Is it ADHD… or just cybersecurity?
Picture this:
I’m at my desk with six monitors, each displaying something wildly different. One has SIEM logs scrolling. Another shows a partially finished blog post. Twitch is streaming an old DEFCON panel. My phone is buzzing with CVE alerts. Somewhere in there, I’ve got a terminal window open — because I’m also writing a script to automate part of my daily grind. Spotify is blasting what I can only describe as emo alt rock crashing into bass-heavy experimental EDM — think Nothing More, Subtronics, Falling in Reverse, and LSDream colliding in a feedback loop.
Oh — and I’m on my third caffeinated beverage, and it’s not even 11 AM.
To the untrained eye?
It looks like chaos.
To anyone in cybersecurity?
It looks like Tuesday.
🎮 What Are “Side Quests” in Cybersecurity?
If you’re in a SOC, DFIR, or blue team role, you already know: cybersecurity work isn’t always the fast-paced action movie outsiders imagine. It’s bursts of intensity separated by long, tedious lulls.
Side quests are how we survive.
These are the things we do in between alerts, scans, meetings, and the occasional moment of sanity:
- Writing blogs or personal knowledgebase entries
- Building scripts to reduce alert fatigue
- Letting Spotify detonate your eardrums with genre-bending blends of post-hardcore angst and psychedelic bass
- Watching Twitch, DEFCON talks, or CTF streams in a side window
- Reading up on threat intel or recent CVEs
- Practicing detection rule tuning or PCAP analysis
- Brainstorming portfolio projects that our job will never let us build
- Sipping on another energy drink like it’s hydration
We don’t do these because we’re bored.
We do them because they keep us sharp — and sometimes, they’re the only things that keep us engaged at all.
🧠 Multitasking Isn’t a Bug — It’s a Defense Mechanism
The cybersecurity world is asynchronous by nature. You’re juggling scans, reports, threat hunting, false positives, team check-ins, and vendor assessments. Nothing happens linearly.
So we adapt. We run on parallel processes.
Our brains are constantly evaluating inputs from different contexts:
- Logs from the SIEM
- Threat feeds from Twitter or RSS
- SOC metrics and false positive ratios
- Conversations from Slack/Teams
- And that one coworker asking if DES is still secure
We don’t “zone out” with side quests — we recalibrate.
I can remember port numbers, protocol quirks, Snort rule syntax, Zeek field references, the difference between XOR obfuscation and base64, which tools to run first in triage, and how to regex a log file blindfolded…
But I still need an alarm on my phone to remind me to take my daily medication.
That’s cybersecurity in a nutshell.
High-context memory for high-stakes chaos — and no short-term RAM for real life.
Also, if I stop moving, I might notice I’ve consumed enough caffeine to kill a medieval knight.
But here in cyber? That’s just called “baseline functioning.”
🔁 The Repetitive Grind No One Talks About
Here’s something most people outside the field don’t realize: cybersecurity has waves — high-pressure bursts of action followed by stretches of monitoring, analysis, and (let’s be honest) waiting for the next fire.
The quiet moments can feel repetitive, especially when you’re comfortable with your tools and know your environment like the back of your hand.
That’s why so many of us dive into:
- Scripting little time-savers
- Researching obscure CVEs
- Creating detection rules “just in case”
- Organizing documentation no one asked for but everyone ends up using
- Writing blogs, solving CTFs, building labs, or trying out new tools
- Drinking coffee like it’s a quest reward
We’re not bored — we’re builders.
Side quests keep us engaged, learning, and awake (thanks, coffee).
🧩 Neurodivergent? Weird? Chronically Online? You Belong Here.
If you’ve ever been told you’re:
- Too intense
- Too distracted
- Too chaotic
- Too weird
- Too passionate
…you’re probably a perfect fit for cybersecurity.
Many of the best professionals I know are:
- Neurodivergent (ADHD, autistic, etc.)
- Empathic protectors
- Deeply creative minds trapped in rigid org charts
- Multi-monitor wizards who think in webs, not lists
They don’t work in straight lines — they map patterns in chaos.
They don’t “just do their job” — they build the future on their own time.
They don’t brag about it — they automate the bragging too.
And yes, they drink ungodly amounts of energy drinks while doing it.
🚨 “Just Focus on One Thing” = Red Flag
If your job is telling you to “just do what’s on the ticket” or “stop trying to fix things that aren’t broken,” you’re not the problem.
The problem is that they’ve confused compliance with security, and maintenance with growth.
Good cybersecurity teams encourage curiosity, personal projects, cross-training, and even off-task learning. If yours doesn’t — leave. (But do it strategically. Side quest that escape plan.)
🔥 Final Thought: Side Quests Keep the Fire Alive
You’re not broken because you juggle scripting, Slack, Twitch, and a Spotify playlist that sounds like a cybernetic breakdown scored by post-hardcore aliens.
You’re not wrong for needing stimulation to stay alert.
You’re not lazy because you’re under-challenged and seeking more.
You are a cybersecurity professional in a world that’s too often built for mediocrity — not momentum.
So keep blogging. Keep scripting. Keep solving problems no one sees yet.
Keep drinking that fourth energy drink like the digital demon you are.
You’re not a distraction risk — you’re the upgrade this field needs.
Ramblings of a CyberSecurity Nerd 
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