Thanks to my ADHD I came across as random. But it’s not “Lol, Monkey Muffin! See so random1”
It’s one thing will remind me of another, which will remind me of another, and that will remind me of another.
So let’s say someone’s talking about aliens, that makes me think of crop circles and cows, cows! Cow and Chicken, the raunchy 90’s kid’s show that really would have been on Adult Swim if that was a thing back then, oh my god Adult Swim! Aqua Teen Hunger Force, I love Master Shake… Oh God milkshakes! I really am craving some chocolate right now.
So while the other person is talking about aliens, I respond not really having heard what they’re talking about with…
“Did you know that the stereotype that women like chocolate actually has a basis in truth, you see during menstrual cramps the human body burns through its supplies of magnesium, causing the body to seek more, a common foodstuff with magnesium is chocolate. So the body is told to seek out chocolate, but the person in question is not conciously aware of the specifics. It’s rather strange isn’t it? How our random cravings are often just the cure to what’s ailing us?”
And it looks like I’m weird and not paying attention, when I am, but… to a long chain that no one else can see.
I’ll never forget what it was like to share an officie with 2 other people with adhd. I’d start talking about one topic, jump three topics over because they’re obviously related, and they’d just follow along without needing me to hold their hand. It was amazing
I don’t have ADHD, but my trick for introducing these chain-of-thought topics back into conversation is like this:
One degrees of separation: normal topic, can be added to conversation with no introduction
Two degrees of separation: “You mentioned ______, which made me think of _______”
More than two degrees of separation: Either don’t bother, or, if it’s really interesting, then wait for a good time and then hit 'em with "Hey guys, sorry to interrupt, this is kind of random but I just thought of… "
Remember when My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic became big?
I babysat kids at the time and ended up watching it a lot with them. I couldn’t help relating to the character Pinkie Pie. To most outside observers, she’s random as hell. But if you pay attention, she’s really thinking several steps ahead of the others. There was an episode where she clearly figured out a solution early on, but nobody else is on her level, so although she went about working toward the solution in the background, one could easily assume she was just dicking around. Then near the end, everything comes together. She knew the problem, she knew the solution, and now she’s there to save the day.
She is ADHD incarnate, complete with outside assumptions that underestimate her intelligence and abilities. But if you’ve also got a brain that jumps from topic-to-topic at a rapid pace, it can be easy to understand her “random” (not random at all) trains of thought.
My brain works a lot like this, too. I’m pretty sure I’ve got ADHD, but I was never diagnosed. Things also improved markedly when I started taking anxiety meds. I still struggle a bit, but it’s much less debilitating now that I don’t have a bunch of intrusive thoughts and other anxieties feeding it.
It’s now actually somewhat helpful because I’ve got it mostly under control, and allows me to connect really unrelated thoughts and evaluate them without going all the way down the rabbit hole.
Just don’t ask me to put the garbage bag in the garbage can after I take it out lol
I have to make a conscious effort to avoid doing this because I know how exhausting it is. Especially if I don’t know the person very well. Often I clam up instead to avoid it. And I will still end up doing it sometimes. It sucks. I don’t think it’s a super power or cute - it’s embarrassing. On the plus side I’ve had some comment that my nearly eidetic recall and ability to link seemingly unrelated subjects together on-the-fly seemingly effortlessly is what makes me interesting.
Thanks to my ADHD I came across as random. But it’s not “Lol, Monkey Muffin! See so random1”
It’s one thing will remind me of another, which will remind me of another, and that will remind me of another.
So let’s say someone’s talking about aliens, that makes me think of crop circles and cows, cows! Cow and Chicken, the raunchy 90’s kid’s show that really would have been on Adult Swim if that was a thing back then, oh my god Adult Swim! Aqua Teen Hunger Force, I love Master Shake… Oh God milkshakes! I really am craving some chocolate right now.
So while the other person is talking about aliens, I respond not really having heard what they’re talking about with…
“Did you know that the stereotype that women like chocolate actually has a basis in truth, you see during menstrual cramps the human body burns through its supplies of magnesium, causing the body to seek more, a common foodstuff with magnesium is chocolate. So the body is told to seek out chocolate, but the person in question is not conciously aware of the specifics. It’s rather strange isn’t it? How our random cravings are often just the cure to what’s ailing us?”
And it looks like I’m weird and not paying attention, when I am, but… to a long chain that no one else can see.
I’ll never forget what it was like to share an officie with 2 other people with adhd. I’d start talking about one topic, jump three topics over because they’re obviously related, and they’d just follow along without needing me to hold their hand. It was amazing
I don’t have ADHD, but my trick for introducing these chain-of-thought topics back into conversation is like this:
Works pretty well most of the time.
Dang. Good idea. I just need to remember to do that
Remember when My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic became big?
I babysat kids at the time and ended up watching it a lot with them. I couldn’t help relating to the character Pinkie Pie. To most outside observers, she’s random as hell. But if you pay attention, she’s really thinking several steps ahead of the others. There was an episode where she clearly figured out a solution early on, but nobody else is on her level, so although she went about working toward the solution in the background, one could easily assume she was just dicking around. Then near the end, everything comes together. She knew the problem, she knew the solution, and now she’s there to save the day.
She is ADHD incarnate, complete with outside assumptions that underestimate her intelligence and abilities. But if you’ve also got a brain that jumps from topic-to-topic at a rapid pace, it can be easy to understand her “random” (not random at all) trains of thought.
My brain works a lot like this, too. I’m pretty sure I’ve got ADHD, but I was never diagnosed. Things also improved markedly when I started taking anxiety meds. I still struggle a bit, but it’s much less debilitating now that I don’t have a bunch of intrusive thoughts and other anxieties feeding it.
It’s now actually somewhat helpful because I’ve got it mostly under control, and allows me to connect really unrelated thoughts and evaluate them without going all the way down the rabbit hole.
Just don’t ask me to put the garbage bag in the garbage can after I take it out lol
Anxiety and ADHD have big synergy. How much you overthink something and how many things you have to overthink. It’s multiplicative, not additive.
I have to make a conscious effort to avoid doing this because I know how exhausting it is. Especially if I don’t know the person very well. Often I clam up instead to avoid it. And I will still end up doing it sometimes. It sucks. I don’t think it’s a super power or cute - it’s embarrassing. On the plus side I’ve had some comment that my nearly eidetic recall and ability to link seemingly unrelated subjects together on-the-fly seemingly effortlessly is what makes me interesting.