Chronos vs Kairos: Why I think the Ancient Greeks understanding of time can help an ADHD Brain.

 “Chronos time will eat us alive if we do not constantly keep track of it and try to control it.”

Environment is a huge factor with our brains. It’s a given that ADHD brains need more recovery. We are working so much harder to process what can look like simple, everyday tasks, and that daily drain can be real.

When I first read about the Ancient Greek mythology around timing, it hit me hard. Only now am I realising why.

Let me first explain the difference between the two in simple terms, and then I’ll put them into an ADHD world. Jaw dropping.

Chronos is quantitative time. Hours, minutes and seconds.

Let’s face it, we can’t get away from this. Meetings, appointments, school runs. It’s like every single second of the day needs to be accounted for.

If you’re reading this and feel sick already, keep reading.

Kairos is different.

Kairos is qualitative time. It’s about the moment. The meaning of the time rather than how much of it has passed.

Ever been in your flow state? Completely absorbed in something, looked at the clock and thought, “Is it really that time already?”

That’s Kairos.

It could be your creative project, a holiday, time with your family. You’re not clock watching. You’re just completely in the moment.

And this is where I think it gets really interesting for ADHD.

Our brains are constantly being forced into Chronos time. The disruption is all day long.

Meeting. Work. Appointment. Email. Someone needs something. Back to work. Another interruption.

Our brains don’t like this. We know we can’t create properly in this place.

To produce our best work, the work we know we have the ability to create, we often need that state of flow.

The place where time stands still. Where nothing else exists.

Kairos.

And what’s worse is that if we can’t have that uninterrupted chunk of time, sometimes our brains just won’t work at all.

Because we’re not built for half-arsed effort.

My theory is that maybe using this Ancient Greek concept of time can help us understand something really important.

That “popping a meeting in the middle of the day” might not just be an hour out of our day.

It could be the reason we can’t produce for the rest of it.

And maybe we need to start thinking about our time differently.

Not just how much time do I have?

But what kind of time do I have?

Because Chronos might tell us we have four hours to work.

Kairos might tell us whether those four hours are actually usable.