22
Empty mind, empty feelings (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

Hey everyone. Lately, I've been trying to learn more about ADHD (I was diagnosed with the inattentive type as an adult), and there are a few aspects that confuse me, so I'd like to know if there are others out there in a similar situation who might be able to guide me a bit. Unlike what I've read about people with ADHD, my train of thought isn't chaotic, with one thought overlapping another or constantly jumping between ideas. In fact, I often find myself not thinking anything at all, with total calm in my head. This happens both in relaxed situations (which isn't a bad thing) and in moments when I need to focus, like during work meetings, where I'll suddenly realize I've been zoned out for the last few minutes (not thinking at all) and completely lost track. On top of this, combined with the "if it's not now, it doesn't exist" mindset, my emotional world feels... "stable." Stable because neither the future nor the past is "now," so those emotions just fade away. All of this has left me feeling like my life is somehow out of my control. I feel like a little twig floating down a river, content to end up wherever the current takes me, unable to steer toward where / actually want to go. It's pretty disheartening, honestly. I'd love to know if there are others out there who feel this way -people living in a sort of emotional and mental void that only kicks into gear when alarms start blaring

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I can relate to this. I lived with this brain of mine for almost 40 years before I realized that it wasn't like everyone else's. I never thought I was ADHD, because there wasn't chaos in my brain. I wasn't bouncing around the room uncontrollably during school. NOBODY ever told me that sitting quietly and doodling in your notebook all day was a symptom.

My brother, who knows me better than anyone, told me about a book he had just read. The Tao of Pooh. He said, this sounds exactly like you!

At the time, I had heard of Taoism, but couldn't have told you anything about it. I won't do the concept justice in a few sentences here, but at it's core, it is the philosophy of "floating down the river"

Tao of Pooh is a very small book. (And if you're like me, that matters A LOT) You could easily finish it in a day or two if you don't have much going on. I highly recommend it for a deeper perspective on how to appreciate and enjoy the "float down the river". Oh, and yes, the Pooh, is Winnie the Pooh. From the books, not the Disney.

this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2025
22 points (100.0% liked)

ADHD

10052 readers
69 users here now

A casual community for people with ADHD

Values:

Acceptance, Openness, Understanding, Equality, Reciprocity.

Rules:

Encouraged:

Relevant Lemmy communities:

Autism

ADHD Memes

Bipolar Disorder

Therapy

Mental Health

Neurodivergent Life Hacks

lemmy.world/c/adhd will happily promote other ND communities as long as said communities demonstrate that they share our values.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS