Learning more about ADHD, and how I fit into this wide ranging subject, is helping me understand why I am the way I am. It also helps explains why some things work for me, and some things don't ( or not so well ) in managing myself, and my personal well being. This again is me, working on my strengths.
So I finally bought a new motorcycle. It's been years since I've ridden. But I've always known, going back to a teenager ( even earlier ) there was something about riding a motorcycle ( or mini bike as a kid) that did something positive for me in a pronounced way. So pronounced, that it has a lingering positive effect that elevates my mood and disposition in a way nothing else can. I'm still curious exactly how this happens, but the positive effect I've always known without question.
My van needed some work, so I took the opportunity to ride to work and get my van repaired. There are two ways I can go to work, one: on the freeway in rush hour traffic. Two: rual backroads in a beautiful upbeat setting.
The first two days, I took the rural backroads to become familiar with my new bike. The freeway seemed a little uncomfortable until my body adjusted to the unfamiliar and it had been years to get reacquainted. By the end of the second day, everything came back to me and I felt in control again.
The next day....I took the freeway to work and that's when it all came back to me. That feeling, of being in "the zone" again, fully present, fully alive, when everything comes together in one fluid motion.
This the Zen for me. This is like a week's worth of meditation all rolled into twenty minutes. Jousting cars on the freeway at 80mph, is a feeling like no other. There is no scenery or noticing anything other than the spaces between the cars and semi trucks. All that exists is the spaces in-between ...nothing else matters. Those spaces are where I go, I'm no longer separate from the bike. Traveling faster than the traffic, keeps me out of harms way, staying ahead of them, not behind, or in between.
Being the ball. The ball goes where you decide it goes, in one fluid motion.
The point of me saying all this is the fact that this works. Why it works or exactly how, I don't know? All I know is, the profound positive effect it has on me. And nothing has changed in over 60 years. Being in motion, in complete control is being "in the Zone". And for me, being in the Zone is extremely beneficial. It makes me a much happier, friendlier, positive person any time I get this way. I realize the danger, but in some ways, that's just part of it. Being fully present and engaged is like feeling life to the fullest.
I just thought this was worth sharing, for what it is.
Comments
ER professionals too
J, this fluid state sounds wonderful. Isn’t it like what ER doctors and nurses experience when they deal with disaster and every minute counts? I know I’ve read that ADHD people thrive in this particular setting. One wrong move, like you on your motorcycle, and there’s death. Instead of obsessing about risks, the gifted ones manage this fluently, and love it.
One has to admire it.