The Benifits

[Anonymous]

Having an ADHD brain definitely has its drawbacks, but I think there are a lot of rewards too. I am going to start the list of the things I thing are the benefits that come with I now affectionately call the “magic brain” I hope others will help me add to this list.

1. The ability to “get” things.

2. Being able to think outside of the box.

3. Rapid decision making (especially helpful in my career as an ambulance dispatcher/911 operator.)

4. Boredom busters – being able to “get it” ahead of the class gives me lots of time to daydream, or think up a new way to do things.

5. Efficiency – when medicated, I am able to get things done in a very efficient manner (definitely not so when not medicated)

6. Curiosity – insatiable for me my 2 ADHD sons and my ADHD partner

There is a start. Hope to see more added!

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[Anonymous]

Hyperfocus! (my favorite term learned on this site)

Ability to determine if a song is a hit or not in less than 30 seconds.

Ability to determine if a new TV show will suck or not in less than two minutes.

(Hmm–maybe these two tell us something about our society–if the ADD people don’t like it, it will never sell. OR–all the BEST stuff is written BY ADD people FOR ADD people?)

Ability to monitor, analyze and solve two or more problems simultaneously. I use this at work all the time. (I.T. field)

How about those puzzles where they show two drawings and you have to find seven differences between the two? For some reason I’ve always been able to nail those things faster than anybody else. Maybe that has nothing to do with ADD?

Ability to EMBRACE CHAOS!

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[Anonymous]

Not just embrace chaos, love it, thrive in it,sometimes wallow in it

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[Anonymous]

Embrace chaos. You’re right about that. I used to teach in a very shall we say, ‘hectic’ classroom full of SpecEd behaviour students. Most of them were diagnosed as ADHD but that was the least of their issues. Their other diagnoses were much more serious and problematic.

Whenever there was a blowup and yes, they were frequent, I was always bombarded by questions from the other teachers in the school as to how I was to stay so calm when someone was in the midst of tearing up a classroom and smashing equipment and windows. Uhh, I think it never frazzled me much because- A. What would getting all ‘excited’ accomplish? It certainly wouldn’t assist in settling the situation down and B. My brain just seemed to go into the correct zone to really work. Maybe the rush of adrenaline was actually making my brain actually work properly for once!

Who knows? I’ve been successful in that line of teaching and I can thank my ADHD for that. I went into that line of teaching because frankly, I was finding the ‘regular’ classroom just a tad boring. Same old routine, day in and day out. The ADHD was a real benefit in that job. (I had to step out of it due to some big health concerns/surgery. It was getting hard to dodge the kicking/hitting/tripping with any speed.)

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[Anonymous]

How about being the butterfly in a room full of bees? I find that when all my friends are feeling especially low it’s easy to pick them up by being my usual fluttery self.

Also, any and every situation is fun or interesting. If it’s not, give me five seconds and you can bet it will be whether you like it or not!

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[wolfshades]

A thought I had about order and chaos a while ago:

Order is often perceived as preferred, where chaos is considered to be harmful, and out of control. In fact, chaos presumes randomness, variety, and an infinity of rainbow possibilities, limited only by imagination. Order often requires imposed and limited structure, and despises any original thought, unless that thought increases its control.

Chaos is random, curious, infectious, sometimes frightening and never ever dull.

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[Patte Rosebank]

@wolfshades, that reminds me of something I read in “The Story Girl”, which has always stuck with me:

“It’s better to imagine than to know, because when you know, you’re bound by the facts, but when you imagine, there’s nothing to hold you back.”

Or, as Mack Sennett famously said, “Never let a little thing like the facts get in the way of a good story.”

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[Author]

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