What a happy sounding title for this blog post - not! It's important, though, to know that Adult ADHD does not live in a vacuum all the time and that other goodies (aka co-morbid disorders) can hop on the band wagon of your mental health. For me, it's co-morbid depression.
Symptoms of ADHD
Yes, Adult ADHD isn't my friend a lot of the time. It's true - I struggle. Still, there are totally things I love about my brain that I don't think would be possible if my Adult ADHD weren't present. I think it's about darn time to talk about my favorite parts about it!
I am SuperWoman when it comes to having innovative ideas. I have so many possible inventions in my head that I would be a millionaire if I were able to bring a fraction of them to life. The issue? I am the SuperWoman of great ideas; I am no super hero of following through. Of course, you don't need to be a super hero to find success ...
I've been having a really hard time with my ADHD as of late. My medication is out of whack, my school has been harder than ever and my schedule has been bonkers. I've started to find even the most fun activities to be super boring. Television, reading books, being out with friends - all of it is boring! My wife and I have come up with a reward system to try and alleviate some of my boredom.
Yesterday, I had the good fortune to be able to volunteer with the Special Olympics in Maryland. It was a great day where I was able to do a bunch of different physical therapy related skills with some really fantastic Special Olympic athletes. So, overall, the day was really great, and it also posed some challenges for me. The number one challenge? Managing a crowd. How do we adults find a balance between doing our duties (in my case, volunteering effectively) while the possibility for becoming crowd-induced-hyperactive is looming in the background?
Having ADHD can be frustrating. Merely struggling with compensating for the challenges so they don’t interfere with daily functioning and learning new ways to do things can be taxing. There is a constant internal battle of symptom and strategy waging inside yourself when you are coping with ADHD. In fact, a lot about ADHD is exhausting, however, putting up with or hearing from people who misunderstand or have misconceptions about ADHD has to top the list.
This is a misleading title perhaps. What I want to talk about today are Legos and games of all sorts. I want to talk about adult ADHD and boredom and what can bring relief. I want to talk about having fun when fun can't be had and all sorts of interesting thing. And, I want to talk about whether rules make fun more fun or less fun. Let's get started!
Have you ever sat in front of the computer screen or pad of paper, wishing the words to magically come forth from your fingertips so you could finally meet your deadline? Do you hope that you won’t have to go through the chaos and stress of it being late or not completed at all? Yet no matter how long you sit there, or stare out the window, or surf the internet or hit your head on the desk…nothing happens. It’s not that you aren’t motivated or that it’s not important to you, but literally it’s like you have no idea of where to start or what words to use…you’re blank.
Let's hold off the discussion of Level 2 hyperactivity until I make a brief note of clarification. I am not saying that the four levels of ADHD hyperactivity are the be all and end all of adult ADHD. They are merely levels that happen when one enters the hyperactive state. I know some folks experience no hyperactivity as adults and if they do, they might experience more inside the brain hyperactivity, rather than bouncing off the walls. In the future, I plan on doing some posts about inattentiveness and other facets of Adult ADHD. I just so happen to be going through a hyper-cycle myself and writing about it is what struck my fancy.
Wow - I wish I knew how to do that, don't you!?!?! No, seriously, I'm not very good at consistently getting my hyper brain under control, but I have a few strategies that have worked in the past. My Adult ADHD brain is a monster sometimes and it needs to be fed a weasel or two to be satisfied. Bear in mind, the weasel is a vegan mock-weasel.