putting out fires

isabelknight:

adultadhd:

Earlier I realised that when something bad happens suddenly, I tend to react to it quite well. Like if I drop something, i’m good at catching it, or if someone hurts themselves badly, i do what needs to be done with a suprisingly cool head. 

And I realised it’s probably something to do with my ADHD?

Like, with our brains, time is weird. There is only NOW and NOT NOW. We don’t cope well with NOT NOW. But if something needs to be done NOW, we’ll do it NOW. Like getting an assignment done only when it’s about to be due in. 

So if say, there’s a fire to put out (and yes, I have had to put out… too many fires because of my inattention) then it needs to be put out NOW. 

And I dunno, I guess with ADHD you get a lot more practice at getting stuff done in panic mode, because that’s the only way I usually get stuff done? Friends of mine will get their homework done on time, but freak out and run away when something catches fire. But because I have to put out a lot of “life fires” I am better at dealing with “actual fires”. 

Just a weird thought… what do you think?

A few years back I read that that was a thing with some people who had survived trauma as well – basically a tendency to function well under certain kinds of extreme acute stress/physical peril even if they were sort of people who got overwhelmed by minor daily life things. I wonder if it has something to do with adrenaline and executive function?