ADHD is Awesome: A Guide to (Mostly) Thriving with ADHD

by Penn Holderness

IT’S NOT THAT WE’RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO ANYTHING; IT’S THAT WE’RE PAYING ATTENTION TO EVERYTHING

“out of sight, out of mind”

The ADHD brain is not terrible at paying attention. It’s terrible at choosing what to pay attention to.

losing things is more about a glitch in attention11 than a problem with memory for ADHDers. When you set your license down on the bar as you talked to your friend, you were not attending to the license; instead, you were attending to your friend’s hilarious riff about how she wants a panic button on her phone to get her out of bad dates.

Our emotions can switch gears faster than a Formula 1 driver. One moment we’ll be absolutely Hulking out, veins throbbing with anger. Seconds later, when we find out our favorite band is coming to town, we’ll be bouncing on our toes with excitement. What the . . .