Why Inspired ADHD?

I was watching Chef’s Table France on Netflix. It occurred to me that many of the chefs on the series were constantly renovating and innovating. I thought about this. Here within the confines of food, these chefs were always coming up with something new — some would not have set menus, and based on what was in season and fresh from the market, create a menu for the day. Incredible, I thought. I wondered about other successful people and concluded that the ability to continually innovate, or reinvent yourself, was correlated with their ability to remain relevant.

I marvelled at one particular chef, Alexandre Couillon, who took over his family restaurant on a remote island off the French mainland. Couillon appeared to be able to come up with the most obscure ideas — one such idea that earned him his first Michelin Star. As I watched the episode, and learned about his life, it seemed to me that Couillon must have ADHD (there is nothing to say he did have ADHD though — just my speculation). Speculation is enough for this story.

Around this time, I was writing posts for my blogs and I wondered whether I would run out of ideas. Would I be able to keep coming up with new ideas? Would be able to remain relevant in 10 years? I reflected on this and thought, no, I would not run out of ideas. I am never short of ideas. It may not seem like it right now, I thought, but as long as I keep reading, talking to people, exploring the topic, I would be inspired, and the new ideas would come naturally. One silver lining of having ADHD is the capacity for divergent thinking and creativity.

I was both inspired by Couillon and understood that ADHD was a fountain of inspired ideas. InspiredADHD is about helping others with the difficulties of living with ADHD, but also about recognising and celebrating the unique contribution differently wired people make to the world.