04/08/2022
Attention is defined as the action of dealing with or taking special care of someone or something. In ADHD, attention can be a strength and/or a weakness.
It all depends -(everything depends of something in ADHD)- on how our brain prioritizes whatever it is in front of us (aka the stimuli received) because, in reality, our ADHD brain pays attention to everything.
The best way to help a neurotypical person understand this is with a simple experiment: Next time you have a conversation with someone, turn on your TV at max volume, play a loud video or some music on your phone, stand up next to a place with high traffic, have a few other people around you speaking really loud to eachother. All whilst your friend, is talking to you. Inevitably, you will feel tempted to tell the people next to you to speak quietly, turn off your TV, stop the videos on your phone, etc etc. This is because the "processor"in your brain is getting overloadedWhilst you can physicaly turn off these noises and stimuli, we can't or at least we shouldn't (I mean, my fish would probably die if I turn off the pump in their fishtank and I don't want that).
For us, it would be amazing to have a remote control where we mute people in their random conversations, mute background noises, etc, etc. THIS, my friend gives you an idea of how it is for some of us most of the time.
I'll say it again, our neurodiverse ADHD brain is naturally wired to give an abundance of attention to everything at the same time, without discriminating. Unless of course, we have the right guidance and the appropriate tools to "shut down" or "reduce the volume" of the other stimuli and focus on a single stimuli. This can be done by retraining and rewiring your brain. Click the link in my bio to book your FREE 15 min consultation to learn how to to turn your ADHD into a useful superpower.