adhd is a terrible name for this disorder because it’s not that we lack the capacity to pay attention to things (a deficit of attention): it’s that we lack the capacity to control what we pay attention to (failure of prioritization).
The ADD/ADHD person’s focus center is just … hideously bad at self-regulating.
(& the reasons are poorly understood, though we’ve identified some pretty effective treatments.)
where most people’s brains are able to prioritize tasks based on weighing time sensitivity, ‘importance’, how long it will take to complete, cost-benefit analysis, etc, ADHD brains prioritize tasks based on two things:
is it interesting? (‘new’ also counts as ‘interesting’.)
is it due now? aka: is it urgent? (if not, it is due ‘later’ and is ‘not urgent’.)
if nothing is interesting and/or due now, we cannot prioritize. everything is equally unimportant (boring). otoh if something is interesting and/or urgent, our brain can seize on that thing and focus extremely well, going into hyperfocus and totally shutting out everything else.
by the way: the only understanding we have of time is ‘now’ and ‘not now’. like
Calendar: *shows the final is tomorrow* ADHD Brain: fuck the calendar! everything after today is *~THE FUTURE~*! ADHD Brain: and *~THE FUTURE~* is far away. like millions of years away. ADHD Brain: so that’s why we’re going to read about a totally random subject for 10 hours instead of studying.
but then the next morning is like
ADHD Brain: HOLY SHIT THE FINAL IS TODAY ADHD Brain: CRAMMING TIME
and has no problem focusing on the important subject material that it couldn’t focus on the night before.
that’s how you know it’s not a lack of care, by the way. if you didn’t care about it, urgency wouldn’t change how much you can focus on it. it’s just that your brain can’t tell how urgent it is until it’s too late, because it lacks the ability to prioritize ‘normally’.
and those problems can’t be fixed by willpower alone. here’s an example of some tools we use to help:
meds can make it easier for our focus center to self-regulate by giving it the chemicals it needs to reward itself for prioritizing properly, the way non-ADHD brains do. and because we usually do understand prioritization, it can make it easier for us to focus on the stuff that’s important at the time we want to.
otoh, it’s also very helpful to practice good organization habits until they’re so habitual they bypass the focus center, happening on autopilot. it keeps us from self-sabotaging our efforts to be focused on the right thing by reducing distractions like clutter or not having the tools we need to do a thing. day planners can help with this, for instance.
it’s also helpful to have a person who doesn’t have focus problems to check on us and help us stay on task, or guide us in selecting which tasks are most important to get done.
tl;dr: it’s okay to need help with picking your focus or organizing big/long-term projects, even as an adult! ADHD impairs our ability to self-regulate our focus and prioritize things, so developing healthy coping habits is a good thing.
So my roommate and I got these Rudolph Christmas coloring books a couple of weeks back. Since it’s finals week, I wanted to ease my mind into studying by coloring. First time opening the book and I saw this picture..
And I thought to myself
Oh my god do I try.
I swear to god if I get tumblr famous over this stinkin Heman the meme nose reindeer.
When pet owners talk about their pets it’s guaranteed to fall under one of two categories:
Rover is the sweetest kindest force in my life, my closest ally, my best friend, the family member who molded me as a person who I would absolutely lay down my life for. Please let me show you photos of this perfection incarnate.
Socks is on double secret baby probation now and she’s gated in the living room because she wont stop sneaking out and trying to eat all the towels in the house, like the bastard idiot child she is.
I would like to clarify this is not a “which type of pet owner are you” post. There is no choosing. Pet owners are both of these, all the time, forever. It’s a matter of which one is the conversation topic of the day, and the outcome depends entirely upon how recently their pet tried to eat plastic
So
yesterday I was working on my piece for “The Ties That Bind” fanzine,
and I realized something: Sora has Donald and Goofy as pals, Riku has
Mickey and then there’s Kairi…
I don’t even know myself why I drew
this dumb thing, really! XD
I’ve started rereading Guards! Guards!, and you know that funny feeling, when you watch Star Wars Episode I or reread first Harry Potter, and it’s kind of painful to see all this innocence and almost happiness when you know what crap will happen? Well, it’s like this, but in opposite direction: it’s weird to read about Vimes in that state and I constantly want to give him a blanket and tell, that everything’ll be alright, but I read that part, when he speaks not even with Vetinari himself, but with his secretary, and feels uneasy and kinda afraid of him, and then I think about that peculiar understanding Vetinari and Vimes will reach and their almost-equality, and it makes me happy in advance.
Sorry to just randomly add on to this with a tangent but your post got me thinking and then @the-tao-of-fandom‘s tags just hijacked my brain, but I like this post, and I like what it conveys.
That Discworld is the antithesis of dark and gritty fantasy, while fully embracing dark and gritty content.
When people talk about gritty realism, they never think of this. They think of a character being brought low and struggling and exploring pain because pain is real right? They think of never ending suffering and how strong a character must be to withstand it. And while I understand why this trope exists, I hate to say it (I don’t actually, I revel in screaming it from the rooftops), it’s not realism. It’s not even gritty. It’s just depressing and wholly unhealthy.
They never think of a mediocre, stifled and bitter character who is already suffering in very ignoble ways. There’s nothing honorable about Sam Vimes at the start of Guards! Guards!, there’s a vague sense of he does some good things but knows he should do better, his dear old mum didn’t raise him to be a drunk in the gutter and yet…
They never think that grit and realism can come out of becoming better. That the true strength isn’t just tolerating the pain, but learning to live through it and then without it, which is something else Sam Vimes struggles with, with all the hallmarks of a person having become well and finding a place of mental stability, but knows all too well what lurks in the deep. He stops being afraid of success, and instead starts to fear what happens if he stops. What will happen to his family if he stops. So he stays well. He does the steps, one day at a time. He will do this not to save the world, not to prove a point, but because there’s people who love him. It’s a very human reaction. It’s a very human need.
And that’s where the Pratchett books thrive for me. You start as low as you can go, and work your way up. It’s the stories of real life people, set in this fantastical world, and we get to watch reality unfold around them through very human experiences. It is, quite literally in Vimes’ case, putting one foot in front of the other until you are whole again. And even when you still might not feel it, there will be others there to fall back on. Even if it’s Nobby Nobbs. (Especially if it’s Nobby Nobbs, who I like to believe always makes sure urchins have their own spoon, and that’s why everyone in the Watch House has to stir sugar into their tea with a knife.)
You are not alone in this world. Things will get better. And you should try to make things better too because we have a responsibility to each other that goes beyond not being a dick.
That’s realism. That’s true grit. And I love it.
There’s nothing darker and grittier, and yet more uplifting, than the image of a berserk, murderous man clinging to life and sanity by reciting his child’s favorite storybook, because some things must be done. And other things must be done properly.
im saving this to color for something but……… look what i did
the clothes aizawa picked out for eri aren’t even that ugly fiuhsfiu those nurses are just MEAN to him, a man who just wants to give his daughter ridiculous cat themed clothes
the original, because i got too excited to post this about forgot to include it
i still have to mess with her hair a bunch but besides that it’s nearly done
Plot Designing 