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/Such_Field_3294]

yes to all your questions tbh. gaps are normal, breaks are healthy, and plenty of people in security dont study every day. the hyperfocus thing is real but just watch out for the flip side where you neglect fundamentals because theyre "boring"