Counter-Intuitive

I have something that I doubt you’ve ever heard someone who is ADD say: There is something very relaxing about organizing, for me, at least.

I feel at peace when I lose myself in an organizational system.

Part of this, I am sure, is that I am usually organizing to procrastinate doing work, as I am tonight. I mean, yes, I can’t do this project until I find all the sheets I need in my messy binder, but there is not reason I need to organize the binder as I do it. I mean, dude, the class ends tomorrow. (Well, technically today, it is after midnight)

But I think that it is deeper than that.

In my educational psych class, we learned about disequilibrium. Short summary, it is when your mind is a little out of whack, and you need to be in disequilibrium to learn something. For example, a child sees all things that swim in the sea as fish, and know that fish don’t breathe air, then see a dolphin breathing air, they must go through disequilibrium and confusion to learn this new fact, and assimilate it.

My theory is that because of the ADD, my brain is always a little out of whack, always trying to keep up with everything I am trying to process. When I lose myself in an organizing system, I do what the system tells me to, and my brain can calm down, relax, and just rest. It doesn’t get to do that much.

I wish I could figure out how to achieve this piece when I’m not in the middle of a crisis period, though.

Score 1 For the ADD, 0 for Nic

So as I finished up work and sat down to do my homework this evening, I get an email from my professor saying that she is canceling class for tomorrow morning, as she is sick. Of course, this means that I don’t have to do my homework tonight, and can watch Battlestar Gallactica and sew instead. One of my housemates pointed out that I could do the homework anyway, and I giggled, cause clearly, the man does not understand ADD.

Wiiii!

So anyone with ADD who has ever done homework knows that it is very important to take breaks and do something active. I usually stretch, then do jumping jacks.

The family I live with, however, has a Wii. A, the mom, who works from home, just engaged me in some Wii Outdoor adventure. Holy crap, fun and exercisy. I may have found a solution to both my not getting enough exercise issue and my breaks in concentration issue. Of course, I still need to get work done in between breaks. Off for another timed hour of work, then more Wii!