Except when your horse starts to stray off the path you've told it to go, often you won't even notice until you're already far down that other path. Sort of a "What was I doing again?"
Reddit is legitimately the worst thing to happen to people with ADHD yet.
At the same time, though, it's also the best thing to ever happen to people with ADHD, and that's why it's the worst thing.
It's the absolute perfect dopamine machine. I spend more time on subs like /r/gaming, /r/movies, /r/television, etc than I do actually playing games or watching movies or TV or whatever. I'm distracted from my distractions.
So you think "Well, I'll delete my account and cut myself off." But the issue is reddit is actually incredibly useful in certain ways and it's helped you a great deal with other things. It's a double edged sword.
Have you joined r/adhd and subscribed to YouTube's "How to ADHD"? The creator of How to ADHD is engaged to a guy who didn't get diagnosed until mid 30s either. They'll soon be doing a special about life as a late-diagnosed person. :)
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Ps: welcome to the Cool Kids Club! :D one of us. One of us. One of us.
Ah! That's so fun for the munchkin. He's got someone just like him to share all the ADHD secrets with...! :)
Best of luck to yall. I don't have any spawn, but I definitely think growing up w/ a diagnosed parent would have made life a lot smoother.
Don't get me wrong though, mom did a fantastic job, but I definitely owe her a cabin in the mountains for all she had to endure. X'D.
Went to see my family doctor. My kiddo was diagnosed about 6 months ago, so once she also heard my symptoms it was a no-brainer. I was expecting it to take a really long time (it did with The Boy), but I guess it's so common she didn't make me jump through hoops.
Yes. It is. At the same time, it's tough not to look back at failed relationships, career ventures, etc and think "what if I had been diagnosed earlier?"
It's like there's a mourning process for what/who you might have been. I also sometimes get down on myself for not having more self-compassion when I was younger.
When I catch myself feeling that way, I usually end back up realizing that if things had been different then, I wouldn't be who I am now - and that any of those changes would have meant missing out on so many of the people & experiences in my life that I love so much. The "what if" game can go both ways.
Treatment helps with some stuff - but I still find myself repeating patterns. The difference is at least now, for example, I know, "ok - I am super enthusiastic about XYZ right now, I love it, it's the best thing ever, it's life changing, it's my new favorite thing above all other favorite things.....and in 3 days or a week or a month, I'll have moved on and have a new favorite thing". Somehow it not being "my fault" makes it easier for me to "own" and have a sense of humor about it - instead of how I used to just get embarrassed about going "all in" on something, only to never follow through.
How did you manage to write all that stuff about me?? My timeframe is a bit longer, usually 6 months to a year of HEAVY immersion.
That's actually the cool/bad thing about Reddit. You found a new hobby? Here are a few hundred people who know everything you need to know and talk about it constantly!
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u/Hellknightx May 30 '17
Except when your horse starts to stray off the path you've told it to go, often you won't even notice until you're already far down that other path. Sort of a "What was I doing again?"