I have a problem that every time i want to start new hobby, i cant work on it for long enough time to develop it into a habit. I quit the hobby i started even less than one month after starting it, even if i am excited and interested in working on it for a long time.
Since i dont know if i really have an adhd, because psychitriastists i went to say that i dont have adhd, despite i have common symptoms like lack of motivation, problems with learning and work, and problem with working on hobbies for a long time, i need to somehow find a way to work on a single hobby for a long time, without meds.
It’s hard! And tbh, when I do manage to stick at a hobby for a longer time it often starts to horrify me. Like, why I have I spent so long doing this thing that doesn’t matter?
But tips that help me:
Keeping stimulated about it, watching YouTube about it, reading about it. It’s easy to do when I’m excited about it, and that way I’m constantly being bombarded with reminders that I care.
Having friends or people to join in with. If I have to go to something or finish something, having another person to keep me on track and from just moving on to something else is great
Setting manageable goals - I often go back and forth from “I want this to be my whole life” and “why am I’m wasting my life on this”. Aiming for a specific goal means there’s a point that I can choose to stop or set a further goal, rather than just a vague endless pressure to do the hobby.
But it really depends on what it is, specific advice for crafting, sport, games or whatever will be different. What do you want to do? And what about it excites you?
For me its much easier to work on something when i do it together with someone. For me this is a problem, because i dont have even a single friend, and i dont know any adhd specific ways form a friendship as adult. My parents and psychiatrist just gave me a rough advice, and not the exact steps that i need to follow to form a friendhip.
Difficultly with visualising the steps to complete a process is an ADHD symptom.
Finding it easier to stay on-task with someone else in the room is called ‘body-doubling’ and is an adhd coping strategy.
If your therapist hasn’t sent you for a ~4 hour dedicated assessment, they can’t say you do or do not have adhd.
My therapist was like; “Maybe adhd, but not autism.” I 100% have both.
So get a second opinion.
Hobbies are great ways to find the friends! If it’s a hobby that requires you to buy stuff, just start asking the staff at the store for recommendations for groups that you might be able to join. Check Facebook or Twitter for people (in your area or just in general) that are already in said hobby. You stand to make friends AND get better at said hobby. Win win.
I get it. When you’re a kid, friends come from being locked up in the same building all day. As an adult the options are work or community (religious house, community center, or hobby specific spaces). It is harder because you only spend a similar amount of time as you did at school in one of those and it’s the least fun one. But it can be done! It just takes time. I guess that advice goes for hobbies and for friendships.