this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2025
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Mine is a super power in a crisis. The rest of the time it is a massive hindrance. But! I also think it's why I'm so unique and why I developed so many other skills, so I wouldn't trade it so much as living in a world that can't accommodate me.
Obviously my past experiences have made me who I am, but plenty of neurotypical people are unique and have skills too. I genuinely believe I'd be the same person I am today but "better" if I didn't have ADHD. I don't want to sound like a doomer, but it's genuinely difficult for me to do basic things. The narrative that disabilities are actually super powers is deeply troubling to me. At times it can even feel like toxic positivity.
I'm not trying to say you're doing anything wrong by describing your ADHD as such. I don't see a problem with it. I view it similar to the way some people who are deaf don't want to be able to hear. Nobody can dictate your experience to you. You know what is best for you. Individuals with ADHD saying things like that don't bother me. What bothers me is when neurotypical people do it or it's a trend.
I got into an argument with someone about this before. They were using the idea of hyper focus as being a super power. If the planets align and I'm able to hyper focus on what I need to be doing at the time and somehow I don't need to be doing anything else then sure, it's a super power. More often it's me being unable to stop thinking about something I'm fixated on for days. Losing sleep while I think about it. It distracting me from work. It distracting me from friends. Only to just suddenly leave making me wonder why I'm not interested in the thing I had been obsessed with for so long.
Oof, you're not joking. There was a community somewhere else on the internet who was 100% about that bullshit. Some days, you just want to be able to do the fucking laundry. Or in my case, make the marinara sauce. I took meds today and I'm all focused but I'll be damned if I can start cooking. Executive dysfunction can really fuck right off forever.
There's that depression-like emptiness where once a whole-life obsession was! I'm really grateful that I've gotten to a point in my life where I recognize that feeling for what it is, because that helps me a lot in coping with it. "Why am I not having fun anymore?" It can be such a bleak thing, but I'm lucky enough (I recognize not everyone is!) to be able to objectively realize that's what's wrong with me, and now that it's been identified, to set aside that feeling and wait for the next hyperfocus.
You're for sure right. There'd be less struggle. There'd be less strife. And I wish you could give it up, and be those things, and not have to kill yourself to do basic, normal things every day. But I think I'd keep it.
Hey, thanks for the conversation. If you ever need an accountability person, my DMs are open!
💜