When I was a boy, I distinctly remember my exasperated mother dragging me to the doctor, begging him to solve a specific concern. Twice.
“Doctor, I just don’t know what to do with him! He won’t sit still. He won’t pay attention. He is all over the place. He is DRIVING ME CRAZY! Can’t you do something to help me?”
Both times, the doctor answered the same way; “You have a very hyperactive child. Be patient, and he will grow out of it.”
Not the answer that she wanted to hear.
I know with absolute surety that if I were a kid today, I would have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, and promptly medicated. But this was back in the 6o’s and 70’s – long before the advent of such diagnoses and pharmaceuticals. (It was actually more likely back them to medicate the mother, rather than the kid.)
Eventually, I grew out of it. Depending on how well you know me, you might have very differing viewpoints of when/if I actually calmed down – but I can reassure you that the hyperactivity of my youth is in the past. I eventually learned to focus, and demonstrate some degree of self-control to make my way through life. So far, so good.
However, I still struggle with focus – sometimes I think my ability to pay attention is still diminished – but it is different than in my youth. It seems that my childhood hyper-activity has been replaced by some sort of hypo-activity.
Before, I had a short attention span because I couldn’t focus. Nowadays, I have a short attention span for entirely different reasons:
• Sometimes I honestly don’t care about what you are telling me. It’s not you..it’s me. Not really… it is you.
• I have heard/seen/read this whatever a hundred times already. I am old and have been around the block a few times, remember?
• I rarely pay attention to the TV show that is on because, odds are, it is dumb.
• Unlike when I was a child, I really DO have a hundred things to be concerned about, and they are all fighting for bandwidth in my head. Solution? Play on Facebook.
• I am tired. While you were asking me to concentrate, I was trying to figure out how I survive on such little sleep.
• If it looks like I am not able to focus, it could very well be that I am trying to decide which flavor of ice cream to buy tonight.
So, before you diagnose me with adult-onset ADHD, just know this: In my case, it isn’t a disorder – it is just life.
Note: Please, oh please, don’t turn the comment section into a lecture on ADD/ADHD and its treatment. I won’t post those comments.
I just call it “being easily bored.” that has resulted in a B.S. and two MA’s, none of which are even remotely related to each other or what I do. I have had people ask if I have OCD, but that doesn’t make sense to me. It should be CDO that way it is alphabetical. I am with Gary above, my dad used to tell me that when I have trouble falling asleep, I should just read the scriptures. That never worked for me (except maybe some chapters in Chronicles) & may be why he is less active today. then there is the other end of the spectrum of being focused in a scattered way…. 5 books on the night stand, all unrelated, playing an adult game and a grandchild’s board game at the same time, or participating in 3 conversations in 2 different languages at the same time (which gets you funny looks when you respond in a third language). Anyway, back on topic….
Oh my goodness! I had no idea there were so many kindred spirits out there. I know this will sound really arrogant but I think the “focus” issue is greater among highly intelligent people. Our minds are in overdrive.
Hmmm …
Maybe I should use that as my excuse. I have 15 years of college and 4 degrees but I’m still way too prone to what the earlier poster called “OLS”. EVERYTHING sounds interesting. I’ve literally blown an entire day web surfing when my EC wasn’t around to help me refocus because every article reminded or prompted me to wonder about something else. I have watch out when I’m reading my scriptures or I wind up doing the same kind of thing – reading every reference and looking up definitions and details until I’ve spent 30 minutes without finishing the chapter I started. Considering I’m a fast enough reader to get through the same chapter in a minute or less you can see my potential problem. It’s important to quit studying what I should be doing and start DOING it.
I thought I commented on this yesterday? Weird, I must not have hit the button…Nice post though! We have one son who was diagnosed with ADHD fairly early on, basketball was the trick, helped him channel all that energy as well as helped with focus, and he loved it so it made him happy! Its a win, win, win 🙂
Your ability to focus must not be that bad. I mean you made it to the end of…
Oh hey a cool new app for my phone!
Still trying to find the balance of working on everything without going past what my body can recover from. The Lord has in the past and continues to come through for me but I need to listen closer so I can make steady progress.
AuntSue
Hyperactive people get WAY more done!
I learned in a Cub Scout training meeting that the boys have an attention span of one minute per each year of life. Can’t say for a fact, but wonder if that would be true for adults as well.
Simply, for me, it comes down to getting up and moving for 10 minutes every hour. Getting away from what I am focusing on.
This is what they told us as Cubmasters, do cheers of movement activities every 10 minutes or so. Tried it at my first pack meeting, and it worked.
In my family we call it OLS – Oh Look Shiny. I frequently (but probably not frequent enough) apologize to Heaven for my rambling, distracted prayers. Enos praying all day and all night? Not happening here. I’d have walked from Boulder to Birmingham inside my head (extra points if you know the reference) within the hour. It isn’t much better if I’m praying aloud.
Mine is simple. I am so poor I can’t even pay attention.
I like what madiatin said. “I have terminal avoidance/procrastination disorder…” I think I have that too.
” Unlike when I was a child, I really DO have a hundred things to be concerned about, and they are all fighting for bandwidth in my head. Solution? Play on Facebook.”
I have terminal avoidance/procrastination disorder and totally related to this.