Non-linear thinking

[i8myego]

Hello dear strangers,

I was having a discussion with (OMG, everytime I press @ and try to go back to the letters it adds a space...  Om Om Om.) last night and woke up with some thoughts I'd like to share.

My neurospicyness is diagnosed as ADHD which is a terrible label for what my experience of it has been but that's another story. Since my diagnosis I have come to understand that I don't think about the world like a normie does (love you normies). My thinking is not linear it is non-linear.

The lazy way to explain that is that it is circular thinking, that we dance around a topic, scoping it out from all angles before finally getting to the point. What it actually is... take a relationship between two people. Person A and person B. Linear thinking draws a straight line between A and B it says that's it and moves on. A non-linear thinker sees A and B draws that line and then sees AB (i.e. the relationship) as a third point to be included and draws a triangle.  A linear thinker looks at the triangle and needs to be sat down like a baby and be walked through a long tedious learning curve to get to this conclusion.

A non-linear thinker sees more of the big picture which makes pattern recognition much easier. It may seem like we are pulling information out of thin air, which can be unsettling to people. This is what makes us so creative and "out of the box' thinkers. The person who invented the wheel definitely had ADHD, lol.

Ok, background done, the thought I woke up with this morning.

People talk about spiralling out of control but nobody ever mentions spiralling into control.

It doesn't have to be that we start from a point in time and go upwards into a spiral. We can be at the open end (top) of a spiral and identify that point at the bottom is what we want and work our way towards it in a circular downward motion.

For me that looks like.

Do a big, nasty, messy lap of that distant point. Take a break, process and recharge. When reinvigorated do another lap, this one is smaller less nasty, less messy because we have some (not much but some) understanding of what is going on and (like the frog that gets boiled alive because he can't feel the smallest incremental increases in temprature) we have been slightly desensitised by our previous experience. Complete that second tighter lap and pause, process, reinvigorated.

And repeat.

Each time this process occurs the circle gets tighter, knowledge increases, fear decrease. Until, finally one day you hit your mark, wondering what all the fuss was about.

You have successfully spiraled into your dream state (and then start looking for something else to stress about. And the process starts again).

This thought is literally 4 hours old so please do critic it as harsh as you feel comfortable doing.

Thank you all.

[MatchaToad]

Hey @i8myego 

I love this "spiralling into control" concept. Most people view a spiral as a descent into chaos, but you have flipped it to show it as a strategic descent toward a target. It's a brilliant reframe of what others might dismiss as procrastination or distraction 💚

That "triangle" logic (A > B > AB) is spot on, I'd say. Linear thinkers often focus on the points, while non-linear thinkers focus on the space between them. That third point (AB) is the context, the "vibe", and the underlying pattern. It's why we're often better at predicting how a situation will play out before it even starts.

Since you requested a "harsh" look at the thought, I want to share two things that you might consider.

About the "boiling frog" metaphor: it usually tells a tragic story (not noticing you're in trouble until it's too late). In your version, you're using it to describe desensitisation. While it does make sense, it might be more empowering to view the "messy laps" as satellite orbits. A satellite starts wide to see the whole earth (the big picture), then uses "burns" to lower its altitude until it's exactly where it needs to land. It makes the "messy" part feel like a necessary reconnaissance mission rather than a slow boil.

My other point focuses more on the "recharge" trap. You mentioned taking a break to process and recharge between laps. For many of us, the "recharge" is where the spiral can break. If the "lap" was too nasty or messy, the fear of starting the next (tighter) lap can cause us to fly off into a different spiral entirely. I'd really love to know, how do you ensure you actually return for the second, smaller lap?

On a final note, I am convinced, as an AuDHDer myself, that the person who invented the wheel had ADHD, but they probably only finished it because they got bored with carrying things and "spiralled" through twenty other ideas first, haha.

This is a great piece of neurospicy wisdom. Thank you for sharing it while it was still fresh in your mind 💚

[i8myego]

@MatchaToad once again your framing is absolutely brilliant. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

As soon as I posted it I wanted to go in and edit that frog story out (I went on a little side quest there) but the platform was very buggy this morning and I couldn't get back in straight away and it was a good opportunity to practice regulating myself so I let it go. I appreciate you confirming my instincts. 

I agree with your second point and will ponder on that thought. Straight of the bat though, I'm thinking that your framing makes it seem like it is a separate process (i.e. re-starting) and in my mind it is one continuous process. The push (i.e. the motivator), is the move, is the pause, is the move, is the pause. But I can see how that might not be practical for the wider community.

[MatchaToad]

@i8myego 

I’m so glad the satellite framing resonated! Also, huge props for the "self-regulation win" regarding the buggy platform. Letting a post stand with a metaphor you wanted to tweak is a genuine feat of discipline when your brain is screaming for it to be "just right." 💚

That distinction you made, that the pause is part of the move, is actually a game-changer.

It reminds me of how a professional athlete or a musician works: the "rest" between notes or the "recovery" between sprints isn't a separate event; it’s exactly what makes the next movement possible.

If we look at it as one long, winding thread rather than "Starting -> Stopping -> Restarting," it takes so much of the shame out of the "processing" phase.

To your point about it being "practical for the wider community", it actually might be the most practical advice there is. Most ADHD advice tells us how to start. Your insight tells us how to stay in motion even when we aren't "doing" anything. I’ll definitely be pondering this; it makes the "nasty, messy laps" feel much less like a failure and much more like the necessary "inhale" before the "exhale." 💚

[i8myego]

@MatchaToad 

Firstly, hahaha, absolutely the wheel inventor would have been distracted often and forget about the project for weeks. Then spend a day lugging stuff from one point to another. Around lunch time he would have had the thought "ahhh that's right, I was working on something last month that will sort this".

Secondly, the "vibe" concept you mentioned resonated with me. My mind jumped to also being able to identify micro changes in expression and speech patterns but upon rereading your words, I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps as an extension to being able to predict the outcome before the beginning we can also pivot quickly if things seem to be going pear shaped making it seem like we predicted the outcome all along. Or, maybe I'm just of on another side quest.

So, I dont think anymore pondering is going to change my answer. 

I'm sticking with my initial thought, that the spiralling into control process is a true spiral and not layered circles decending in size. And once the process starts one is either in a state of moving or pausing, or we have run out of credits and the game is over.

Moving moves the spiral along the horizontal plane and pausing moves the spiral along the vertical plane. Each person is going to have different shaped and sized spirals. We can have multiple spirals going at once some stuck in pause some moving and we aren't even aware of the fact.

I believe ADHD'ers can have working memory restrictions and naturally lower dopemine levels in ways that can have profound effects. Like anxiety and impulsivity. So maybe our challenge is that by putting pressure on ourselves we exacerbate the underlining conditions. Maybe we have extended pauses, maybe we have more spirals. Maybe we should just relax and focus on what we are interested in instead of what is important. Oh, that's right we don't get to make that decision haha.

So, ADHD'ers need to make the spiralling into control process interesting for themselves.

[Dimity]

@i8myego @MatchaToad yes I relate to circular thinking and what you called triangle logic... I've seen deep philosophical discussion of "semiotic triads" that may or may not be related.

Dunno if I have a dash of neurospiciness, it's been suggested by random acquaintances but no diagnosis.

[i8myego]

@MatchaToad it must have taken me 45 minutes to type my last response, I just saw this now. Yes, that sports analogy occurred to me as well.

[i8myego]

G'day @Dimity,

A quick search of semiotic triangle and while it doesn't quite fit this context. For my mind that triangle is the "fourth" dimension in that scenario. The three points of reference plus the entirety (the triangle).

However, it is very interesting and I can see how it could be the subject of deep discussion. Physics, in particular quantum physics, has an "observation" problem they can't solve. They can measure it, they allow for it but they can't explain it.

The first indicator my therapist had was the fact I would talk really fast when I was under stress.

Nice to meet you.

[MatchaToad]

@i8myego 

I love where you landed with this. Visualising the spiral in 3D, where moving is horizontal progress and pausing is vertical depth/processing, is a brilliant way to validate the "invisible" work our brains do during a timeout.

Your point about "running out of credits" is a very real, harsh reality. It's the burnout point where the spiral just collapses because the interest (the dopamine) has dried up.

Because non-linear thinkers are constantly mapping that "Triangle", we are hyper-aware of the relationship between things. In a conversation, that means we aren't just hearing the words (A and B); we are sensing the shifting energy between them (AB). It's why we pivot so fast; we see the "pear-shaped" outcome forming in the air before the other person has even finished their sentence.

"ADHD'ers need to make the spiralling into control process interesting for themselves." - That is the golden rule, isn't it? We can't force the spiral to tighten using "importance" as a wrench; we have to use curiosity as fuel. If it's not interesting, the spiral just drifts off into space.

Thank you for letting me "side-quest" with you on this thought 💚

[i8myego]

@MatchaToad thank you. This is the first time in my life I've opened the throttle on a conversation and had an articulate response. I'm a bit confused at the moment. And, I love it.