Since I was a little kid, creativity was driven by the small sparks of “otherworldly moments” I was experiencing often. It was a half-second of strange, wonderful feelings that seemed beyond this world. Only as an adult have I learned that some of the other people experienced them too. I wanted to share them with other people, to put them into images and words, no matter how imperfectly. I wanted to breathe life into them, to bring them inside this world. To this day, the highest compliment anyone can pay me on my art is that it made them feel.
Most AuDHD people are creative in some way. It may be one of the defining features of the neurotype that doesn’t get mentioned very often. Our colorful brains burst with the imagination to share with the world.
One of the typical manifestations of AuDHD creativity is that when we have inspiration, we have a lot of it. We have a billion creative ideas at once and struggle to express everything that is going on inside our heads.
Another typical AuDHD thing is creative burnout. Our creativity comes in waves. When we are riding the creative wave, we work on multiple projects at once or hyperfocus on one of them. But we may overdo it, which is usually followed by a period of artistic burnout when we have no inspiration at all.
One of our most common problems is that when what we create isn’t perfect immediately, we tend to lose interest. We often don’t have the patience to master an art technique.
Masking also heavily influences our creativity. A lot of people know that when they are masking a lot, their creativity suffers for it. I have also experienced this.
Our ADHD needs stimulation, but, surprisingly, we are often most creative when we are bored. In this case, the stimulation comes from within, and we transform it into art.
Creativity is often our escape from everyday life. It’s a place where we set the rules. It’s a familiar sanctuary, a world we can retreat into. It’s a way to create order in chaos. We use our creativity to express feelings that are hard to express otherwise, we use it to process sensory input, emotions, and podněty.
We feel emotions hard, but often struggle to express them. Creativity gives us the how. It’s a way of talking without the words. Painting gives the colors a voice. Writing gives thoughts a shape. I often don’t know what I’m thinking before I sit to write it down.
It’s a way to express both joy and pain, making it beautiful. To share with the world what would otherwise go unshared. A way to bring our inner world into the outside world. A way to say “this is me”. Creativity is a space where we can be unapologetically, wholly ourselves.
It’s no wonder that creativity can be a way to unmask. It’s a way to return to our true self.
Creativity is an act of unmasking. It allows us to share our unfiltered self with the world. It allows us to be imperfect. It’s a way for us to connect with our bodies, our emotions, our truth. It’s a way home.
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Helen Olivier is a neurodivergent writer, AuDHD explorer, and professional overthinker with 40+ years of lived experience in the wonderfully weird world of ADHD + autism. She writes for people who’ve been told they’re “too much” or “not enough,” offering comfort, clarity, and the occasional executive dysfunction survival hack. Her blog is her way of turning daily chaos into useful insights for other neurodivergent folks.
