Brook from George Drive recently opened up on air about how his journey of building an incredible standing wardrobe from scratch helped him embrace his attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
It took him a few months to build the wardrobe - he also crafted an incredible ASMR video showing the construction process - and he wants to use the journey to shed light on what it’s like to live with ADHD.
Upon receiving a late diagnosis four or five years ago, Brook says many aspects of his experience were put into perspective - there was finally an explanation as to why he had “so many jobs,” “ten different vehicles in ten years,” and “strained relationships.”
He said: “There are all different facets that when you don’t know that’s what’s going on, you just think like ‘Oh, maybe I’m just a shit person’ or ‘I’ve had a bad run’.”
“Also, it’s helped me understand how my brain works and what I can do to help myself”.
Brook shared those thoughts in the Instagram caption of the ASMR wardrobe-building video.
“Hyperfixation: There’s a common misconception of someone with ADHD & their inability to focus, at all,” the caption reads. “Where in reality, it’s the challenge of channelling their focus on the correct task, at the correct time, in the correct order, to get things done.”
"Our minds just want to follow dopamine hits."
“Then there’s hyperfixation/focus, where our focus is unparalleled - like you’re in 5th gear and everyone else is in reverse. An exciting new project or challenge will present itself & it’ll consume me.”
“This’ll result in me going all in on something like a bull at a gate, excitement levels & drive will be at an all-time high. It’ll be all on, until it’s not. The next enticing project pops its head up, the previous endeavour will join the wasteland of unfinished ‘nah, hear me out!’s.”
“At surface level, this all seems quite trivial, but when you do a mental stocktake of all your failed & unfinished projects it can be quite disheartening - a sense of ‘will I just operate in a constant state of incompletion?’.”
“Every now & again though you’ll get one across the line, like this free-standing wardrobe I’ve been working on. Anyway, I’ve forgotten my point here but there’s an insight into how many ADHD’ers brains work.”
Brook hopes his journey and thoughts can resonate with other people dealing with ADHD, and hopefully help them deal with the diagnosis.
