5 Ways Your ADHD IS a super-power!

So, you’ve just been diagnosed with ADHD. And like the true hyper-focused obsessive, you have now sunk countless hours into researching everything about it.

And you know what, you’re scared. You have trawled through hundreds of posts that spell out a life filled with difficulties and challenges neuro-typicals will never understand. I get it. I have been there. When I first received my diagnosis, it was like a spotlight shone on all my flaws and all the behaviors that have held me back. And the internet did little to help me. All it did was make me nervous.

Was my life really going to be this hard?

Was I really going to end up depressed?

Will I ever be able to maintain normal relationships?

I’m here to say, screw that line of thinking! Atypical DOES NOT mean less capable. Atypical DOES NOT mean doomed to failure. Atypical DOES NOT mean your life will be any less rich and enjoyable than anyone else’s.

I want to share 5 ways ADHD can be a super-power in your life. Hopefully, you’ll be inspired to view your diagnosis in a new light and embrace everything your weird and wonderful brain can do.

Laser-Focus!

Let me set the scene for you. You sit down at your desk at 10 A.M. to write an essay for class. The topic is interesting, but you’ve been procrastinating for a while. You think to yourself, ok, I will spend 3 minutes on this project, then get back to <insert procrastination flavor of the month here>. You type the first few words. Cut to the end of the project, and you look up bleary-eyed at your clock to see it’s 10 P.M.

There are 30 texts from your best friend who thinks you’re dead, you realize you haven’t eaten a thing (intermittent fasting is easy for us!), and you feel like you’re starting to come down from some sort of crazy new drug. You cast an eye over your project, and damn, you have knocked this out of the park!

Welcome to hyper-focus, my dopamine-starved friend.

When you are interested in a task, this crazy super-power can kick in and make you 1,000,000,000.72% (estimated figure) more effective and efficient than your neurotypical peers. What they might take days of planning, preparation, and work to achieve, you just knocked out in a day of ADHD-induced productivity frenzy. And you’ll be damned if this isn’t A-grade work.

Now, this might seem to be a power based on random luck, only accessible when you happen to enjoy the task at hand. But, I am here to give you a little hack to help focus this. Do things weirdly. Suppose you can find a weird and enjoyable way to do something mundane but essential. In that case, you can activate your laser focus powers and get it done quicker and better!

Need to clean your room? Play your favorite playlist and try and finish before it does.

Studying for a test? Challenge your friend to a quiz on the subject; the loser has to record a defeat video and post it online. Cooking dinner for your little sister while your parents are out? Have a cook-off with her!

The possibilities for this are only limited by your creativity, which as we’re about to see…

Creativity!

Yeah, sure, you might spend more time daydreaming than you should. And yes, you might blurt out some weird ideas in the middle of a conversation.

BUT

Those are the minor downsides of what is a major ADHD super-power, your creativity. Not only are you naturally creative, but your consumption of anything and everything that gives you that dopamine hit exposes you to a massive variety of ideas and methods. This makes you a problem-solving, story-creating out-of-the-box thinking machine.

Not only is this helpful to get that laser focus going, but college recruiters and high-level employers love it when people can think uniquely. We’ve all heard of those famous(ly weird) tests that companies like Google and Microsoft give you in your interviews, right? Well, congratulations, out-of-the-box thinking is your bread and butter.

And hey, maybe big tech isn’t on your horizon. That’s fine. You might well be the engineer who solves that problem no one else could, the game designer who creates the next Call of Duty, or the next viral content creator.

Creativity is one of the most extraordinary human attributes, and you have creativity most neurotypicals can’t even dream of. Probably because they’re not creative enough…

You know everything!

Well ok, maybe not literally everything. But you know a hell of a lot about a hell of a lot of different things.

In the words of glass ceiling shattering, gender role busting, all-around kick-ass French philosopher and mathematician Emilie Du Chatelet:

“Love of learning is the most necessary passion… in it lies our happiness. It is a sure remedy for what ails us.”

Your constant quest for dopamine has you sat for hours at your computer researching random topics. Maybe to everyone else, the knowledge you gain is useless. Perhaps even you have thought of this as a waste of time.

Well, hear me and understand, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS USELESS KNOWLEDGE!

Learning is its own joy, and the near-constant accumulation of knowledge from varied different sources gets your dopamine rocks off like nearly nothing else.

But going beyond this, you never know when this knowledge is going to come up. Got an essay on the poetry of Lord Byron? Good thing you spent 8 hours researching English poets 6 months ago. Debate club tackling climate change? Well, you have been obsessing over alternate climate technology for a month now! That gorgeous date of yours is passionate about marine biology? You became an expert in Sea Turtle migration patterns last week!

Life is rich and diverse, people are rich and diverse, and so is your knowledge base. So, embrace that frenzied research session, and absorb as much knowledge as you can!

You can do almost as much as you know!

If you’re anything like me, or all the other ADHD folks I know, you will have a lot of hobbies.

When you find something new that gives you that sweet, sweet dopamine kick, here’s what’s going to happen.

1. You’re going to try it, and you’re going to love doing it.
2. Hyperfocus is going to kick in, and you’re going to throw your all into it.
3. That creativity engine’s going to start revving, and you’re going to figure out different ways to do this new activity. Different ways to fit it into your life. Different ways to excel at it.
4. When you can’t do it, you’re going to be sat there researching the ever-lovin’ sh*t out of it.

And you know what all this means. It means that whatever it is, you’re going to get pretty damn good at it pretty damn fast. Not only is this going to give you a nice little ego boost, but you’re going to reap all the benefits of trying new things along the way. You’re going to grow as a person. You’re going to meet new and exciting people. You’re going to have a hell of a lot of fun doing it (plus a load of scientifically proven benefits that I won’t go into here).

You know that one friend who always wants to try things? Whose stories have people crowded around them to listen to? That’s you! If variety is the spice of life, yours is going to be Carolina reaper hot!

This super-power will make you spontaneous and fun, as well as being the life of the party! And don’t worry about never sticking with anything either. I know most ADHD folks, including myself, have one or two core hobbies that keep us stimulated for years and years. But we still cram our time with all manner of other fun stuff for when that dopamine is getting a little low.

The energy to do it all!

So, you know now that you’re going to be a laser-focussed, inventive, all-knowing adventurer. But as fun as all these sounds, it also sounds exhausting, right?

Not for you!

Chances are you’re going to be so full of energy; slowing down is going to be the hard part. You know how you struggle to sleep or sit still? Feel like you always have to be moving?

Yeah, me too.

Well, channel that energy. Throw yourself into everything you do. You’ll find that once you get going, you’ll be an unstoppable juggernaut, always ready to take on the next challenge, try the next activity.

Welcome to a life of neurotypicals looking at you with tired, jealous eyes saying things like “god, I wish I had your energy” or “I have no idea how you can keep going” as you paddle out for hour three of what was supposed to be a one-hour surfing lesson or head off for the third bungee jump of the day.

They mean it as well!

And suppose you follow my earlier tip to activate your laser-focus super-power for any mundane task. In that case, you can channel that seemingly unlimited reserve of energy into anything you want!

Are you ready?

Are you ready? Ready to go out there and experience everything life has to offer?

I hope so.

Because you see, it took me a long time to realize what I’m about to tell you, but once I did, it was like a lightbulb going off in my head. It totally changed the way I look at myself and the way I look at the world.

ADHD is not a disability.

ADHD is not a disorder.

ADHD is a GIFT.

It’s a gift that you need to embrace, channel, and love. And once you have learned to do these things, ADHD will give you a life worth talking about. One filled with rich experiences, interesting people, and success in almost anything you set your mind to.

Yes, there are going to be struggles, but that is not unique to ADHD. Everyone struggles. What is unique to ADHD is the perfect storm of attributes that will make you one ass-kicking, spontaneous, intelligent and fascinating human being.

You just have to embrace your brain and let it give you the gift of a wonderful life.