Yoyo has been both a blessing and a curse for me. It’s really awesome, because it’s something that I feel like I’m good enough at to feel accomplishment and tremendous enjoyment. Now that I’m past the rudiments, I can do it on autopilot. Especially when I’m having talks with my family. I swear, throwing a yo-yo on autopilot while I communicate with others helps me concentrate on the conversation more clearly.
But it’s also been kind of a curse for me, because I can easily throw away part of my day without even realizing that it’s happening. Like at work, I’ll just pull out my yoyo during a break, and before I know it I’ve been standing there for almost a whole hour playing with a yo-yo. I guess that’s one of the downsides of working for myself and by myself, there’s not very much accountability.
Part of having ADHD is this hyperfocus mode, where something is so engaging that the whole world around me disappears. That in itself is kind of a blessing and a curse.
I think that’s also part of why I really enjoy spinning my own strings, it is such an engrossing process and I have the freedom to tweak my recipe and rig whenever and however I want to.
Another downside is my impulsiveness. I have put a tremendous amount of strain on my family in the past because I just could not help myself when it came to impulsively purchasing yo-yos. It has not happened in a while, but it’s something that I seriously have to keep in check. Silly, I know. But the struggle is real
When the need is urgent, feel free to reach out to me, your yoyo pal, your brother from another mother, Jeff Atwood. I can help you with this specific aspect
Yeah man I feel you there. I’ve been on super-medication for ADHD since like fourth grade. Yoyoing was probably really good for me because it got me away from video games and stuff but maybe it’s not much better because I’ll spend entire days not doing my homework because I just want to yoyo. It comes hand in hand with depression/anxiety too. Yoyoing has gotten me out of some real tough times, probably more effectively than therapy or meditation, but when I yoyo for too long and kinda lose the desire for a day it puts me in such a deep hole with all the mood stuff, you know? I feel like there are probably a lot of yoyoers who have trouble with mood disorders and stuff, since it can be kind of a lonely hobby. I dunno. That was kind of a tangent from the ADHD but I think people might be able to relate.
Yes yes yes. I get this. I’ve been wanting to start a yoyo club so that I could help to develop a local community. I think this is a really good hobby for depression and anxiety too, it is almost a form of meditation. And the community is super encouraging too [for the most part].
On the days where I fall into a yoyo hole and end up blowing large chunks of time, I get bummed out because I know I could have been more productive, and it kind of ruins my day. So, why not play more yoyo, right? WRONG!!! must! work! must! resist! yoyo! lol
Man, it took me FOREVER to get a proper diagnosis. I was 30+ before ADHD was even on the radar for me.
Met up with a new (to me) psychiatrist and it just so happened that her adult daughter also had ADHD so she had done a ton of research and had a lot of first hand knowledge on it and diagnosed me on my first visit with her.
I’ve got ADHD-PI (predominantly inattentive) formally known as ADD. I’ve also got bipolar and strongly suspect a touch of Aspergers (now known as high functioning autism).
I hear you on the hyperfocusing. I enjoy my hyperfocusing a lot…though it can cause issues as I block SO much out and tend to focus on just 1 thing.This can last me months sometimes.
I also have a ton of issues with impulsiveness and am quite often on the edge of really screwing my life up because of it. /sigh…lol I like my impulsiveness…I love buying things on a whim. I love jumping into things full force. I just don’t like the aftermath! xP
I really have to pace myself with my hobbies as I tend to jump head first into them (like I have with yoing)…love the hell out of it to the point where it becomes my entire world (it’s like the ONLY thing I ever want to talk about or work on)…but then I burn out on it quickly and completely give it up. It’s pretty black and white for me. 1 day I absolutely love it and can’t get enough…the next day I have zero interest in it anymore. All the momentum and excitement is just gone.
It’s always in the back of my mind when I start something new…“how long before I quit this too?”. It can be very frustrating because I often quit things right when I’m starting to get decent at them.
I thought about some of these things today, but it’s not yo-yoing right now, it’s my banjo.
One of the things that’s helping is sticking with fewer songs, or just one book, instead of jumping all over the internet, or shuffling through tabs and paper.
One book, a banjo and a music stand, and my mind is more peaceful. Accomplishing some small goals are better than trying to absorb too much.
And to stay on topic. Accomplish the small goal and move on to a new activity, or task… I can burn away a day playing music if I let myself.
I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. It was helpful because it gave me more agency to do something about it by at least knowing how it works with respect to inattentiveness / hyper focus and impulsiveness.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s about the fun, first, but I have also used yoyo as a way to focus my attention or give myself attention breaks from other activities. In fact, I picked up yoyo to give me something to do for breaks in between studying when I decided to go back to school. Now I have a PhD. And I still yoyo.
Yoyoing remains meaningful to me because it also represents self-discipline to me, from back when I had to really work on that, to now.
Life long ADHD warrior here. I’ve always had to have something to hyper focus on. I tend to rotate obsessions. My current obsession is yoyo. My main struggles are that I can’t stick to one trick for long enough to really learn it and my yoyo habit is financially challenging.
As of now, I’ve amassed a large enough collection so that I can sell and trade to support my habit. I’m also having to relearn all of my tricks again since I never got them 100% down.
For sure dude! People sometimes only think about the stereotypical stuff like a short attention span and being hyperactive. But that hyper focus and impulsiveness gets me too sometimes, but I also have other personality traits that counter that. I’ve learned to be aware that and manage my habits though, and I don’t take anything. When I was diagnosed they gave me a Adderall, which worked kinda but it left me feeling emotionally vacant, after a while I started to feel totally disconnected like, I would just follow a routine but I didn’t feel like myself, I just felt nothing and my body was just going through the basic motions to function in so slow motion. So I never filled a prescription after that. Fortunately my parents never forced me to take anything, it was more like if you feels like it helps than take it, if you don’t like the way it makes you feel you don’t have to. And I had to stop cause it was getting to where the only thing I did feel was depressed and
That sucks that the meds didn’t help…but it’s nice to hear you’ve found some ways to help you get through.
Your reaction to adderall reminds me of some meds I was on many years ago. Non ADHD related meds. They turned me into a zombie. It’s like I could physically feel my brain and thoughts moving super slowly and everything became tediously boring. I could hardly eat because chewing was mind numbing.
Adderall did a lot for me personally for the first couple of years. I still take it and it still helps, but no where near what it use to.
