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Ask HN: High Focus Activities

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Ask HN: High Focus Activities

#1
As someone that deals with anxiety I have developed a dissociative disorder for which I have been in therapy for some months now.

My therapist recommended me to find an activity that requires all my focus to allow me to ground my mind and gain awareness. I am already doing meditation and mindfulness, this is more an activity like crochet or chess.

I would like the HN community if you have any ideas for such activities and if you have had similar experiences.

Re: Ask HN: High Focus Activities

#4
When I feel my anxiety gets too much space in my brain these are some things that work for me:

- Sim racing with my Moza setup - Trail running - Mountainbike riding on not too easy terrain

All these activities does the same thing, forces my brain to focus here and now and take time-critical micro-decisions.

Other activities that puts me in the same frame of mind would probably work too. For example climbing worked for me when I did that, and even working through a large set of pretty easy maths exercises worked while I was more focused on maths in my life.

In between the most focused parts of these activities I often gain deeper insights and feel grounded.

Good luck finding what works for you!

Re: Ask HN: High Focus Activities

#5
Olympic lifting is technical and precise. Great if you would like something more physically involved.

If you have a club near you, gliding is a relatively cheap hobby.

Otherwise sudoku or crosswords can be fun and low barrier to entry

Re: Ask HN: High Focus Activities

#6
I've found chess very good for this. I can easily play for 3-6 hours in one session while getting completely in flow / losing track of time.

My wife is not as much a fan of this...

Canadian chess grandmaster Eric Hansen used chess to help with his ADHD as a child.

Re: Ask HN: High Focus Activities

#7
I'm exploring different things for this as well. I've only tried this one a couple of times, but in the last few weeks when I found myself ruminating on something fueled by anxiety, playing Tetris seems to have helped. I thought of trying it after remembering that Tetris can supposedly be helpful after a traumatic incident to help prevent PTSD[0]. I don't have PTSD, but figured it might help for general bouts of anxiety a well.

I just played in my browser, but think it would be much much more satisfying with a physical console like Brick Game[1] (which I had when I was a kid).

(This was apparently a ripoff of Tetris, but I think I'd enjoy the sense of nostalgia.)

[0] - https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-03-28-tetris-used-prevent-pos...

[1] - https://harddrop.com/wiki/Brick_Game

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