Jun 4 • 💭 General Discussion
Following on from today’s container
Ask Me Tomorrow
Someone asks me a question.
A normal question.
A question I absolutely know the answer to.
And immediately my brain reacts like I’ve been selected for jury service against my will.
Not because I don’t know.
Not because I wasn’t listening.
Not because I don’t understand.
The problem is that while you’re waiting for one answer, my brain has already generated several.
Some of them are useful.
Some of them are related.
Some of them are memories.
Some of them are observations.
One of them is a conversation from 2007 that has absolutely no business being here but has shown up anyway.
So now I have a choice.
I can either stand there silently trying to sort the pile.
Or I can start talking and hope the correct answer emerges before I accidentally explain the entire history of civilisation.
This is where things get interesting.
Because if you ask me a question and I immediately look away, stare at the floor, inspect a random object, or suddenly become fascinated by a stain on the wall, there’s a decent chance I’m actually listening harder.
If I look directly at you the whole time, now I’ve got two jobs.
Listen.
And look like I’m listening.
Unfortunately those are not always the same thing.
So while you’re talking, part of my brain is wondering:
Am I making enough eye contact?
Too much eye contact?
Why am I thinking about eye contact?
Do normal people know how much eye contact they’re doing or do they just free-style it?
And now I’ve missed the last bit of the question because apparently I’ve become a part-time eye contact administrator.
Then comes the answer.
Or what starts out looking like an answer.
Halfway through explaining it, I realise something.
Then another thing.
Then a connection I hadn’t spotted thirty seconds earlier.
Then I accidentally answer a completely different question that nobody asked but somehow is relevant.
At least I think it’s relevant.
Apparently this is ADHD.
Which would have been useful information about thirty five years ago.
This is the point where people start looking nervous.
I can see them wondering whether I’ve forgotten the original question.
I haven’t.
It’s in there somewhere.
We’re just taking the scenic route.
The really annoying part is that sometimes my best thinking happens out loud.
I’ll start a sentence not entirely sure where it’s going.
Three minutes later I’ve solved the problem, answered the question, discovered a pattern, and learned something about my own opinion in the process.
Which is great.
For me.
Less great for the poor bastard who only wanted a yes or no answer.
By the time I’ve finished, I’ve usually got there.
Eventually.
Via seventeen unnecessary exits, two diversions, and at least one story that should have been removed during editing.
But we got there.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, this would have been a much better conversation tomorrow.
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Following on from today’s container
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