{"id":124,"date":"2019-11-26T08:04:17","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T13:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soulrepair831638256.wordpress.com\/?p=88"},"modified":"2019-11-10T00:22:58","modified_gmt":"2019-11-10T05:22:58","slug":"squirrel-how-adhd-makes-me-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soul-repairs.com\/blog\/2019\/11\/26\/squirrel-how-adhd-makes-me-better\/","title":{"rendered":"SQUIRREL! How ADHD Makes Me Better"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: I first wrote this 2.5 years ago, which was about 6 months after I was first diagnosed. I wanted to update it with the things I’ve learned since. October is ADHD Awareness Month, and the original plan was to publish this then – but… SUPER META<\/strong>, I didn’t quite make it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When I was 10, my brain kind of\u2026imploded. I’d always been high-strung, but it suddenly got\u00a0much much<\/em> worse. It began as OCD-type impulses, and plagued me through my teens and 20’s as depression and anxiety at varying levels of\u00a0noise<\/em> in my head.<\/p>\n

And then…at the age of 32, I found myself in a psychiatrist’s office, being handed an official diagnosis of ADHD – Inattentive Type<\/a>. I had Googled enough before going that I agreed with the diagnosis, but I was still sort of…in shock<\/strong>. I was high-achieving all throughout school, never had any behavior issues, and was pretty sure that ADHD equaled the nutso spazzy kid in the corner of the class who was always distracting everyone. I began medication at that time and started to re-learn how to\u2026well, how to brain<\/em>. I started to understand why I do some of the things I do, and to make some kind of peace with the things that I just thought made me…weird. I go back and forth between wishing I could just be “normal” for a while and deeply appreciating that I’m not – because, the simple fact is, my ADHD makes me significantly better at most of the things I love (it’s a little chicken and egg…).<\/p>\n

There’s one primary reason that ADHD makes me better – and that’s focus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Why focus?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are two sides of the focus coin for ADHD, especially for inattentive type: 1) the complete inability<\/em> to focus, and 2) hyper<\/em>focus.<\/p>\n

The complete inability to focus\u2026let’s be honest here, it isn’t really an asset<\/em>. I have to be careful about my mental and soul resources, and sometimes I have to go through the very painful process of wrenching my attention to where it must<\/strong> be, and keeping it there until a task is complete. Sometimes that feels like I’m crawling in my skin, or like something internal that’s probably important will go snap!<\/em> unless I can think about or do something else for a minute. Medication helps, as does getting enough sleep. Also ride or dies, and internal soul consistency. And Trello<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hyper<\/em>focus, however, is when my brain decides that a thing is particularly interesting and it will happily think about that thing until it is no longer interesting. Hyperfocus is how I got through school labeled “high-achieving” when that’s often hard (if not impossible) for someone with ADHD – because I was hyperfocused on<\/strong> achievement. Hyperfocus also allows me to learn at lightning-fast speeds if I’m interested in what I’m learning, and it lets me get an enormous amount of stuff done – and done\u00a0well<\/em> –\u00a0in comparatively short amounts of time.<\/p>\n

Hyperfocus also is what allows me to see and understand people<\/em>. People are fascinating, <\/em>endlessly so, and I’ve thought that since I was a child and I would avoid being bored by people-watching – or organizing JCPenney catalogs… My part of this blog is a result of that fascination. My ability to understand people, and to love them because of the things that make them even more<\/em> fascinating, are\u00a0also<\/em> a result of that fascination.<\/p>\n

…most people with an ADHD nervous system have significantly higher-than-average IQs. They also use that higher IQ in different ways than neurotypical people. By the time most people with the condition reach high school, they are able to tackle problems that stump everyone else, and can jump to solutions that no one else saw.
\n– ADDitude Magazine, Secrets of Your ADHD Brain<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My career is also<\/em> a gift of the hyperfocus side of my ADHD. I’ve been able to hyperfocus on programming since I first found it as a teenager. Some element of my brain also lets me make connections that most other people don’t make, which makes me good at IT architecture, and at recognizing and knowing solutions to customer pains.<\/p>\n

See also: Coping Mechanisms<\/strong><\/h2>\n

So…the focus is pretty sweet. There’s another piece of having ADHD that affects me pretty regularly. Because I was definitely an adult you guys<\/em> (…by age, anyway…) when I was diagnosed, I had spent a lot of time developing coping mechanisms designed to balance the frustrating pieces of having an ADHD brain. For example, I take really good<\/em> meeting notes – because I write things down so that I remember what happened and what I need to do.<\/p>\n

Execution is maybe the most valuable business skill ever.
\n– me<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I had to learn how to execute, how to get things done<\/em><\/strong>, even when I didn’t want to, and even when I was completely overwhelmed by the world around me – because…I’m kind of\u00a0always<\/em> overwhelmed by the world around me.<\/p>\n

Random Me ADHD Things to Know and Tell<\/h2>\n