Living with ADHD
A mental illness.
ADHD is one of the most underrated mental illnesses in the world because the effects are not as apparent to the outside world or even to those suffering from ADHD as many other mental illnesses. We know how depression and anxiety affect a person but do we really know how ADHD affects someone? Do we know the symptoms off the tops of our heads?
Moving/Fidgeting
Lack of Focus
Talking Excessively
Spontaneity
Easily Distracted
Forgetfulness
Time Management Issues
Stimming
Executive Dysfunction (inability to start or complete tasks)
Hyperfixation
Interrupting Conversations
Self Preservation Issues
Lack of Patience
Organization
Listening
Careless Mistakes
Short Attention Span
Do these symptoms scream mental illness? No, and that is where the issue lies. These are just little quirks like clumsiness that make our day just a bit more “exciting.” ADHD is a sneak. It sneaks into daily activities until one day we look around and see that our lives have crumbled without us noticing.
Growing Up on ADHD
Growing up is hard… growing up with mentally ill people who don’t know they are mentally ill is a little harder.
Being raised in a family high off ADHD symptoms… was not fun. My family was dysfunctional at worst and lazy at best… but were we really lazy? My dad has two full time jobs, my mom is raising five children, I graduated valedictorian at my high school and still maintain a high GPA in college, my brother memorizes mathematical algorithms for fun, and my sisters’ extra curricular activities consist of singing lessons, dance, musicals, lacrosse, and violin lessons. From the outside we are all very hard working and involved people, but from the inside of our house? Not so much.
Not one room in our house was ever clean for more than three days. Me and my siblings consistently struggled with getting up and getting ready in the morning in time for school. My fourteen year old sister suffers from time management. My nine year old sister cannot sit still for the life of her. I cannot keep my room clean. My mother hyper fixates on the kitchen and pulls everything out of the cupboards to reorganize instead of doing the dishes or wiping the counters. My seventeen year old brother will do his homework, but almost never remembers to turn it in. My twelve year old sister talks excessively as though she has a nervous habit. It is easy to see these small quirks as small problems, but they aren’t, not when they embed themselves into every aspect of your life.
Independence, Self Accountability, and ADHD
When you really need someone to help manage your symptoms... and there's only yourself.
Hyper fixation and executive dysfunction can really kick your butt when you are on your own. Things as simple as consistently making breakfast in the morning may prove impossible, but don't worry, you won't go hungry. There is hope. A light at the end of the hyper fixation/executive dysfunction tunnel if you will. The questions we need to ask ourselves are: How does my ADHD brain function? Which part(s) of the day are the hardest for me? What do I tend to forget? What is stopping me from moving forward?
There is not one correct way to manage ADHD. What works for one person may just make it worse for another, but the good thing is, your brain is or has already found ways to adapt. The solution may not be the way you wanted things to go, but when has a mental illness ever been convenient? The goal is to move forward despite the challenges in our path.
Before and After ADHD
How to come to terms with being mentally ill after the “break.”
Waking up one day and suddenly having a mental illness is not the funnest Christmas gift to get. It is hard. It is frustrating. And you are stuck with it for the rest of your life. There is no easing our way into a mental illness, it hits you like a ton of bricks and unfortunately the uno reverse card does not work in real life. So our only option is to reconcile who we were when our brain was healthy and who we are now.
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