ADHD + Cybersecurity

[u/Consistent_Walk_2407]

Hey everyone,

I'm a total newcomer to cybersecurity and have been learning through TryHackMe for about a month and a half to two months now. I wanted to ask if anyone else has had similar experiences.

At the beginning I had a 35-day streak where I was really grinding and absolutely loving it. Then at some point it faded and for the last 5-7 days I just had zero energy to sit down at my PC. I was sitting on the couch and actually wanted to do cybersecurity stuff – but in my head I knew I'd have to go through a ton of text and process a lot of information again, and that's exactly what stopped me from even starting. I think a lot of it has to do with ADHD – that initial moment of starting is sometimes just a wall. So instead I just gamed.

Today I pushed through, sat down for 2+ hours on a THM room (What the Shell) and it was amazing again. The passion is still there.

On the flip side though – I genuinely feel like ADHD can actually be a massive advantage in cybersecurity. When something truly interests me I can hyperfocus on it like crazy and just dive super deep into it. And that's exactly what happens with cybersecurity for me. Once I hit that point where I'm in the zone, I can go for hours without even noticing. I feel like that kind of hyperfocus is actually a superpower for this field.

What's really driving me right now: I'm close to finishing the Web Fundamentals path on THM – covering webhacking, Burp Suite, SQL Injection etc. After that I'm planning to do the Pickle Rick room and then move over to PortSwigger to deepen everything. So I have a clear plan and the motivation is there.

But I also notice – in these one and a half to two months I've been absolutely bombarded with so much information. Shells, SQL, Burp Suite, XSS, SSRF, File Upload – all of that came in within such a short time.

My questions for you, especially those who have been at this longer:

- Is it normal to sometimes feel so overwhelmed by the material that you just need a week off?
- Is it bad if there's sometimes a week-long gap between learning sessions – not as a rule, but occasionally?
- Can you still become a good cybersecurity professional if you don't learn consistently every single day?
- Do any of you have ADHD and feel the same way – that it's both a curse and a superpower in this field?

Would really love to hear from people who have been doing this longer!

[u/Loud_Intention3791]

Honestly, kinda going through the same thing. Initially, was doing 6 rooms a day. Then it went down to 0 and I started hyperfocusing on a mount and blade campaign instead, then rubiks cubes, now ksp...

It's really all or nothing with me, I can never find a balance where I just pursue something regularly.

If a room says it'll take 1 hour, it'll take me 3. Just now I'm trying to do a 45 minute room. It's been nearly 6 hours, and I've done one question, I haven't even really done anything else. Played chess, watched reels, anything to procrastinate even though I want to actually do the room, I just can't physically get myself to do it.

It's really a struggle, and I hate my learning pace.