ADHD hyper-focus tips..
When you are very used to a “follow the dopamine ✨ “ approach to life, it will make everything else seem boring. Unnecessary, even. There will be NO drive for you. Some people dream of having the same “drive” or “creativity” that most with ADHD people have but they don’t understand the hyper-focus takes over. Hours are lost that feel like minutes and we have completely forgotten about bodily functions. Listening to music!? Headphones!? Forget it, you won’t know how long it’s been til the electronic dies. Sometimes a day has passed.
That’s why I have come up with some “tricks” to help me. As I can never fully take control of a hyper-focus. (We don’t know when, where, or how long we will be in one) It’s still a practiced approach to them.
I’ve learned to slow down a little and try to enjoy the moment. My brain likes what we are doing, it wants to “finish” it, in its own way. I think of it like a movie, if I let it play out something cool happens at the end.
Same with nightmares. If you can get through it, you won’t relive it over and over again.
The sense of accomplishment and achievement most people get from an award we get from finishing a task. 🏆 so if you lean into one hyper-focus enough by the time your brain releases you, you will have *finished something. (Even if to normal eyes it’s not. Does the picture look finished!? No. But my brain said, “Okay it’s done now, you can move!”)
1. Set alarms (Always!) seems simple but it’s not.
I have a 5 minute interval for every alarm I’ve ever used. Essentially alarms throughout the entire day. Otherwise I will only focus on ONE thing a day and stress it until it’s completed. That one appointment!? Has taken over the entire day. Set alarms for every hour to keep you on track if you need to. We don’t have a sense of time so it’s easy to get lost in it.
2. Dopamine lists probably will help you, for a day or two, I recommend keeping something you can scribble notes on. In a place you go to often! Not by a desk or a “usual place” somewhere YOU will see it and randomly jot.
3. Always keep cups near any water source! By the time the hyper focus wears off you will be feeling close to pass out mode… you haven’t eaten, drank, used the restroom and you will bolt for it. When you get there you will need it! Trust!!! ✨
4. Snacks!!!!!! ADHD needs snacks! Your body and mind are running faster than every one else’s!! Keep snacks handy always!!!! All the nuts (protein), meat sticks, fruit rolls, protein snacks, granola bars, HEALTHY GRABS!!! You’ll probably be needing more than you think!! & it’s OKAY! Keep some by your bedside! Most mornings if I don’t eat as soon as I wake up I won’t even make it down my stairs.
5. Know your vitamins! We tend to get a lot of deficiencies. It’s actually very known in the community. Things sold to people for brain fog.. well we usually are low on iron (which needs vitamin c to absorb into the body), potassium (I eat gummies), magnesium, vitamin b complexes (I use a dropper).
I won’t lie I’m like a child now I can do pills so anything in gummy form I get! Flinstone vitamins, are a MUST! The worst thing you can do is get sucked into a hyper focus when your body is already malnourished. You will feel like you’re dying by the end because your body is literally eating itself. Pass out feeling? Ya, your mind ignored that one an hour or so ago..
If you are struggling with day to day things, definitely seek help. Once you hit a point of no return… remember you are what you practice and YOU CAN LEARN HELPLESSNESS!* suddenly leaving the bed is too hard because you don’t have “energy” to get out of it. Remember we operate differently. Your anxiety from all the tasks you see that need to get done overwhelms you to the point of going non-verbal, or keeping you stationary. Remember our brains don’t see one task. We see the washer, how it’s made, each component, the spots on the washer that need to be cleaned, the grocery list in our heads that includes the cleaning products needed to do so, and it just goes on.. when you take meds (for me) the narrator in your head will still be there, but you can pick up the clothing and just….. fold it. Like it was that simple all along.
I cried the first time I took meds I won’t lie to you.
If it’s not in your budget however these are things that I have learned that helped me and I hope they can help you too! Be patient with yourself. Treat yourself like a toddler! Small things, big reward! You have to train your brain to want to do thing instinctively. Brush your teeth, get dressed, get ready. It will literally feel like getting your kid ready someday and you probably won’t want to. lol but we live in a world run on daytime schedule. Adapting to some form of neurotypical normal* unfortunately is necessary if we want to be part of their world.
