#inatentive type

[abaharashi]

I learned that keeping a small notebook for things i need to buy at the store in my purse/bag did alot to change how i ahopp3d for essentials. Keeping a book or 2 out that im reading and on the table or desk helps me remember that i want to read it *at some point* instead of forgetting i have it for 2 yrs and then remembering and forgetting all over again. I dont read often but ive been reading *more* since i started this.

Having difficultiea with emotional regulation? Turn on some happy music. People like to say otherwise but we *humans* are generally very influenced in mood by the music we listen to and what helps align with what were feeling. If youre feeling depressed, some happy music (whatever you find to be joyful in context) wont oull you out of the depression. But it will make the murk easier to wade through.

this is your gentle reminder to stop fighting against your adhd and instead structure your life around it

buy a pack of chapsticks and put one in the pocket of all of your coats and jackets because you always forget to bring one and chapped lips is sensory hell

leave important things where you can see them. if they go in a box or a drawer you will forget they exist

put any appointments or deadlines in your phone calendar As Soon As you get them. set a reminder for a week before, a day before, an hour before, as many as you need as often as you need them.

when that little voice in your head says "i dont need to write that down, ill remember it" that is the devil talking!!! write it down anyway!!

plan for down time. have a few hours at the end of every day to just do fun stuff like engage in your hyperfixations. even if you didnt get all of your work done that day, have the rest anyway. you probably spent the whole day beating yourself up for not doing what you Should be doing, so you still need the break.

if you never eat vegetables because its too much effort to chop and cook them, get the frozen or canned shit. it doesnt go off for ages and you just have to microwave it. theres no point buying fresh vegetables if they just keep going off and being left to rot in the bottom of your fridge

if you struggle to decide what to have for dinner every day, take the decision out of it. choose a set of meals and eat those on rotation until you get sick of them, then choose some new ones and do it again.

its not stupid if it works! our brains literally have a chemical deficiency. you are allowed to accommodate yourself. go forth and stop making your life more difficult than it has to be because "this shouldn't be this hard". it is hard, so make it easier.

[tatyanapossamai]

I decided it's time to write my thoughts to the world so if something ever happened to me one day people will know what I am all about.

Also I will have a place where I can feel however it it's I feel without being invalidated.

Which brings me to my first subject.

The importance of empathy and validation how your partner feels In a relationship. This is essential. It's amazing how hard it could be for some . Yes most of the time it is not intentionally. So if your partner has told you about it please try to change your ways. It actually makes the other person traumatized. Meaning they will need to heal. It makes the person feel diminished or unimportant.

Many times if not most it's done unknowingly but it's extremely Important to be aware of.

1. Be self aware when it is happening and what your doing to cause it. It's hard to recognize sometimes.

" It wasn't that bad, you are over reacting"

2. There are many types of ways to invalidate :

Inatentive imvalidator: don't listen or pay attention to what the other is saying which is very important to them to the person speaking.

Belligerent Invalidators: Their M.O. is to rebuttal rather than listen, and put their energy into making their own case instead of seeing things from their partner’s perspective.

Owner of the Truth Invalidators: Lastly, there are the reflexive “that’s not what happened” invalidators who pride themselves on being rational and who sincerely believe that their subjective experience is the yardstick of all others. If it didn’t happen to them, it is not a thing. A kissing-cousin of codependency, this type of invalidator will often follow up their original invalidation by explaining to you how you, actually, are the one with the problem.

Example of a Truth Owner in Action:

Them: “I am feeling really invalidated by you right now.”

You: “I am not invalidating you. You were just telling me that your day was hard and you’re feeling overwhelmed, and I know for a fact that you shouldn’t be feeling that way because it wasn’t that bad. You just need to get more organized. You’re overreacting.”

______________________________Good times, right? Yes, there are so, so many ways to invalidate someone. This is just a small sample of the many ways, shapes and forms emotional invalidation shows up in relationships. There are many more. Not sure what kind of invalidator you might be? Ask your partner. I’m sure they’d be happy to tell you.

So: What is “validation?” To validate someone means that you help them feel understood, accepted, and cared for by you. It requires empathy. Empathy is happening when you really get how they see things, and that you support them in their perspective — even if you do not share their perspective. 

Because empathy is such a foundational skill in so many areas of Love, Happiness and Success, the development of empathy is often a big part of what is happening in emotional intelligence coaching, personal growth work, as well as marriage counseling. Empathy requires intention, but it’s incredibly powerful when you start really getting it.

This is super important in relationships because validation is a cornerstone of emotional safety. And emotional safety — feeling like you are accepted and valued for who you are, like your thoughts, feelings, and preferences are important to your partner, and that your relationship is loving and supportive — is the foundation of a happy, healthy relationship.

[inkstriked]

@n3oagent || Multiplayer maps and modes have been updated!

Sheesh, this guy. "Uhhhhh, that was a LOOOT of information. You coulda just said no?" With one eye closed, she reached over with her Ultra Hand, clicking it's little grippy things together so that it looked like she was squishing the octoling's head from her perspective. (She quietly muttered a little "squiiiish" to add to the illusion.)

"I'm not in charge of what Barry stocks here." She shrugged, setting her toy aside. "I just sell it, y'know?" She also bought a lot of the stuff they sold here too, which was part of the reason she'd been left in charge in the first place, but she wasn't about to tell this guy that she had at least 10 of those egg replicas back home. She just thought they were cute and fun to squish.

"Maybe you could take the real ones and replace them with these ones." She stated simply, grabbing one to toss up and down in her hands. The gaze of the (dying) clownfish that floated near her head followed its movement, up and down and up and down and up and down.

"I had a baby squid doll when I was a kid. Is that disrespectful too?" Though she asked in a flat, bored tone, she was genuinely curious as to what his answer might be.

[rubitheracoon]

I FINALLY DECIDED TO MAKE AN ABOUT ME POST!

Hi! My name is Rubi

I am a minor and a budding artist, I can draw horses/ponies and dragons the best but I've recently found myself branching out to other cool little creatures like cats, wolves, deer, birds and FINALLY (after over 3 years of telling myself ill do it) i have started learning to draw people. Though I've sorta just been brute forcing my way through it so it looks pretty bad

My page pretty much is most of the shows listed below or a reblog related to astronomy or hermitcraft (or from one of my moots) :)

a SUPER important thing that anyone needs to know about me is my undying love towards space and astronomy. It's been my primary special interest since I was a little kid and holds a very very special place in my heart.

I am also agender masculine presenting (afab) and don't mind any pronouns (including neos), and prefer that people mix it up. My personality is INFP and I likely have undiagnosed autism (and possibly inatentive ADD)

I also generally favour animation and indie over most other types of content.

My favourite shows and movies are, but not limited to:

- Hazbin Hotel (indie)

- Steven Universe (both shows and movie)

- Adventure Time

- Arcane

- Lackadaisy (indie)

- Helluva Boss (indie)

- The Amazing Digital Circus (Indie)

- Murder Drones (guess what, also indie)

- ENA (indie, idk if it's a show per sé)

- Sk8 the Infinity (anime)

- Into and Across the Spiderverse

- MLP

- Good Omens

I've run out of shows/movies I'm super passionate about but there's absolutely more. I have plenty more shows that I do like but probably wouldn't be a whole conversation of interest for me

My dms are always open and I'm always happy to make connections with new people

If you are an adult please do not dm me.

Some other misc stuff that I couldn't find a way to mention:

- my favourite colours are Dark teal and gold

- German Shepard's are my dream breed <3

- I'm a big fan of hermitcraft and I usually watch Grian, Scar, Mumbo, and doc. I've been watching since season 6 :]

- I used to play the cello until the end of 2023 where I had to quit because lessons became inconvenient. I miss it very much :[

- l love analogue horror!

- I find liminal spaces a very intriguing concept

- I've recently found myself intrigued by the new mlp infection AUs that have been trending

- I'm also pretty into arg's but haven't tried hunting myself. I usually watch theory videos.

- FNAF definitely has to be one of my favourite franchises of all time. Been utterly fascinated since around 2018

- science in general is very interesting to me. I love th philosophical aspects of astronomy as well as the scientific aspects. I always loved palaeontology, I also love psychology. speculative sciences like speculative biology (mainly for aliens it's just so cool) are really interesting.

This is turning into an autism rant I better stop now and turn this into a separate post

Also here's a project I've been working on for a full year (on the day I'm editing this, 21st may 2024)! It's very inspired off of the way liminal spaces make me feel but it is not meant to be set in the backrooms. This has sort of been a casual thing for me so it is far from being completed, but regardless it is still a very big passion project that I want to share with the world.

My intention for this playlist is to be subjective to the listener. You can get as specific or as basic as you want with the story. I've made sure to account for people who want to get into the details by including titles and/or covers that may allow you to make up your own ideas.

ALL I ASK IS TO READ THE DESCRIPTION!!!

It is VERY important for giving you the vibe I'm going for.

Having said this, please enjoy and be sure to @ me if you have any theories. There's no wrong or right answers. I just want to see the creativity of others showing through a basic idea that was provided for them. That's what this playlist is.

Have a nice day and enjoy all my stupid shitposts and art!

made on 3rd April 2024. Banner by @rubra-wav

And I thought this man couldn't get any more ✨️𝑭𝒂𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔✨️

[thefandomboysblog]

the autistic and adhd traits i've noticed in tibby devin as an autistic person with adhd, aka proof that tibby devin is unintentionally autistic with adhd, or at least heavily coded as such -aka proof for my headcanon-:

tldr, aka conclusion; tibby devin is heavily coded as neurdivergent, especifically as someone autistic and with adhd, or is straight up autistic with adhd, and therefore i claim him (/hj /lh) as an autistic and adhd headcanon of mine. (and yes i copied and pasted this from the billy post, it still works so idgaf)

autistic traits;

1. black and white mentality, as showed with his belief that he has to use his powers in a certain way, but also telling his friends how they should do so with theirs, specially to billy. he’s the moral compass of the radar throughout the first two seasons and has a clear anxiety aspect to it, becuase he also shows extreme worry and doubt of his own identity if he isn’t being morally good as shown in the second season after he accidentally killed mike and how he tried to “make up for it” going to heal random people at the hospital.

2. stimming, its the repetitive performance of certain physical movements or vocalizations, which serves a variety of functions, such as calming and expression of feelings. tibby is seen in at least two instances, one involving stress and the other to express joy. i have an example of both but the happy one is literally my favorite ever, because it's the best stim; the flappy hands.

3. has no filter, shows excessive sincerity, and often can't lie well, just like billy he often says “inappropiate” things and things he’s too blunt or sincere about through the seasons, and he also explicitly says can't lie well and or can only lie to his friends, and that didn't work out well, either, in season 2 ep 4.

4. special interests, seen in multiple instances, and explicitly said. the way he talks about dnd, and the way he talks about especially comics books and how he uses them to relate to the world.

5. difficulty socializing, as seen with the fact that before everything started in season one his only friend was billy, and how at first he had issues interacting with the other members of the radar.

adhd traits;

1. impulsivity, as in seen in several instances in which he does something without thinking, specially during most of the second season and also while he's losing his mind due to sleep deprivation when he's trying not to be caught inside the black rock again.

2. talks excessively, again for this i don't really need any proof. he talks non stop during most of the second season and often rambles in times of stress and or when he feels he needs to provide context to others of the situation (and i think this is a sign of the fact that he is clearly a bit of a people pleaser, which is very common all around the neurodivergent community because of the stigma and the internalized ableism imo)

3. rejection sensitive dysphoria, he shows this very little, maybe a sign of the fact that he seems more in the inatentive type (while imo billy would be the combined type and skye the hyperactive type), but this doesn’t mean he doesn’t has it. i think a good example of it is when he thinks mickey is cheating on him in the second season and how irational and impulsive he becomes; rambling, shaving and going completely bald, etc.

4. easily frustrated, this is a big part of his personality too, like the impulsivity and the rsd, but it seems to shine especially like rsd from the second season and forward, he gets heated easily and sometimes explodes in conversations with agressivity.

[wigglebox]

Hello! My ADHD results have come in and I’ve been diagnosed with Inatentive type. It’s mild, but naturally it was enough of a problem for me to finally go get tested. It fits a lot of puzzle pieces over the last couple decades of my life for sure. 

It feels weird saying “i’m happy” over this diagnosis but it was the same kind of eeling when the DSM-5 finally came out with a diagnosis name for my eating disorder. It’s just nice to know there’s a name to what’s going on with me and now I know how to target therapy to it. 

[wwwwyamd]

I WAS ABOUT TO DO THIS BUT I WAS STUCK ON TUMBLR

the Undiagnosed Neurodivergent Experience™ is trawling through wikipedia/webMD desperately searching for a mental disorder that matches your symptoms, whilst being simultaneously terrified you will discover a mental disorder that matches your symptoms

[gothlovingoth]

Petition to rename adhd literally anything but that. It's not even an attention deficit at all, it's our entire brain that works differently, and it's really really tiring to have our disability constantly invalidated and passed off as a minor difficulty to focus.

[anxietysroomsupport]

I never thought I had adhd bc I dont have the stereotypical symptoms, but now I come to Tumblr and? I relate to a lot of things and feelings? Rsd exists and it’s a think other people experience? Theres an INATTENTIVE type? So the hours I spent in class staring at nothing, and not realising it was probably zoning out? That one time when I read a 300 pages book in an hour and a half as a kid was an hyper fixation? Or am I just making this up? I dunno. But seeing posts about it, I really do go “me”

Hiya anon! You're not making anything up! I definitely understand what youre talking about, I myself have inattentive type adhd and it makes focusing on tasks very difficult. It is also harder to get diagnosed with inatentive type because usually we aren't "disruptive" which is what usually gets noticed. Try talking to a trusted adult or guidance counselor if you feel getting treatment might help you, and do some research to find coping strategies that might help!

Good luck♡

~Phoenix

[notyouramelie]

(hysterical laughter)

Hi! I know you’re ask box is chock-full so I’ll keep it brief! I love your blog so much, and seeing all of your ADHD posts make me genuinely go ‘this is me!’ But, I know that ADHD is commonly misdiagnosed as depression or anxiety in adults, and going through the long process of getting an official diagnosis doesn’t appeal to me tbh, especially because my GP makes me uncomfortable. Any advice for how to get a diagnosis without having to be ‘bad enough’ for the NHS to take me seriously?

I’m afraid my experience with mental health help on the NHS was never very good, primarily because they just don’t have the resources available for a lot of it. The way we got my brother diagnosed for his executive dysfunction disorder, was to find a private therapist and asked for an ADHD test. I think he was something like 60 quid for his one evaluation session, but prices and mileage may vary depending on where you are in the UK.

It’s also how I got diagnosed over here too in the US. I just asked my therapist about it being a possibility and her response was “well there’s no harm in finding out” so we did some tests and I scored a whopping 95%. I was expecting it to be like 50-50 that maybe I’d have it, but uh, nah haha

The test here is fairly similar to the one I did with her:

https://psychcentral.com/quizzes/adhd-quiz/

It also helpfully breaks the results down into whether you’re more hyper leaning, inattentive or if you’re a combination. I have a combination type, but I lean heavily towards hyperactivity, which I find bleakly hilarious with my chronic fatigue. It feels like owning a sports car propped up on cinder blocks most days, the engine’s revving but we’re not going anywhere.

It might not hurt to take the above test and see how you score. After that you can decide whether you want to seek out a formal diagnosis, either on the NHS or privately. For what it’s worth you wouldn’t need to tell your GP you want a referral for ADHD, you can just ask for a referral because you want to better manage the stress in your life or something.(I’d say “get a new GP”, but I know that’s not always an option. It certainly wasn’t for me.)

Anyway, hope that helps, and best of luck!

[rielfyre]

On Monday night one of my ex's texted me out of the blue asking me to dinner. I said yes, because why not. Our relationship wasn't bad he was just inatentive and checked out for most of it. In deep depression and being to inexperienced to deal with it in a healthy way. So he ran away from his problems, and isolated himself from me. We broke up because he started caring and actually showing he loved me too little too late. He's not empathetic at all, but back then he chose to ignore that.

He grew up. It's been 4 years since then. He's 26 instead of 22. All throughout dinner he apologized for his behavior back then. "I was a really bad bf to you" He told me everytime he thought about me he would always regret the way he treated me. He took blame for everything. I mean everything. Going from blaming others or ignoring problems or bad behavior to owning up to your mistakes, that's BIG .

He told me I had been running through his mind lately. I asked him how long and he said 18 months jokingly, but 3 months was the real marker for him getting the courage up to message me. He didn't type a long apology not because he wanted to do it in person. Do you know how hard it is to own up to your mistakes and behavior IN PERSON rather than over a computer screen? It's fucking hard.

Of course throughout the evening we joked about sex, because we're both dirty minded people and our sex life was never a problem. I told him sex was off the table for now because I didn't want it to be the reason we connected again. He agreed. He respected my boundaries, even asked if he could kiss me or lay his head on my lap.

Sex used to be so important to us because that was really the only time I spent time with him emotionally connected, having him all to myself. This time around he made it clear he wanted to see where things go. He wanted to emotionally invest in me. As we talked I came to realize that he really did love me. He was shitty at showing it, but from the way he talked you could see it. He told me he missed me at least 5 times in the 2.5 hours we spent together. Quality time. Just talking no distractions.

I got over him. It took a year but I did it. It scares me a bit that him coming back into my life. It felt so natural for my feelings to blossom as they did before. Don't get me wrong, it will take some time, probably a long time for me to love him like I did. Today we are both very different people. I was so sure he was going to cancel on me for dinner, but he didn't. He paid. Something he never did before except on our first date way back when. I know that seems like a miniscule detail, but when it comes to him it's huge.

It's still hard to believe and welcomed that he's changed so much. That he's grown up. He has a car and a job now. He does other things with his life other than constant video games. My cat likes him too. Very important.

I don't know where this will go or if it will even work out. I want to try, and he wants to try. It seems stupid to not try. He is as attractive as ever. Hasn't aged a day. Still 6'3 the tallest person I've ever dated. The top of my head fits right under his chin. I'm 5'8" for reference.

It's a risky move on my part because he destroyed me mentally. I loved him almost as much as my first love.

I'm going to try anyways. It's a risk I'm willing to take. I'm more secure with myself. I love myself and I'm happy with/by myself. I don't need constant attention I like my space and can balance things out now.

Past memories are there still, but I don't hold grudges unless you cross lines. Like my recent ex who did his very best to use me as a punching bag on his way out.

Wiping the slate clean and starting over, but still keeping those old memories with ourselves. Mostly good for me, I tend to forget the bad things and remember the good in someone. I'm excited and anxious all at the same time, but I know that I can recover if we don't work out.

I'm happy I got this chance, and I'm happier still that Jae isn't in my life. He would be so against this decision. I would feel so pressured to please that I probably wouldn't have even gone out with him to begin with. Without that gaslighting and control I made my own decision. One that I am happy with. Doing what I thinks is right for me, not what he thinks is right for me. It's liberating.

SO I will try again with him, the person my heart settles back so easily with, and we'll see how and where it goes. I'll keep you updated ~Mariel

[succulent-momma]

Im 27, I have really bad inatentive type adhd. So bad I thought I was going deaf because I couldnt process when people spoke to me. I felt the same way as OP. Stupid, dragged down, bogged.

Please, if you feel the same.

It is never too late to seek healp. The change has been amazing. I can listen to people talk, I can actually set goals and do them. It's mind blowing.

I figure out I had ADHD last year, but I didn’t seek an official diagnosis and medication until this year. I’m 30 years old, my school days are long behind me. I slipped through the cracks because I have predominately inattentive type and I was a quiet little girl. Having ADHD does not mean you have to be hyperactive and loud, it means you have a processing problem in your brain that doesn’t allow you to regulate your focus or emotions. 

Mental health even now is still taboo to talk about. People are more open now than ever about it however and that gives me hope. 

This is a profoundly personal comic and it only reflects my own experience with ADHD. It is on a spectrum with a wide range of personalities. But if my story connects with someone else and helps them, that would mean the world to me.

[princefranky]

Having ADHD is sitting on the sofa with the sofa trying to watch a show with your roommates and feeling bad because you physically cannot sit still.

[notanightlight]

Hi! I got diagnosed with Inatentive Type ADHD (ADD back when I was diagnosed) in my second year of college/university. It was life changing. Here’s the thing, while a lot of people with ADHD struggle in grade school, there are also a lot of people who DON’T struggle in grade school. Especially if they were able to do things like doodle or write while taking notes. That was me. I had no problems when I was in grade school, doodling through every notebook and graduating top of my class.

But college was a whole nother story! The structure is gone. Suddenly you have can’t coast through things like you did when it was a constant info stream with built in repetition.

My grades tanked hard and I, like a lot of people, started to feel like a failure. Like I was broken. Like I wasn’t as smart as I led people to believe. For people already prone to imposter syndrome, that is a bad combo.

The real stickler is that it is hard to recognize and a lot of people go undiagnosed because of it. They don’t show all of the classic symptoms. They didn’t go through those same childhood struggles. And here’s the other kicker; increased testosterone tends to decrease the severity of ADHD symptoms, but for people who experience increased estrogen levels during puberty... the symptoms get more pronounced.

My point (I swear I had a point when I started this) is that a lack of all or most classic “major” symptoms does not mean your ADHD experience is not a real one. My advice is to find someone knowledgeable to get diagnosed from.

I got lucky. My mom’s best friend was a psychiatrist who had an ADHD son, so she knew just who to point me to. I got diagnosed. I got a prescription. I started educating myself and learning compensatory strategies. I didn’t find out until I was already moved out and failing in an honors program. It’s never too late to seek diagnosis or support. And the relief from reading that result and realizing I wasn’t broken, I was just wired differently was honestly one of the most cathartic things I’ve ever felt.

ADHD

Not sure why ADHD is trending on Twitter, but sure, here’s my big post about ADHD, because now it’s too long to be a Twitter thread (ADHD, amirite?):

ADHD has possibly THE most inaccurate name for a medical condition:

 Dysregulation of attention, not deficit. We focus MORE intensely than neurotypicals on things that have caught our attention, because our neurotransmitter receptors (e.g., dopamine) developed atypically. But we struggle with switching tasks, because of this.

Inattentive-type ADHD won’t be as obvious, because it’s not the “physically disruptive boy child” stereotype.

Yes, it is a real neurodevelopmental condition, and yes, the medical community knows what it is.

No, not everybody “is a little bit ADHD.” Saying that shows that you haven’t educated yourself about the condition.

It usually manifests very differently for women, & MANY medical professionals aren’t informed about that.

Letting a child’s ADHD go undiagnosed and untreated leads to a VERY high risk of adulthood co-morbid anxiety & depression.

Letting someone’s ADHD go undiagnosed also leads to VERY high risk of addiction, because addictive substances trigger a fast release of dopamine, and the reward centers of our brains desperately need dopamine to live a happy & fulfilling life.

Black kids are 70% less likely (and Latinx kids 50% less likely) to be diagnosed than their white peers, because the most noticeable behaviors are attributed to willful misbehaving defiance, as opposed to a neurological cause.

This contributes to higher suspension rates for Black and Latinx kids, and higher likelihood of entering juvenile detention systems.

The misdiagnosis-to-prison pipeline is very real, with some neuroscience studies estimating that 40% of inmates in the US have ADHD.

Stigmatizing pharmaceutical treatments is harmful, because it inhibits people from accessing treatment.

Stimulant medications do not affect people with ADHD the same way they do for neurotypicals. They have a calming and focusing effect on folks with ADHD (unless co-morbid anxiety, depression, or other co-morbid conditions interfere)

Many folks with ADHD struggle to even remember to take their meds, and the most commonly prescribed treatments now have a time-delay mechanism that helps limit the risk of addiction.

Getting diagnosed as an adult made me cry, out of relief. I finally had an explanation, & I could forgive myself.

I am perpetually hyper-aware of how “not normal” I am in social interactions. I go through life feeling like an alien, every day.

This can lead to a perpetual cycle of self-isolation and self-consciousness, along with other maladaptive coping mechanisms.

Many symptoms that occur with Autism can also occur with ADHD: sensory overload, hyper-fixation/hyperfocus, directness, rejection of societal norms, emotional dysregulation.

The reason people with ADHD seem like they make every conversation about themselves is because they are trying to make genuine connections with other humans and stay actively engaged in the topic. Anything else seems superficial, disingenuous, and meaningless. People with ADHD seek genuine connection, and we are trying very hard to make that connection with you.

As with Autism, people with ADHD frequently reject society-imposed notions of gender and sexuality. These societal constructs are fairly useless, frequently harmful, and honestly feel contrived, awkward, and silly. I’m not just making that up. There is a VERY high correlation between gender dysphoria and ADHD (as well as Autism).

The reason I have to write everything down is because my working memory basically doesn’t exist.

The reason we interrupt in conversation sometimes is because we literally won’t remember what we need to say by the time someone finishes talking.

I forget someone’s name before they even finish their sentence. There are a million other things happening in my brain as I am trying to navigate a social situation.

Folks with ADHD can struggle with “Information Retrieval,” which is ironic for me, considering my PhD research focus. The information is THERE, however, and if there is an external stimulus to trigger, my brain can access and retrieve the information that I have stored.

So many folks who have ADHD struggle when they are put on the spot, unexpectedly. They can’t just conjure something out of thin air, so none of their words come out right, and then they will feel like an imposter.

It’s not all bad stuff. The running joke is that people with ADHD don’t just “think outside of the box”…they throw the entire box out, and provide innovative solutions that many wouldn’t have considered.

ADHD is highly-correlated with innovation, entrepreneurship, physical accomplishment, and artistry (e.g., Bill Gates, Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, Jim Carrey, John Mulaney)

We have so many hobbies, hidden talents, and interests…and we’re VERY enthusiastic about ALL of them. They used to have a word for folks like that, and there’s a reason scientists have postulated that Leonardo da Vinci very likely had ADHD.

I can detect someone else who has ADHD or Autism almost immediately (even if they don’t know it), & immediately form bonds with them. I don’t make the rules. It just happens. And I find it very refreshing to interact with folks who are neurodivergent, because I can let my guard down and just be myself.