ADHD – A Personal Walkthrough & Guide

Gosh, how to get started? 

Starting things has always been a bit hard, hasn’t it? So often there’s this sense of inertia that can be difficult to overcome, especially with things that are too long or complicated to be done on impulse or at the push of a button.

I’ve been fascinated for a long time with ADHD, but only in the past few years have I really understood it in a practical sense. I spent years of my life struggling, not really understanding what it meant to have ADHD and how it impacted my experience.

Over the years, though, I’ve been learning, taking notes, equipping myself with all sorts of tools, tricks, and above all, a framework for understanding my brain and working with it. The more understanding I have of my mind and the more I’ve “learned the controls”, the more confidently I’ve been able to wield my strengths and be at ease with who I am.

Just surviving with ADHD can be SO hard when you don’t even know the shape of your problems, let alone any solutions. A lot of the more “standard” ways people navigate life and get stuff done just don’t work for the typical ADHD-brain. It’s like you’re stuck playing a video game on inverted controls and everyone else, playing normally, keeps telling you “just press up to go forward” and yet you only move backwards. It all seems so easy for everyone else while you’re still struggling with the basics; It understandably leads to a lot of frustration, stress, and even blame or guilt.

But, when you have the right tools, when you have a guide, when you understand HOW the controls of the game are different for you, there’s nothing you can’t do.

Rather than some sort of painful, punishing slog, life on ADHD-mode can be an engaging, satisfying puzzle (like solving Sudoku or navigating a Zelda dungeon). Afterall, a boss fight without the right gear can be incredibly frustrating, and life with ADHD can be one hell of a fight.

So.. how about we get ourselves some upgrades? ✨