[romwell]

I found myself relating to these particular three articles a lot.

Then, last year, I have learned about ADHD - and, to my surprise, realized I'm a textbook example.

There are a lot of resources available for us, and ways to do things differently. If you relate to WaitButWhy, check this out:

https://romankogan.net/adhd/

And if you find yourself scrolling and relating - there's a good change your life will drastically change for the better when you get help for ADHD.

[hhmc]

You don't need to reply to every comment with a link to your site.

[romwell]

FYI, I'm not posting "the" link to my site. I'm linking to the specific posts I've written that directly relate to the comments I am responding to. I believe my writing is useful in such cases - not in the least because people have directly reached out to me to say thanks.

Just trying to increase the chances that someone stumbles upon something that helps them. I don't see many people talking about ADHD here.

If public awareness of ADHD was anywhere where it needs to be, I wouldn't have spent 34 years living without help.

[istjohn]

I just want to say that I think it's awesome that you are sharing your personal experience with ADHD here. The stigma around mental health does no one any good, and too often when ADHD comes up on HN, the loudest voices are people dismissing ADHD as a boogeyman that's over-diagnosed. It's important for people to know that ADHD is real and too often it isn't even diagnosed until adulthood.

[brynjolf]

if you had issues focus, did music help?

[romwell]

> you had issues focus, did music help?

ADHD is not an issue focusing.

I don't have a problem focusing per se [1]. The disorder's name is misleading [2].

In fact, I often have an excess of focus: focusing on something to the detriment of everything else [3].

Like, coding (or making music) till 5AM, forgetting to eat and sleep.

The problem I have is directing where the focus goes.

Let me make a camera analogy:

* Most people don't have laser-sharp focus, but it's good enough for what needs to get done, and they can switch it quickly and at will, like a manual focus on a camera;

* My focus is laser sharp... but it's automatic, and with a janky chip. So it takes time to engage, and often picks out the wrong subject.

Whatever it focuses on looks great, but if there's a squirrel in the frame, the focus always goes there, and it never focuses on some things just because.

Anything shiny and fine-textured (jewelry, fine art) will come out excellently, in super fine detail.

Anything that's bland and the same throughout (like plain cloth) doesn't have enough edges for the autofocus to catch on.

-------

Does music help? Well, it's one thing I can focus on. That's how I failed gym: I couldn't leave the music lab on time to make it to the next class... Every time. Breaking hyperfocus is painful.

Music isn't an ADHD cure, but what it is, is a place for many ADHD people to find themselves, and feel comfortable at. It ticks all the boxes: creative, important, necessary, and urgent — if you are performing. It's the shiny thing my autofocus chip can lock onto.

It gets the dopamine flowing, and when you get enough, you suddenly get the action points to do other things.

It's also a way to meet and connect with people. I made many friends through music — unsurprisingly, quite a few of them have ADHD.

So it helps, but not in a way you might think.

And classical piano music instruction is outright harmful IMO. I'm mostly self-taught/playing by ear; the skills I needed to play live weren't taught in school. People who spent years playing classical pieces somehow were never taught basic musicianship: playing by ear, improvising, arranging, basics of composing, etc; not to mention zero knowledge about music tech (of which we have more than a century now).

That said, I have taken several semesters worth of music production classes — and barely scratched the surface of what there is to learn.

On that note, I can highly recommend Huang's class on Monthly if you can truly dedicate time and effort needed for it, which is much more than the minimum required to just get through it. It's super condensed and hands-on.

Let me know if you want more info about music and resources.

[1] https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Focusing

[2] https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Awfully%20Described%20Human%20D...

[3] https://romankogan.net/adhd/#Hyperfocus