The last two days have been only slightly productive and definitely frustrating. The course on Lynda.com I chose to take is a good course overall, but I don’t like the way he jumps forward after taking time for him to update files and add code, making a quick note of it on the videos and then I have to download his updates from hit GitHub for the course and spend my time trying, either trying to figure out what he changed or simply using the newly updated file (which I don’t know what specific code was added) and use that.
Maybe it’s me? I haven’t taken this type of course before and I just expected a little more detail. I’m going to have to take CSS and PHP courses next follow that with JavaScript.
To help me work better, I’ve taken to listening to Gamma, Theta and Alpha waves while I work on this site and the course I’m taking. One of the reasons for this, is that I’m scatter brained person. I have ADHD, and for those who don’t think it’s real I can’t help you with that. I experience it everyday and know for certain it’s real. Mostly becasue I’ve been medicated for it in the past, when I had insurance and when that insurance would cover it. The ignorance and prejudice of the DEA aside, I learned why I guzzle caffeine laden drinks and foods. My doctor called it self medication.
My wife has ADD and I have ADHD. It seems the main difference is speed, no meth, but the physical speed at which we operate. I’m 51 and 100 pounds overweight, yet I still bounce around like a kid, at least compared to my 44 year old wife who has never bounced around a day in her life. Instead, she sits still and focuses, but if you nudge her or make a sound, she looses that focus and might not ever get it back for that thing, in that moment. It also makes her very slow, trying hard not to loose that focus.
On the other hand, I can hardly ever focus, except in special circumstances and when that happens, I hyper focus. Hyper focus means I’ll start on something and stay on it for hours on end, at least until I reach a stopping point for that day on that item. This is where the ADHD hits hardest, I might never get back to that time I hyper-focused on. I might look at it the next day and say to myself, I’ve got to get back to that. I’ve got to prioritize that so I finish it. I’ll do that. Then I try to shoehorn it in and among all the other items I’ve got in my priority list. Damn, it’s number 75 on the list. Maybe I can bump it up to the top? Damn. Iv’e got to do this other thing first. I’ve got to do that next before I do this new one.
I took a time released form of methylphenidate, Concerta, for eighteen months. During that time I accomplished more as a result of slowing down and being able to think clearly than I had in the previous 25 years combined. Not by get high on Meth(Ritalin), but because stimulants slow me down. Whereas depressants such as alcohol stimulate me and give me energy to dance the night away. It’s backwards for sure, but it’s also a key point that most opponents and those opinionated against it are ignorant of. For me Methylphenidate did the opposite of getting me hi.
Drinking, sometimes gallons of, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Dr Pepper and iced tea each day, made me slow down, but never quite enough to allow me to think clearly and focus on what’s important. I took Concerta and within 10 to 15 inutes a fog would lift and a veil would part and I was able to see the world not through a lens of an mind distorted, but a mind that was clear to see the real world and understand it the way everyone else does.
This is my OPINION PIECE FOR THE DAY
Tommy Balassa
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