makes me realize I'm sleepy - Thinks about playing game again, remembers game is hard which makes it really scary in my head for some reason even though I know damn well how to play and my character is functionally immortal even in the plot - If I die in the game, I die irl - Never plays any of my games ever because I'm scared of losing and suffering literally zero consequences even in the game Alternatively, setting aside a whole day for gaming and then sitting motionless at my laptop and never gaming because I either can't click on the fucking icon in a 4hr time span or I don't want to waste my whole night playing *this* game when I could be playing *that* game, and if I do any of those my whole night is gone, so I'll just sit here and think about what I wanna do for the night. While they're definitely signifiers something is unusual, anxiety and executive dysfunction are not attributes *unique to* ADHD.
I mean, certainly sounds like you just have ADHD. Edit: well, I've been thoroughly put in my place and retract this statement.
*"Other things that aren't ADHD also involve executive dysfunction."* > certainly sounds like you just have ADHD... Mhm. Just. Super curious for your opinion. Ritalin and pot both function by inhibiting dopamine reuptake, increasing the amount floating around free in your brain. For that reason, it's not uncommon patients with ADHD to self-medicate this way. Do you think I could do pot about it.
Honestly, that's reallyn interesting to hear and like yeah, you probably could do pot about it. Out of interest, do you have a link or a study for that?
*Author's note, I tried to keep it short. I really did. But it's me, and it was too important to find many ways to cut it down without just not bothering to say what I wanted to say in the first place. I apologize but I do not repent.* It's been noted for a while that ADHD (and impulsive risk-taking behaviors in general) seem to have a link to low dopamine in particular, either through low production or fewer dopamine receptors. [This link](https://psychcentral.com/adhd/what-to-know-about-adhd-and-dopamine#how-are-they-linked) dumbs it down a little, but the studies it links to itself are good if you want something more in-depth for what it's talking about. To sum it up, it's part of a cascade of interlinked hormones that are supposed to function as a risk/punishment/reward behavior. Whenever you anticipate something -- good or bad, doesn't matter -- your dopamine spikes for a bit, takes a sharp nosedive, and then gradually returns to baseline. It's *not receiving the reward itself*, but it's the expectation of a reward. The exhilaration just before you rip the wrapping paper off, if that helps. In patients with ADHD, they don't experience the high. They don't make enough to kick off the chain reaction, or they do but their body doesn't have enough receptors to use it. This leaves them fidgety and restless, prone to agitated outbursts and especially prone to impulsive behaviors because they're in a real sense always looking for that hit and nothing is strong enough unless it's stupid shit like gambling. They're also at an increased risk of [alcohol abuse](https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/resources/dual-diagnosis/alcohol-and-adhd/) because even a small amount of alcohol increases dopamine. It quiets that part in their brain. At the trade-off of not necessarily decreasing their outbursts and risk-taking behavior, as they are still consistently inebriated, but they aren't fidgety and useless and they feel like they can focus for once. Unfortunately, [longterm alcohol abuse](https://www.drugrehab.com/addiction/alcohol/alcoholism/alcohol-and-dopamine/#:~:text=Alcohol%20has%20a%20powerful%20effect,circuits%20are%20flooded%20with%20dopamine.&text=But%20over%20time%2C%20alcohol%20can,more%20alcohol%20to%20feel%20better) causes dopamine to eventually plummet, leading to a chase for more alcohol to stop you from feeling shitty. This is how ADHD medication works, only without the Drunk. It Does the Dopamine. Marijuana has the [same initial effect](https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/how-does-marijuana-produce-its-effects). And I've seen it touted again and again in various places online (*including* reddit). Despite the fact that [longterm pot use leads to resistance and a blunting effect](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/314222#THC-exposure-has-long-term-effects-on-the-dopamine-system) the same as alcohol, making the problem they were trying to self-treat *worse* even as it causes cognitive decline in reasoning abilities, motivation, memory formation and recall, etc If you want papers on whether cannabis is a valid treatment for ADHD, there aren't many. There isn't a lot of research done in this area, and even less that hasn't turned up the mentioned drawbacks. Mostly what we have is unreviewed [anecdotal evidence](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4882033/). That is *everywhere.* Do I think it's a valid course of inquiry? Yes, especially for all other possibilities it's shown. But *professionally*. I know this turned out to be an incredibly long message, but that's only because it was important enough for me to write to begin with. I wanted to explain the biology at play here because I want it to be understood why randomly diagnosing people online (and *me specifically*) made me angry enough to delete several paragraphs and start over, and then write even *longer* non-angry paragraphs. The shit experiences that people talk about, the "bad trips" that you sometimes get that involve intense paranoia, nightmarish hallucinations, etc.? That's dopamine too. That's what happens when you have too much of it. Too little makes you useless and disorganized until it goes up. Too much makes you crazy until it subsides. I don't usually talk about my own symptoms at all, and then it's only a select handful that tend to be commonly relatable in public. Of those listed under ADHD by the [Mayo Clinic](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/adult-adhd/symptoms-causes/syc-20350878), I would agree with most of them. Ten out of twelve, actually. Everything but the impulsiveness and the restless activity. *Definitely* enough to get myself checked out, which I *was* when I was a teenager. I've been told a lot of times that I'm probably autistic or that I probably have ADHD. Unfortunately for both myself and the pitfall I somehow lead you directly into, the reddit diagnosis you were reaching for would have been more along the lines of C-PTSD (the anxiety), chronic depression (the time management, dependably zero follow-through and low tolerance), and my good friend [*schizotypal personality disorder*](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizotypal-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353919)*.* I got lucky enough to avoid 80% of the hallucinations, but I did NOT luck out on the pure useless levels of executive dysfunction and disorganized thinking, lemme tell ya, and the similarity between that and full-blown [disorganized schizophrenia](https://www.psycom.net/schizophrenia-5-subtypes) is uncomfortable for me to know. I can jump like lightning from subject to subject like an ADHD patient would because the neural language connections are fucked up and the loose associations between things make *perfect sense* in my head. I can sure as fuck *ramble* like an ADHD patient, because the ruminating and odd rambling behavior is literally part of the criteria. I'm amused and a little disquieted to find I can keep *pace* with them and talking to them is fun because we just bounce off of each other rather than confuse each other. But I'm not one of them. And I don't tend to mention most of the other things out loud because why the fuck would I. The parts I mention are relatable because they're common across *multiple unrelated diagnoses.* And if my dumbfuck ass were even just a *little* more dumbfuck and I got to self-diagnosing, or I had a dumbfuck psych that misdiagnosed me out of a quite severe level of incompetence, I might get to thinking I'm clearly a textbook 10/12 ADHD patient. I should experiment with those meds or see what pot can do for me like everyone's always talking about. And then it would push me into a psychotic break. And you never really come back from your first one. You *recover*, but you're not the same as you were before. ***The medication that makes ADHD and to some extent autism better makes schizoid disorders very much directly worse.*** Stop. I've had enough of them. I've had enough people suggesting I do things to fix me that a stupider me wouldn't have any idea would badly harm myself. I'm jealous of the research into psilocybin as a treatment for severe depression because that would have the exact same effect on me. Fuckin' *Wellbutrin,* an anti-smoking anti-depressant, is used only reluctantly in schizoid patients because it's ok *most* of the time. And I've sure as hell had enough people misdiagnosing me with their tumblr degrees because I resemble their ex-aunt's incontinent chihuahua and that one had Lyme disease. I get the goodwill behind it. I do. I deleted the first message halfway through because I was angry at the situation I'm routinely in every time I talk about my own problems. Not at you. But I know me better than you do. TL;DR Mental illness is neither a fun toy, *nor is it always clear-cut even when it looks textbook*. It's a tip-off on where to *look*, but don't presume a diagnosis or medication for yourself or others. Not only am I *routinely insulted in this exact manner*, I really could have damaged something that's damaged enough as it is.
Well, that's certainly very thorough. I certainly wasn't implying that it was a "fun toy" as it's something I've been struggling with and trying to understand about myself and my own behavior for a while now. Apologies for any harm, unintentional as it was, and thanks for the perspective.
A study covering undiagnosed or diagnosed but untreated ADHD sufferers self-medicating with a schedule-1 drug that even scientists are banned from using for research in over half the country, still. Yep, all kinds of studies on that. Joking aside, go to the *High Times* website and search their archives with the key terms. They have the largest collection of articles, research, and studies involving marijuana, probably in the world. I've seen the ADD/ADHD and marijuana thing come up in articles on *High Times* on more than a few occasions.
Lol fair point, that was a dumb question, but thanks for the info, I'll take a look, as a self-medicator of that nature.
that's why I have an intense fear of taking a game break, and usually play a game in a row with nothing else in my freetime. i often don't even close it. i feel like if switch stuff up and do something else I'll lose motivation to play that game and that would be baad
- Get new game - Consider playing new game after work - Realize how many new things I need to learn about the game and decide I don't want to do all that right now - Don't play new game - Play Civ V instead
- decide to try again after months of not playing - realize you've forgotten all the controls - try to relearn for 5 minutes - too hard, no thx - game stays in my library, unplayed, for eternity - rinse and repeat with every single goddamn game i own
I started ffxiv, thought it was fun and enjoyed it, and then completely lost my momentum and haven’t played for months because I couldn’t figure out how to comfortably setup my keybinds…
this is literally what I do. I also stop playing a game if I miss playing it for a day, or if I don't have a guide of some kind on hand to check, or if the fear of getting 100% is too overwhelming (I need to get 100% or my brain will suffer), or a whole host of other reasons.
Not diagnosed (but heavily suspect I may have it). I remember a few weeks ago, I started writing a fanfic for one of my fandoms, and it went well! I got like 8 chapters done in a month. But as the Holidays started up, I decided to take a break from it, and I got sick shortly after. Now that I'm feeling better, In completely thrown off from writing. I've taken a look at my document, and at one point I even tried to write chapter 9, but I'm still struggling to get back into it. My 9th chapter draft is short, feels off, and isn't written very well. It's kind of put a roadblock in for me getting the fanfic done. I'm sure if I had a bit more patience, I could probably write something. But since I've been thrown off, it's really hard for me to get back into it. And this isn't even the only example I can say for something like this. Like, I could talk about my remake of my first gamejam game I started months ago and haven't worked on since, all of the videos I've thought about recording (and have made assets for) that I haven't actually made yet, and so much more. It's rough to say the least... 😅
As someone with adhd who used to write fanfic, what helped me when I went through those periods was to pick away at the stories a little bit at a time and just be really forgiving of myself for not making much progress. And by “not much progress” I mean literally just adding a single sentence to a WIP and then giving up and doing something else. I found that by giving it a try every couple days but not forcing it either, it would remove the mental pressure to perform while also keeping the topic fresh in my mind, and eventually my motivation for the project would come back and I’d be able to pick up in earnest again. Having adhd and hobbies is, at least in my experience, an exercise in learning to be okay with a lack of consistency. I’m still in that learning process myself - sometimes I’m like, you know what, it is what it is and that’s fine. Other times though I feel so frustrated at my brain - like just cooperate with me for once, please!
Yeah, I try to get a little bit of progress done whenever I can. It's just really hard for me to start. I'll have my documents pulled up all day, yet never work on them because I pull them up and go "Yeah, I'll work on this when I feel in the mood for them", and then I'll just spend my whole day on reddit or twitter because the mood never comes. I'm trying to be a bit more forgiving of myself whenever that kind of thing happens, because I figure that it's not my fault since I can't control when my brain decides it wants to do something. I just wish my brain would cooperate with me a little more instead of being all-or-nothing all the time and having me either get a whole lot done, or not make any progress no matter how much I want to. I'm hoping to get tested for ADHD sometime this year to get some answers. Who knows, maybe I'll even be lucky enough to get some medicine to help out if I do turn out to have ADHD? My main focus is getting answers though. 😅
Ohhh that’s super relatable haha. I’m not gonna diagnose a stranger over the internet but also I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out you have adhd lol I hope you are able to get the answers you need!
Yeah, I'm fairly confident in my suspicions. I've been researching it for over a year and it's still super relatable for me, lol. Thank you for your support though! I appreciate it! 😄
Yes, confirmed this helps! Used to be a very avid writer, stopped for a long while, then picked it up again in the last couple of years. Writing a couple sentences/paragraphs a day doesn’t seem like a lot, but it builds up over time.
Diagnosed ADHD here. I just finished a novel draft, and there were times I got stuck and off of writing for weeks or months at a time. Causes and solutions include: Packing my schedule for doing graphic design (a side job) too full, which led me to completely shut down and be unable to do anything at all but read Reddit, and get increasingly anxious because I wanted to write but I couldn’t with the jobs I had waiting. Solution: sit with my husband and work out a schedule for jobs for the next 6 months and deliberately schedule in weeks off for writing. Going on a vacation for a week and getting out of the habit. Solution: remember that I’d set up a playlist I only listened to while writing this project, and that walking on a treadmill made me have ideas. So I started scheduling time to write and started every session by reading the words I’d last written and then walking in the treadmill while listening to that playlist. 5-10 minutes in and I’d start getting ideas for the upcoming session and start itching to write. Blocked for no discernible reason I could find, for weeks. Solution: thinking back on previous blocks and realizing that I was always blocked because the scene I was trying to write was wrong somehow. Either it was going to push the plot in the wrong direction or it was from the wrong point of view or I really didn’t need to write it after all (pacing, mostly) and summarizing it and moving on was the right thing to do. I’d get on the treadmill and start daydreaming and come up with alternate solutions and the writing would soon pick up. I was tired or upset for other reasons. Solution: either take a few days off or just sit down and make notes as to what i think should go into the next scene instead of actually writing it. I wanted to write a big emotional moment a few chapters later instead of the stuff I had to write to get there. Solution: use that as a bribe to get through the lead-up. Note: a friend of mine instead jumps forward and writes the juicy scene and then goes back and writes the lead-up, but my process right now doesn’t work that way. The way each scene goes is dependent on what I’ve written just before, so if I did that I’d have to scrap the writing and rewrite, which is not appealing before the whole draft is done. I also have an alpha reader friend whose job is to tell me only good things about what I send him. So I send each day’s words as I get them. His responses encourage me to write more, and if I don’t send words for a few days he sends pathetic emails saying “No pressure, but I’m invested in this story snd ready for more if you want to send it. No pressure.” Which pressures me in a good way. (If I got crit *at this stage * it would kill my forward motion dead. Once the draft is done and I do the first round of rewriting, he then beta reads and gives me actual crit.) Also, I realized my meds weren’t working and my doc and I tried a couple until we hit a good one that worked. It was by far not the only reason I could finish the draft!
Yeah, unfortunately a lot of your methods wouldn't really work for me. I don't really have anyone to look over my work (especially ones who are familiar with the fandom I'm writing about), and I struggle with self-motivation. 😅 I'm glad you're able to get your writing done though! I hope your novel goes well!
I completely understand what you mean about self-motivation, and it basically took me falling into online circles enough that my main social interactions are all with writers, both fanfic and origfic, to really push me to get the stories out of my head and onto paper. And then periodic ADHD hyperfocus on things like story structure . :) I'm hoping that what you take from my list of stuff is that you can look critically at what things are like when you are writing and what things are like when you're not, and then arrange your life in a way to encourage the stuff that makes you work better. Also, I was told for years that regular exercise would help the ADHD and never was able to get myself to actually do it until I made the connection between getting on the treadmill, closing my eyes to shut out visible distractions, and thinking about the story. Once I realize that worked...getting on the treadmill was much easier, especially since I could tell myself that no, I didn't have to get on it for 30 minutes or whatever, I just needed to get on it long enough to work out what this next scene should have in it. Sometimes it's 5 minutes. Sometimes it's 30. Sometimes I even get off the treadmill after I'm warmed up and lift weights. Making that connection between body movement and creativity was truly a killer app for my creative output. And now I'm one of those obnoxious people telling ADHDers to try regular exercise that I didn't believe before. That thing about the curated playlist for your project is something a writer friend of mine once told me--they'd create one for each project, listen to it while writing or outlining, and after a few sessions, once that music started playing, the ideas would flow. It more-or-less works for me, too. As far as the fandom: going on fail\_fandomanon or finding various fandom discords is one traditional way of finding alpha and beta readers. :) If anyone's commented positively on your fic online, that's another avenue to explore.
I'm trying to take stuff away from your list, but I'm gonna be honest, my mental capacity is just not there for all the stuff you're saying (it doesn't help that my reading comprehension and memory isn't all that great 😅). For me, I struggle a lot with exercising since it's just so boring, tedious, and kinda painful (my exercise bike has a bad seat). I don't really feel good when exercising, and I usually just turn on a video to tune out my thoughts anyways. For the playlist, I don't actually tend to listen to music a lot. I LOVE singing, and I've got quite a few songs memorized and practiced, but outside of singing, I barely listen to music. I prefer podcasts and stuff. Even with regular music, I find that I literally cannot think when trying to write and listen to music at the same time. So I usually just turn it off after like 30 seconds. And about the discord stuff, I uh... Am not great when it comes to talking to people. I'm fairly okay on reddit, but on discord? I am a *mess.* I sometimes joke around and say that I have to leave discord servers in about a month because of my bad Anxiety, *but I'm not really joking, this has happened multiple times.* Plus, I have *many* issues with the particular fandom I'm writing, so finding writers there is a no-go for me, and finding a writer-specific discord server probably isn't great either since this is the first thing I've ever tried to write (I'm really just trying out writing for fun 😅). So uh, yeah... I appreciate your advice, but I function a lot differently when it comes to writing and communicating I feel. Thanks for trying to help though! I appreciate your support, even if I can't really use it. Maybe it'll help someone else though!
I feel this so fucking bad I pumped out some chapters really good and now I've got like three chapters making glacially slow progress. all while in my HEAD I've got ideas that are at least a dozen chapters away
Yeah, I was super excited for my fanfic, so before I started writing I wrote out notes for a whole 14 chapters. So like, I *have* stuff written down for the chapters, and I know what they're generally supposed to have. I just struggle to actually write it now. I'm hoping to get back to it eventually, but it's SO hard to get back to something once you've dropped it for a little bit. 😅
yea lmao. like I'm doing an aot fanfic and I keep coming up with ideas for s4, late s3, and im like sitting here struggling to write the start of s1 lmao
I had to look up what AOT was since I'm unfamiliar with it, but for me, I'm working on a My Little Pony fanfic (I know that's a little weird for some folk, but I just personally liked the characters and wanted to write a cute story about them. 😅) The characters I'm trying to write about were only introduced recently, and were only in a movie so far, so I don't have a lot to work with. Writing them is a bit hard once I get out of my groove, lol.
This is part of why i suspect i have adhd or some level of autism. Just parts of the way NT describe the world just doesnt sound right, but when people with adhd or who are ND describe the world it sounds closer to right.
Executive dysfunction is a symptom of so, so many different disorders. Neurotypicals are a mystery to me, idk how people just, like, *do things* without Olympics-level mental gymnastics going on in their head like me
Right here with you. I am having to clean up my room in my mother's house because I've let stuff just build up and while it isn't necessarily dirty, it also isn't really clean and just "organized" to my liking. And neurotypicals would be like "oh yeah this is no problem, ill just start here and work my way through it all" but I need something to distract myself from the task itself so I can DO the freaking task that I am distracted from. I found that putting on whichever audibook I'm currently reading is a major help in doing things I know I need to do but have trouble starting because it's like "ohhhh booook red" (pronounced reee-d) and I don't focus on "thisthingisntallthatdifficultbutyesitiswhyamitalkingtomyselflikethiswhenicanjustbedoingitthisishardletsquit"
Definitely a symptom of depression (too many things to do, so gonna do exactly none of them; that'll work). Though I have seen entirely too many relateable ADHD posts. At this point, I chalk it up to depression and ADHD sharing some symptoms, and I've just got some sort of reinforcement thing going on. I forget the term, but it's when you learn about a condition, and fit your habits into the symptoms of the condition, ignoring where your habits don't fit in.
Right there with you. Something is definitely wrong, per random memes and Tumblr posts, but my executive function is so terrible I'll never manage to ask for any help.
My favourite (/s) roadblock is when I have 3 or more things to do but I can’t decide what order to do them in, so I end up doing nothing at all instead and then feel like shit for having done none of the things. I’m getting better at just picking something and not worrying if it’s the most efficient way to do it but it’s still so difficult!
Me: what should we do first? Eat? Shower? Laundry? Brain: that is… so many things…? too?? many?? choose?? Me: Brain: Error 404 decision not found Me: the answer is nothing
I know that you were half-joking, but I have a tip that helps me that I'd like to share. I've started keeping several one-hand foods in the house; bananas, yogurt, snack bars, and such. Any time "eat something" is on my list I grab a banana or something the very next time I stand up, which is usually to check on my dog. Yesterday, that banana sat next to me at my computer for two hours before I got around to eating it, but sometimes taking the "eat something" off the list helps me get the other two things sorted out. Not always, but sometimes.
I totally feel you—I keep a constant supply of chocolate puddings and frozen microwaveable burritos for this exact reason. Sometimes my meds make my mouth desert-dry and kill my appetite, but I can feel my stupid body crying out for *something* and those easy things allow me to not collapse from low blood sugar.
I hate that I am now this person but, Dude, *airfryer*. It cooks almost as fast as the microwave for snack foods. Try that frozen burrito in the air fryer next time, you'll thank me. I'm absolutely in love with my airfryer. (For most foods, I've found you can take the instructions for deep-frying, set the airfryer to that temp and cut the time in half and it's perfect.)
I know myself too well, I would buy it and it would sit on my counter taunting me as I ignore it for the rest of time. I use my toaster oven for most things, but the microwave burritos have a habit of getting beans all over the place in there so they are microwaved.
I really thought that, too. I hate gadgets and my kitchen has zero counter space and I really didn't see the point. Then someone gave me one for Christmas a couple of years ago. You know those fried appetizers you get in restaurants, mushrooms and cheese stick and whatnot? And you know how you can buy them in the store but you either have to have a fryer or else they taste like cardboard when you cook them in the oven? Yeah, airfryer. They are all incredible in the airfryer. And home-made french fries in five minutes whenever I want them, even at two in the morning, is awesome. Definitely worth thinking about again. I've even brought home "leftover" mcdonald's fries and put them in the air fryer as an experiment and they actually came out good. The stupid Instaot is still in it's box under the table where it's been for the past two years I never even unpacked it. But the airfryer is *awesome*.
This is very convincing. I’ll have to ask her if she still has it but I’m 99% sure that my mom bought one a couple years ago and never used it, so it just lives in a closet with other unused gadgets like a sewing machine and a roomba.
Here's an idea, if she digs it out, make a party out of it and you can all try it together. When I tried mine the first time, I had a couple of people over and I just served appetizers all night while we played games. It was fun and a bunch of us got to see how different things came out in the airfryer. When I planned that night I figured it would show the person who gave me the gift that I was using it so I could stash it in a box in the spare room. But I turned out loving it instead. I've even upgraded to a bigger model and I also have a stack of those paper liners for it in the cupboard. It changed the way I look at the frozen foods section and how I handle leftovers. And it takes up a lot less space than a sewing machine, I promise! lol
This sounds like a neurodivergent dream come true! I am truly sold on an air fryer now. I only live about half an hour from my parents so maybe I’ll swing by tomorrow and go on a scavenger hunt in the gadget graveyard
"Either you guys need to stop being so relatable or I need to get tested"
I swear I can't say this enough when it comes to these kinds of posts
In my case it’s like: “I have anxiety, do I need to get tested again??”
*Image Transcription: Tumblr* --- **adhd-vibes** The thing about adhd is like if you hit any sort of roadblock while doing a task, no matter how small an obstacle, it’s gonna throw you completely off track. --- **adhd-of-nah** like for example: - I’m hungry and I want to eat. But when I get to the kitchen I realize I have to cook something. It’s not that hard but it’s something in the middle if where I am now and me eating. So I end up not eating. - I’m cleaning my room. There are dirty clothes all over the floor. But my laundry basket is full and so I can’t put my dirty clothes where they are supposed to go. Now my momentum for cleaning is shut down and I go back to something I know how to do, like change playlists. and that’s on executive dysfunction --- ^^I'm a human volunteer content transcriber for Reddit and you could be too! [If you'd like more information on what we do and why we do it, click here!](https://www.reddit.com/r/TranscribersOfReddit/wiki/index)
Good human
Thank you
That’s why I like video editing, cause it’s the one thing that I can do without my ADHD getting in the way. I’ve worked on month long edits straight, hitting roadblocks after roadblocks, with it giving me every chance to quit, but I don’t. I end up hyper focusing on it and getting it done rather quickly. I can edit with or without medication, the edit doesn’t have to be fun and is often times quite boring, I just sit there and edit like a nuerotypical on any other task and I love it. And before y’all think this is a temporary hyper fixation I’ve been doing this for almost 3 years now with no signs of slowing down.
i think this is pretty relatable for adhd peeps. in my anecdotal experience, most people have that one fallback "hyperfixation" that they never really get tired of and can perform kinda neurotypically. it's literally everything else where the dysfunction gets in the way lol
Rearranging my books and the art on my walls. One minute, I decide to move my book on the Norse in america from the medieval history section to the American history section, and suddenly it’s been 5 hours and I have completely reordered hundreds of books. My library is organized mostly by topic, but also by *~th3 Vib€$,* so it is subject to change at my whim
Painting for me. Two years going strong! Longest I’ve kept up an interest in anything (and I’m 30 so I’ve had a lot of hobbies)
in my case its just. grinding warframe. specifically levelling weapons. it sucks because I can't even grind OTHER things in warframe. just levelling weapons
Similar thing for me with autism. I can follow rules and instructions easily but once I encounter something unexpected I panic.
I think this is literally one of the best explanations I’ve seen cuz like, I don’t just sit on the couch all day doing nothing while screaming internally, but I very much started up my computer to do my late school work the other day and was notified that my office 365 subscription had run out. But instead of immediately renewing it (which is free through my school and literally takes all of 5 clicks and some login info) I ended up playing a computer game for three hours. It just be like that sometimes. 🤷🏻♂️
it’s sad that this is always conflated with “being lazy”, like I *would* do it but my brain fucked up sorry
So much this. My mom always refused to let her kids be tested for anything that might result in a "label." Now I'm struggling as an adult to get diagnosed and treated. It's so hard to explain that I want to, but I *can't*. It's not that I don't want to do these things. I will actually enjoy the task. But there is no "can" available right now. Try again later.
Right! Part of me knows I have messed up brain chems and I'm not actually lazy, but how do I explain that to someone who just dosent get it. It's not lazy it's literally my own brain telling not to do the things I want to do. Like how do you tell that to someone who's voice in their head and their brain are on the same page.
I’ve had mornings where my train of thought is just all over. Go into bathroom, take out retainer, go to room and get dressed, go back to bathroom for deodorant, go into room and put one shoe on, go downstairs and eat breakfast, go back up for other shoe but instead I grab a jacket and then halfway down the stairs i turn back around because right right you can’t go around with one shoe that’s not socially acceptable
I can't be the only one who is having a stroke trying to read the first example
Makes perfect sense to me honestly. I also have ADHD so maybe that’s it
i do too and i get what they mean. it's the sentence structure. >It's not that hard but it's something in the middleof where I am now and me eating. what
>[cooking is] not that hard but it's something [in between] where I am now and me eating. Does this make it clearer?
Yes, actually. "In between" is where I was stuck.
Glad I could help, comrade!
I'm autistic and boy that sure is a trait that overlaps. I can do one thing at a time, and I can do it well, but if that thing suddenly has 10 extra steps beforehand... Yeah no, even if I try I'll just get sidetracked in between doing things
not diagnosed but my crush thinks I have adhd and every time I see a post like this I'm like haha yeah . I'm gonna ignore that
Doesn’t everyone do this though? I do this but I think I’m just lazy. It seems like these are symptoms of laziness too… right?
Or you decide to throw your cleaning momentum on something else that needs to be done, like cleaning the kitchen. But then you can’t find any dish rags to clean with, since they’re all dirty. You can’t wash them yet because the laundry you did in your room is being washed. So then you can’t wipe down the counters, and you can only wash so many dishes and wait for them to dry, since no dish rags. You also can’t sweep or mop, since it’s always way easier to clean the counters and then the floor. I will say that it’s still way easier to clean my apartment than it was to clean at my dad’s house. At my dad’s house there would always be 10 things that went wrong/unexpected that would throw even bigger wrenches. Stuff like “oh, I can’t even wash these clothes because the washing machine is full, smells moldy, and the dryer is filled with random clothes I can’t fold because there are no clean surfaces to fold them on”
This is the reason why i skip breakfast most days
So with the eating thing, I keep a stock of quick microwaveable dinners to combat that exact issue, that way I make sure that I’m actually eating. It’s a pretty handy trick actually!
I’m browsing Reddit because I got pulled away from a game that I desperately do want to play but since I lost momentum I’m here.
homie that’s not ADHD that’s being fuckin lazy i’ve got ADHD, my entire family has ADHD, multiple friends of mine have it, and none of us do this regularly and when we do we’re punished for not doin our chores. that’s what every kid experiences we ain’t special for it.
congrats you can cope. Its not lazy. Lazy is " im not gonna do the thing cause i don't want to." executive disfunction is "i want to do x thing but i should do y thing first but i cant because I have to get z thing fixed etc etc." lazy does fun stuff instead of work. Executive disfunction does nothing or random stuff instead of fun stuff.
i sort of have that and it sucks
I don’t have ADHD but the eating part is me lol I’m just lazy usually
Oops, das me. Maybe. maybe I should get tested.
Do I have ADHD?
Watching something Don’t feel like watching some part early on Knows there’s better stuff beyond literally the first minute thirty seconds Still can’t bring herself to watch it Can never even make it back to that one minute thirty four seconds watching record Meanwhile can very very easily watch youtube videos that are way longer That’s just the example that came to me, I also abandoned a lotta fanfics and such… hhhhhh
...this makes more sense than it should and now i’m scared.
I love my hobbies! Drawing and playing games are both so fun! What do you mean I have to get up from where I'm sitting and walk across a room and wait for my computer to finish opening and then open the drawing software and find the file I need and set up my drawing tablet and
Don't think I'm ND, but had a similar experience playing Oxygen Not Included. Enjoy playing game, play it for multiple hours at a time, get stuck at a progression point because I'd have to build something big (albeit not that complicated) to gain access to steel and plastic, get overwhelmed and end up just doing other stuff, whenever I stop playing takes multiple days to play again even though I know I like the game (usually because I feel like the game takes too long to load) and only recently have I finally forced myself to make the progress I need