What is ADHD?
ADHDers are amazing, sparkly, worthwhile people who are struggling to fit into a life designed by and for neurotypicals.
The problem with this is that we get damaged, just like a square peg being forced into a round hole.
We end up thinking that we are inadequate, wrong, and incompetent, often becoming overwhelmed by a sense of failure.
This is especially hard on women who are often under diagnosed and are constantly trying to fit into a world that says women and girls should be neat, tidy, small, quiet, organised and never make a fuss.
Life for people with ADHD can be nearly impossible, and you may not realise that so much of what you struggle with is nothing to do with any personal character defects.
It is just that your brain works differently!
Some of these differences can be advantageous but not understanding how your brain is different can present overwhelming and frustrating challenges that leave women feeling, burnt out and completely defeated.
It is especially difficult for women who are trying to manage a career, their home and parent children that very often have ADHD too.
Unmanaged ADHD
Some things in your life that might indicate that you have ADHD are:
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Difficulty sustaining attention
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Problems with time: always late, cannot make deadlines, not very good at planning for the future
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Just can’t seem to finish projects or tasks, avoids and procrastinates
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Constantly stalled by perfectionism
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Poor working memory – forgets dates, times, conversations…
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Constantly losing important things like keys, wallets, the cup of coffee that you were just drinking, the album with your only wedding photos in
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Feeling restless, fidgety, struggles to sit all the way through meetings
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Constantly feeling as if you should be doing something
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Emotionally reactive
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Untidy and disorganised despite spending hours on organising
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Extremely talkative
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Administrative tasks like paying bills, responding to emails seem almost impossible
Having unmanaged ADHD can have an enormous detrimental impact on your life.
Many ADHDers have very untidy homes full of clutter and forgotten and unfinished projects.
Paying bills and reading emails are often overlooked until too late. Keeping a job can be a challenge.
Additionally, the lack of impulse control can mean that it can be very hard to not overeat and self sooth with shopping, alcohol, or drugs.
The other side of ADHD is that many people believe that ADHDers have ‘superpowers’.
Most of us are articulate, smart, kind, intuitive, charismatic, and extremely creative.
People with ADHD don’t just think outside the box, often they don’t even see the box!