The amount I've completed in 3 hours rivals what I complete in an unmedicated week
Here's the thing about ADHD: it makes starting a challenge. I am meticulous about my lists. I don't get much done without them, which is why I have a notebook for every bag and have FINALLY learned how to use my Google Calendar and Boomerang for alerts. I frequently feel like looking for thoughts is like searching for a lost hair tie in a junk yard. I spin from the effort. Basically, just the thought of doing something unmedicated is enough to stop me from doing all things. ADHD is paralyzing, in my experience.
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This is because it is a compromise of executive function. You know how you can drive to work on autopilot? It's because you've done it so many times your brain has filed all the steps away and you don't really need to retrieve any information to get from Point A to Point B. However, with ADHD, you see A, B and the rest of the alphabet all at the same time. There is no tiering of options. Your brain doesn't sort them--it just gives them all equal visibility.
Consider swimming through Jello filled with rusty nails. You want to avoid the nails but keep running into other nails and your anxiety leaps because you are sure you will have tetanus or lose your genitals or drown in Jello and rust. So you just stop, and that's how you keep your head above Jello, waiting for a rescue.
Yep. Welcome to my brain.
Squirrel!
Anyway, what medication does is make it possible to toggle through those nails or come up with alternate courses of action (as opposed to inaction) when ADHD has you pinned. I need that help. I need it most every day. And I have since puberty. Sure, there have been periods where I was able to control the hormone fluctuations that confuse my thought processes. I've done this through exercise, meditation, diet and writing. It works for awhile. I still do all those things. But the truth of the matter is I have co-morbid mental health issues that prevent my body from regulating back to "normal."
I don't actually believe in "normal." I think it's overrated. I don't seek that for myself. Instead, I seek to be my best at any given moment so that I can live, love and give in joy. My personal philosophy is to be better each day, reach at least one person, reset.
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Today I did that. And it was thanks to a prescription medication that helps me put my attention on one task from start to finish. Or 16 tasks in a row, as the current count shows.
WOw. Thank you for sharing. I feel you on this one... It's always good to hear someone else's personal perspective, because there is such a variety of stigma around medication and mental health, and we could all benefit so much from a more open conversation...