My entire existence typically feels centered on flitting from one curiosity to a different. My Pinterest boards are a graveyard of hobbies and tasks which have come and gone in a frenzy of dopamine-laden hyperfocus.
There are the million recipes for the mini blender I used to be positive would save my sanity. And you’ll wash, rinse, and repeat for the stress cooker and, extra lately, the air fryer.
Some pursuits come and go in an identifiable sample, like summer season gardens, Halloween costumes, and birthday events. Some are extra fleeting, just like the time I figured I might use the gathering of empty rest room paper rolls in my rest room to make…one thing. Or the flowery cocktails and s’mores collections that reside subsequent to the healthy-eating board.
An issue for lots of us with ADHD is the associated fee concerned in our short-lived obsessions. (Simply one among many examples of the “ADHD tax” at work.) The 2 kayaks I purchased final summer season — and proceeded to make use of precisely as soon as — come to thoughts. The act of spending cash will be as huge a dopamine rush because the objects we order. My answer to keep away from purchaser’s regret and disgrace whereas in pursuit of my obsessions? Upcycling.
Why Upcycling Is a Should for My ADHD Obsessive Pursuits
Upcycling and reusing nonetheless enable me to comply with my artistic spark, however with much less waste and fewer of a dent in my pockets. (I don’t should rely as a lot on digital purchasing carts and same-day supply for dopamine hits.) Thrift and scrap-reuse shops are playgrounds for my mind, which treats the array of second-hand objects like puzzles. Typically I begin with an merchandise that’s begging to grow to be one thing else. Can I flip these previous ceiling followers into large flowers for home décor? Different occasions, I begin out with an thought and seek out the items to finish it.
[Read: “My Brief-But-Intense Obsession with Pressure Washing”]
Upcycling permits me to maintain alive — albeit in a cannibalized kind — earlier tasks that I’ve lengthy deserted. My most up-to-date venture started once I forgot to cowl the kiddie pool one night time and awoke to tiny, gooey clumps of eggs floating in it.
First, I went down an Web rabbit gap making an attempt to determine what kind of animal laid them. By the point I found out that it was some kind of frog, I used to be emotionally and intellectually invested.
I eyed a big heavy-duty plastic container in my backyard. It began its life with me as a worm bin after which grew to become a rain barrel after I killed stated worms by unintended neglect. However the rain barrel thought, too, was a flop, and the worm-bin-rain-barrel-plastic-container sat unused since then as an icon of my failures.
However right here was one other likelihood. I poured water into the container and positioned the frog eggs there. Subsequent got here a deep dive into the world of container ponds. Quickly, I used to be amassing further pond crops and extra tadpoles from neighbors. I grew to become obsessive about beautifying my backyard, and perused thrift and scrap shops for concepts.
[Read: “My Earliest Memory of ADHD Hyperfixation Is…”]
When this curiosity inevitably fades, I received’t be left with the disgrace I are likely to really feel each time I look on the ghosts of dearer tasks. As an alternative, I’ll merely empty the pond and let it sit as a tribute to pure potential because it waits for its subsequent life — alongside the remainder of the venture detritus in my basement.
Upcycling and ADHD Obsessive Pursuits: Subsequent Steps
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