University of Brighton fine Art (Painting) submission

12 ideas for managing your One-Thing-At-A-Time brain

A couple of posts ago I published a three-part series on monotropism, a universal theory explaining the AuDHD (especially autistic) experience. In response, I was asked what I do to use my monotropic brain to create joyful experiences on a good day, and cope with the world on a bad day. So here is my braindump of 12 x monotropism management mechanisms:

Monotropism 1: Hyper focus/ special interests

• Set up a creative project for yourself that you find exciting and, importantly, that requires research. Set a goal to complete it in, say 3 months

• Go somewhere where you won’t be disturbed (and tell people not to disturb you). Block out time in your calendar with ‘Focus Time’ that autodeclines invites. Switch off all device notifications

• Schedule a ‘special interests’ activity or conversation with a friend. It helps if they share your special interest, but it also works if they are helping you, say, think through a problem linked to it

• See my posts On Driving your ADHD Motorcar and On Body Doubling to help with task initiation and getting yourself into the Flow state or ‘zone’

Monotropism 2: Sensory sensitivities

• Review your activities ahead and plan escapes from potential overwhelm, from being prepared to move train carriages to stopping at the next services on the motorway

• Automate your sensory protection so you don’t have to think about it, e.g. have spare noise-cancelling earphones in every coat, or get glasses with light sensitive lenses so you don’t have to remember to pack sunglasses

• Set a timer on your phone to regularly do an internal ‘check’, to see if you’re hungry or thirst, need to move about, the loo, etc.

• See my post On Managing Clumsiness to get some ideas on how to stop knocking, bumping or tripping over

Monotropism 3: Social/ emotional expression

• Go for a walk with someone – you both have to face forward to see where you’re going, so you only have to focus on listening and speaking

• If you’re on a video call, open another tab or look at the camera, so everyone thinks you’re looking at them

• As with sensory sensitivities, it you’re facing a situation that will emotional drain/ batter you, plan several escape routes, be it using headphones, doom scrolling or physically leaving

• See my post On Managing Friendships to get ideas on how to communicate and manage relationships in a way that won’t burn you out

There will certainly be a lot more than this that you’re probably doing already. Like anything about ourselves, a One-Thing-At-A-Time brain doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I firmly believe that we can work with our monotropist brains to create a happy life for ourselves and others – and lean on the tools around us to manage the monotropic-unfriendly world when it gets too much.