Severe ADD

[thegator39]

I read on here and hear in general all the time to better yourself and then the women will come. I don't seem to have any passions. There's nothing that interests me for more than a few hours at a time. I was playing football today and having a fun time, but after 2 or 2 and a half hours, got bored and left even though I felt I had more in the tank. When I was in a band (and music is my closest thing to a passion...I play piano/keyboards and guitar) after a few hours of rehearsing I got sick of it.


I like watching basketball and sometimes I'll turn the game on in the 4th quarter, knowing it's probably a close game.

As I've mentioned on here, I have aspergers (autism) but I don't think that's my main issue. Sure, I don't understand some things and need to be explained things sometimes, but the reason I have trouble keeping a job is because I have no interest in it to begin with, then get bored to the point of a breakdown.

I'm wondering if anyone else experiences this.

 

[JLW]

I have pretty bad ADD.

That happens to me a lot. I tend to get really obsessive with a certain activity/sport and then get REALLY good at it. Once I master it I lose interest and don't do it.

When you find your real passion, though, you'll know. It's all you will want to do. My real passion is surfing. I started when I was 12. I'm 22 now and I love it just as much as ever.

Just keep searching man, you'll find something. Don't worry about it too much.

 

[Bible_Belt]

In law school, by the third year, I would guess that about 1/3 of my classmates had gotten themselves certified as having a learning disability. Doing so allowed them to get a private room and 50% more time to complete the final exam. Since our grades were our rank against everyone else on the exams, people wanted every advantage they could get.

My first set of grades was so bad that they made me go see the head of the psych department. She told me all about the process of getting certified as having ADD. It involved showing up for a long series of appointments and taking long, boring tests. If you missed one appointment, they made you start over. To me, it sounded more like how to get certified as not having ADD. I was bored right away.

ADD obviously exists, but I think it is typically misdiagnosed and misunderstood. When actually interested in something, as you mentioned, people with ADD ironically have super-human attention spans. Everything that is a handicap in one way is also a talent in another way. What really matters is which one you dwell upon.

 

[thegator39]

That's the thing, I'm really into music, but I can go days without picking up an instrument even though I get a lot of satisfaction out of it. If I practiced more and had more of an attention span, I'd go from really good to virtuoso levels.

 

[Blurry]

thegator, judging by what you said you do not have ADD. If you had ADD your main problem would be your mind wandering all over the place. Not being able to commit to something does not mean you have ADD, it means you have no discipline. You say you were in a band but said you got bored of rehearsals. Rehearsals are almost always boring, especially when perfecting a specific song. What makes these rehearsals worth it is when you perform the song perfectly.

The entire reason why people believe that ADD is not a real condition is when people claim they have it without truly knowing what it is like. ADD honestly is very unpleasant, and without medication I can't even hold a 20 minute conversation without being distracted by something else. My mind wanders all the time, even during sex. What you have is an inability to commit yourself to an activity and also probably laziness.

Also, stop making excuses. There are NO shortcuts in life (cliche, I know). Just have some discipline and do something

 

[thegator39]

Blurry, what you described is exactly how I am when in a classroom or watching movies or not "on the go" or "in motion" and doing something repetitive.

When I went to high school, my mind would wander about anything but the class I was in. It was like I heard the teacher's voice, but didn't grasp what he or she was saying. The reason it went unnoticed is because English/History/Language classes are fairly easy to wing or catch up on at home. In Math and Science, where the concentration is needed, I got by with Ds simply because the teachers thought I was too nice to fail.

When I watch movies, unless it immediately grabs me, I'm bored and sometimes don't end up finishing the movie, even if it doesn't look too bad. I usually enjoy 80s horror movies like the Friday The 13ths because you can shut your mind off and just enjoy it for what it is. There are maybe 5-10 movies (The Back To The Futures, Falling Down, Heathers, Primal Fear) to name a few, that I'm engrossed by from beginning to end, but the majority of movies, it's just like school, I'm not paying attention and feel like getting up and screaming.

 

[JLW]

If you had ADD, you sure as hell wouldn't be able to do something "repetitive" for very long.

You may not actually have ADD.

However, we may be able to say that you lack discipline, and that you find it difficult to motivate yourself and be dedicated to something.

Either find something you love, so that it doesn't seem like such an annoying dedication, or quit complaining and buckle down and get to work.

 

[Jeffst1980]

If you had ADD, you sure as hell wouldn't be able to do something "repetitive" for very long.

You may not actually have ADD.

However, we may be able to say that you lack discipline, and that you find it difficult to motivate yourself and be dedicated to something.

Either find something you love, so that it doesn't seem like such an annoying dedication, or quit complaining and buckle down and get to work.

Well said. If you can stay focused on ANYTHING for an extended period of time, it's not ADD.

There comes a point in time where you have to stop making excuses for yourself and just do what needs to be done. Life is not meant to be comfortable. Pickup is not meant to be comfortable. If you want to achieve success, you don't need to be an expert at anything, but you DO need a desire to improve yourself.