My therapist once told me I leave no stone unturned.
That line stuck with me. I think about it whenever I’m lying on a massage table, trying to relax, while my brain won’t shut up. What kind of tension do people carry the most? Does it show up the same way in everyone? What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever noticed here? Even when silence is expected, my curiosity shows up, and god, is it loud.
It happens in the smallest moments. I walk into a store and my brain starts spinning: who comes here every week? What keeps pulling them back? What’s going on in their world? I can’t help but scan for the patterns that everyone else walks right past.
This is my blessing and my curse.
Blessing, because I notice, I care, I learn. My curiosity makes me a sponge for details other people skip past. It helps me connect dots, imagine what someone else is feeling, and see the world in sharper color.
Curse, because ADHD means I do not have an off switch. Curiosity crashes into classrooms where teachers think I am challenging them instead of trying to understand. It spills into conversations where friends feel I am pulling away from the story, when really I am leaning closer.
Curiosity does not stay politely in its lane.
At some point I started to wonder if this hunger to know was just me, or if it was something wired into ADHD itself. Was curiosity a core part of the condition, or just another shiny distraction that pulled me away from what I was “supposed” to be doing?
So I went looking. Reading studies is my idea of fun, and what I found was fascinating.
First, the dopamine story. Researchers have shown that ADHD brains process rewards differently. Boring tasks feel almost impossible, while new and interesting things light us up. That alone explains a lot. We are not lazy, we are chasing oxygen.
Then there is a study that calls our curiosity a “zetetic style.” Zetetic is just a fancy word for curiosity that does not quit, even when it is inconvenient. It means our brains latch onto questions quickly, and once we start asking, it is hard to stop. That is me in a nutshell: once I start turning over stones, I keep going, even if everyone else has moved on.
In another study, scientists actually bred rats to have ADHD traits. Who even thinks of that, right? They gave rats ADHD, then watched what happened. They found that the ADHD rats explored more. They kept moving, kept sniffing around, kept checking every corner. That is what curiosity looks like in animals: the urge to keep finding out what is out there. Even rats, you guys. Even rats with ADHD cannot stop exploring.
Another study asked a different kind of question: not what goes wrong in ADHD, but what helps adults with ADHD do well. The answers included resilience, motivation, and… curiosity! That’s right. Curiosity is one of the traits that helps ADHD adults succeed: it keeps people interested in their work, engaged in their relationships, and open to building lives that fit them better.
So let's go back to my original question: is curiosity just another way for our ADHD to keep us distracted, or is it built-in with this ADHD brain of ours?
The research makes it pretty clear: we crave dopamine, and we like to get it through learning new things. We have this "zetetic" style of looking into things that keeps us asking a million questions.
Even ADHD rats (!) can't seem to stop exploring.
And when scientists looked at what helps ADHDers thrive, they found... curiosity.
It's safe to say that our tendency to fall into rabbit holes isn't a side effect, or yet another way to distract ourselves.
Our curiosity is part of our ADHD brains.
That's pretty damn neat.
I still leave no stone unturned. It does put me at risk sometimes. I might miss a meeting while the brain delights in wonder. I might annoy someone by asking too many questions. But that is who I am.
And it is not just me. If you have ADHD, this is probably you too. People say we do not listen, but the truth is we listen harder than most. We ask questions because we care. We imagine ourselves inside the story, and we want to know every detail.
So do not let anyone tell you that your curiosity is just distraction. It is not. It is how you care, how you learn, how you connect. It is your brain saying, “I want to know more.” That impulse to ask and explore is not a weakness. It is a strength.
I turn over every last stone, and if you do too, that is nothing to apologize for. It is proof that you care, that you are paying attention, that your ADHD brain is built to explore.
So the next time you tumble into another ADHD rabbit hole, do not call it wasted time. Call it what it is:
Thriving.
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I love a new word @Em Gat - and I'm now adding 'zetetic style' to my vocabulary! I really enjoyed your article - just subscribed!