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LATE BLOOMERS

DOPAMINERS: 20 ways ADHDers chase dopamine

27 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.031 - 12.459 Unknown

Are you really buying a car online on AutoTrader right now? Really? I can get super specific with dealer listings and see cars based on my budget. You can really have it delivered. Or pick it up. Mommy, look! I think your kid is walking up the slide. Really?

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12.519 - 15.205 Rox

AutoTrader. Buy your car online. Really.

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15.775 - 37.76 Unknown

WeatherTech is made right here in America, and it's perfect for an American-made summer. Because we cannonball into summer, hike all over it, slide down it, camp in it. It's one ice cream-covered, sandy, soaking wet mess of a season. Which is why WeatherTech floor liners and seat protectors are a must. We are road-tripping, beach-going, lake-jumping Americans, and that's just how we summer.

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38.24 - 44.247 Unknown

WeatherTech. Made in America for an American-made summer. Visit WeatherTech.com today.

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45.273 - 56.595 Rich

Hello Dopaminers, this week I have deep-dived Reddit to find the 20 most common ways that ADHD people find dopamine. I'm going to ask Rox which 20 she does and we'd love to know yours too.

57.697 - 62.026 Rox

Welcome to the Late Bloomers podcast, where we are getting our lives together.

63.528 - 64.851 Rich

Eventually...

65.017 - 78.313 Rox

Brought to you by our gorgeous sponsor, the wonderful Loop Earplugs. Oh my good God, I'm worried because I've seen you elbows deep in a Reddit hole for the last couple of days.

78.653 - 81.717 Rich

It's a good platform, isn't it? Like to research and stuff.

Chapter 2: What are the common ways ADHDers chase dopamine?

135.458 - 152.331 Rich

Do you need to take a call? Can I continue? Yeah. Right. Number one, new personality hobbies. So getting a new hobby and it becoming your entire personality.

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152.631 - 174.083 Rox

Would that count if I became obsessed with making resin, bought all of the gear, industrial grade, started an Etsy shop called House of Resin and just bought the domain name and decided to dedicate my life and your life to resin?

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174.417 - 188.83 Rich

That would be one, yeah. And do you know what? Stuff like that used to surprise me. It used to be a big thing. But that's just one example of many. Yeah. Isn't it? So like whatever you start getting into.

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188.85 - 190.891 Rox

Pottery painting phase, that was lovely.

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190.911 - 191.612 Rich

Yeah.

191.632 - 193.274 Rox

We used to go pottery painting every weekend.

193.334 - 196.717 Rich

Surprisingly expensive though, pottery painting, I would say.

196.877 - 198.558 Rox

Resin was also expensive.

198.578 - 199.279 Rich

Oh my God, resin.

Chapter 3: How do research spirals affect decision-making for ADHDers?

796.717 - 820.716 Rich

Something that comes to mind as well is your driving theory test. So you waited until the morning of your test before researching it and you achieved it. You passed it because you spent four hours reading the highway code. Okay, so seven out of seven. Number eight, productive procrastination.

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821.759 - 840.72 Rox

Yeah, I always do this. The only time you'll find me cleaning is when I'm avoiding another task. I kind of see it as... and you use this with me, say if somebody needs to empty the dishwasher and somebody needs to fold the laundry, you'll offer me up both knowing that I'll choose the dishwasher, the easier one.

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841.441 - 853.318 Rox

So I can seem to work when I'm avoiding other work. Yeah. Um, does it give me dopamine? Yeah, probably the avoidance of a horrible task would be. So that's another tick.

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853.636 - 879.255 Rich

I remember when we were first together before we knew about ADHD, you actually explained, described yourself as you always do things as long as it's not what you're meant to be doing. And I didn't really understand that until living with you. Number nine, fantasy self-planning. So this is, yeah, I guess, well, you go on.

879.421 - 889.333 Rox

The fact that I'm going to lose 20 pounds in four weeks and go to hot yoga five times a week.

889.773 - 891.796 Rich

For the next 10 years. Yeah.

892.256 - 907.875 Rox

Or run a marathon or swim the channel. It is like fantasizing. Is it like a fantasy version of you, like this perfect version of you that's like doing all this stuff and is organized and finally gets clean and.

907.94 - 925.226 Rich

Yeah, but I can see why there would be dopamine in that. It's like jumping into a fantasy of your own life. The only problem with it is obviously it comes with when you don't do any of this stuff. It's like maybe adds to a bit of shame and stuff later down the line.

Chapter 4: What role do little treats play in maintaining motivation?

1298.146 - 1322.724 Rox

And there was sort of a few people sort of looking around like, what? Because modern me... Has chilled out. But when I was younger, I was known for getting in screaming matches over politics, getting in bar fights if somebody was offensive to one of my friends or I heard something racist or homophobic. Like I would get in, I would get in fist fights.

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1323.285 - 1328.755 Rich

I've seen videos about this on the internet, actually, that there's a lot of dopamine in arguing. So...

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1329.089 - 1355.102 Rox

Yeah, it kind of, well, is it the dopamine? You just, oh, you feel like you're doing the right thing. It makes you alive. Obviously in today's context, I imagine a lot of people do that online. So if you kind of see injustice and then you get into arguments with people online and that's kind of bringing... it's kind of like a sick twisted dopamine. It engages because it enrages.

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1355.443 - 1365.178 Rox

I don't know if it feels good, but you certainly feel alive by kind of arguing your point, being right, getting into it with some idiot stranger.

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1365.419 - 1367.622 Rich

I would say that's, that is dopamine. Yeah.

1367.742 - 1373.792 Rox

I don't, I don't do that anymore. I'm just like, you hate me. Awesome. Move on, baby.

1373.812 - 1374.513 Rich

Yeah.

1374.974 - 1375.735 Rox

Anyway, that's a yes.

1376.457 - 1383.538 Rich

Okay, I think we know where this is going, don't we? Number 14, crushes and limerence.

Chapter 5: How do music obsessions influence ADHD behavior?

1492.963 - 1499.209 Rich

Yeah. Okay. Number 15, self-destructive stimulation.

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1500.387 - 1527.39 Rox

So not so much now. Like there's little moments when my self-destructive nature might peep out with overspending maybe, or like being really impulsive, like sack off work and go here. When I was in my twenties, early thirties, that was drink, drugs, risky behavior, sleeping on the street,

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1528.501 - 1537.251 Rox

After parties with strangers, I just, I put myself in some awful situations because yeah, you're led by the excitement.

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1537.371 - 1549.145 Rich

Well, pure dopamine probably. Of the risk. Yeah. Okay. Number 16, spirituality. You've gone through a few phases of this actually, haven't you?

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1550.587 - 1550.847 Rox

Yeah. Yeah.

1552.649 - 1556.917 Rich

Talk us through quickly. Give us a brief rundown of your spirituality journey.

1556.977 - 1584.495 Rox

I've never, I've never made the link between spirituality and chasing dopamine. So my world is just currently crashing around me. Yeah. Yeah. I can't sum up. a 20 year journey with different religions and spirituality and philosophical positions in the two minutes I've got. But let's just say I've been involved and I've taken it pretty far.

1585.176 - 1595.228 Rox

Whether that was Christianity, new age spirituality, like tarot cards and Christianity did hit pretty hard. I was like, oh my God.

1595.41 - 1598.254 Rich

I remember the tarot card era, actually.

Chapter 6: What is the impact of doom scrolling on ADHDers?

1835.651 - 1836.912 Rox

Okay. Um,

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1837.668 - 1841.437 Rich

Just in case there was any doubt that you do in fact have ADHD, babe.

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1844.285 - 1871.893 Rox

I don't think so. Okay. Starting new projects is a way to go. To get dopamine, I mean, I just feel like ironic sitting here in the late bloomers podcast studio that was started a year and a half ago. And then we've got the W bodily body doubling app that was started two and a half years ago. And then our ADHD love videos that was started four years ago, five years ago was the resin business.

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1871.873 - 1877.102 Rich

What a different path we could have been on if that had taken off.

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1877.222 - 1886.858 Rox

If we'd been like resin influencers, that was my dream. I really, really believed we were going to be like the next big thing in resin.

1886.958 - 1889.342 Rich

You would have got bored of it so quickly.

1889.677 - 1915.085 Rox

Yeah, but then I would have just started the soap maker. That's the thing. And by the way, this is such a toxic trait of ADHD that nobody ever talks about. One of our favorite ways to avoid the actual work of a new project is to start a new project. And by the way, it only works temporarily. So like in the planning of it, the imagining, the fantasy, you feel great. You're avoiding the real work.

1915.186 - 1943.066 Rox

You're living in full fantasy land. Incredible. But then that becomes real work. And then you've just got two things. Like, can we just for a second, like, I love my life. I love you. I love the work we do. It's so good. But can we just take a second to look at what I have done? Music career. Songwriting career. Online ADHD educator. App developer.

1943.647 - 1944.448 Rich

Or books written.

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