ADHD Wars: Episode I - The Hyperfocus Menace

I have always gone through these periods of intense focus on one subject, song, or person. That's just who I am. Turns out, it's one of the markers of ADHD. It's not a problem. I feel like I need to keep saying this. It's not a problem. It just explains a lot.

So I see the list of symptoms and then I reassess all kinds of things from my past and go. Ahhhhhhh. That is called hyperfocus! I get it! THAT explains some stuff!

Here's how hyperfocus plays out in my life.

I fall in love with a song. I need to hear it 20000 times in a row. And I get a call from my upstairs neighbor saying "Please stop playing that song, it is making me insane." (also, I hear that as coming with a P.S. "You loser.") Or, I know all the words to 32 musicals I've never seen and don't even know the plot of but have managed to play the soundtracks until the tapes broke.

Or.

I meet someone. I think they are the coolest person on the planet. I want to talk to them all the time and be with them and hang out all the time. Possible historically-based fallout from this one:

• This person is a boy and he thinks I am obsessed with him and he runs screaming from me.
• This person is a girl and one day, she needs something from me but I am unavailable because I found a shiny foreign coin on the floor and I am just as interested in spending 5 hours researching it as I am in helping her figure out her life. Except the coin called attention to itself before she called.
• This person is random new neighbor who seems interesting and engaging. I become BFFs in a day and then realize she is completely crazy. Now I have an insane person badmouthing me to anyone who will listen.

Or.

I find a shiny new web toy. I use it constantly, update constantly, talk to people, make connections. Get bored. Wander off to a new shiny object. Or a game like Bejeweled. I can play that game for 3 hours without moving or noticing that the time is passing.

Or.

I develop an interest in geocaching. We're all going. Every single day. All weekend. Now! Today! Here! Let's geocache! Within a month, the kids are exhausted just hearing about it and start to refuse to ever go again. (note: Also applies to such hobbies as cats, quilting, and soccer).

Or.

I get assigned a proposal for Google XPrize. I need to do some research before crafting the proposal. I sit down to start reading about what they're doing and 6 hours later, I realize I have missed lunch, two meetings, and am dangerously late for being able to get home, make dinner, and put the kids to bed. But I know the names of every team competing and have learned all kinds of unrelated things about NASA.

Now, would anyone like to talk about how Diego, James, and Seamus share the same root? No? How about lemmings? Anyone? Anyone?

Next Up: Impulsivity. *le sigh*