The Correlation Between ADHD and Physical Stamina

— I was just covering it up with physical stamina —

I am an ADHD dad in my 30s.
Today, I would like to write about the correlation between ADHD and physical stamina.


Recently, I suddenly realized something.
I think the reason I have been able to live my life so far without feeling too troubled by my traits is, if I may say so myself, because I had a lot of physical stamina.

My wife does not have much physical stamina.
That is precisely why she is the type of person who always thinks about
“how to move”
and “how to plan for the future”
before taking action.


In contrast, to put it simply, I am impulsive.
With a “think about tomorrow tomorrow” stance,
I have been putting off things that I should have been thinking about all along.



Let me look back on my life so far for a moment.

When I was in high school,
I commuted to school by bicycle, which took an hour each way.
I was also a member of a sports club.

Even after entering university, my schedule was basically packed.
I juggled club activities, circles, and part-time jobs,
and lived my life constantly “doing something.”

Thinking about it now, my part-time job was also 30 minutes away each way.
In terms of hourly wage, every time I went to work,
it was the same as throwing away one hour of wages plus fuel costs for the round trip.

If I had thought about it a little, it would clearly have been more efficient to work near my house.
But back then, I
“did not want to go through the trouble of finding a new job and going to interviews”
to change that environment.

As a result,
I chose to keep using my physical stamina for commuting every day.

However, to be honest,
at the time, I felt no trouble with that at all.
Going to work for 30 minutes,
I did not feel it was a burden at all.



It was the same after I started working.

Without setting a target time to go home,
I worked until late at night every day.
I worked on weekends too.

Perhaps because I was interested in the work itself,
the idea of “planning to work efficiently”
did not even cross my mind.

But,
just because I was at the workplace for a long time,
it did not mean I was working in a planned manner.

I would do the work I wanted to do first.
I would not set priorities.

If there were documents with a near deadline,
I would sometimes stay up all night the day before to finish them.



This is the scariest part now that I look back.
By the time I was staying up all night,
that work was already behind schedule.

But,
・I made the deadline
・I managed to get it done

By doing that,
I learned to treat a state of failure as a “success experience.”

In reality,

it was already behind schedule
it was already a failure

Even so,
“It was OK because I submitted it at the moment of the deadline”
“It was fine!”

My brain had mislearned it.
It was automatically inputted as a success experience on its own.
That makes me repeat the same behavior again.

Looking back now,
I think I have just been covering up my

lack of planning
and procrastination habit

with my own physical stamina.

Even without making a plan,
even if I was impulsive,
I could manage by relying on my stamina and moving my body.

By accumulating those “I managed to get it done” moments,
I have been able to live my life so far
without having any major difficulties.

I almost never made plans seeking efficiency.
Even so, things worked out.


But,
a moment arrived when I had no choice but to think about the future and act.

That was raising children.

(※ I will write about what happens from here on in another article)



This was a story about realizing that having physical stamina leads to “learning failure as a success experience.”

I would be very encouraged if you could leave a comment or a like, or share your own experiences!
Realizing that there are others with the same worries as me is also encouraging!

Thank you for your valuable time,
and thank you for reading until the end.