I Think I Have ADHD Because My Mind Never Switches Off
Does your mind never switch off?
Perhaps you replay conversations, analyse what people meant, worry about what might happen, catastrophise or find yourself overthinking everything.
You may even have wondered:
“Do I have ADHD?”
A constantly busy mind can be part of someone's experience of ADHD. But it can also occur for many other reasons, including anxiety and stress.
This isn't an article about whether you do or don't have ADHD. Only an appropriately qualified healthcare professional can assess that.
It's about something else I've noticed through my work:
Many people have become so accustomed to living inside their thoughts that they don't realise there's another way to experience life.
Are you living in reality — or in your mind?
I sometimes describe the mind as a virtual-reality headset.
Imagine you're sitting safely at home.
But inside your head you're in tomorrow's meeting.
Or replaying yesterday's conversation.
Or imagining losing your job.
Or wondering what somebody thinks about you.
Or catastrophising about something that may never happen.
The mind tricks the body into responding to those thoughts as though what's happening inside the headset is happening now.
The scenario is imagined. But the distress it creates is real.
And because we're so accustomed to thinking, we often don't notice we've put the headset on.
Try asking:
What is actually happening, in reality, right now?
Not tomorrow.
Not yesterday.
Not what somebody might be thinking.
Right now.
That's very different from asking your mind to tell you what's happening.
Try this
Stop for a moment and wait for your next thought.
Don't deliberately think of anything.
Just wait.
...
Did you know what the thought was going to be before it appeared?
Interesting, isn't it?
Thoughts appear in our awareness constantly.
But because a thought appears doesn't mean it's true.
It doesn't mean you have to believe it.
And it doesn't mean you have to follow it.
Compare:
“Something terrible is going to happen.”
with:
“I'm noticing that my mind is telling me something terrible is going to happen.”
Same thought. Completely different relationship with it.
And in that little bit of distance lies choice.
You can also change the thoughts that are causing distress
Sometimes observing a thought and allowing it to pass is enough.
Other thoughts keep returning because they're connected to deeper beliefs and habitual patterns:
I'm not good enough.
Something will go wrong.
They'll think badly of me.
I can't cope.
That's when I help clients ask one of the most useful questions I know:
“What must I be thinking or believing to be true in order to feel this?”
Once we've found the thought, we can examine it.
Is it true?
What am I assuming?
And, importantly:
Is this thought helpful?
If it isn't, we can learn to replace it with something more realistic, helpful and empowering — and practise that new way of thinking until it becomes easier.
“But I'm just an overthinker”
Overthinking may be something you've done for years.
That doesn't mean it's who you are.
The goal isn't to stop having thoughts.
It's to recognise that your mind doesn't have to run your life.
You can learn to notice thoughts without automatically following them.
You can challenge thoughts that create unnecessary distress.
And you can practise taking off the VR headset and returning your awareness to what's actually happening.
Here. Now. In reality.
And if you do have ADHD?
None of this determines whether you have ADHD, nor is coaching a substitute for appropriate assessment or medical care.
But an ADHD diagnosis doesn't mean that every instance of worrying, catastrophising or unhelpful thinking is beyond your influence.
Whatever label you have — or don't have — you can still learn a different relationship with your thoughts.
And that can be enormously empowering.
Take off the headset
Next time you find yourself caught in overthinking, try asking:
Have I got the VR headset on?
Then look around.
What can you actually see?
What can you hear?
What can you feel?
And ask:
What is actually happening right now?
You may discover that reality is considerably quieter than the world your mind has been creating.
Does your mind never seem to switch off?
If you recognise yourself here, I can help you understand what's driving your overthinking, challenge the thoughts and beliefs creating distress and learn how to step out of your mind and back into your life.
You can start with a free Clarity Call. There's no pressure or sales pitch — just a conversation about what's happening, what you'd like to change and whether I might be the right person to help.
Comments