My hyperactivity doesn’t come out like the stereotypical ADHD person (this is fairly normal for a type C).. It’s mostly in my head. It stops me from sleeping and causes me to unnaturally obsess.
A person with ADHD can experience something called hyperfocus. This is when a fixation occurs upon a person, thing or topic. With me it’s normally about planning but sometimes it can take hold in
other forms, like this diagnosis!
It will captivate and manifest. It will always be at the forefront. It makes you crave to be submerged in it, with every fibre of your being.
Those that experience hyperfocus can end up being a master of knowledge on whatever it is that they are focused on at that time, and it rarely (if ever) can happen with more than one thing at once due to our inability to focus on multiple things at once.
What this means is that if someone with ADHD is insanely incredibly interested in a topic.. they may not get to the point of burnout very quickly, and are sometimes even able to carry on at some point after a burnout which enables them to study the topic enough to eventually make a living from it!
Medication and therapy can also help those with ADHD to remain focused on the thing you need to focus on so that distractions cannot deter that focus.
It’s like a super power in some ways I guess. A rocket fuelled master of research!!!
Pretty cool huh? - It has plenty of cons though as I’m sure you can imagine. It’s hard work keeping up with yourself. The fatigue it causes when your body wants to shut down but your brain disagrees. It’s 12:34am right now and I am in bed typing this very sentence. It’s like a drug. You just can’t stop yourself.. a running motor that’s out of control. Thoughts like an 8 lane highway on a Friday afternoon. It can be utter chaos up there.
When I was younger my hyperactivity definitely showed physically as much as it was mentally. I was an avid tree climber in my early days. I always used to persuade my village friends to come down to the brook to hang out in the trees. I was like an actual monkey! Another common sign of ADHD.
I also would feel constantly full of beans. Like I’d have bouts of wanting to run and jump and do cartwheels randomly!!! (This lasted well into my 20’s and just on the odd occasion into my 30’s which is normal with age)
After becoming the legal age to drink I would find myself climbing phoneboxes, trolley huts, even on top of buildings and cars. There were times I got into Stafford castle and one house party, I found a way to sit on the roof of the house! Others would always see the excitement and would end up following!
Sometimes probably worried for my safety....
I was super impulsive in my youth. I would be rebellious and spontaneous. I took massive risks and found myself in some sticky situations where I had to call my mom a number of times for help getting home in the morning. This time of my life was definitely the most impulsive time. I was wreckless. I would run away from home, smoke, drink, I even took narcotics at one point. Again, common traits of someone with ADHD and as you can imagine, it sent me up the walls.
These days you see it come out occasionally on the outside but it’s mostly internal and shown through my constant enthusiasm for stuff. This is also what makes a person with ADHD more likely to be ever the optimist, overly excitable and happy go lucky.
The times you see it physically come out now are normally when I jump on a wall next to the path people are walking along, just for the fun of balancing as i walk along, or when you see me limbo
under a bike obstacle bar, or getting overly involved with my daughter playing at the park haha!
At home it comes out much more vocally with noises, shouting, making silly voices and singing which really helps to release the energy. What the neighbours must think ha!
Then there's nights out on the town. A fantastic way of releasing that energy, which is the reason most people with ADHD tend to remain party animals later than most. We just want to dance
the night away and be acceptably loud without anyone batting an eyelid. Ever the life and soul of the party!
(Somehow, dancing on your own to the Ariana Tour on Netflix with the lights off in the lounge just isn't the same!!! Damn you COVID19!!!)