If you ever want to literally hear the gears churning in my head, catch me on a day I’ve just had an amazing idea AND can plan it out and brainstorm it to my heart’s content!
With ADHD, this is actually a specialty of mine. I absolutely love that when I get an idea, sometimes it can hit me with such a force that I can pinpoint so many little details all at once. I’m also somehow able to zoom out and see the idea from a bird’s eye view — this helps me to know what needs to get done and how. It’s a beautiful thing I credit my ADHD with being able to do.
One such day happened back in September of 2021 when I was browsing a fantastic local thrift store— shoutout to Witch Bitch Thrift in Bridgeport, Connecticut! The store is queer-owned with lots of witchy flair and is definitely not your grandma’s thrift store! I absolutely love the vibe there, including their music, which that day just happened to include “The Time Warp” from Rocky Horror.
When I heard the first few notes of the song, it hit me that I hadn’t listened to the soundtrack in years.
I was in a roller-skating rut at the time and kind of uninterested in finding new music but also sick of the music I already knew. But as I sorted through various dresses hanging on the racks, I was already picturing myself dance-skating to the song.
It’s just a jump to the left
“Hey! I can jump to the left in roller skates!” I thought.
And then a step to the ri-i-i-i-ight
The idea was forming in my head already as I thought, “Hey! I can do that too in skates!”
Put your hands on your hips, and bring your knees in tight
Yup, yup, check! I could do all the things!
Then it’s the pelvic thrust that really drives them insa-yay-yaaaane, Let’s do the Time Warp again!
By the time the first chorus ended, the idea was starting to form. I knew I wanted to skate-dance to “The Time Warp,” I had some ideas for the moves I wanted to add in, how to do it on skates, and some things I’d definitely need to practice.
This shirt was one of the only things I bought for this project, and it’s totally worth it! I used this to play the Chorus/Transylvanians. See the Rose-Tinted Glasses? That was used during Wild & Untamed Thing 😉
Fun sidenote: The pelvic thrust really DID drive me bananas because it’s hard to do a thrust in skates without pushing yourself all around, I found out!
I went home that day with a couple of skirts and the beginning of a project idea that I was super excited about.
I put on the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack on the ride home and that may have been the point at which skate-dancing to just one song turned into recreating the whole show on roller skates.
Here’s where my ADHD All-or-Nothing mentality loves to shine — brainstorming ALL THE THINGS! I could absolutely see the whole thing in my mind, and I was totally ready to stage it in my living room on skates all by myself for my Instagram audience to see.
Luckily, Practical Emily stepped in and said, “You know, the song ‘Eddie’ is not fun. We skip it every time. We can’t do the whole show because I’d want to skip ‘Eddie’ but, ugh, it’s important to the exposition. How about pairing this idea down a bit.”
My outfit for Janet Weiss came right out of my closet
I listened to the soundtrack some more, mentally staging the numbers I knew I definitely wanted to dance to: “The Time Warp,” “Dammit Janet,” “Hot Patootie” and “Sweet Transvestite” were definitely not getting cut.
When I got home, I went to my closet and began looking for easy-to-put-together character outfits. I was already mentally invested in this idea.
For me, skating is a hobby that usually takes less than an hour. That’s how I like it. That’s about how much energy I have to skate plus edit a video if I want. On days I’m in pain from Adenomyosis, I don’t skate long, but enjoy editing and studying my technique. I’ve learned to keep it contained to an hour since I love it so much but it definitely tires me out and keeps me from other work.
That became part of the plan and I realized putting those rules in place for this project will help keep it scaled down to something doable.
Once I had this mental jumble of song, dance, and costume ideas in my head, I knew I needed to get everything out somehow to really put a plan together. I’m a tactile person and can’t function on mental notes, alone. The act of writing things out has always helped me process them.
This idea came weeks before Halloween so this was going to be a test for me to see if I could see a creative idea through from beginning to end.
I hadn’t done anything like it since I used to plan a series of my podcast. That seemed like ages ago, when I had more mental capacity, it seemed. Before Blippi lyrics made their home in a section of my brain I worry I may never get back. (I dunk on Blippi a lot, but that’s only because my son is so obsessed with him, the songs have become permantently ingrained in my brain.)
I knew what I needed first was a list of reasons I WANTED to do this. ADHD means I’m wired to be passion-driven, as opposed to outcome-driven. The idea of working toward finishing something for the sake of finishing it doesn’t appeal to me, especially when it comes to long-term projects.
Some scary makeup for Magenta
Being passion-driven, I’m more likely to work on something while I have all the energy and excitement for it, but once that starts to dissipate, especially if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, that passion can quickly change to resentment, regret, overwhelm, and anxiety. Procrastination can set in, followed by ongoing guilt about not finishing whatever it is I’ve started but couldn’t keep the momentum to continue.
So the first thing I did was journal about all the reasons WHY I wanted to do this. By the way, I did this when I wanted to learn to roller skate and ended up printing out a list that I still keep with my first pair of skates. This list keeps me going on days I want to give up or stop. I think about those reasons on days I’m wishy-washy about lacing up my skates. 🙂 One of the more recent reasons to add to the list is, “Because you ALWAYS feel better after a skating workout.” And it’s true.
It’s funny sometimes when there are things I love doing that are good for me that I have no excuse NOT to do — and yet getting started is the hardest part. That’s when lists like these come in handy.
My list of reasons I wanted to do the Rocky Horror Roller Show included:
This gorgeous shirt was found at Witch Bitch Thrift and I can’t wait to wear it again!
It’s an expression of my creativity most people don’t get to see
Halloween fun!
A nice break from my regular cycle of music
It’ll give me roller skating goals to work toward, like smoothing out my Strut and getting better at Leg Extensions
My brain loves this idea so much and would be so mad if it was just tossed aside
I’m a total theater geek and I truly miss doing shows. I haven’t been in a musical in 10 years now! The stage calls.
After brainstorming the reasons I want to do this, I knew it was time to give the Critic/Overthinker in me a chance to do her thing. But, here’s the interesting thing I’ve learned in dealing with this side of ADHD and anxiety: this gives me the pieces I need to create a loose structure to prepare for these fears and worries that may or may not come to the surface throughout the process.
With ADHD, it can sometimes feel like there are multiple modes my brain can go into. Not only do I have a very loud and imaginative Inner Critic mode, but it also gives me a very creative and brilliant Problem Solving mode that does a great job counteracting that Inner Critic.
When my Inner Critic asked “what about on days I’m too sick to skate?” my Problem Solver decided to save my big editing for those days. I printed out a calendar, marked the dates of when to expect my Adenomyosis would get the best of me, and planned out recording days with plenty of padding to account for unexpected flares.
Boom! Problem solved! I’ve included a slideshow of photos of some of the calendars and notes that I totally credit my Problem Solver with.
(The Gallery below has my character cards, rehearsal/recording schedule, general notes on song lyrics for choreography, costumes, and editing, plus some brainstorms of captions I was planning for.)
When my Inner Critic asked “what about the different hairstyles of different characters? Surely I’m not doing wigs,” my Problem Solver responded, “Well, I’ve been meaning to cut my hair for a while — why not get a short haircut I can style as needed? I’ll schedule recording the characters with long hair in the beginning and schedule the characters with short hair for after I get my hair cut!”
Me as Brad, after the haircut in mid-October
Boom! Not only was one problem solved, but it also solved the problem of me procrastinating getting a haircut, which I desperately needed because I finally had a time-sensitive reason to get it done.
In the slideshow, you can see my character breakdowns included a scribbled notes that says “Before haircut” and “After haircut”.
When my Inner Critic asked “what about the stuff I don’t have? I don’t think I have the money for this,” my Problem Solver responded with “Let’s make a budget! That can help gamify it even more since I have fun bargain hunting.”
I made a budget of $50 and kept it! That included props and costumes, which I got a few of at Witch Bitch Thrift, including the skirt I used for Dr. Frank N. Furter’s costume.
Finally, my Inner Critic was ready to unleash her biggest “what if” that could potentially kill the whole thing: “OK, but I can see it as this great, grand production — but there’s no way I’m going to have the time and energy to style my living room every time I record or do multiple scenes and recordings the way I know it would look amazing to be able to do!”
That’s when my Problem Solver pulled out a quote that helped pull me through the most: “Done is better than Perfect.”
I’m not sure who originally said it. It’s been attributed to Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg, and Brené Brown. But I do know that since I picked up this quote, my Problem Solver has had a much easier time creating loose boundaries that help calm my Inner Critic when perfectionism can get in the way of the fun.
One thing my Inner Critic and Problem Solver couldn’t quite get past was the song “Sweet Transvestite” since the language was outdated and the song and character of Dr. Frank N. Furter can be considered problematic. It was such an iconic part of the show and soundtrack that leaving it out didn’t feel right.
I knew I wanted to let the Trans community know I fully support them and would never intentionally put out anything in the name of hate toward them. I also knew I wanted to acknowledge and maybe even educate a bit about the significance of Rocky Horror in the LGTBQ+ community.
In the end, I decided to keep the video simple and open a discussion in the caption explaining this. I linked to some further reading as well. (Glossary of Terms - Transgender from GLAAD and Gently Ripping Apart “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” by Alex Mell-Taylor, for those who are curious 😉)
I also wanted to use the project to raise awareness and funds for an LGTBQ+ organization called True Colors United, which specializes in creating resources to help eradicate homelessness in LGTBQ+ youth. Instagram made this super easy and this ended up being one of the best reasons to do this project.
On days I wasn’t in the mood to edit or it didn’t seem as interesting or fun as it did way back in September when I first had the idea and the excitement was bursting inside me, having that element of it being a fundraiser for something I believed in made it seem bigger than myself and I found a lot more motivation.
This blow-up saxophone for Eddie’s costume was probably the most expensive thing I bought for the show. Had to get the 3-pack for $12. Anyone need a blow-up sax? I got 2 more 😂
The Rocky Horror Roller Show ended up as one of the most creative projects I did all year and I’m so happy I completed it! In doing so, I reminded myself I CAN work on long-term projects when the proper planning is in place.
I know I couldn’t have done it without these three things:
The list of reasons I wanted to do this thing (personal motivation)
A system my Problem Solver-Mode created in response to my Inner Critic to avoid failure
Creating an outside motivating factor like creating it as a fundraiser (this helped me stay accountable to something bigger than myself).
For everyone who saw the finished project, donated, shared, and was a part of it in any way, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Links to the finished roller skating Reels are below for you to enjoy 🙂
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