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I've been seriously thinking about taking something that will keep me focused and motivated on the task I have at hand. I've never been the one to really use any drugs for anything but lately I have had an extremely hard time focusing on my hobbies, well one of my hobbies. I have an extremely hard time writing. I truly love to write and using my creative and imaginative side but once I put myself on the screen to start working on my stories or art in general, I can NEVER get anything done. I've been working on two graphic novels I plan to work on but I have even gotten halfway through since the past two years I've started working on them!
I tend to get bored but for some weird reason when I am with people, I am more and more creative but at the moment I am not working on my story. I know, it's odd.
When I am doing something physical like any sort of exercise or risky event (besides meditation), I am focused but when I am doing something that is more mental and has to deal ith writing, adding etc I really can't concentrate. I guess I got a case of "hyperactivity" or something. I'm always up and ready to do something physical.
I rather not take any aderral or medication but I want to know if anyone has any experience with this drug and how it effects them and if I should take or try it or not. I really want to start concentrating on the things I SHOULD really be working on that I am passionate about without being distracted by other things and focus on the task at hand.
Please, let me know your honest opinions and thoughts. Thanks!
1. Are you dx'ed with AD/HD? If not, you shouldn't take it. Yes, I know, it can help anyone focus better, but there are probably better ways if you have all the brain chemicals you need.
2. Do you get enough sleep? If not, you should get more and then you will naturally focus better.
3. Do you eat a decent diet or is it pop-tarts and pepsi for breakfast? Well you know what I'll say about that.
4. Are you under a lot of stress, and/or too many activities to choose from? That could be a big problem.
B-vitamins can help anyone focus better and will help with stress. Maybe you have writer's block. There are writing books with techniques to help you get past that.
I'd say that if this is a hobby that you've always enjoyed and now you're blocked, this is not ADHD. Those who have the disorder can usually do very well at tasks in which they have an interest, so I doubt that's the problem.
So in short, no, I do not think you should consider taking adderall--that is not the purpose for it.
1. Are you dx'ed with AD/HD? If not, you shouldn't take it. Yes, I know, it can help anyone focus better, but there are probably better ways if you have all the brain chemicals you need.
2. Do you get enough sleep? If not, you should get more and then you will naturally focus better.
3. Do you eat a decent diet or is it pop-tarts and pepsi for breakfast? Well you know what I'll say about that.
4. Are you under a lot of stress, and/or too many activities to choose from? That could be a big problem.
B-vitamins can help anyone focus better and will help with stress. Maybe you have writer's block. There are writing books with techniques to help you get past that.
I'd say that if this is a hobby that you've always enjoyed and now you're blocked, this is not ADHD. Those who have the disorder can usually do very well at tasks in which they have an interest, so I doubt that's the problem.
So in short, no, I do not think you should consider taking adderall--that is not the purpose for it.
1. I am not diagnosed but I do have a short attention span I believe. I'm never able to fully focus on the task at hand (unless I am at work and if I have other obligations that I must complete). When it comes to the things I DO want to focus on, I can't. For example, it's taken me forever to reply to this (about almost an hour) because I kept checking up on other minute things while here on the internet.
2. I don't get too much sleep but I'm not an insomniac either. I just cannot sleep a full 8 hours like it is recommended.
3. YUCK!! Hell no!! I actually have a very good and healthy diet in comparison to my peers and in general. I eat very clean and I drink water obsessively, its about 80% of my liquid diet.
4. I am under a lot of stress. I'm in the process of trying to get a lot done in my life (better my income, move out, helping my mother and accomplishing other goals in life etc). So a lot of times I try to escape all that. I also get pretty bummed out when I look at my life and not feel successful, so I come down pretty hard on myself. Harder than anyone. So I put a lot on the stress on myself honestly (about 50%).
5. I don't really have a writers block on both the stories I am working on. I just simply don't put time into them and focus on them nearly enough as I would truly love to. I'm always busy either working and doing exercises (since exercising helps A LOT with me relieving stress). So the times I do come home and sit in front of the computer to work on them, I'm just kind of mentally (besides from physically) exhausted when I start working on them and just start doing other things. It bothers me because I LOVE being creative. I'm thinking of either joining a writing club or something but then I just start worrying about my other priorities...
Yeah you do to me too, though you probably eat healthier than average. No it sounds like stress to me and I'll tell you a dirty little secret about adderall--it does not help one bit with that and will probably make it worse. It sounds like you're just plain too busy to write at the moment and either need to take something out of your schedule or move past this to when your time will be your own again.
Only a doc can dx you with AD/HD but I'll tell you why I don't think you do:
Quote:
. I am not diagnosed but I do have a short attention span I believe. I'm never able to fully focus on the task at hand (unless I am at work and if I have other obligations that I must complete). When it comes to the things I DO want to focus on, I can't. For example, it's taken me forever to reply to this (about almost an hour) because I kept checking up on other minute things while here on the internet.
A person with AD/HD will find it nigh well impossible to concentrate on obligational tasks if they're not interesting. However they can get lost for hours on things they love. A lot of people miss the dx b/c they think those with AD/HD can't concentrate on anything, but that's not true. But if it's boring, forget it! The bank could be selling the house from under them and if only they'd do some paperwork to save it they could, but they can't. OK, maybe I exaggerate a bit, but only a little.
I gotta tell you too--modern life is so stressful and fragmented that many people have symptoms that would seem to be AD/HD but they are only temporary or they're milder than the full-blown disorder but I think that a lot of that is encouraged by the fact that life is delivered in short little sound bytes. Something to think about.
1. I am not diagnosed but I do have a short attention span I believe. I'm never able to fully focus on the task at hand (unless I am at work and if I have other obligations that I must complete). When it comes to the things I DO want to focus on, I can't. For example, it's taken me forever to reply to this (about almost an hour) because I kept checking up on other minute things while here on the internet.
Translation: You are perfectly capable of concentrating and keeping your focus, when it's required of you. When it isn't required of you, you don't feel any incentive or motivation to do so. Summary: You lack personal motivation and self-discipline. Adderal won't help that.
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2. I don't get too much sleep but I'm not an insomniac either. I just cannot sleep a full 8 hours like it is recommended.
If you're getting 6-7 hours of sleep and aren't waking up groggy in the morning, then you're fine with regards to sleep.
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3. YUCK!! Hell no!! I actually have a very good and healthy diet in comparison to my peers and in general. I eat very clean and I drink water obsessively, its about 80% of my liquid diet.
Doing -anything- obsessively is unhealthy.
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4. I am under a lot of stress. I'm in the process of trying to get a lot done in my life (better my income, move out, helping my mother and accomplishing other goals in life etc). So a lot of times I try to escape all that. I also get pretty bummed out when I look at my life and not feel successful, so I come down pretty hard on myself. Harder than anyone. So I put a lot on the stress on myself honestly (about 50%).
Summary: You give yourself so many projects, that you are doomed to fail in them.
Quote:
5. I don't really have a writers block on both the stories I am working on. I just simply don't put time into them and focus on them nearly enough as I would truly love to. I'm always busy either working and doing exercises (since exercising helps A LOT with me relieving stress). So the times I do come home and sit in front of the computer to work on them, I'm just kind of mentally (besides from physically) exhausted when I start working on them and just start doing other things. It bothers me because I LOVE being creative. I'm thinking of either joining a writing club or something but then I just start worrying about my other priorities...
Summary: you have lofty goals that you probably don't believe you can truly accomplish, so you sabotage them by making up excuses not to accomplish them. And now, you want to add more projects (joining a club) to reinforce your inability to stick with one thing to the end.
Final summary: You're mostly normal, but lacking in self-confidence. Adderal won't help that. Drop a couple of projects, stop trying to add new ones. Instead of trying to work on two graphic novels, try one. Don't work on them after exercise. Work on them before. Give yourself a written schedule, something that -can- be easily accomplished. Such as:
7AM: wakeup, coffee, brush teeth, shave, breakfast, check e-mail.
8AM: get dressed, work at graphics for minimum of three frames, maximum 1 full page
9:30AM: go to the gym
11:30AM: lunch
12:00Fresh air; bike, walk, jog, jump rope, hike, swim in the lake, row a boat, etc.
and then figure out what the rest of your day will be like.
As for Anonchick, you're correct. I didn't realize it but I'm just making excuses and procrastinating on my writing and just not fully confident in them though I usually get great feedback from people that I tell about my work too. I just simply have to find and put in time and work into them. I don't want to waste time and money buying something that can potentially worsen me.
I'm just going to need to get all the distractions away from me and focus on my projects, no excuses.
I was taught that this sort of procrastination is linked to perfectionism. You have an image in your mind of the completed, perfect project. It will be difficult to accomplish, and somewhere inside you probably fear that when it is complete it will not live up to that perfect model in your head. So you find ways to avoid completing it, because it gives you a good excuse for the project's imperfection - it's not finished, rather than that you failed to achieve it. It like being an over-achiever in reverse, but with the same underlying motivations.
And the way out of this trap is to recognize that perfection exists ONLY in that model in your head. Anything you bring into the world will be flawed on some level, even if it takes a microscope to find it. Once you accept that it is not possible to achieve true perfection, it becomes easier to allow yourself and your creations to also be less than perfect. Although I strive always to make things as perfect as possible, you'll drive yourself nuts if you don't know when to stop, just as if you don't know when to start. Now take Anon's advice, choose one project - the one that is truly the most important to you, and work on it steadily until you finish it. Let it be imperfect, just make it the best you can.
And stay away from Adderal, you are definitely not a candidate. Good luck!
If Im really interested in something (gardening, cars, medical stuff, politics), I can focus on it all day long. It's the stuff that I'm NOT interested in and that I find boring (like math) that I can't focus on worth a toot.
This is why so many ADDers have a tough time, if we're just not "into it", it's almost impossible to make ourselves concentrate on it.
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. So I put a lot on the stress on myself honestly (about 50%).
