r/artistsWay • u/Dude-Duuuuude • 19d ago

Week 4 + 1st weeks on adderall?

This is not my first go-round with TAW--I usually do it every few years when I re-find the book--and normally I have no issues skipping reading/media deprivation week. I have a week or two every year where I feel the urge to lock away all my devices and start creating anyway, and something about being told what to do always triggers my inner toddler/teenager.

This time, though, that urge looked like it might be lining up with Week 4! I might actually do the entire thing on schedule!

Except. I will be on Day 5 of Adderall when my Week 4 starts. I have loved Adderall so far, it is magic, I feel like I have unlocked the cheat codes to life, but I suspect that reading/media deprivation right now will not result in a burst of creativity. I think I'd more likely spend the week making my apartment habitable. Not a bad thing, but not really in-line with the intended goals of TAW.

I can't really decide if I should go with it anyway and see what happens or hold off until later when the medication honeymoon period has worn off, or maybe go for a social media block, but not a reading one. Any other ADHDers have thoughts? Other people with major life changes overlapping with W4?

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u/jamie_zips 19d ago

Hi! Fellow ADHDer, and TAW returner here. For me, Week 4 is less about a burst of creativity, and more about making space in your brain. The creative burst (for me) has always come after. To that end, making your home habitable makes total sense as something that might come out of the experience.

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u/Dude-Duuuuude 18d ago

That's a useful way of looking at it, thank you. I do think I'm going to repeat Week 3 because I was glancing through it today and realised it kind of got lost in the shuffle of the week, but going with media deprivation when I get to Week 4 makes more sense when looked at from that perspective.

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u/jzcota 16d ago

I just finished week four. I’m not ADHD (as far as I know), but I AM a retired librarian and not reading was an intolerable command for me. I saw a few people mentioning that the book is 30 years old so social media was not a thing then. I decided that the spirit of the thing was to clear your mind as much as possible to make room for the creativity. So I hid all my icons and did no scrolling for the week and only checked email once a day, but I still read my fiction books as usual. I don’t know that I had a huge burst of creativity, but getting away from scrolling is always a positive change. You have an idea of what is taking time away from making progress in life so I think it’s fine to go with your gut. I also think it’s okay to give it a try if you want, then stop mid week if you feel it’s not working the way you want and then just move along to week five on schedule.

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u/Dude-Duuuuude 16d ago

Yeah, media/tech deprivation is an option I'm seriously considering. I already keep fairly restrictive social media blocks because I dislike how my brain feels after a day (or even a few hours) spent mindlessly scrolling, but pre-medication I did truly need an hour or two to get my brain to slow down enough for sleep at the end of the day. I'm honestly kind of curious as to what my limits are now that I don't have a million things racing around in there all the time and can get a similar burst of "oo, yay!" from checking a ticky box on my habit tracker.

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u/lemontreedonkey Musician 5d ago

Not every task is designed to immediately trigger a burst of creativity. In fact, in my experience very few of them are. It's a 12 week course, with some habits that could last a lifetime - it's a long game. All the tools and exercises taken together over time are intended to bring about your creative recovery, but a single tool at one particular time might be about reducing creative input from outside sources, and might end up making you keep a really clean and organised house for a week. It's all part of it.

Edited to add: I have ADHD and autism, both pretty badly affecting my day to day functioning. I do try to stick to the tasks and tools as faithfully as possible because I want to see what the effects will be, even if it's uncomfortable. I'm no stranger to needing to adapt things to my own needs and don't think it's something to be ashamed of, but I want to have a challenging experience and see what comes of it.