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Find the right difficult. We ADHDers need a creative outlet that is the right level of challenge to grapple with everyday. This is so important, because we’re like cows that need to be milked.
Coaching is a very helpful non-medication treatment.
Try to embrace and learn as much as you can about the condition (through a strength-based lens). Everyone’s ADHD is different, try to learn as much as you can about yours.
Marrying the right person and finding the right job are obvious sounding bits of advice, but you’d be amazed how many people don’t.
Physical exercise helps bring out the best in ADHD (‘unwrapping your gift’). Whatever you’re able to do and enjoy, it doesn’t have to be the gym - walking is really good too.
Hugging, physical touch, and laughing are good. Relaxing your inhibitions - being silly, rolling around on the floor, etc.
Lovemaking (free, fun, and good for you).
There’s a famous saying among neuroscientists: Neurons that fire together, wire together. To be sure, when you’re ruminating, you’re repeatedly doing something that fosters a negative connection over time. But this neurological understanding shines a light on the solution as well: If neurons that fire together, wire together (making increasingly permanent connections), you need to fire them in another direction. The trick is to take advantage of the fact that the DMN can jump tracks. Because if it can run to darkness, well, then, we can make it jump tracks and run to the light. Two can play at this game!
In other words: Spend more time in the TPN focusing on a single task. We know what you might be thinking: The whole point is that I can’t focus on a single task! But you can—you are already a master of distraction, so now distract yourself. Productivity isn’t the point here. Moving the toggle switch is.
As a practical matter, this means that the minute you start to ruminate and slip into brooding negativity, look elsewhere. Do anything. Walk around. Yell. Dance a jig. Dice celery. Play the piano. Feed your dog. Sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” while standing on one leg. Tie your shoes. Whistle “Dixie.” Blow your nose. Jump rope. Bark like a dog, howl like a wolf, call a radio show and vent like a maniac. Do a crossword. Work your brain. Read a book. Hell, why not write a book? Sure, dig a hole or fry a few eggs. Or try an exercise that zeroes in on your breathing. Pick a pattern to focus on, for example, 6-3-8-3. Inhale for six beats, hold for three, exhale for eight beats, hold for three; repeat. After a few cycles, you will move out of the DMN.
The point is: Focus on anything external to yourself. Activating the TPN will shut down the DMN. It’s difficult to do because the DMN is seductive and the negative messages it is feeding you are captivating and convincing, borne out of your past experiences, but you must not allow yourself to be drawn in, you must quickly do something active, to engage the TPN.
Once you engage the TPN, you can usually turn the Demon back into the Angel it was before. You can redirect the imagination to feed the TPN with positive, constructive material. Then the DMN becomes the Angel it’s meant to be: facilitative imagination. It’s only when it is at rest, in repose, not creating, that it spews bile and becomes the Demon. When it feeds on itself, the angelic imagination turns demonic. This devil does indeed find work for idle hands.
One caveat: Even though we’ve touted the TPN as your ally and friend, it’s important to note that it’s not blameless and it, too, can go to the extreme. Indeed, we often refer to people who are the opposite of ADHD as having “attention surplus disorder.” These are the bureaucrats, the automatons, the emotionless, by-the-book, detail-oriented types who are never late and always obey rules but never have new ideas and never laugh. They are habitually stuck in the TPN. Think about Uncle Ron and his analytical focus on his plants, losing sight of any empathy for the beloved wife he left at the store. When you’re stuck in the TPN, it’s easy to think about people in mechanical rather than relational ways. Whoever came up with the expression “one track mind” was inadvertently describing the TPN.
One study of managers showed that leaders totally focused on task are less supportive and nurturing of their teams than other managers. They can be rigid, narrow-minded, and unaccepting of ideas from others. Research suggests a quick fix is oxytocin, also known as the love drug or cuddle hormone, as it is released with a hug or warm social bonding. While a hug might not be appropriate in the workplace, it is something you can certainly try with a loved one. And for those with pets, you have a built-in prescription. Maybe it’s time to bring more pets into the workplace!
If Hank could learn that the recurring thoughts and feelings that so torment him were not representations of dismal truth but artifacts of his prolific imagination, then he could learn to switch his focus away from those surges of fear and imagined doom that so haunt him and hold him back.
Perhaps Hank needs medication as well, but someone in his predicament is ripe for coaching on how to shut down the DMN (default mode network), how not to feed the Demon. In finding ways of engaging his imagination in constructive tasks, he will be able to turn the DMN into an Angel, by connecting it—his imagination—to a useful task, thus activating the TPN. Meditation, exercise, and human connection can also reduce the power of the glitchy switches.
We have found this to be a monumentally useful insight for many of our patients. It’s all new to them, hot off the presses of the scientific literature, ready to be used to put down the agonies the DMN can stir up.
While complicated in its anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and synaptic flow, the DMN is easy to understand for the layman, if spelled out in plain English. So, as we recap, we’ll keep it simple: Don’t feed the Demon. Shut off its oxygen by denying it your attention. Do something else that engages your mind. Stay in action!
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When the DMN rules, it demands more. This hunger can be satisfied through artistic achievement or through entrepreneurial wheeling and dealing or, maybe best of all, through love. But if and when these efforts don’t pay off— the novel you’re writing doesn’t resonate with readers, the deal falls through, the relationship ends—you have to start the search again for how you will bring ordinary life sufficiently alive to satisfy the hunger of your imagination.
While this hunger can lead to magnificent achievements of many kinds, in the extreme, this exact same hunger drives addiction. That’s why addictions of all kinds are five to ten times more common in people who have ADHD than in the general population. We live with an itch at our core that can only be scratched in certain ways. Creative achievement is perhaps the most adaptive, worthwhile, and sustainable, while addictions—of all kinds—are the most maladaptive and destructive.
All of this goes a long way toward explaining the truism so often observed that creative talent goes hand in hand with addiction, depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, and all manner of mental disturbance. It’s largely a function of the overlap of the Angel and the Demon, the glitchy connections that appear in this part of the brain in highly creative people, certainly in people who’ve been studied with classically defined ADHD. Though the connection has not been formally researched, we see people with the variable attention stimulus trait (VAST) in our practices who are increasingly struggling with addictions too.
I can see that what matters is the place I’m coming from.
If I embark on a project from a place of “is this ok? Does this validate me?”, then my overall experience of it will be full of sadness.
It must be possible to live more from a place of “this is what I’m choosing to do because it’s what I’m choosing to do”, or because “this is how I want to play”, or because “I’m exploring”, “I’m curious”, etc.
I could look at my data-art idea as my ticket in to the world of artists, communities I can enter, mix and mingle with the people there. Being part of a community of creatives at BIMM was wonderful, overall. This idea could get me accepted on artist residency programs, to meet all kinds of weird and wonderful people, and explore those worlds.
This is emphasising my experience, how I want it to be for me, as opposed to how I want to be seen now and in the future. It fits nicely with this quote:
…it’s mainly about the difference between exploration and experiencing things through artwork as opposed to focusing on being the one creating the artwork and having ownership over it. At the beginning there really is a frustrating feeling that nothing is coming out right and you focus on trying to become “good” and impress people with your technical facility. You’re thinking about it the wrong way, as material for self-promotion and as a ruler to measure yourself against others with. That competitive approach is superficial, but it’s part of what pushes you to practice and get better. After putting in enough hours and years of practice you become more and more adept technically and start to focus more and more on the content. It’s less about trying to make yourself look good and more about discovering the wonder of life.
Spent a couple of hours this morning making a timeline of art-related things I’ve done over the past few years… it gives an indication of the kinds of activities I’d like to be engaged in, and perhaps I can use that to fill any future empty periods:
Dr Anna Lembke
Throughout the history of our species, we’ve fought for survival in many different ways. Now, we have to make things up to do, like ‘scientist’ or ‘climb Mount Everest’. People vary in their need for friction, and for those who need more of it, modern life can be problematic because if you’re above a certain level of financial wellbeing, all of your survival needs can be met without us even leaving your home. I believe this is at the cause of a lot of addiction and mental health issues.
Finding PhD students might be a good way to find interesting areas and maybe data sources. It could also help enhance the appearance of my artist CV, by including academics as collaborators/consultants.
But perhaps more important is the inclusion of compelling stories from compelling people. Chiara’s story is compelling - she, and her whole community, were forced out of the homes they lived in for many years, and the place is still an empty ghost town.
A whole series of works could be made using people affected by the earthquakes of this region - if I could find some of them. The internet is an obvious way to reach out, I suppose by creating a digital flyer calling for people to contribute brief summaries of their experiences before, during, and after the earthquake. Another way would be to visit the surrounding areas and ask people if they, or anyone they know, might wish to contribute. This in-person approach could work in tandem with the digital flyer, with people sending a link/graphic to their friends. I could even try some guerilla marketing tactics, paying a student or two in a place like Milan to seek contributors (on a part-commission basis, perhaps.)
Another source could be organisations that support people affected. If an organisation exists to support people affected by a natural disaster, they might be willing to distribute a flyer, or even suggest specific people they know might be interested. They might even be hosting an event which I could attend. This might work better once I’ve built up my artist CV a little, as organisations might want to see some proof of my intentions. This could be overcome by making a personal connection with someone in the organisation, establishing trust through a mutual friend, etc.
Another source could be to contact people on Fiverr and ask if they can find some contributors. habibafridi85 is a journalist working for a leading news channel in Pakistan, for example. Or… I could just reach out to some friends living in different countries.
…or meeting people at conferences…
Social media advertising is another idea, creating a digital flyer and targeting it to people living in certain areas.
There may, in fact, be entire groups on social media for survivors - either of particular disasters (eg. ‘Katrina survivors’, or general ‘earthquake survivors’).
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
The other day, I had the thought: what if I didn’t just find disaster survivors, but also asked people more generally if they had stories to share around certain topics like love, betrayal, etc?
This thought, while exciting at the time, has tumbled around in my mind and created confusion. So I want to try and straighten things out.
I think the wider idea could serve as a useful ‘backup’. It may take me a while to find people with natural disaster stories, and having a second project that I can approach people with in the meantime allows me to keep moving the project forward. In reality, I don’t think it would be too hard to describe the new concept, and the potential benefits make the effort seem worthwhile.
Yesterday I problem-solved a project focus question. Today my lack of focus seems to be focused (ha, ha) on the wider direction of these next couple of months.
I looked at some flights and travel destinations yesterday, and while those were rattling around in my mind I had a feeling like I’m losing the grip of what this period was meant to be about. What I wanted it to be about was an investment in my creative project, a chance to do things I can’t do so easily in the punting season, and take those benefits into the following year. What I didn’t want it to be was travel without a purpose.
Serendipity - it’s ok to set off without planning beyond the next 2 weeks, things can unfold
The things I wanted - meeting people (contributors, other artists), gathering material for audio/visual art
Mabel pushed me towards writing an artist CV in our last session. My inner critic gave up a good fight, arguing how I’ve done nothing worth noting. But she persisted, saying that I probably have done some things worth noting and that making such a CV could help change my perception of myself when I meet people, and give me something to say when people ask what I’ve done.
I made a list of all the creative-related events and places I could remember. Mabel was right - there was more there than I’d expected. But then a thought crept in (a passenger on the bus, perhaps?), and said “there are no accomplishments on this list. It’s all just places you went, talks you attended, or tools you acquired.”
So, engaging with this thought, I decided that an aim for the next period could be to try and add accomplishments to this list. Then it’ll be worthy of an art residency application.
If I didn’t engage with the thought, what else could I decide? My guess is that Mabel would advise trying to craft a CV using just what I’ve already done/achieved, and finding creative ways to present it in a good light. Then, she’d probably advise me to apply for some art residencies now, without trying to do more first, and see what response I get.
A useful exercise could be to go through every item on my list and try to write a sentence or paragraph that shines the best light imaginable on it. I can also go through my hard drives to see what music I was working on at the time/soon after each item, as these may be worth describing/including samples on a web version.
The object of the winter period is to do: