Friends of Quinn

 "If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured, or far away."    -Henry David Thoreau
    
     Love the quote I posted above, it always felt like Thoreau was talking about me. Not only did I figuratively march to the beat of a different drummer, I literally drummed all of the time. When I was little I pulled out every pot, pan, lid and spoon I could. My mom left one lower cabinet filled with just such objects. I loved listening to rhythms and drumming them back. I tapped on glasses, drummed on the table and any other surface I could find.

     When I went to elementary school and hit 4th grade (when we could take lessons and join the band)  I knew I wanted to learn the drum. By that time I was struggling with the typical daily school work. My reading was terrible, my writing was awful and a day felt like an eternity, except for the day I had lessons. I loved the thirty minutes I spent drumming and learning. Miss Orwig was our band teacher and she was great, but tough too. I found something that I could do without a lot of effort.
   
  I was finally GOOD at something and maybe even better than some of the others, it came easily. It was the first school/learning thing where that happened. It felt good and I found hitting that drum helped me release some of my frustrations that were bottled up inside.  As I progressed in my skill, my parents bought me a drum set and off I went playing every day after school. I’d listen to music and drum along and clear my head of all the frustrations of the day. I was much more able to deal with the homework I had after a good go at the drums. I also listened to lots of music to de-stress or to fuel my ideas. That’s why its so great that there are so many different kinds, something always suits my mood.

     Now when people think of drums they think of noise. When I think of noise, I panic. Noisy rooms kill me when it comes to concentrating. When I was in school I had to have a totally quiet room to take my tests in. Today if I’m coding a really involved web page I also need it to be 100% quite. I also can’t have lots of movement and people around when I’m working, it is instantly distracting. I get too involved with the movement and it disrupts my flow. If I’m working on the creative part of a web page, then I like to listen to music, it gives me inspiration.

That may seem confusing, but that is what a LD brain is like.  Depending on the situation I am faced with, my brain has different ways to cope.

     Recorded books were a wonderful way for me to handle both novels, that had to be read for school, and textbooks as well. Listening while reading along was so helpful. Be sure to check with your school or college about the availability of your textbooks in recorded versions.

     So today I live in an apartment in New York City where I don’t think they would appreciate if I was drumming away on a drum set. Like so many other things, I adapted, I can drum away on pillows or the floor or just good old air drumming when I feel the need. I would recommend that the best way to find out what works to help you cope is to give things a try. Look for things that you really enjoy. Figure out ways you can incorporate them into your day. Know your triggers, the things that frustrate you or distract you. It may seem like what you need to do is strange, or maybe has no link to whatever your trying to accomplish, but if it helps you concentrate or focus and its not bugging anyone else go for it!