For those undiagnosed wondering about the accuracy of this, let’s play real ADHD bingo. Gather 5 of these and have experienced some form of it for most of your life:
Losing and misplacing things very frequently
Restlessness, squirming, seeming like you’re motorized
Blurting out answers to questions before the questions are completed
Lots of thoughtless mistakes, not focusing on details
Avoids talks requiring extended concentration
Struggle to wait your turn
Overly talkative
Forgetting daily activities
I’ll note as someone who took a long while to really accept my diagnosis: And to a distressing degree.
Like, I didn’t just forget where I put my phone regularly, I’d lose expensive electronics on my ride home from school. I’d regularly forget my backpack on my way to school. I regularly needed replacement keys for my dorm.
I wasn’t just overly talkative, I’d miss busses constantly because I couldn’t stop talking. I don’t even like people all that much, I just can’t stop. Unless it’s a topic I’m not interested in. Then it’s agony.
I didn’t just avoid unnecessary things that needed my focus; my heart would race and I’d get aggressive because I needed to checks notes copy information from one page over to another… Carefully.
I wouldn’t just cut someone off to answer them before they finished, I’d get this feeling of a ringing in my ears and internal screaming, digging my nails into my hands, to try and be nice… Before cutting them off to answer before they finished anyways, but later than I intended.
Every day.
It’s not fun. I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on late fees, extensions to degree because of missed deadlines, procrastinated dental bills. It’s agonizing. It’s pain. You will know what it is to talk to other people, have them go, “Oh my God, me too! Like sometimes, I clean, and I just don’t stop” and when you say, “I know, and then I’m just on the ground sweating and crying and feel like throwing up because I e been there for like 3 hours and missed my appointment” and you get the, “What’s wrong with you?” look. The ADH is often related; the Disorder, I’ve been surprised to learn over the years, often isn’t. I assumed people hid this distress, too.
Positive note for any concerns: Medication, therapy, and education are huge helpers. It isn’t perfect, things are just harder and that’s how it is, but they improve. I’m a professor, I have nearly 1000 students, 50 teaching assistants, and need to schedule, effectively, 120+ meetings and put out around 400 documents that must all line up every 4 months. It’s not hopeless, it’s just hard.
For those undiagnosed wondering about the accuracy of this, let’s play real ADHD bingo. Gather 5 of these and have experienced some form of it for most of your life:
I’ll note as someone who took a long while to really accept my diagnosis: And to a distressing degree.
Like, I didn’t just forget where I put my phone regularly, I’d lose expensive electronics on my ride home from school. I’d regularly forget my backpack on my way to school. I regularly needed replacement keys for my dorm.
I wasn’t just overly talkative, I’d miss busses constantly because I couldn’t stop talking. I don’t even like people all that much, I just can’t stop. Unless it’s a topic I’m not interested in. Then it’s agony.
I didn’t just avoid unnecessary things that needed my focus; my heart would race and I’d get aggressive because I needed to checks notes copy information from one page over to another… Carefully.
I wouldn’t just cut someone off to answer them before they finished, I’d get this feeling of a ringing in my ears and internal screaming, digging my nails into my hands, to try and be nice… Before cutting them off to answer before they finished anyways, but later than I intended.
Every day.
It’s not fun. I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on late fees, extensions to degree because of missed deadlines, procrastinated dental bills. It’s agonizing. It’s pain. You will know what it is to talk to other people, have them go, “Oh my God, me too! Like sometimes, I clean, and I just don’t stop” and when you say, “I know, and then I’m just on the ground sweating and crying and feel like throwing up because I e been there for like 3 hours and missed my appointment” and you get the, “What’s wrong with you?” look. The ADH is often related; the Disorder, I’ve been surprised to learn over the years, often isn’t. I assumed people hid this distress, too.
Positive note for any concerns: Medication, therapy, and education are huge helpers. It isn’t perfect, things are just harder and that’s how it is, but they improve. I’m a professor, I have nearly 1000 students, 50 teaching assistants, and need to schedule, effectively, 120+ meetings and put out around 400 documents that must all line up every 4 months. It’s not hopeless, it’s just hard.