Motivational and inspirational writer, Bryan Hutchinson is the author of several books about life with ADHD including the highly acclaimed, best selling "One Boy′s Struggle: A Memoir" and the author of the hilarious eBook that went viral "10 Things I Hate about ADHD"

How to Jailbreak ADHD Brain Lock

Has your brain ever locked up?

You don’t have to admit it out loud. It’s okay.

You can be secretive about it. Unless you’re at the checkout line, you forgot something and have no clue what it was. In that case you’re just standing there looking weird.

Dumbstruck.

Yeah, you’ve been there. At some point. Somewhere. Right? Me, too.

Dumbstruck is a good word. It fits. I don’t like it. But it fits.

You know the moment your brain has locked not because you realize it instantly. No. That would be too good to be true. You come to realize it because someone nearby asks if you are okay or if you need an ambulance.

I am stuck like glue

My PC is dying and I absolutely must replace it. That’s what this is about. That’s why my brain has locked up like Fort Knox!

Seriously, it’s going, but it is a prolonged death. Something breaks in my PC every other day and I keep replacing parts, unable to jailbreak my brain to simply transfer everything into a new PC – the files, the settings, the programs… oh my! Too much!

Even my power supply blew a couple weeks ago. There was a loud CRACK – then, smoke. It was horrifying.

When it blew, Joan was ready to call a doctor because I sat in my chair seemingly forever staring at my blacked-out monitor, frozen, unable to fathom what had just happened. Thank God it didn’t catch the house on fire. I would have gone up in smoke as well.

That’s the power of brain lock!

I hate that.

I have a new PC. It’s ready. It’s willing.

But I can’t move a muscle to plug it in and get to work transferring files and installing programs. Just the thought sends me into mental fits.

My old PC is begging me to set her down and my new PC is giving me that odd, freakish look of “Are you going to do this, or not?”

You know the look, the same one the cashier gave you at the checkout line. In one way or another ADHD brain lock gets us all at some point. It can be minor or it can be serious, but hopefully it doesn’t happen when you are crossing a busy street.

So how to jailbreak an ADHD brain

For the situation I am currently in, I have a couple of ideas involving the use of a phone:

1) Call a friend who enjoys working on computers. Ask if he or she would come over and help. Have some pizza and soda ready so that you have something to bribe with, er, I mean, share.

2) Call a computer service repair person. You should still have the food and drinks ready, pretty much the same scenerio, except you’ll need money to pay the repair person, too.

Or, if you’re like me, you might wait until your PC actually does die, all files are lost and you’ve spent a week in ICU due to shell-shock. At long last, you’re forced to take action too late and you will live with the deep shame and regret forever and ever.

It’s. What. We. Do.

No magic potion

There’s no spear of destiny, no Joan of Arc , there’s no Hogwarts or mistletoe to save me. Mistletoe?

Only a phone. So simple. So priceless. Where is it?

I’m going to make that phone call, now. Well, sometime today or tomorrow. Yeah. Tomorrow. Latest. I promise.

Maybe I’ll find my cell by then, if I remember to look for it.

Hey! Is that my keyboard burning?

What about you?

Have you been a victim of ADHD brain lock? What did you do about it?

Bryan

*Jailbreak: In my current condition it’s the best word I could think of!