Do big cities freak you out? | ADHD Information
Hey Basketweaver,
Yeah, me2. And my pocketbook...
(that's meant in a good way, but it was funny!)
so glad to hear you escaped the worst of it.
all those people that suffered losses from katrina and rita have been in my heart and thoughts.
Hi all, missed talking to you guys. I'm in the "Rita" hurricane aftermath area, my little rural area just got electricity 3 days ago!!!!!!! Talk about withdrawals, no computer for 2 weeks is almost as bad as not having cigarettes! FYI, we made it through fine, we under a mandatory evacuation, but we didnt' want to leave our horses, I was so worried about the baby colts.........had some trees down in the yard, missed the house, the horses, etc. Just outside damage. Anyway.
BIG CITIES ARE THE WORST! I live 45 minutes from Houston, in a rural area, small town, 2 lane roads and an occasional redlight. I have to go to Sugarland and take my kids to meet their grandparents for visits once a month or so, and I get very anxious and nervous the day before just knowing I have to go. Yes, white knuckles is right. My hearts pumpin', I can't even have the radio on because there is so much traffic and exits and trying to be in the right lane at the right time when an exit comes up, not knowing exactly when they are coming up (not remembering) is the worst, I am horrible with directions, especially in the city. So much that I have to be aware of, a radio just makes it worse. My kids think its funny because I told my daugher that I felt like if I got lost, I'd be lost forever!
My sister, who I don't have a relationship with anymore, used to get very nasty and mean with me when I paniced about driving in the city. She told me I acted "helpless and I needed to "buck up" and be a stronger person and just handle it". I think I do "handle it" since I DO DRIVE in the city when I have to. But just because I don't like it doesn't mean anyone has the right to look down on me about it. That bothers me about my ADD, people seem to not respect me or take me seriously much of the time because of my "airheaded" ways. I am smart and intelligent, does forgetfulness and distraction have to add up to a person being half way stupid???
Houston sucks, I know that. Glad to hear I'm not the only one that hates city driving. No matter how many times I go there, I always feel "lost".
hee hee... little rock is as country as i can get-- i've been to some other rurals areas as well, but still consider little rock pretty country, even if its a capitol ;)
[QUOTE=Countrygirl]CCrazy - cities are filled with way too much stimuli! I agree makes things worse
Seeker - Love the cat analogy! I think I relate to animals better than to people! I can be catty too. (Just rub my head and my back starts to rise)
happycat - Little Rock is the capitol of Arkansas. Doesn't qualify for country, but I didn't like it there either.
Davie - Sorry about that awful experience in Houston! Guess you didn't go water rafting that trip?
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Sounds like we have a bit in common. Big cities suck.
Glad you survived Rita. Big storms freak me out too.
Naw, it was nibbling on my nipples...
I fed it me.
I love the country. [QUOTE=Davidornado][QUOTE=Countrygirl]WOW - David, LA's a long way from Russia! [/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Davidornonaclov]WOW - Cg, Dallas is a long way from the United States! [/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]Davie - I took the boat
CCrazy - cities are filled with way too much stimuli! I agree makes things worse
Seeker - Love the cat analogy! I think I relate to animals better than to people! I can be catty too. (Just rub my head and my back starts to rise)
happycat - Little Rock is the capitol of Arkansas. Doesn't qualify for country, but I didn't like it there either.
Davie - Sorry about that awful experience in Houston! Guess you didn't go water rafting that trip?
Hey CCrazy,
My bro-in-law lives south of New Braunfels.
I got pulled off a plane connecting in Houston and stuck in a hospital for e-surgery for 3 days in Houston. Northeast Medical Center. I had to wait for a hot bunk, so they left me in the ER for 20 hours.
That episode didn't leave a good taste in my life a/b big cities. But you could at least not see the air you breath there. You just feel it.
i'm ok in big cities mostly.
it's big stores and malls and vegas type environments that get to me the most.
all the flashes of light, reflective surfaces, movement, are nightmarish to me.
ever see a cat get freaked out in a new place with lots of activity around? wildly swinging it's head around to identify every new stimulus, startled by every sound or movement it can detect, fight-or-flight response in high gear?
that's what i feel like when out shopping. that's probably partly why i liked to be sedated with ganja for so long. it's sort of like pulling the shades down, reducing stimulation by narrowing your brain's focus.
it is always more intense when i'm inside somewhere. i fare much better out of doors.
lol-- david et al, you keep describing big cities with poor public transportation--that's the problem, not the city :) Try a place like Boston and you might end up loving the city---I get lost everywhere, so I try not to drive--and I hate trafic (unless I'm running into it trying to dodge cars) so the train's the best solution :-)
I don't think I could live in the country--I've tried Little Rock, and though I loved the people, there's not much to do.
I live in Houston...but I am from Austin...I think Houston makes my ADHD worse...or my anxiety ...whatever it is it is real....big cities are terrible for us...I hate it here...[QUOTE=Countrygirl]WOW - David, LA's a long way from Russia! [/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Davidornonaclov]WOW - Cg, Dallas is a long way from the United States! [/QUOTE]
Hey, chekcov that outski! My signaturenko came out bleuski...I've seen real crocodiles, once. Besides the ones in a zoo. These were in a river in Costa Rica.In Belize I got bit by the cousin to the pyranna. Maybe that's where I got ADHD...
Did you feed it a hampster?
Like that shark movie. I still can't say alligators... ...cuz they haven't made an alligator movie yet...
Did you ever watch Lake Placid? No, was that a movie about an alligator? No, it was about giant crocodiles that ate cows. Close enough? Oooooooewe, that's scarry!!!
Imagine a world with no more milk!!!
Really! It freaked me out! [QUOTE=Countrygirl]Guess in New Braunfels they just go tubing down the river in intertubes not rafting.
Rafting are those big rubber boats.
Went canoeing once 27 miles down the Colorado River in white water rapids. It was FUN! Spun circles down the Medina River in a Kayak never did get the hang of that But, for some reason, won't get in the lake. afraid of alligators.
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TAke some hampsters with you, wrap them in hotdog buns, squirt a little yellow stuff on 'em, and they make good shark bait. I mean alligator distractions.
[QUOTE=Auntie]
[QUOTE=Brookelea]i watched a movie about a small town in america.. i think the name was 'the lottery'..
it really freaked me out!!
each year they would have a lottery and stone the ppl whose number was called..
i now have this irrational impression of small american towns..
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I remember that movie. That was a sick movie, but
Brookelea....it is was fiction. There may be sick people within a town
but not the whole town. 
Anyway, maybe back in the 50's some people didn't have indoor plumbing but I'd say most people do.
I'm not an ADD'er so shouldn't really be posting on this topic but I wouldn't change my ranch life for anything as a kid. That freedom to "run" is like no freedom I felt since. Having said that, in my adult life I have lived in medium size cities to large and now going to my sister's home (a tiny, tiny town of 2,000) I freak out because it is too quiet. LOL
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auntie, the movie left such an impression on my dh and i that we are actually phobic of small towns now !!!!
Guess in New Braunfels they just go tubing down the river in intertubes not rafting.
Rafting are those big rubber boats.
Went canoeing once 27 miles down the Colorado River in white water rapids. It was FUN! Spun circles down the Medina River in a Kayak never did get the hang of that But, for some reason, won't get in the lake. afraid of alligators.
Dallas a big city? It actually seems pretty quaint to me now. :-)
I guess it is all realative.
I grew up in Los Angeles, and now live right outside New York. But I lived in Anniston Alabama for 4 years, Millilani Hawaii for 4 years, and Jefferson City Missouri for 13 years.
The quality of life in rural areas is vastly superior to urban areas, ADD or not.
I do think that my ADD (I am inattentive) caused more problems for me after I moved to the New York area. Maybe if I had the "H" in the ADHD it would be better in the city.
I love the mountains.
What rafting? Maybe I'll go back...
[QUOTE=seeker63]that's what i feel like when out shopping. that's probably partly why i liked to be sedated with ganja for so long. it's sort of like pulling the shades down, reducing stimulation by narrowing your brain's focus.[/QUOTE]
Don't do LSD, then. It' like expanding stimulation by recycling your brain's focus.
I got stuck in Las Vegas for a few hours once connecting through to Fresno, and was forced to listen/watch to one million slot machines begging for your attention. *ack!
Had drive my dad to Dallas to pick up mom from the hospital. Man, white knuckled, stomach hurt, headache. STRESS, STRESS, STRESS. Hate hiways. Hate driving.
Too much noise, fast cars, lights - how can anyone concentrate to drive? Too much outside stimulation. But, I DID IT! and got my parents back home safely. I did get lost coming out of the parking lot. Dad said they waited 30 minutes at the door. I did make a couple of wrong turns, but seemed like 5 minutes not 30
Somehow though, I feel very proud of myself.
Do not want to return there anytime soon, if ever
Happy out here on the lil ol ranch.
Big cities freak you out?
no....
but outside toilets do..
i like the idea of living in the country but part of me fears the nasty creatures that come out at night... actually they come out in the city.. so its a pretty weak excuse..
having said all of this, i could live in the country, as long as the toilet was inside the house..
Actually, my toliet is inside the house. And all those criiters that come out at night freak me out too. Although, I love animals (kind of collect them) I have a phobia of mice and rats. Not a great phobia for farm life. When I think about it though, the country isn't quiet, but it is familiar noise. I like tree frogs. what part of the country do you live in???
Countrygirl - I totally relate!
I am a small-town boy - was born in a large suburb in southern British Columbia but only remember living in small towns after that. Lived 5 years on a farm in preteen years too. And we only had outhouse there LOL. We had running water - according to mom. She said "you want running water? run down to the crik and get it!".
Even as an adult I choose small towns. Here where I am now is 10,000 people and just the right size. I lived in Penticton - at 50,000 people I felt stressed all the time. I left finally when I found hypodermic needles on my route to work one day. I decided then that small was best for me.
I get very tense and hyper when I visit large towns too. I go in only when I have to - get what I need and run away!
I like a place I can walk across the street and not be ready to avoid a crazy driver.
I don't like unfamiliar large cities. Once I am used to the route and the area so I can navigate, I am not to bad, although I still get nervous. Even the familiar routes during rush hour freak me out.
I ran someone off the road in San Antonio once, just trying to figure out where my exit was. There were cars merging from both sides and it freaked me out. We both stopped and he and his car was fine. He told me I should go back to the country and I told him I would love to! Then I went home and told my hubby the kids and I were moving back home to NY.
I am a small town girl who does not make a good transplant. My roots are small town and farm life. I don't like farming but I love the space. I had room to run and be noisy and crazy as a kid. I don't know how a city kid, even a normal one can stand not being able to run.
BTW Brook, most places in the US do have indoor bathrooms now. You could come here and move out into a rural area and still have utilities and indoor plumbing!
i watched a movie about a small town in america.. i think the name was 'the lottery'..it really freaked me out!!
each year they would have a lottery and stone the ppl whose number was called..
i now have this irrational impression of small american towns..
[QUOTE=Brookelea]i watched a movie about a small town in america.. i think the name was 'the lottery'..
it really freaked me out!!
each year they would have a lottery and stone the ppl whose number was called..
i now have this irrational impression of small american towns..
[/QUOTE]
I remember that movie. That was a sick movie, but Brookelea....it is was fiction. There may be sick people within a town but not the whole town. Anyway, maybe back in the 50's some people didn't have indoor plumbing but I'd say most people do.
I'm not an ADD'er so shouldn't really be posting on this topic but I wouldn't change my ranch life for anything as a kid. That freedom to "run" is like no freedom I felt since. Having said that, in my adult life I have lived in medium size cities to large and now going to my sister's home (a tiny, tiny town of 2,000) I freak out because it is too quiet. LOL
Auntie38632.7866203704 [QUOTE=Brookelea]what part of the country do you live in???
[/QUOTE]
I live outside of a tiny Texas town with the population 2000. Only an hour from Dallas though. Live on a peninsula at the Lake. Have goats, sheep, cows, geese, turkeys, chickens, donkeys, a horse and llamas besides the dogs, cats, fish, birds & my newly purchased guinea pigs.
Would love to visit Austraila someday. My guinea pigs look like little wombats!
I had to drive through LA last Friday evening (did ya see the picture?), and it was a joke. They gotta 12 lane freeway, and it was stop and go, averaging 10 mph. It took me 2 hours to do what I coulda done in 15 minutes. I was sooooo brutally frustrated, I couldn't get a buzz later. I did take 114 photographs while driving, though. I'm calling them my freeway series.
Well, to get on with your question, no, I don't really hate big cities. For the most part I hate big city people. The shorter ones I really don't mind. ha. I got locked out of my car once in LA, and no one would help.
Another time in the City I missed my bus by from one terminal to the other, and they wouldn't let me on the plane. They were so jerky about it. So I cashed in my ticket, rented a car, and made it home in 2 hours, doing 90 mph on 280, and 120 thereafter. I'm probably the one that gave ya white knuckles, Cg...
And they're soooo dirty. I can't believe people breathe that air. No wonder their ADD...
acts up all the time.
(That way I didn't have to go back and re-spell they're)
[QUOTE=GlenW]Countrygirl - I totally relate!
I am a small-town boy - was born in a large suburb in southern British Columbia but only remember living in small towns after that. Lived 5 years on a farm in preteen years too. And we only had outhouse there LOL. We had running water - according to mom. She said "you want running water? run down to the crik and get it!".
Even as an adult I choose small towns. Here where I am now is 10,000 people and just the right size. I lived in Penticton - at 50,000 people I felt stressed all the time. I left finally when I found hypodermic needles on my route to work one day. I decided then that small was best for me.
I get very tense and hyper when I visit large towns too. I go in only when I have to - get what I need and run away!
I like a place I can walk across the street and not be ready to avoid a crazy driver.
10,000 people is a small town? Compared to Dallas, O.K.
Before moving to Texas - I grew up in the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas -
loved to go exploring caves in those hills. Nothing scared me as
a kid! (except for heights, water and mice)