People with Little to No Concentration, What Do You Do for Fun?

Just trying to accept tinnitus. I will probably end up with terrible concentration much of the time. My previous hobbies we're around reading: books, web forums, and a bit of TV and music.

What things can one enjoy with little to no concentration, and that doesn't cost much?

 

Get a coloring book, easy to ignore your tinnitus when you fill in the colors.

 

I don't know how severe your tinnitus is, but I had the same impression for the first year after onset that there's now way I will ever concentrate. Well, it still requires a lot more effort to concentrate, but I do read book, read internet forums, play chess in web and live with my father, play cards, I work in the office. You wrote music was your hobby, can't you concentrate with music on? I do all of the above but never in silence, I either play radio/music, rain sounds or wear in-ear maskers. Honestly when I read or play games are the best moments for me since I concentrate on other things than T and it's a mental relief. Try it! Coming back to old hobbies is the best way to recovery from the torment of T.

 

I refused to give up reading so I just force myself to do it.

Concentration is a muscle, and it can be regained or retrained in spite of loud, constant noise. At least, that's my experience.

The more I resign myself to not having a normal life, the more quickly my life slips through my grasp. The more that I stoically force myself to lead a life which externally appears to be 'unchanged', the more fulfillment I find.

Sometimes when I read books now, even in silent rooms, paragraphs, pages and chapters sometimes slip by without a thought of tinnitus. In the first few years, I was thinking about tinnitus three times per sentence at least. Sometimes it's still like that, but, you know what? I can still read, I can still work, I can still spend time with my family. I can still play video games, I can still ski, etc. I have some dead friends who can't say that anymore, and I do not envy them their silence.

As long as I'm here, I'm holding on to the things I cherish.

 

Linearb/Mentos, in my case i'm taking other meds(bipolar disorder), so i don't think i can improve my concentration much. i've tried before tinnitus. didn't work. my concentration wasn't good,my brain was tired, and easily distracted by noise(probably with hyperacusis).

And can i read ? yes, maybe with the right white/pink noise i don't focus on the T , but i'm not concentrating in the book, living in it's world, which is the all fun about reading - i'm just exerting mental effort, more like reading a boring textbook. So what's the point ?

 

The point is to retrain your brain to adapt to your changed life circumstances, so that in time reading WILL be fun again. "Fake it until you make it", basically.

The vast majority of books I've read & enjoyed over the last 20 years have almost all been since my tinnitus got bad. I'm sure I was distracted to some extent by my tinnitus while reading nearly all of them, but looking back, that's not what I mostly remember, I just remember the plots and characters and settings.

When my tinnitus is really driving me nuts, my default thing to do is play Magic Online, but while I find it fun and highly distracting, building a competitive deck is around $500-1000USD, making it one of the more expensive video games that one can pursue, so I can't really recommend that from a budget-minded perspective.

 

Well, it's a matter of choice and motivation. I know a girl that have T for 3 years already and she refuses to live normal life without silence. So she usually gets up from bed only to wash and eat. Rest of a time she spends in bed sleeping on benzos. That's certaintly kind of an option to live your life. On the other end there are people that try to live "normal" life with T and do all the things they were doing prior to T, even if it's not as fun and nice as it used to be. My decision is do the things I did before: with pink noise, rainsounds or radio on I read, play chess and other games etc. It definitely is not as nice as it used to be, I cannot be lost in a book as I used to be, etc. We all know that life with T is not the same with T but it's our choice whether to give up on intellectual activites because of that or not.

 

You are in the early stages of tinnitus. You haven't mentioned what caused it although exposure to loud noise is the most common. Have you been referred to ENT for tests or seen a Hearing Therapist or Audiologist? Please click on the links below and read my articles on tinnitus that you might find helpful. Try to read them in full and not skim through them. Take your time.

All the best
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-and-the-negative-mindset.23705/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-and-mental-health.21978/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/is-positivity-important.23150/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/acquiring-a-positive-mindset.23969/

 

That's also my experience. In the beginning it was very hard to concentrate, even watching a movie would irritate me. In time I was reading articles, then books. I think I stopped 3 times to cry when I was reading my first book after T.

It will come back. Just be patient with yourself and keep trying.