Douglas Cootey at The Splintered Mind has a good post on the upside of thrill seeking, one common traits of ADDers.
One byproduct of seeking out the new thrills continually is increased creativity. Old ideas are abandoned for exciting, brand new ones. If tapped, that can be a valuable resource for the person with AD/HD. In addition, an unquenchable thirst for new information makes one well suited for the tech industry which is in a state of constant flux and development. I’ve heard it said as well that these types of individuals excel at sales – people who love the thrill of closing the deal. Personally, I’d rather continue my exciting life as a beta tester for the pharmaceutical industry. Oh, boy. Thrills galore…
Adult ADD is an asset when we minimize the downsides and nourish the upsides. Analysts would have you see only the negative aspects of AD/HD because that’s how they’re defined in their books, but we benefit from the need for high stimulation all the time. Keep it safe. Keep it legal, but keep getting bored. You’re bound to discover something new and exciting again any minute.
As someone who
a) was in sales
b) in the tech industry,
I definitely agree. One of the reasons ADDers constantly seek high stimulation activities is our lower level of dopamine, a neurotranmitter that does among other thing help you focus. So if your brain is naturally understimulated, it’s quite natural that you seek stimulating activities. Boredom is an ADDers kryptonite.
If you realize and accept this, you can than choose to decide what types of activities stimulate you, and hopefully you chose healthier choices than some of the common negative ones some ADDers choose (often unconciously, especially if they’re undiagnosed) to boost their dopamine levels so they can concentrate better, i.e., alcohol, tobacco, drugs, gambling, compulsive spending and risky sex, non risky sex is good for you:)
Often you’ll find people with ADD in jobs that have a high degree of stimulation, and a low degree of boredom. This often applies to our hobbies too. Factory lines are not the place for us.
What kind of healthy stimulating activities do you like?