ADHD & Nonlinear Conversations

[@RJnottheraccoon]

My mom says “Jessica didn’t lose her train of thought, her train just makes a LOT of stops!” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@olivialutfallah]

Wiser words have never been spoken 😂

[@RJnottheraccoon]

@@olivialutfallah lol thank you!! I agree 😂😍

[@aomumoo]

That’s kind of a brilliant way of viewing it.

[@RJnottheraccoon]

@@aomumoo thanks! I remind myself of it often! 😌

[@RJnottheraccoon]

@@aomumoo of the saying not the brilliant part lol Was looking back and realized how that might have sounded 😅

[@walterl322]

That is 100% exactly how I hold conversations... there's always another topic I have to talk about before continuing my original thought and that sub topic comes with additional topics and so on... when I feel satisfied with all of the things I talked about, I remember the original conversation topic and then I'm like "yeah, so, [conversation topic], it's wild"...

[@goldenheart__]

its even worse for me sometimes bc its like. im trying to explain something that happened. but i havent been updating that person frequently about the event, so i have to start from the beginning, but there’s context needed for why this part happened or why that thing is relevant to the story, and actually, the part that needs context also needs context, and that part needs a bit of context too i hate it when people don’t fully understand why something happened or why it was relevant in events i retell and i don’t wanna forget a detail and leave people incredibly confused for the rest of the story so i get stuck trying to give as much context in as little words as possible, but i’m also constantly unsure of if all of it is necessary to know. even now, i can’t tell if i’ve said too much. i might’ve. whoopsie!!

[@walterl322]

@@goldenheart__ literally same

[@K777angel]

Yes

[@heelercs]

Question: if you know someone who does this, and it’s very difficult to track, how do you help them to have conversations that aren’t like that?

[@goldenheart__]

@@heelercs honestly not sure if that’s even possible if the person isn’t diagnosed with adhd and isn’t getting medication or some other treatment. even then, im not fully sure if that would help bc ive never tried medicine. but you could try reminding them of the conversation’s topic. if that doesn’t work tho you might end up just having to be patient with them, especially if they deem it necessary to understand what they were gonna say initially

[@StrugglingRat]

If anything, it's impressive how quickly our ADHD brains can make connections in the span of a few seconds 😂

[@4doorsmorewhors]

It's easy to make mindless connections. Everything she said doesn't mean shit to the actual conversation.

[@1Adrix1]

@@4doorsmorewhors Nice try, genius. People with ADHD are much better at divergent thought patterns. Also, well done repeating exactly what this video is about. Want a lolly for your great accomplishment now?

[@4doorsmorewhors]

@@1Adrix1 the amount of words she said for no reason is remarkable

[@kmead82_]

Hahahaha😂 ​@@1Adrix1

[@kmead82_]

​@4doorsmorewhors I guess if you can't keep up and see why it DID relate... then she did this short, perfectly on point 👌🏼

[@ThallanarRabidtooth]

The crazy thing is that as an ADHD person, I don’t even consciously think about all the connecting bits, my brain just goes in fast forward and reaches the conclusion in like 2 seconds.

[@miraculousninja5255]

Same, dude! 😅

[@ziau.s9283]

Exactly like a train. Just choo choos past every stop and sign board till we get to the center station.

[@TchSktch]

that's so interesting lol I'm constantly getting stuck on bits considering valid questions or responses

[@zellalaing5439]

For real!! Only when other people mention it i kinda see it, but even then, Im just giving depth to the story.

[@AnnekeOosterink]

And then I have to explain how I got there. Man, that was so difficult for me when I wrote essays and my thesis, I had to explain my thought process, but my points seemed so self evident to me that I had no idea how to explain how I got there. Like, what do you mean I have to explain the evolutionary utility of accents?

[@itoshiibaka8267]

The funniest part is that ADHDers have no trouble following and we go together on a **Journey** 😆

[@freyjavanadis7012]

TRUTH! I LOVE talking to other ADHD people because they GET IT!

[@acelibrarian]

This is my best friend and I. Though she goes even faster than I do and often ends up the conductor. :-P

[@ScarletBrimstone]

My husband always has trouble seeing the connections and says im not a linear thinker. HA! I follow a line!... its just not a straight one.

[@GabrielHellborne]

Yeah, this is simple and straightforward. And not BORING.

[@Saffie15]

yh

[@bunkusboo]

I take this a step further by continuing to connect ideas silently in my head during pauses in the conversation, then trying to resume as if the other person is on the same page, because I forgot that not saying any of it out loud means they haven't been following me the whole time.

[@frostfang1]

Ommgggg. So much all of this. My favorite people in my life where either the people who could follow along and fill in the gaps, and add their own leaps, or it didn't matter, were just willing to be a passenger on my wild word ride. Also I'm thinking in gifs and memes and concepts and movie scenes and book excerpts in my head and I can't just... direct message those from my head to their brain mailbox, so how do I even catch them up when I don't even know the name of the meme or what movie or book it's from?

[@d.d.d.a.a.a.n.n.n]

@@frostfang1 omg, not being able to find the meme or gif you're thinking about when you do try to send someone a whole detailed written piece is also the worst

[@yasqueen9376]

I love having conversations with other ADHDers because they don’t question it when the conversation goes from puppies to the mechanics of trains, they help it get there.

[@tiffanypersaud3518]

❤❤

[@flavourruling2162]

Oh easy, “you ever watch a dog run and think ‘wow that things legs move like the propulsion arm on a locomotive’”

[@tiffanypersaud3518]

Yes. My Archie, my dog, is me in dog form. Both ADHDers. @@flavourruling2162

[@Poodle_Gun]

It makes the conversation go so much more quickly

[@mialemon6186]

When I hang out with my fellow ND friends, we’ll cover like 20+ topics but every thing is connected to the last thing and we just float down the chain lol. It’s more interesting that way!

[@Christirenee93]

My husband and I both have adhd so when we get into an argument, we go way off topic and forget we're arguing. Honestly, that's probably why we get along so well. We're too distracted to disagree out loud.

[@jlovesj3335]

Forget you're arguing shit is real 😂 I'll forget why I'm mad real quick

[@chuttsh]

that's interesting, i can quickly forget the exact thing that i was holding a grudge for but it doesn't stop me from talking about all the different things that upset me when i get distracted from the original topic

[@Mushroom321-]

😅 so are me & my S.o.❤ AWWW!!!

[@revimfadli4666]

Couple dream fr

[@anobody6234]

That’s how me and my partner are

[@tthings6686]

I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. I always thought it was super cool that I almost without exception can find something to relate to and talk about with everyone I meet. Little did I know it was all just brain chemistry-

[@MovableNu]

Hey - don’t discount that! It’s still a skill that you can cultivate! Even if the base of it is your particular brain chemistry 🧠🧪

[@tthings6686]

@@MovableNu I agree!

[@Lexi_Con]

Same here! I think being friendly and interesting are good traits.😊

[@ProfessionalGasLighting]

No, you’re communication style is only having things to talk about yourself. It’s tiring to everyone else who wants to talk about anything except your minuscule details that doesn’t relate.

[@luckyfox1826]

That flow of thought makes perfect sense to me.

[@Alice-si8uz]

Me too tbh

[@bigkitty161]

me 3

[@Chaos_WolfAC]

Me 4

[@bumblebaa2327]

me hoedje van papier

[@thomsonmaclean2041]

High Five that. :)@@Chaos_WolfAC

[@martlettoo]

It might cause confusion in conversations, but it's GREAT for story and character brainstorming! It's like creativity on crack when it's going well. Fantastic leaps and interconnections!

[@comradewindowsill4253]

favorite part of this is her clarifying that Smeagol is not etymologically connected to any of her family members

[@AbigaylePratt]

I have childhood memories of playing a game with my friends where we would start on one topic and see how quickly we could connect it to a completely different topic. Everyone was so amazed at how fast I could do it because of my adhd😂

[@goldenheart__]

i should play that game. i’d be amazing at it!

[@olivialutfallah]

I love this 😂

[@recoveringsoul755]

Making up games is fun. I also like to get a big piece of paper, draw something on it and pass to the next person. We each add to the drawing, and the story, and it makes for some wildly wacky laughter

[@acelibrarian]

Same! My sisters and I would play Tri-Bond. One of the categories was "loose connections". The three items might all end in E, or all be from France, or some such. I would win on them alone because I could nearly always figure it out quickly.

[@dovebair]

Yes! I also play something stimuli with my friends. It’s called “fill the plot hole” where we compete to come up with the best reasoning to connect two (otherwise) seemingly unrelated occurrences. 😂 it’s awesome to hear others play this too!!

[@ConceptHut]

Related vs Relevant. Hugely important to understand in conversation.

[@ultimatewafflegaming1018]

as a person with adhd often those 2 things blur together this helps when talking to neurotypicals but if im speaking to another neurodivergent person the natural way for us is much more fun

[@ungoodthinkful]

My son (AuDHD) and I (ADHD) call this "spaghetti brain", because all our strings of thoughts are tangled up and interconnected.

[@nonamelegend_vapor]

I’ve heard of “waffle brain” and “spaghetti brain” stereotyped as male and female brains, respectively, but I always felt weird about that, because I 100% have a spaghetti brain as a dude. It makes me wonder what other gender stereotypes are actually ADHD or autism things lol

[@debbiehopper5288]

Yes, now I understand me!

[@ungoodthinkful]

@@nonamelegend_vapor that's 100% where I got it from haha, I went to some christian youth convention when I was a teen and some dude gave a speech about how girls are like spaghetti and guys are like waffles. I always thought it was strange and overly reductionist, but the spaghetti thing totally makes sense for my kid and me 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@DrummerrDuckie]

@@nonamelegend_vapor that's such a weird concept, I can't believe that I've literally never heard of the waffle and spaghetti brain thing for men and women before. People come with with the strangest things to try and separate genders, huh

[@koallawangja]

I always call it a spider web for similar reasonings lol

[@selardohr7697]

Perfectly reasonable train of thought. Although we don't have so much a "train", more like a "balloon flying around the room"

[@FeebleCatSoup]

And, my gosh, is that room windy 😗

[@hopefoley_]

Bouncy ball, maybe? Somedays the bounces are slow, and sometimes they're extreme?

[@ViridianForests]

Who needs trains when we have thought roller coasters? Yes that extra loop that turned into three twists was necessary and that's how all those connected stories all come back to my original point I've totally forgot about!

[@catherinevaz6139]

Does the room have square walls? Because it looks like it goes round and round and round for me. That's literally 90% of my conversations, it's not even funny. People tell me "How did you get there?" or "Omg can you get to the point, please?" Etc.. Diagnosed but not medicated. And ✨yes✨ my life is a mess 😓

[@SessmaruKusanagiGaming]

Bahaha. Very accurate

[@nazeehaletsplay4366]

I was actually invested in the story, i LOVE people who talk like this! They're so fun and nice to talk to, and you never run out of things to talk abt!

[@crimsonraiderxv3422]

Maybe we should talk then. I talk like this and EVERY SINGLE conversation with my childhood friend turns into the funnest and funniest yapping session in history. 😂

[@rosameijering5161]

Well I don’t remember one thing. I always wait untill the person is finished and see what is the last sentence, simply because my memory cannot hold that entire story without losing myself

[@vickyandersen8660]

That would be helpful to me. I'm not very good at making conversations but I'm very good at listening to them 😊

[@jeffbenton6183]

Glad someone wants to hear my crazieness

[@lacountess]

I’m one of those people and I love to talk to people like you. 🥰

[@bethmoore7722]

This makes perfect sense to me. It’s like taking a walk, & you have a destination, but all kinds of little paths open up along the way. You can’t just ignore them. They’re part of the journey.

[@GoogleAccount-kw1mz]

That and I think there’s a dopamine rush that comes from going thru that whole journey lol - as a person that either has too much or too little, the dopamine’s can’t be passed up.

[@bethmoore7722]

@@GoogleAccount-kw1mz 💯 Keep that dopamine coming!

[@sarahjaye4117]

Indeed

[@maryannnichols1043]

Well said, Beth!

[@jacksyoutubechannel4045]

I was late diagnosed after accidentally ending up with an addiction psychiatrist who was _also_ an ADHD specialist. I was there because I was having an increasingly difficult time coping with what I believed to be the fact that life was as hard for everyone as it was for me, but I was just worse at managing it. If I'd seen this video as early as preschool, I would've immediately seen myself in it (and so would everyone who knows me), and it would've saved me decades of unnecessary pain (and the pain I caused to other people). It's a really good thing you're doing with these.

[@owenmcgregor8984]

Weird I have the same problem but I’m still not sure if it’s just that I’m not trying hard enough.I’m going into 7th grade rn and I hope the kids and teachers aren’t as shitty😬

[@feebeans2804]

The exact same for me. I’m still in the process of getting medicated currently. And I just graduated high school. I’m excited for the future but goddamn it literally ruined me all these years without a diagnosis

[@owenmcgregor8984]

@@feebeans2804Yikes .I got a diagnosis early. Still school is really hard though. I'm very surprised people get straight A's since i finished my last year with like straight F's but since so many people have ADHD people assume its not that bad

[@TiffanySoulbird]

@@feebeans2804 me too... I only got diagnosed at 27 so if you just graduated high school, you have many years that you won't lose.

[@helixxia9320]

we have basically the same story

[@Manamanamataba]

Honestly, props for tracing the thought process all the way back, I usually forget how I got there until the next day

[@talyar04]

This is so me! My mom would always say “OK OK build me a bridge. How did we get here?” 😅

[@sequincook6046]

My mom says I start 3 sentences in before I ever speak to anyone. It was funny for the longest time, but now it's causing some issues cause my boyfriend isnt used to following my train of thought. 😅

[@mitchelleroberson]

@@sequincook6046yikes I hope you’re not as bad as my dad is, he’s very young and been diagnosed with dementia

[@emily_cheese3146]

Yes. You should hear the 2+ HOUR conversations me and another ADHD friend of mine have!!!

[@VanNessy97]

Speedrunning from "Hey, how's your week been?" to "This is why I love sharks and hate dolphins"

[@alexreid1173]

I have definitely had 6+ hour conversations with ADHD friends that went everywhere from movie recommendations to gender roles to website design and childhood trauma

[@jamminoutrexan5474]

​@@alexreid1173An average phonecall with me and the bestiiieeess~~ 💖💖

[@SessmaruKusanagiGaming]

Some of the best. TLDR at bottom of my comment. I rambled. Literally going through every life story in the span of an hour or 2 Then you bounce around and every topic. Oh this childhood memory reminds me of this type of ... historical event. That historical event just reminded me of that food that got discontinued in stores. Now you want something sweet because you were just talking anout food. Then you talk with your friend about sweets. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!! Talking about sweets makes you realize you can't bake! Now you want to learn to bake. Can friend bake? Ooh what's my favorite baked good? Remembering European chocolate is delicious, it's great in baked goods. Tangent about Belgium because you thought about Belgian Chocolate, start to talk about Belgian food. All that because you thought about EU. , etc because you started talking about and all the countries that have great chocolate. Go on to chat about history, WW1, WW2 because German chocolate was brought up, and you started talking about and all the countries that have great chocolate. TLDR: Chocolate for the baked goods you want to make because you decided you wanted to learn to bake. Why? Because the baked discontinued food snack can be made at home higher quality. Why was discontinued food snack brought up? Because it was the same year as (insert historical event here, that acts like a bookmark) Rinse and repeat like 500 times hahaha

[@emily_cheese3146]

@@SessmaruKusanagiGaming EXACTLY!!!!

[@konnichiwahola]

I literally have to ask my family which version they want: long or short😂

[@d.d.d.a.a.a.n.n.n]

I can't do short unless short is one word answers that are mostly wrong, so they get 'mhmm' or a nod from me unless they want long

[@MR_football27]

As someone with ADHD I can say that this is exactly how all off my conversations go 😂😂

[@demonbunnny]

And then two days later you answer the question the non adhd person actually asked 😂

[@demonbunnny]

@L_E_Y_D_Y I'm great thanks

[@StrrawberrryMilkshake]

Same

[@nomercygaming5670]

The fact that I understood every single word and sentence of that story and realized very quickly that is how I make connections with my stories, makes it very clear that I do have ADHD no matter what anyone else tells me

[@redomisia]

As an ADHD adult (above 35, diagnosed a few months ago) this video makes so much sense. I can really see the connection and actually I want to know more about the dogs, retainers, and etymology =)))))

[@kamehaz]

My mom and I both suspect that we have ADHD and my twin brother is diagnosed. Our conversations sound exactly like this. The three of us can follow everyone's brain trails and it's just a normal conversation to us. It wasn't until recently that I learned we sound pretty crazy to anybody listening to us 😂

[@SessmaruKusanagiGaming]

This is soooo accurate. I have people tell me I say too many unrelated stories. But to me, those unrelated stories are links to your question.

[@ChlomeRendia]

I'm a teacher. I once had a student ask me what my random story of the day would be. Oops. It always seemed related to me, and usually was an attempt to make something in the curriculum relatable.

[@SessmaruKusanagiGaming]

@@ChlomeRendia Totally relatable. For us, ""unrelated stories"" 110% have memories that are what we're trying to explain/relate to etc etc.

[@kucylja]

but is it exclusively an ADHD thing? i am definetly not adhd, but i do that too. Thats just how a conversation works :)

[@SessmaruKusanagiGaming]

@@kucylja I'd say it's more of a neurodivergent trait for some mental problems just in general. ADHD is an obvious/good example though. (: My borderline and bipolar also play a part in a lot of my behaviors. Thankfully I learned the tools I need to get through the tough parts. Took me YEARS though. I get very excited very easily and can kinda get lost in Tangent stories that most wouldn't link like I do. Like WE do. Lol. ^Like that Tangent. Lol..

[@RaeWakefield]

This is why I like text conversations because you can talk about multiple topics at the same time and you don’t need to worry about finding the right time for what you wanna say you can just both talk at the same time

[@samjason1840]

It is a common thing for me to ask "how did i get on this topic?" Even if i was talking to someone for a few minutes-

[@EvanMMD3939]

that reminds me of Desmond the moon bear from asdfmovie "how did I.. get here??"

[@MC80-80]

Yes, esp when my therapist asks me a question and I have to double back and ask her what the original question is

[@valbea9958]

I do that a lot

[@cicicave1279]

+samjason1840 I think we start going off on tangents about random stuff. But then once it clicks with us and do a double-take, it's like: "Wait, what were we talking about again?" Or like you said: "How did I get on this topic?" I think for some if not all of us think that the topic we started talking about somehow relates to the original topic, but then we go on a big ol' tangent on the new topic completely forgetting about the original topic until we're done with our tangent and then we revert back like "wait a minute."-lol.

[@seno7904]

This is me except half the time I have to retrace my thoughts to figure out what the f I was talking about at first

[@hyperbookslover]

This is so true. My mom and i both have adhd and my dad is just so confused.

[@s.0.d.a.]

My dad, my brother and i have adhd and my mom totally hates it💀

[@LuckyGenesis]

My dad and I do this all of the time 😂

[@devin59320]

Can't forget how you forget to add something that feels important so you jump back in the middle of storytime to mention it

[@kathryneaston8806]

Sometimes after a convo is done, I review how it started and where it went. It’s honestly really funny sometimes.😆

[@tthings6686]

Saaaame

[@theartistinthebasement6647]

My only question is: Why is this the single most relatable thing I've seen in a *while* I don't even have adhd-

[@wind_scratch8387]

Same. One time me and my friend were talking about our opinions on spicy food and that somehow spiraled into discussing whether there would be enough food in the future to sustain the global population.

[@lunaskisses]

🤷🏼‍♀️ maaaybe you do. many people go undiagnosed, especially AFAB people. always worth checking the diagnostic criteria by searching up "DSM5 ADHD"

[@marymegrant1130]

Or do you?

[@warriormamma8098]

I was not DX until age 44. My husband at age 54!

[@bensanterre9478]

​@@wind_scratch8387 That isn't much of a leap though, both subjects are about food. When adhd people get talking it can get really all over the place. Nonlinear really is a good term for it. I would describe it like I'm in a room with lots of different things and to me they all belong in the room, and I can talk about any one of them in any order and it all seems on topic to me. But I can understand why it would seem to someone else that I'm jumping all over the place. I've gotten use to explaining how things tie together.

[@tylerboyce4081]

Ideation is the secret superpower of all ADHD folks.

[@justk4929]

I understood this viscerally. As both an ADHDr and someone who loves linguistics

[@Quoxz]

"Six degrees of that thing you originally asked me about"

[@carolsmiley8912]

I am 81 and was called ‘a dreamer’ and a ‘gifted underachiever’ from infancy and your wonderful and enlightening skits truly resonate with me.

[@saigmundur]

This makes perfect sense! Sometimes I pause a conversation and pick up where I left several days later without being promted.

[@returnoftheromans6726]

I do this too. I want to know more about what a certain person was saying.

[@gillb9222]

Oh god, I relate so much. And then I move on from the conversation and then randomly restart it about 3 weeks later and expect the person to be able to keep up

[@robinhansen2296]

And if that person is a fellow adhd’er, there’s a good chance that they can/will catch right up 😂

[@bookkeepingsmes2089]

Yessss!! And the history of the convo is even on WhatsApp so I'm like duh!! Read the history - usually the last comment too 🤦‍♀️

[@gillb9222]

@@bookkeepingsmes2089 lmao...the 'duh' hit hard! I know on an intellectual level that I'm being unreasonable but on an AuDHD level I'm like 'good god, it doesn't take a genius to just keep up!'. I'm probably a horrible person to know lmao

[@Crystal_Blue_Persuasion]

I'm 68 and was diagnosed with ADHD this past week. I totally understand this girl's way of thinking.

[@VioletFeline886]

I sometimes have to backtrack in conversations because I either realized that I didn’t say what I wanted to, or I skipped too far into the conversation. Like I pressed a fast forward button

[@ineedtherapylmao4418]

THATS AN ADHD THING?! Man, I need to talk to my therapist…

[@cameroncallahan8223]

I just had the same thought…

[@lunaskisses]

you can always look up the diagnistic criteria. search "DSM5 ADHD"

[@AnnekeOosterink]

lol I saw so many adhd posts and videos and I was like, I related way too much with way too many of these. And yeah, adhd. It was such a relief to know that my messiness (both my house and my brain) and paralysis and hyperfocus and inability to tell time or how long any given activity takes was not me being lazy, careless and uncaring.

[@KD0MOO]

That's not ADHD that's a gifted person

[@searchanddiscover]

i always explain to people my thought process is like a wiki walk where you start with one wiki page and end in a completely different page from where you started but if you look at each word you clicked the chain makes sense.

[@cvdirecto5008]

This totally made sense to me, I have always describe my thought process as an abstract painting that met a blender

[@laprepper]

My ability to ruminate about a dozen different topics is some thing that I don’t mind but it drives other people crazy😂

[@starrystarrynight52]

I get this all the time "That's not what we taking about, how is that connected?" But in my mind it made perfect sense.

[@lolololol7573]

Yeah like, there's usually multiple connections yet they don't see a single one?

[@SessmaruKusanagiGaming]

Or "that's not relevant!" YES. YES IT IS! 😭

[@martareitmajer]

What can I say… Conversation has a flow.

[@midomnour]

she seems like someone so fun to talk to, i want friends like this

[@littlewhitecallalily]

THIS IS SO ME 😭 I FEEL LIKE I HAVE TO EXPLAIN MY WHOLE THOUGHT PROCESS

[@recoveringsoul755]

Do we explain because people MADE us justify our every decision and how we got there?

[@missyjo2475]

You don't. I promise you.

[@missyjo2475]

​@@recoveringsoul755absolutely. But that's doesn't mean you HAVE to explain every little detail of your thought process to people who aren't your abuser. Took me a better part of 8 years to realize that.

[@recoveringsoul755]

@@missyjo2475 every little thing..it takes me years to realize how messed up it was

[@HolliNiesen]

My thoughts aren't random! They're just faster than yours

[@johnmobley9369]

It’s the best feeling when you have a friend that follows the same nonlinear string of logic so they follow your process while also starting their own and you both have to play a game of catch-up working it all out to how you got to each topic you’re at and what you wanted to discuss originally. Just never a full conversation and two people fully immersed in random thoughts and companionship.

[@countessk]

LOL! I call this down the rabbit hole. One thought leads to another thought. It's like watching KZbin at night. You start watching a video about your latest obsession and then click an interesting video on the side and then again and again until you're watching videos about how to put shoes on horses at 2 am.

[@krazymann1727]

Everyone one has a train of thought, its just with adhd we can lay our own tracks as we go

[@Thunderscreamer]

One time my sister & I (both ADHD) retraced her train of thought together because she needed to remember covering related to one of the random stops along the way. It was one of the greatest moments of my life!

[@dndnoob]

I haven't been diagnosed with ADHD but this is where 90% of my conversations end up going

[@littlep33p]

It was connected. The words that were brought up were keys to different memories that were technically relevant to the words spoken so they needed to be said

[@90s_KID_]

This comment is so relevant TY!

[@claireschweizer4765]

EXACTLY oh jeez 😭

[@SessmaruKusanagiGaming]

THISSS

[@daniellerodgers6493]

*needed to be said. Idk how much actually needs to be said lol

[@SessmaruKusanagiGaming]

@@daniellerodgers6493 We babble. A lot isn't technically ""relevant"" to NTs lol.

[@HonestlyHolistic]

I am baffled by how anyone CAN'T think this way

[@juliz2500]

Really? I can actually understand both sides. The way the ADHD person talks is me sometimes when I daydream. The other person is me trying to make smalltalk with someone.

[@thraelen]

This is why I much prefer convos with other adhd people. They are way more interesting and fast-paced. Though they can last for hours.

[@danabanana3453]

I forget not everyone can see the connections between topics like I do. And I leave them confused every convo 😂.

[@TheAwesomeDude58]

I once went from talking about what I wanted for lunch to talking about how Oppenheimer called Einstein stupid.

[@kacbcd]

This, this exactly. The chain of connections is not verbalized but they are very much there.

[@cristinaacosta8938]

This is actually how my friends and I hold conversations, except they're so accustomed how me and my best friend do it that they don't comment. Funny thing is that me and my best friend were talking the other day and we found ourselves rounding back to the original point of conversation that we started on. When I tell you we were shocked, because we seemingly deviated from the topic a lot throughout the conversation. I don't know, I kinda like it, ngl 😅

[@TheMagnoliaWitch]

Yep, I followed that, makes perfect sense. My immediate family and I will absolutely hold conversations like this and then look up thirty minutes later like "what was the original question?" and we have to backtrack the conversation to figure out someone asked what the plan was for dinner. 😂😂😂

[@AnnekeOosterink]

well... adhd is highly heritable. So. You know. ;)

[@Rose-yx6jq]

Yep. I was definitely diagnosed correctly as a child, because that is exactly how I operate.

[@ashleyguthrie572]

This is exactly how I work and until about a year ago I thought this was just how everyone worked. I had no idea other people didn't do this lmao.

[@goldenheart__]

this happens to me OFTEN except in my brain and i can’t keep up with myself. like, i have days where i can read normally, but on others, every other sentence i will pause bc a word or phrase reminded me of something else, and within literal SECONDS my mind will get so far off track and i won’t even remember how i got there, so i have to retrace my steps and figure it out and continue reading only to have it happen all over again

[@wraithlordkoto]

My favorite part is tying it all together at the end, so that it seems like you actually meant to go on that tangent for some reason.

[@blueeyedbatman]

😭 stop calling me out! Lmao The worst one is ever did was when I was a teenager and my best friend asked a question and I answered and then went on to something "random". When she asked how I got there it literally took me 5 minutes to explain something my brain went through in less than 5 seconds. 😂

[@InsertMyChineseUsername]

My entire family chats like this and when we have people over, they always get completely lost and confused 😂

[@melaniehall4542]

I am so thankful for the Internet for many reasons, and this is one. Being validated by other wonderful humans after spending 30+ years being called weird gives me a sense of normalcy.

[@Zetarla]

Gosh I feel this so much! Also it doesn't just happen in conversations but in my thoughts As well. Then I end up wondering what my original thought was after my brain has gone off like 10 different tangets 😅

[@jadetea6112]

I tend to do this even at work and its only when I get the awkward "ok" or "good for you", I realized I probably got excited and derailed the whole conversation. T_T

[@toebeansmeow]

Or "nice" 🙃

[@4swordsluver]

​​@@toebeansmeowtf else you supposed to say when someone just had a whole conversation by themself?

[@toebeansmeow]

@@4swordsluver nice

[@jan_Linaso1178]

This 🙌 whenever I have a conversation with someone else with ADHD we just feed of each other’s energy

[@floridflesh]

This is so real, the other night I had a 4 hour phone call with my sibling telling them about the drama at work but first I needed to fill them in on stuff that happened a year ago lmao. The only reason it wasn't longer was because my phone died

[@tolstoy21]

Being an older dude, the thing I find one can leverage from non-linear thinking is being able to draw connections between seemingly un-related things. I'm a computer programmer/engineer at a well-known university and find that I am able to use that internal stream of consciousness, navigating the spiderweb of concepts to arrive at solutions for things that no one else can immediately see. Only problem is, sometimes the solutions are hard to communicate to my neurotypical colleagues. I have learned over time that there is a reason our minds zoom around frenetically chasing and grabbing onto all kinds of bits of knowledge and memories. We're looking for something--an idea, or a solution--that we can't quite put our finger on yet, but that's there in our minds. Everyone with ADHD should really spend time embracing these kind of idiosyncrasies and learn to leverage them as strengths. We think differently, and this does cause us daily challenges, but our difference also gives us significant strengths that we can use to achieve our own individual versions of success. (Even if everyone else thinks a we're a complete wack job!)

[@thespiritqueen983]

I have to keep exploring the subplots, it’s not my fault 😭

[@SolidSiren]

That's not even an ADHD conversation. It's the conversation of an intelligent person.

[@gregoryhawkins6046]

I can so relate! You see connections others don't. It's really a super power :)

[@fenixleber373]

Ohhhh now I understand why people keep telling me my whole life that I’m super confusing to have conversations with and ask if I even let the other person speak? Lol ❤😂

[@karendaniel620]

I was diagnosed in my early 30's (2.5 decades ago) after a friend of the same age was diagnosed. She and I could hold conversations like this with each other while also contributing to the conversations around us. No one else in the friend group understood how. We just didn't need each other's inner convos. We got it.

[@roxannemetivier]

Oh my god, this is exactly what I do. I always have to draw connections, give unrelated backstories to the thing I am talking about and everyone then say that I lost them halfway through.

[@jeremysummers-k1x]

😢

[@Ronnie-qi8ij]

The fact this 100% made sense to me- XD This is literally how me and my other adhd friends talk lmaoo

[@ShadowWebster]

How is it that every time I’m on my KZbin I have a question about my ADHD and crying because of my depression and somehow you just snap me out of it by showing me what I’ve been feeling today

[@salem-01]

I have conversations like this with my best friend all the time and occasionally we’ll pause and be like “how did we get here” and end up tracing through all the different parts of our conversation and how they link up. It’s awesome

[@SixEared_Lotus]

This is my favorite part of having ADHD. And both my friends have it too, so our conversations are just all over the place and I love it.

[@samuel.thornton]

I think what's perfect about this example is that it isn't actually meandering - the dentist wouldn't have mattered if not for the dog connection. So the story is like a little circle with a line out to retainer - a magnifying glass shape that makes perfect sense to her. THIS IS MY BIGGEST ADHD SYMPTOM!

[@faithburgess6752]

This is sooooo accurate I just can’t. Everything is connected. My best friends, mother says that she can’t talk to me because she can never follow along.

[@Kaul1tz_11]

As someone with adhd, this made so much sense

[@Sailor_noir]

I have to explain my train of thought all the time 😂😂

[@toebeansmeow]

Then explaining our train of thought further continues the very thing we're explaining to them 😅 and they eventually check out or excuse themselves lolol 🤷‍♀️

[@random_dragon]

I do this a lot and will often just tell people something like "there's a train of thought here, I swear"

[@jayehum5019]

😁I'm keeping this one! Exactly my conversations. It's usually the blank looks that make me realise my thoughts aren't linear.

[@lilynephrite3627]

Yes!! I’ve confused so many people with this! 😂😂 Feel this 100%!

[@ashduiop]

I have autism, not adhd but I do this too. All of my friends are neurodivergent in some way or another, and our conversations are brilliant for this reason

[@stephieann6541]

My mother used to say "don't start the story from the birth"

[@lydiacarrasquillo6227]

This is me 100% of the time 😂😂😂

[@aslycat9602]

Sometimes I think to myself about these nonlinear convos and, in order to get back to what I was originally thinking, I go back through what led me to each subject lol

[@monaruffin72]

Thank you! I found myself! This is exactly how I respond. Whew! It's so EXHAUSTING!! 🥴

[@ashaaahavah3146]

She makes me feel less lonely in the world.❤