It started like most of my fixations do, suddenly and without warning. One day I’m just existing, the next I’ve mysteriously ended up in the garden section of one of those big home improvement stores, you know the ones with way too many ferns and zero judgment. Somehow, I left with leafy friends, pretty pots, and a watering can I absolutely did not need (but justified anyway).
I wasn’t planning to become a plant mom. But now I’ve rearranged furniture to make space for my green roommates, researched humidity levels, and started seriously debating whether I need a grow light.
(Spoiler: I bought it.)
My kids are already used to this. The other day, my 16-year-old daughter walked past the growing jungle in our living room, sighed, and said, “Mom… you don’t need any more plants.” She’s fully aware of my ADHD patterns at this point. She lived through the candle-making phase, the skincare obsession, the week I was convinced I needed to raise koi fish. Now, she just gives me the look, equal parts love, concern, and “here we go again.”
If you have ADHD, you already know this dance. One day it’s plants, another it’s crystals, maybe a week of deep diving into productivity apps or skincare routines. My brain grabs onto something, gets laser-focused, and builds an entire identity around it, until it doesn’t.
Here’s the twist: I used to feel bad about this.
I’d beat myself up for “wasting money” or “not sticking with things.” But I’ve learned something important, every hyperfixation teaches me something. The plant era reminded me to slow down. To care for something alive. To wake up and check the soil before I check my phone (okay, sometimes).
Even if I lose interest in a month, I’ll still have the joy it gave me at the moment. And maybe a couple surviving pothos to show for it. 😅
So if you’re out here in your frog-collecting, candle-making, language-learning era… embrace it. That’s not failure, that’s a neurodivergent brain finding beauty in motion.
Now excuse me while I try to remember if I watered my aloe yesterday… or if that was last week
💬 Let’s Chat
What’s your current hyperfixation? Drop it in the comments or tag me, I want to see your plant shelf, your sticker collection, or your perfectly color-coded Notion dashboard. 💚
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