ADHD and Boredom

There have been plenty of moments where I’ve had this lackluster feeling, or like I can’t find anything else to do with my time. It’s one thing where you realize that there are bigger things that need to be checked off that you’re avoiding, but that’s a separate issue in itself. For me, boredom can feel like this unconscious, restless feeling or sensation. It makes it hard for me to concentrate or maintain focus on the things I truly want to get done. On other days, this can feel like I’m holding onto this weight within my head, but pinpointing the cause doesn’t always come easy. 

When someone with ADHD is experiencing boredom, this can lead to a lot of different outcomes for entertainment. Since I have the inattentive-type of ADHD (or better known as ADD), my focus can sometimes be put into hyper-speed, and I start going down rabbit holes on the Internet or on YouTube. Sometimes the things I binge watch can be fashion-related content, and other times, I can binge-watch a bunch of minimalism content, which then triggers my impulsive drive and I start to take on a bunch of decluttering or organizing projects within my space. This is basically the pattern of how I started my own decluttering journey, and while I’d say I’m finally in a place where I don’t need to declutter as often as I used to, I still like to make it habit whenever it’s needed in order to maintain a clutter-free space. 

Some of my most intense rabbit holes can involve me binge-watching a TV show until 2 in the morning. Whenever I do this, especially on nights where my boredom is getting in the way of sleep, I never end up feeling fully rested the next day. Thankfully, this habit doesn’t happen as often as it used to when I was in my 20’s. I honestly spent a lot of my time binge-watching a little too much in my 20’s now that I’m thinking about it. Nowadays, I try to be more mindful of how much time I spend on platforms like Netflix, DisneyPlus and/or YouTube. I could honestly go into more depth with how I’ve been able to pull the brakes on this one habit, but I’ll save that for another time. 

This post, along with the others I’m making in this series, are heavily inspired by this one channel on YouTube called How to ADHD. I’ve learned a lot of valuable information from the channel so far, but I still have a lot of research and additional learning to do in order to pump out more content on this topic. There’s a lot to learn and understand when it comes to recognizing this condition for what it is, and the symptoms that come with it vary from person to person. Of course, I’m not a professional; I’m just sharing my own experiences and how ADHD affects my own life. I hope you can gain some value or insight out of this, and thanks for reading! 

RESOURCE: How to ADHD YouTube channel link: https://www.youtube.com/c/howtoadhd