Attention

The problem with ADHD is not that I cannot focus on things. The problem with ADHD is that everything is so incredibly interesting and every subject has so many subcategories and every subcategory has infinite asterisks. I attempt to dedicate my attention to every subject, subcategory, and asterisk that is remotely relevant to the present setting and I get lost in a sea of wavering attention, which is one big distraction. I am not, however, distracted. I am too focused.

Because who wouldn’t rather sit and contemplate the complexities of the human experience as related to the clothing one decides to put on their back, when math class is going on and your professor is talking about binomials in the thickest woolen sweater you have ever seen? It’s a good thing, too. It smells like snow in the air outside — better than the feet smell coming from the scrubby, sockless student to your right.

But this is math class, and your professor wont accept your brilliant musings organized on lined paper as legitimate grounds for passing the course. That sweater will change the course of his day, his life, and he doesn’t even know it. But, you’ve thought about it.

And it would be a different scenario if he was wearing a sweater vest, just as your neighboring pupil might have a shot at getting a girlfriend if he invested in some socks. Wool or cotton? These things matter.

It’s not so hard to come up with interesting subjects, subcategories, and asterisks because they are floating all around you all the time. However, it is not immediately apparent to you that probably only five or six percent of your everyday musings are interesting to people other than yourself. Since you don’t have a filter, and since you are programmed to tell everyone your thoughts in the form of stories (often lacking a climax or conclusive ending), you have to sort through these ideas in as logical a fashion as you can muster.

But once you’re there, once you’ve ditched the wool sweater idea and sorted out the other stupid realizations and petty observations…it’s right in front of you. That thing that people care about.

So amidst the subjects, subcategories and asterisks, there will almost always be something of value. It’s a matter of getting there — swimming through a fog of feet stink and sweater fuzz to find an uncharacteristically shiny thread that will fascinate you for several minutes until you realize, that’s the one.