The ‘H’ stands for ‘Hyperactivity’. As we see, both the terms ‘Deficit’ and ‘Hyper’ frame the condition in a negative and judgmental way. We experience deficits in time, in money, in sleep, in nutrition, and in any area in which we need positive input for optimal health and happiness and a feeling of well-being and security, where not having these things can lead to a loss for us, and an increase in discomfort and suffering. And ironically, although we have generated great abundance in material ways, our society and lifestyle also creates deficits in the way we feel.
There is a lot of information about ADHD available on the internet. And I find that appropriate, because in my opinion, it is the onset of technology that has caused this noticeable spike in the numbers of people who are being diagnosed with this condition.
Look at the most common symptoms:
• Impulsiveness
• Problems with prioritizing tasks
• Difficulty with time management
• Trouble with multitasking
• Paralyzing stress regarding meeting deadlines
• Restlessness and hyper-activity
• Difficulty planning in sequential ways and creating and sustaining a routine
• Inability to tolerate frustration/delay
• Volatile, easily-triggered temper
• Emotional fluctuations
• Interrupting oneself or others while speaking so train of thought is lost
• Difficulty in consistency, follow up and follow through
• Intense difficulty with stress management
• Chaotic actions described as spontaneity
• Lack of forethought and preparation
They all add up to give a picture of an overwhelmed person: someone whose capacity to take in and process the information that they are being expected to take in is being stretched too far. Someone who is under siege, and experiencing a high volume of incoming prompts and bids for their attention.
Our nervous system is exactly like an electrical system that burns out because it is experiencing surges and extreme variations that it is not built to handle. This is why we use machine terms to explain it: burnout, surges, flare ups, breakdowns.
Why do we feel subjected to this ongoing tsunami of information? Why is it called a super highway? Why are we being rushed and flooded and overtaxed? Why is our lifestyle crippling our health and our happiness?
The volume of information, the cacophony of opinion, the tables of statistics and data, the words and numbers, are all part of living and working in a technologised world. The pressure to keep up, to stay tuned, to keep engaged, to remain in the loop, to respond in a timely way, to perform to expectations, is immense.
The remedy for it is not only to take non digital access (‘detox’) holidays where you deliberately go off the grid and detach from all phones, tablets and electronic devices. That’s a ‘quick fix’. The lifelong remedy is to pace yourself, and decide when and where and how you want to engage with the electronic world.
Think about it. Why is multi-tasking praised? And by whom?
Why is faster, better? Why is productivity prized above quality? Where is the pleasure of engaging in any activity involving our minds, hearts and imaginations able to be present, in such a fast-paced world?
The remedy for this is stillness. Slowness. The ability to pace oneself. Slow cooking. Taking time out.
The single biggest symptom of ADHD - distractability, volatility, impulsiveness, forgetfulness, a mind that jumps from one idea to another, the inability to finish one activity before moving to another, interrupting others when they are speaking, or not finishing our own sentences, is greatly intensified by our giving our attention to rapacious ongoing instruments of technology. These technological instruments know no limits, so we must - for the sake of our own sanity - learn to impose them.
Digital detoxes are called detoxes specifically because the toxicity around digital usage builds incrementally into unacceptable overwhelm.
The machines alert us. They notify us. They prompt us. They demand our instant attention. We have to turn off our phones in order not to be disturbed. We therefore only give part of our attention to what we are doing, and the person with whom we are speaking. Some people have two or more phones. Different ring tones to alert them to who is calling. To protect ourselves from unwanted harassment, we have to lock our FB profiles, or strengthen our privacy settings, or make a blanket rule that we do not answer incoming calls from unknown numbers.
These are all digital detox remedies, to help filter and control the incoming traffic and select what we respond to and when we respond to it. But when we talk of ‘processing’ things, we need to understand that we are human beings, not machines.
For us, the incoming words and the tables of numbers used in statistical data-rich reports mean something. As they mass up, they leave emotional residue. Our bodies register this as it accumulates and warn us, as much as they can. And our work timetables and the demands of our schedules means that we ignore and dismiss the warnings until we break down.
ADHD needs to be recognised as an inadequate term for a real and complex problem. People showing symptoms of this can often learn ways to manage their lives better, and reduce the stress they feel. This can be done in quite simple ways: Packing a school bag or work briefcase the night before; making a rule that no food is kept more than one day after its first cooked; keeping your keys and wallet and reading glasses in a designated drawer close to the door so you know exactly where they are; sorting out all important ID documents and sealing them and keeping them only on one place for security; sorting out your clothes seasonally so the warm weather clothes and cool weather clothes are in separate sections; getting extra items like batteries and superglue and soap and toothpaste, and storing them in one cupboard instead of all over the place. Looking for things in a hurry is a very stressful experience. So becoming more organised relieves stress.
Dealing with the cards we are dealt in life is always a lifelong activity. It’s always emotional. But it’s also physical, because sorting out the contents of our room and our home is connected to sorting out the contents of our minds. Deciding what to keep and what to throw out or give away is a very human thing, and it needs to be done, when you break down.
Keep in mind that everything has a use by date. Read that again, as we are constantly being told on social media. Every THING has a use by date. So, for example, perfumes and body lotions become toxic after a time, and should be thrown out, and not applied onto our bodies. Food has a ‘best used before’ date for a reason, or we will find that we are harming ourselves by ingesting it.
Scanning and approving our intake is what celebrity supermodels and actors model for us. We are so rushed that we haven’t been discerning about what we shovel into our bodies. We call it fuel, but we don’t care about the quality. Our fast-paced lives don’t allow us time to care. Yet that care and attention is the source of everything: it is the absolute core activity which adds value to our lives. Food. Drink. Sleep. Activity. Shelter and support - both physical and emotional solace.
Let that sink in. Let. That. Sink. In.
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