MNAus
Well-Known Member
I've been giving it some thought, this idea that it's boredom. For me that's not the right word. For me boredom is "wow, this is a task that I get no pleasure from, I wish I could do something else." And that doesn't sum it up, for me. It took me a while to go talk to the doc about ADHD, because it wasn't that something was boring, per se. So when I heard people say they get bored of things and always want to try something new, that didn't fit at all. I don't want to try new things, I like my routine. I can try stuff, sure, but against a background of structure. But I don't feel compelled to try new things. This threw me off for such a long time.
How to explain?
It doesn't matter if it's something one might find dull, or something I enjoy. I can't stick to it. I can't write a list, because halfway through my mind will wander. I can't have a hobby, because as soon as I start it I wonder what's happening next. The times in my life I should have been able to sit back and smell the flowers, my mind wasn't there, it was busy somewhere, doing goodness knows what. I don't get bored of things, they just cease to be of any relevance or focus. They are just gone, no longer thought about. The Amazon box I cut open but don't unpack isn't because I get bored of it. It's just gone, no longer focused on. The objects I put down as I walk through the house, that piece of work I had to hand in, that form half filled, that DIY project half done. I don't get bored of them, I just have an inability to focus, to stick to it, to remain on task. Because my head is like a box of chattering toddlers. It's busy the whole time. There's a 5 second song snippet on repeat in my head 24x7. So I have this non stop feeling of responding to everything, which makes it difficult to concentrate. A mental hyperactivity.
And it's perfectly possible for that to co-exist with feeling like I have zero instincts socially; with the feeling that sensations come in at 150db; with wanting to have a plan, and order, so negative experiences stay well, well away (because they come in at 180db).
In a simplistic world where autism is liking order, and ADHD is liking spontaneity, the two are in conflict. But in my brain, they both exist, both sensations and the emotions they provoke, at precisely the same time.
How to explain?
It doesn't matter if it's something one might find dull, or something I enjoy. I can't stick to it. I can't write a list, because halfway through my mind will wander. I can't have a hobby, because as soon as I start it I wonder what's happening next. The times in my life I should have been able to sit back and smell the flowers, my mind wasn't there, it was busy somewhere, doing goodness knows what. I don't get bored of things, they just cease to be of any relevance or focus. They are just gone, no longer thought about. The Amazon box I cut open but don't unpack isn't because I get bored of it. It's just gone, no longer focused on. The objects I put down as I walk through the house, that piece of work I had to hand in, that form half filled, that DIY project half done. I don't get bored of them, I just have an inability to focus, to stick to it, to remain on task. Because my head is like a box of chattering toddlers. It's busy the whole time. There's a 5 second song snippet on repeat in my head 24x7. So I have this non stop feeling of responding to everything, which makes it difficult to concentrate. A mental hyperactivity.
And it's perfectly possible for that to co-exist with feeling like I have zero instincts socially; with the feeling that sensations come in at 150db; with wanting to have a plan, and order, so negative experiences stay well, well away (because they come in at 180db).
In a simplistic world where autism is liking order, and ADHD is liking spontaneity, the two are in conflict. But in my brain, they both exist, both sensations and the emotions they provoke, at precisely the same time.