Comment by mrmetanoia | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mrmetanoia | Hacker News Reader

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I agree, it seems like experience varies. I fixate quite thoroughly on things for decent stretches. ADHD is a slight misnomer because I don't have an attention deficit, I have selective intense attention. It appears as a deficit because I can't control the focus and if I'm not working on what someone watching me thinks I should they think "that guy can't focus!" In reality, I'm exceptionally focused on something else and without my medication, the odds of me redirecting that focus are almost zero.

If it weren't for the need to occasionally comply for work etc, "ADHD" would be pretty neat and fun. Being mercurial and intense can be isolating, though.

I get interested, I seek out the most direct and as far as I'm able to gauge, best information related to the task I'd like to complete and I consume as much as I can about it until it's done or I'm bored. Or something else takes the intensity. I can juggle 2-3 intense interests at a time, this helps keep them going longer as I'll shift from one to the other if I hit a wall.

Yes, this is exactly my experience. When I’m allowed by life, I enjoy the way ADHD makes me a lot. I get that everyone’s accustomed to their own experience and way of life so everything is relative, but I feel like life without ADHD would be kind of boring. I get so excited about so many things and find experiencing them so gratifying and fulfilling.

My kids are often confused why I’m interested in things (most recently fish and frogs I found in a creek, or enormous boulders we came across on a forest floor which likely fell there from incredibly high rocky peaks hundreds or thousands of years prior) but to me it’s like, how can this not be exciting!? In both instances I was so deeply engaged and amazed by the subjects and it gives me this incredible sense of awe and appreciation for the world I live in. The rest of my family is so uninterested that my interest annoys them, haha.

There’s definitely a downside of course. Like you mention, losing interest in things usually means moving on to something else, but that’s not always a good idea or beneficial to myself or those around me. Even so, I love being able to get into things so intensely.

> ADHD is a slight misnomer because I don't have an attention deficit, I have selective intense attention. It appears as a deficit because I can't control the focus

Yes that is how exactly ADHD works. Focus is there, but not in our control.

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