A patient once came to me who was struggling with burnout.
She told me she was feeling listless, passionless, and fatigued. She had lost her motivation, and she was feeling generally overwhelmed. Going to work each day was a chore. She was definitely describing burnout!
She said she was depressed, and she asked me for medication. Something was clearly off in her life. But I wanted to ask more questions before I gave her a pill.
And I am glad I did! By the end of our talk, I could see there was a different issue at play…
It had to do with love.
Yes – love, and some abnormal brain chemistry.
We use the word “love” every day – we read books about it, listen to songs about it, and watch movies about it. But we still somehow forget how powerful a driving force it is!
Have you ever been in love?
You feel like a superhero – invincible, weightless, living on a cloud… able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
You get that feeling from a mixture of oxytocin, dopamine, norepinephrine, vasopressin, and anandamide. These chemicals don’t just bring on the happy feelings we think of when we think of being in love. They energize you, open your mind, improve your memory, give you a brighter outlook… they make you the best version of yourself.
Your brain loves love!
And because your brain loves love, you don’t have to be in love with another person to feel this rush. When you do something you love, your brain releases this same combination of hormones.
To the brain affected by ADHD, the chemical mixture of love makes all the difference.
ADHD impacts the regulation of the brain’s dopamine system, interrupting things like executive functioning and motivation, especially time management. Procrastination is a common habit, but ADHD affects the brain in ways that cause “time blindness,” which can make achieving simple things very difficult – especially if they are tedious.
This does not mean that people with ADHD cannot live normal lives. But their struggles with scheduling and task completion are far-reaching. If you do not personally suffer from ADHD, you can imagine how many areas of life this kind of symptom would touch… and if you do have ADHD, then you already know very well.
Symptoms of ADHD do not only impact specific tasks and projects… they affect their routines, their relationships, and can even destroy the sufferer’s mood and self-esteem if left untreated.
But when love shows up, the story is something else entirely.
Instead of procrastination, you see diligence; instead of lack of focus, you see dedication. In fact, love shifts the brain into hyperdrive. This chemical cocktail primes the ADHD brain for productivity!
It goes without saying that love makes tedious things easier to do for everyone, not just those with ADHD… or maybe better said, love makes tedious things worth doing for everyone.
Author Marcus Buckingham said,
“One could say that doing what you love makes you more effective, but it’s so much more than that: You’re on fire without the burnout.”
Everyone loves doing what they love.
But for those with ADHD especially, love is like the key to unlocking your brain’s best functioning.
And that fact saved my patient a lot of hassle.
In the course of our discussion, we discovered that she was not depressed. Instead, she had ADHD. (This is a very common misdiagnosis!)
She had no love for her job, and that made productivity a total nightmare for her. She was ready to take medication for depression and go back to a job she did not like!
Instead, she used this new awareness to name her issues, see her roadblocks, and make better decisions – decisions from a place of understanding. And today, she loves her life.
(That makes me so happy to say!)
My patient continues to send me messages about her life now. I often think to myself about that day and how it was a turning point for her… and I am grateful I get to be part of that change for my patients.
Do you know someone dealing with symptoms like hers? Burnout? Procrastination? Fatigue? You can be a part of their turning point, too. If you know someone who might benefit from this information, please invite them to subscribe by sharing this link.
I have more to say about ADHD, its symptoms, and how to navigate them – stay tuned! But until then, make today your masterpiece!
Florina
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