Description: I guess this is kind of abstract. I have ADHD and sometimes it can make even the simplest things really hard to do. This is just kind of about how I do things to make I guess like a little easier. A lot of people really don't understand the disability, and I've had a lot of people tell me that it's all in my head. The one thing that is for sure is that I simply cannot do everything the way that an average person does. I got my own systems, my own way of doing things. So, all I ask is that peopl estop trying to actually understand everything about it, but that they simply accept the fact that I have my reasons for doing things the way I do and for being the way I am.
The Workings of My Mind -------------------------------------------
To the average person
The rainbow can be distracting
Even confusing and intimidating
With no visible connections
No apparent system
Just random words
Random strokes of the highlighter
The desk is a sea of papers
Deep enough to drown the foreign mind
Blue, yellow, purple, pink, white
Different waves of colour
No sense of logic involved
Only my associations
Stacks of paper clutter a corner
Sets of them turned different ways
To anyone this is chaos
This noise I hear from over there
Is drowned out with the press of a button
To a common ear it sounds like annoying static
To me it is a comforting sound
Provides me with a place of solitude
Silence is my enemy
A break within it can capture my attention
This static is my saviour
My grounding force
Forget having a contained memore
My memory is external
A visual representation
A wallpaper of Post-It notes
No need to struggle to recall anything
Simply survey the surroundings
Due dates, places, times
Everything important
A glance away
Impossible to forget
An average person has no idea
Of the complexities of my mind
In my mind
My room is not chaos
Everything is in order, connected
The static is a comforting sound
That can block out the world
The colour captures me attention
And holds onto it
My 'wallpaper' serves a purpose
I dump my memories when I enter my room
These are my tools that make school and life achievable
Thank you for writing this! I think this is a very good poem, and it actually gave me a better idea of what it is like to have ADHD, although I'll never be able to understand it. In the 5th stanza though, you wrote memorE in stead of memorY. I don't know why, but that just stood out to me. But don't get me wrong, I think this is a great poem, and I'm not sure if I'd want to change it, as it somehow almost is too personal for that. Take Care, -Natalia
Submission Name: The Workings of My Mind
