FA+
Shop
Skipping Stones
5 years ago
General
I don't know if I have real ADHD, but all my life I've been getting really into things in short intense bursts, and skip from topic to topic. For a few months I will be totally into drawing. Or music. Or a craft. Or Lego. Or a video game. And then something, some real-world event, a personal family crisis, or just a loss of interest -- will knock me out of that groove and put me on something else. This has been the pattern for 20+ years of my adult life. I am forty-eight now and that's not likely to change. So I have to live with this pattern and understand it.
The benefit of this skipping-stone approach is that I learn about a lot of topics and acquire a broad range of skills. Over time I've become damn near expert on a lot of things.
The problem with this pattern is that I'll get really into some hobby, acquire a bunch of equipment that I use a lot and then it languishes untouched for months or years - but if I sell it off or get rid of it then I will just end up buying it again next time that particular comet arrives from its long orbit. Or worse yet, I'll commence some big visible project intended to monetize or otherwise gain internet success that will run out of gas partway through and i'll drop it, and have to start over from scratch in a year or two. If there's one thing I've learned about internet artists and craftspeople is that you gain fame for one thing and thats the only thing you can do forever. If you want to do something else you need to start over from zero, as very few people will come along.
As for my artwork, I just looked through my old gallery and I can see, by the dates of the posts, when I was really gung-ho about artwork and when it languished for months, sometimes years between posts. I accept this about myself and ask only your patience. Right now I am drawing up a storm, but I also know it won't last, so all I can do is enjoy it while it lasts. And isn't that life's big lesson anyways?
The benefit of this skipping-stone approach is that I learn about a lot of topics and acquire a broad range of skills. Over time I've become damn near expert on a lot of things.
The problem with this pattern is that I'll get really into some hobby, acquire a bunch of equipment that I use a lot and then it languishes untouched for months or years - but if I sell it off or get rid of it then I will just end up buying it again next time that particular comet arrives from its long orbit. Or worse yet, I'll commence some big visible project intended to monetize or otherwise gain internet success that will run out of gas partway through and i'll drop it, and have to start over from scratch in a year or two. If there's one thing I've learned about internet artists and craftspeople is that you gain fame for one thing and thats the only thing you can do forever. If you want to do something else you need to start over from zero, as very few people will come along.
As for my artwork, I just looked through my old gallery and I can see, by the dates of the posts, when I was really gung-ho about artwork and when it languished for months, sometimes years between posts. I accept this about myself and ask only your patience. Right now I am drawing up a storm, but I also know it won't last, so all I can do is enjoy it while it lasts. And isn't that life's big lesson anyways?
DiaperedPingas
~diaperedpingas
I have ADHD, and for me what you described applies usually to major video games. I call it "the game of the month." I'll go all-in on a game for a while, really enjoy it, and then hit a point where I just stop playing it and it stays that way for months (Minecraft, Elder Scrolls, CoD), or even years (Factorio, Terraria, Devil May Cry) Same goes with a few other non-gaming hobbies like my trading cards I collect. Also, when you said you'll sit on stuff for years instead of selling it because you'll just rebuy it later, I felt that one. I've made that mistake before. And as for your artwork, dude, it's YOUR artwork, draw when you feel like it, nobody (that matters anyway) is going to get upset at you for not drawing.
Loupy Lupine
~loupylupine
A lot can do that, from the bipolar thing (maniac crisis do what you describe) to just easily bored mind (without any medical thing to it). My illness make me have small maniac crisis pretty similar to what you describe, and it's a pain to go through when they end. But gonna live with what you have.
Alfador
~alfador
The good thing about coming back to art and posting it to art sites where you've been before is, watchers like me won't have unwatched you just because you stopped posting a while back. You'll just start showing up in our feeds again. >:3
shapeshifter29
~shapeshifter29
I do have ADHD, and that sounds very much like me.
snuggems
~snuggems
Yep yep yep, I keep buying music synth stuff, get it home and dink around for a while, and then suddenly realize it's months later and it hasn't been touched. And it's a cycle that repeats, very frustrating indeed! I think this time though, once I manage to sell it all, that's it, all done. (until I find another one for silly cheap that gets the cycle restarted...)
Flare_The_Mountain_Dragon
~flarethemountaindragon
I do this too. I never considered ADHD though, it used to really annoy me that I would lose interest in something but now I know I'll eventually be back and I'll have the same zeal that I had when I first started. I've also found that I'm starting to just rotate though the same hobbies without picking up many new ones.
Cargie
~cargoweasel
OP
yeah, I have basically, art, mini painting/models, Lego, and comics
drjakal
~drjakal
Sounds a little like bipolar syndrome (formerly called manic-depressive syndrome). The thing that I identify with about manic-depressive people is so many of them saying "I start all sorts of projects when I'm manic that I can't finish when I'm depressed." Psychiatrist says I'm bipolar, psychologist says "You have no sign of any pathology."
