Like millions of Americans, I sat in stunned silence as I watched the WTC collapse. This just was not happening. ALL THOSE PEOPLE that were trapped in that building were now in an impossible pile of rubble. My eyes and my mind could not reconcile what I was seeing.
Like the same millions of Americans, I was glued to the TV all that day. I was glued to the TV pretty much all the next day. By the third evening I realized that I needed a break. This was my ADHD - hyperfocus taken to the extreme. I quickly found a sit-com rerun on some cable channel and my mind began to relax. I didn't realize HOW tense I was!
I am an adult with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder - AKA ADHD. An adult with ADHD or ADD is also known as an ADDUlt. One of the things that is common among ADHD/ADD people (both children and adults) is something called 'hyperfocus'.
Hyperfocus comes from Hyper: Over; above; excessive. and Focus:To bring or come to a point. Many learning disabled people do this. It's something that an "LD" person needs to be aware of how hyperfocusing can help and hinder them.
Sometimes hyperfocusing can help a person get things done. If a person begins to hyperfocus - excluding all else, he or she can get a project done. My friend Laura - a Unix Sys-op, told me she once got 4 days worth of work done in a day and a half due to the ability to hyperfocus. When the hyperfocusing kicks in, she doesn't hear anything or see anything else. It's almost like blinders for your mind.
"It's like you get a nice bubble over you and your task
that keeps eerything else out - all the things you can't normally weed out because you are ADD."
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