Xyria

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Pansexual, polyamorous, gender fluid demon dragon. 30 - something

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Xyria
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Syntax-Takes
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NoelBWrites
@NoelBWrites

Enthralled by what seems to be the only example of an undiagnosed ADHD person without trauma about it

A while ago this random channel showed up on my youtube feed. She's a med student that seems to do "productivity" content, but all her videos are:

"this productivity thing doesn't work for me, and it may not work for you. This is how I do it instead: proceeds to describe how an ADHD brain reacts to certain things and explains coping mechanisms for it, without mentioning ADHD once"

And all of the top comments are "holy shit I have ADHD and this is the only time anyone has ever explained how to do X in a way that actually works with my brain"

Seriously she's more on the mark that 90% of ADHD influencers out there because her goal is not "how to be NT" and it's also NOT "how to do NT things in a more convoluted way" because she just sort of... evades that framing altogether lmao

You're Not Lazy: How to Live a Chaotically Organized Life. This video is about how habits don't work for her and 1% improvements only work if you're consistent and patient and she's not. You know what she does? She tricks herself into becoming hyperfocused interested in the thing and then obsesses over it for a short period of time so she can see big improvements fast, and remain motivated, also cycling through interests is fine.

You're Not Stupid: How to Easily Learn Difficult Things. This one is about how memorization and study schedules are difficult for her, for some unknown reason. Instead she optimizes her studying for context and connections, because it's easier for her to understand things by how they relate to other things. Also, she tricks herself into caring about whatever she needs to study.

You Don't Hate It: How to NOT Quit Everything You Start She used to cycle through lifelong passions and hobbies and what not but now she is able to stick to things long enough to finish them or give them an honest try. How? Turns out external motivation doesn't work for her brain, for completely neurotypical reasons, so she figured out how to make things intrinsically motivating.

I would say "bestie it's time to get tested" but she seems to be doing fine

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in reply to @NoelBWrites's post:

NoelBWrites
@NoelBWrites

I watched the "Chaotically organized" video and was like... beloved that's just called hyperfocusing??

I have to say tricking herself into triggering hyperfocus when she needs it is brilliant and I will try to find a way to do the same thing

What strikes me as odd (and wonderful) is that a lot of ADHD influencers are out there saying "give yourself a reward for Doing the Thing" when... external motivation is iffy in the best of cases and for ADHD brains it's useless. This lady just went "doing the thing is difficult because I am relying on external motivations... I'll just trick myself into Doing the Thing for the Thing's sake" and yeah... it's harder and takes longer than like, eating chocolate or w/e, but it works.

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NoelBWrites
@NoelBWrites

Definitely! And diagnosis can be a good tool to help you find what works for you (by, for example, hyperfixating on brain chemistry and how ADHD affects behavior... hypothetically, of course), help you get meds if you want/need them, etc. But if you get dx and then continue to live the same... it's not going to help

Some ADHDfluencers are better than others but most seem to copy each other in a weird game of telephone so you have increasingly unhinged claims about what is or isn't a superpower or how to pomodoro method yourself into neurotypicality.

Still better than the ADHD momfluencers athat are all about how eating gluten free will cure you or meds are the devil.

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cdrch
@cdrch

I also randomly stumbled into her channel and...it might be life-changing? It's slow going, but I ended up buying the ebook related to the "How to Live a Chaotically Organized Life" video and it feels incredibly worth it. It's mostly about how she does long-term prep to intentionally stir up hyperfoc - I mean, how she primes herself to be impatient enough to do something that she gets sucked into doing it when it is (more) enjoyable.

Really hoping it might be the solution for dealing with the intersection of my ADHD and chronic fatigue.

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NoelBWrites
@NoelBWrites

I have not read her book but honestly just having an example of what "forgive yourself for not being consistent" actually looks like is life-changing.

It's not "get back to it and try again", it's "stop trying to be consistent and try something else"

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MrDrugs69
@MrDrugs69

I haven't seen the videos but is it possible she Does know she has ADHD and simply doesn't mention it?

Or rather, intentionally doesn't mention it. She might be making videos for people who aren't seeking ADHD content at all because they, her audience, don't know they have it.

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