Psych Charm: ADHD

ADHD – Also known as Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

What is ADHD?

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. People with ADHD typically struggle with finding it difficult to focus. They are easily distracted in pursuit of stimulus. Sometimes the stimulus leads them to hyper-focus. 

The reality of ADHD 

The reality for many people is that ADHD is a constant challenge for them to focus. You’ll see often online that people joke about their ADHD I myself have joked about somehow ‘harnessing it.’ 

If you have ADHD, you may be very frustrated with your seemingly paradoxical ability to hyper-focus on something one moment and then have no focus for the things you really want to do another moment.  The hyper-focus is almost never the thing you’re trying to accomplish. But it does stimulate you.

My experience 

As I said, I would often joke about weaponizing my ADHD to get an awful lot of things done. It seemed to be the likely explanation for all of the disparate disconnected things I was not only completing rather thoroughly but also in record time. Case in point all of the books that I wrote in a short period along with podcast episodes such as this one in addition to the pilots license I earned a year ago.

But I don’t believe I have ADHD. Though I am able to hyper focus on something. It is not because of a have a Pavlovian quest for stimulus. Instead, I have just learned to understand how to focus and how to pursue something to completion. It’s a mental stamina that I’ve developed. In the podcast episode called in the zone. I talk about being in the zone.

Though being in the zone share some similarities with hyperfocus, it is rather different. Hyper focus of ADHD can be so intense and all encompassing that the person loses track of time. Being in the zone does speed up time, but you still have an awareness of time passage, and in fact it is this awareness that sometimes makes you feel like you are just playing around when you’re actually getting work done since you are enjoying it so darn much.

As I am writing this, I am sitting outside. And Across The Street they are cutting down a tree. The constant chainsaws is very annoying, but I’ve decided that I’m going to push through it. It would be an easy excuse to just either move inside or put this off to a later date.

How do you cope with ADHD?

It is common, and almost a bit too common, that doctors will prescribe ADHD medicine. I had my own encounter indirectly when I mentioned to my doctor that when I took or used to take sinus medication it allowed me to focus without distraction. she said that one of the ingredients was also in ADHD medicine. 

I’m often surprised to find that people who suffer from ADHD have an absolutely terrible diet riddled with bizarre modern chemicals. They tend to stare at the TV and spent very little time physically moving. I would surprise that people should really try doing some involved exercises. Even walking Can change your state of being as I talked about in the parasympathetic nervous system episode.

No, I am not dissuading you from taking meds if you need them, but I think it’s important to have a baseline of healthy eating healthy outlets and healthy exercise. I think putting those things in place may give some a little reprieve if not a dramatic change in what they call ADHD. But By all means consult the doctor.

ADHD Psych Charm

This charm uses the infinity symbol to represent the infinite thoughts that one can experience while focusing on none of them. It’s the infinity of possibilities that can be so overwhelming. Paralysis by analysis if you will.

As with the other charms I used a symbol that was not color-dependent so we can have some fun with color combination, as well as ha