A short YouTube monologue by Katie McManus describing a habitual dissociative behavior common with ADHD: staring off into space in a specific direction (notably to the right). The speaker explains this as linked to executive dysfunction and dissociation, gives classroom anecdotes about others misinterpreting the gaze, and asks viewers if they share the same directional staring habit.
If you have adhd, then please stop, because I need to know if I'm the only one who does this. As ADHDers, we have this next level way of staring off into space. And now that I'm an adult, I understand. It's dissociating, right? It's like your brain is completely overwhelmed. You're in executive dysfunction. You can't do the thing in front of you, even though you really want to do the thing in front of you. So what do you do? You just kind of stare off into space, right? And this has plagued me my entire life. Okay? And this is what I need to know. If I'm the only one who does this, is when I stare off into space, I am always staring, like, there. Like, there's a very specific, like, angle, direction. It's always to the right. And I'm just, you know, staring off into space. And this was so awkward in some classes in school because, you know, in classes like science class or math class, and, like, they have you in the clusters, so it's not like you're just, like, facing the teacher. There was usually someone at that angle that, like, when I was dissociating and just staring off into space, I did. I wasn't staring at them, but I was staring at them. And so there are so many people who were in my, like, stare off into space dissociate line of sight who were convinced I was in love with them or obsessed with them or hated them because I was constantly, like, looking right at them, but I wasn't looking right at them. I was just kind of staring off into the space, and they just happened to be that direction. Am I the only one who does this? Am I the only one who has, like, a direct angle that I always stare off into space. And I ask you to go and test this because I was just dissociating something I spend a lot of time doing. And I tried to stare off into space to the left, and I couldn't do it. I legit could not do it. It's wild. Am I alone? Please tell me.