I’m not presently working but I trained, and worked as, a software developer. I struggle a lot with work and my working life has been very chaotic due to shit mental health. It seems like a really stupid idea, as being a chef is meant to be really stressful. However, the idea of it being fast-paced, immediate, physical, intense, sensory seems really really appealing to me.
I’m sorry if this isn’t a lot of information to go on. I’m trying to reduce details, partly for privacy’s sake, partly because if I don’t wind myself-in this could be a novel long.
In my late teens to early 20s, I worked in a nightclub (UK). I loved the job and made a load of great friends, but it was a lot of hard work.
I loved it for the reasons you described, especially on the busy nights when it was non stop. I found though that I was working myself to the bone. I didn’t realise it at the time, but I didn’t have much of a life away from the club. It was as if I hyperfocused on the club for a few years.
Higher education wasn’t the right path for me at the time, but I dropped out of college for the job, and saw less and less of my friends who were not linked to the club in some way.
It may not be anything to do with the ADHD, but I find fast paced work like that almost addictive, and would definitely say that it’s something to be aware of, just in case.