Hyperfocus #neurodivergent #hyperfocus #disneyexperience #mindfultravel #adhdlife

Hello everyone.

I hope you're having an amazing day. This is Danielle and Biden with Indie Out Loud, and we're talking hyperfocus today. I'll give you one guess what our hyperfocus is. It's all things Disney if you haven't seen our feed, but it's part of why we wanna talk about it and where hyperfocus leads our brain.

Yeah.

Which is all things Disney.

All things. Oh my gosh. All things. And I mean, once we said that we were gonna plan this trip for Disney, it has been a deep dive cuz that's what neurodivergent brains do when they hyperfocus. It's like, okay, well let's look at this or this, let's look at that. And so I had someone tell me one time that we were building a plane as we were flying it. Right. Then they were talking about a school system, but I feel like that is the most applicable metaphor for Indies doing a lot of things. So we are building this trip as we're planning it, as we're getting excited about it and stuff, because we see new awesome things to include every single day. Our Instagram messages to each other are generally us just sharing cool things that we've seen at Disney that we want to try to include in this trip.

Well, and for me, I went. In December at Christmas time. And if you've ever heard me say this or didn't hear me say this before, don't do that. And it got me like so many things triggered my brain of, oh my gosh, this is something that, oh, I love this. This is so relaxing. And I wrote it down. My notepad from being at Disney World was like huge on my phone because I was like, oh, I wish I could do this in my office. This would be so cool. And then, but an 8 and a half hour trip home, I was like, I can do those things in my office.

That's right.

I should bring them into my office. Why am I not doing that? Oh my gosh, that's so cool. And they do it this way. And then of course I had to start reading about— I've read like 12 books now— neuroscience behind Disney World and the marketing behind Disney World, which is neuroscience, by the way, and all of the things. And it just keeps coming up for me. So I dove into watching every video I could find and all of the behind the scenes and all of the Imagineering, which of course I have already seen all of these things, but then I'm looking at it with a new brain. And a new pair of colored glasses to look at it. So when we say all things Disney, all things, all the things. But the hyperfocus is also giving me through— there's been a lot of stress recently.

Oh yeah.

And this hyperfocus has allowed— given me a release for some of that stress too. And I will tell not only that, but it also has given me some of the things that I've learned about the science behind Disney has decreased my stress.

No.

Okay.

So I think that is the reason that so many of us are really good in a crisis, right? Because the crisis gives us something to hyperfocus on. I promise I don't have rodents of unusual size. That's just my husband.

Kind of.

Yeah.

He, he, anyway.

You're fine. I'm just teasing you. So I think that in a crisis, it gives us something to focus our anxiety on. That's why a lot of neurodivergent people are amazing in a crisis. So in times of intense stress, you just need one good hyperfocus to get you through. And Disney is everywhere. Like it's the grand poobah of all hyperfocuses. It is.

And I want to, there are 2 kinds of hyperfocus and people who have gone through training with me before, I've taught you how bad hyperfocus can be for you because it can be very, very bad and damaging to your brain. The kind of hyperfocus we're talking about right now is not. There are 2 kinds of hyperfocus. There is the gotta learn all the info, gotta learn all of the things, but not the intense need of doing it all at once. Yeah. And that is healthy. That is relaxing. That gives us the dopamine that we need. It does all of the things. The other kind of hyperfocus, and you guys have heard me say this in the past, where you are so intensely focused on something, you don't eat, you don't sleep, you don't drink. And I've had this happen and I've actually done physical damage to my brain and my body doing this, that you cannot sleep for weeks on end or do anything else or function in it.

Mm-hmm.

any other way. That kind of hyperfocus is bad. Yeah, prevent those kinds of hyperfocuses. This kind of hyperfocus is exactly the, the kind of hyperfocus that, that is a superpower when you're ND.

So it's about temperance, right? So hyperfocus is okay if you can sleep.

If you're still taking care of your basic needs— eat, sleep, drink, showering, you know, that kind of thing— then hyperfocus is okay. And That's where we are with this. And we keep talking all things Disney because—

It's fun.

It's fun. And I didn't quite realize again until I dove back into this and after, after December and all of that, how helpful it is for my brain.

Yeah. I mean, okay. So aren't hobbies just helpful hyperfocuses?

Yeah.

Okay. So lots of people have hobbies that they put a lot of time in and it's their thing where they go for dopamine. It's the thing that they go for to relax. It's the thing that they do and go to for to soothe their soul. So if your hyperfocus is soothing your soul and it's not a detriment to your health— right now, the only thing our hyperfocus is doing is annoying our husbands because we talk about it all the time.

Mm-hmm.

And that's fine. They knew what they were getting when they signed up for this circus. Okay.

I don't think my husband quite knew what he was getting into.

Well, I mean, John and I were much younger and I was very, I was highly masking at the time. So he probably didn't know, but it's too late to go back.

It's too late now. I mean, for me, it's been 30 plus years. So he'd really fuck with me now.

20 for us. So he's, he's bought and paid for.

Exactly. So hyperfocus can be a healthy thing. And of course, all the things Disney World, all the science behind Disney World has been like a major thing. And I've actually designed a whole entire coaching program around the Disney hype, this Disney hyperfocus now, which is the coolest thing ever. And I keep finding more things like all of the time to add to it. And then we have the Disney dopamine. Hello. And then, okay, Star Wars for me is like Galaxy's Edge was the greatest thing ever to me.

It is really good.

I would live in Star Wars World if I could before I went to Galaxy's Edge. And those of you that know me know that that is something I watch regularly. Like, I love Star Wars. And being able to go, oh, I could do this in Star Wars and I could do this in there and I could work this into the coaching and do that here in Galaxy's Edge. And we could do this and we could do that. We could, you know, there's a lot of those discussions. What's going on around here? And Vida and I are feeding each other's hyperfocus. I love having exactly the same hyperfocus as somebody else. It's great. And Vida's and my feeds of sharing videos or reels or Instagram posts and TikToks with each other is insane because it's all Disney stuff.

Yeah. And if you ever find a friend that has the same neurodivergent brain as you, it's intense. It is.

But, but it's also affirming because I don't have to apologize.

Yes.

I don't, I don't have to go, I'm sorry, I'm gonna, I gotta tell somebody this and you've gotta listen. My other bestie, who is also neurodivergent, I know is rolling, her eyes roll into the back of her head at this point every time she hears something from Disney because she is so introverted that she hates everything Disney and never wants to hear about it or go again. And she, God bless her, does listen to me. But even over the phone, I know she's rolling her eyes into the back of her head, which then makes me kind of mask and pull back and not share.

Right. I mean, it happens. Yeah. And because I don't want to annoy Somebody else.

I don't mean to or want to, but I mean it does happen. And knowing that with Vida, I don't have to do that at all. And Vida's daughter has joined the party. She sends she she sends me constant stuff now on TikTok and videos, and it is feeding our hyperfocus, which is awesome. But it's so nice to have a community of people that I can just talk to, share with, and we've got Jessica that we can have the same exact conversations with, and there's no apologizing. There's no judgment.

I'm seen.

I'm heard. I'm celebrated. And then somebody else will join the party.

Yeah.

And that, I think, is one of the most valuable things about our world right now. As in our, our community, our world, is that I have those people. And I think as an adult with ADHD, ADHD, whatever, that is one of the biggest things I've never had before. Jessica did an article, what, last week? This week? I don't remember, on building friendships.

It was this week, I believe. Anyway, I definitely saw it this week.

And we have such a hard time. So when you find someone who has the same thought process, and, and even if we're not thinking the same things or don't believe things the same way or whatever, there's no judgment or apology here. We're seen, heard, and safe.

Yeah. And that's something— okay, you may not be able to provide that for everyone, right? But that's knowing yourself. But that's what I try to do. Like, and you know those people that you find that you're like, man, I just felt so safe with them?

Yeah.

Normally it's because they're listening to you and they see you. It's really— I feel like it's the diamond pyramid of like, you know, humanity. It's like when you find those people and then you pour a healthy dose of hyperfocus on it, goodness gracious. By the time we get to Disney, we're going to be— we're going to arrive in a cloud of glitter that's going to be, I mean, embedded in people's lives forever. You know, it's like the memories of that, like the memories of the trip, the lessons they've learned, and even the friendships we made. Like we talked about, how cool would it be to let people pick pen pals, right?

Mm-hmm.

It could be email pen pals, but, you know, we could rock it old school and write a letter and put a stamp on it. How cool would it be to have a Disney pen pal that was in D.C.?

How cool would it be to have a whole entire chat-based community, instant chat-based community that was all ND like you?

Yes.

About Disney World, about the trip coming up, about the trip when you get home, about recovering for the trip, about the, I want to go back and I wish I would have gotten this t-shirt, and hey, did anybody try this? And hey, did you get a picture of this? Here's all my pictures.

Right.

What would that look like? Because so we've got all of that, but then we've got all the learning we're gonna do in Disney too, which I'm really just as excited about as As the Disney thing, Disney rides and all of that stuff, because then I get to share all of the things that I've learned that make ADHD and AuDHD less of a strain on my life.

Yeah.

And when we can share the things that make life better, strengthens those relationships even more.

100%. Because that's— we thrive in community. We need community. And for so many of us, we've spent So long feeling like we were on the outside. So this is good. Our hyperfocus is good. We aren't losing sleep on it. We're just dreaming about it. So that's different. And we're bringing it to you because one, we like making friends. Like once you make a good one, you like making friends, but you realize that you have to fish in certain holes. So you have to fish in the neurodivergent hole. And we are bringing that fishing pond to Disney for everybody to make friends and for everybody to learn stuff. And for us to get super weird and nerdy and Guess what? No one's gonna care because everybody is gonna be like us.

And that's okay. I just think it's awesome. I think everything about this will be amazing and fun and exactly what our community needs, which is why we're doing this. And I get to help people, which obviously adds to that whole level of— I mean, that's built into my and ingrained in my personality. I think all of our personalities.

Yeah.

We just want to help.

Just want to help. And we want to have fun and laugh and it not be stressful, right? This isn't school where you're gonna learn something that's gonna be stressful. This is gonna be like your friend on the playground that teaches you how to tie your shoes in 2 minutes.

Mm-hmm. This will be fun. This will be a learning opportunity, and this will be lifelong friend community building all in one. And it's a conference that you can write off if you are a business owner. You can write this off too because you're gonna learn all kinds of things and be able to take things back home I hope you join us. I hope you join in on our hyperfocus. If you want to join in on our hyperfocus, we will be opening up a Slack channel for everyone attending soon. Come join our hyperfocus and learn all of the things.

Yeah, and be super weird and nerdy with us.

Sounds good. I love when people are super weird and nerdy with me, so come join the fun. Have an amazing day, everyone, and if you have questions, let us know.