How to Survive and Thrive with Attention Deficit Disorders

Everyone gets distracted.

From the black hole of dopamine hits offered by our phones to the urgency of getting from point A to B on time, our brains are overwhelmed by stimuli of the modern world.

And for some of us, distraction can be all-consuming. As a kid, I would finish class work and homework rapidly and spend hours staring into space meditating or tapping a pencil like a jam band drummer. For others, completing assignments was a daunting task because their brains were racing between thoughts too rapidly to focus.

Even if you have never been diagnosed with a focus order like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), now affecting about 1 in 20 Americans, or Attention Deficit Disorder (now folded into the definition of ADHD in official diagnostic manuals), the results can be similar: a mind that breaks out of the mold expected in rigid classroom, corporate, or social environments.

In this article, we will offer practical advice for thriving with an attention deficit, and we’ll try to challenge the dominant narrative that it’s always a bad thing. In many situations, we should change the environments and expectations of our spaces to better accommodate people who think or feel differently. After all, the ideology of casting all human behaviors as maladies led psychiatrists to overprescribe kids adderall (meth-light), which may have made focus and neural issues worse long-term.

But make no mistake. Distractions can be harmful, and we’ll define them in three categories for a conversation on how we can thrive through attention deficits ranging from a diagnosable disorder to neuro-normal experiences of distraction:

• Distractions of Choice

• Distractions of Necessity

• Distractions of our Wiring

Distractions of Choice

When we shift our attention from, say, collaborating with a colleague to looking at our phones, our attention can take between 15 seconds to 20 minutes to reset depending on the person and task. Let’s conservatively assume that we look at our phones on average ten times a day, and it leaves our brains in this lag state for five minutes each time. That’s nearly seven hours per week, a whole night’s sleep, when our brains are effectively just mush.

There are effective interventions. We can turn the color vibrancy down on our phones so our brains are not as addicted to the colors. We can turn off notifications on most apps, put our planes in airplane mode, turn them off, put them in the other room, or lock them in a box. Or dispose of them “Office Space” style if all else fails.

Yet, the best solution is to reframe distractions as a blessing and be intentional about them. The average brain cannot focus on a task for more than 90 minutes. It follows then that we should build meaningful breaks into our routines. For example, we could set an intention to go on a short walk, which studies have shown to increase neuroplastic creativity, improve mental health, and benefit cardiovascular health. We could practice taking deep breaths or texting back our friends or loved ones for fixed 15 minute periods (your friends love you).

Insofar as we are doomed to a permanent addiction to technology (we’re probably not), we should practice embracing distraction. When we take the guilt and shame out of being human, however we are wired, we can discover ways to make our breaks more fruitful. Not to be a more productive cog in a machine. But to reclaim our focus for life’s simple and beautiful pleasures.

Distractions of Necessity

Some distractions are, more or less, unavoidable but not necessarily inherent to our brain function.

Take, for example, driving. Distracted driving is a factor in 9 in 10 car accidents. Our brains evolved to pick berries, not race down asphalt at god-like speeds in two ton plastic contraptions dodging pot holes, interpreting rules, and avoiding dozens of other hurried chimps.

There is a strong case to be made that our society’s reliance on cars is not only robbing us of space for recreation and housing… and killing us in a record number of accidents. It may also be a contributing factor to our poor mental health, as micro-negative interactions are carried on to other social interactions throughout our days. Driving spikes our cortisol, and it can rob us of the perhaps finite (ie limited) amount of focus our brains can sustain every day.

So what can we do about distractions of necessity?

The best approach may be to practice this category of tasks we have to do in the safest and most efficient way possible over time so we can turn our brains off and focus on something better. Use your blinkers, so it becomes automatic. Let the other person go because who cares. Put on cruise control in the center lane of the highway, and let people pass. Wave to other drivers with a smile on your face to change lanes. Memorize the route. Put on a podcast or music or carpool so you de-focus on aggressive drivers.

Or, as a cyclist reading this article is likely bursting out the seams of their spandex to share, we can also change what is necessary. Biking and walking are amazing for the body, and they also increase spatial awareness in ways that may boost your overall well-being and creativity.

If your job, or your commute, or your home life is depleting your spirit, then plan, practice, and change your life. We’re here for you with our plant medicine mentorship network. It doesn’t happen overnight. But we become what we consistently do.

Distractions of Wiring

Not all attention deficits are so easy to manage.

Take for example, the testimony of Max, a 34-year-old sufferer:

"My mind was like a crossroads with no traffic lights, no road markings, and cars going everywhere. I could barely move; I was paralysed by indecision. In Tesco, hungry, I cried because I couldn't decide what to eat. When I did choose something, I didn't want to eat it. You feel at sea without knowing why... You have no idea how other people can sit and work for hours without getting fidgety… People with severe ADHD, if it is unmedicated and out of control, will struggle to do pretty much anything. It smashes the psyche, wrecks self-confidence, and often combines with comorbidities like addictions, self-harm and binge eating. One in 10 men with ADHD have tried to take their own life."

And hyperactivity, which can be a symptom of many different conditions, can be very stressful as well. Going through cycles where one feels like they can take on gargantuan tasks to crashes when the most basic tasks seem impossible.

For some, medications can be helpful in consultation with a professional. For others, therapy can help people learn how particular traumas, energies, or settings bring out these cycles. Our organization has also met and mentored many people in the intentional use of psychedelics, which have been shown to benefit many different types of anxiety depending on the person and their environment.

No form of ADHD or attention deficit is the same because no two humans are the same. So the first step that we can take in reclaiming our focus and, really, our lives is to let go of judgement.

We are not here to be the best. We are not here to impress our parents, our friends, our peers, or a partner.

We are here to explore. To leave a legacy of kindness for the people around us. To be the best version of ourselves by our own intuition, and sometimes not be our best selves as we experience setbacks and moments of failure. That’s the journey. The only way out is through.

One useful tool is to imagine ourselves as pebbles, rolling down a river to be gently caressed and harshly shoved by currents beyond our control. Sometimes we stop, surrounded by stones symbolizing the meaningful people, places, opportunities, and possessions of our lives. But these belongings too shall pass with the current.

To thrive with ADHD or a version of it in this modern world, the ultimate answer is to practice and change what we can, accept what we cannot, and give ourselves the grace to learn the difference.

Bay Staters for Creative Well-Being

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