What is it like having ADHD?
If you drive to Illinois when you’re trying to get somewhere in Iowa, the state you were already in, it could be ADHD.
You could be watching an ADD TED talk, and you remember you have to add some things to your phone’s calendar, and then you accidentally start reading about the ballet, and end up watching another video on your phone, while you’re still watching the TED Talk on the TV.
Is it an ADHD move to miss your exit and not notice for an hour?
I once carried the entire full toddler potty into the bathroom to clean out the little receptacle part, carried the receptacle part back into the living room and discovered that entire potty has suddenly just disappeared!!
I quizzed the kids frantically, “Where is the potty? Where is the potty? Toddler just went!! How could the potty just disappear?!” I never found the potty.
Until much later, you went into the bathroom and found the potty right where I left it.
Is it an ADHD move to lose a kid almost every place you go?
I made screen shots of a bunch of your conversations with friends, intending to turn them into a blog post, and accidentally forgot what I was doing, and stopped screen shotting halfway through the conversations. I have no idea what I was going to do with that, or what the conversation was even about.
ADHD could be the reason I write and schedule blog posts ahead of time, then am surprised when I see the blog automatically posted for me. I read the article I completely forgot I wrote, and think, “Wow! That’s pretty good!” and I still have no recollection of writing it!
Is it an ADHD move to lose literally everything, even while you’re using it?
I have no idea. This is just how my brain has always worked.
ADHD is more than the scatterbrained, distractibility moves one would typically associate with ADHD.
It’s because of ADHD I am so sensitive I can feel people walking, floors vibrating in crowds, buildings moving, and air shifting. I smell things no one else seems to be able to. I’m aware of how my fingers feel different long after I’ve clipped my nails. I notice what my clothing feels like against my skin many hours after I’ve gotten dressed.
ADHD helps me be able to attend to several different conversations at once, even though I don’t want to, even though it’s extremely taxing for me.
It’s likely ADHD when I have to read every single highway billboard and sign I encounter, even when I try to block it out.
Is it an ADHD move to get a migraine from the sensory overload of going to IKEA?
Not always, but hypersensitivity is often a co-existing condition of ADHD.
Did you know there’s also often an emotional component with ADHD?
I feel emotions so intensely people are often caught off guard. I rocket between completely over the moon in delight or entirely devastated. I, as a grown woman in my 40s, end up crying and screaming on the floor again, powerless to stop the feeling.
Is it an ADHD move for people to think you’re drunk because you’re so much, when actually you’re just doing you?
For me, yes. ADHD doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone will experience extreme emotions, but it’s been true for me.
I set a kajillion alarms for something because I don’t want to be late again, and I still am. I can leave really early for an event and find I’ve arrived just on time. I just feel compelled to throw in a load of laundry and clean the floor and put away the shoes and whatever else as I’m walking out the door. Is it an ADHD move to have to go back into the house for multiple forgotten items many times?
It definitely could be. Time presents itself differently for me than it does for a lot of people. Time management has usually been wait, wait, wait, ok NOW DO ALL THE THINGS!
Is it an ADHD move to miss a lot of social cues? Relationships are harder for people with ADHD. Is it an ADHD move to be able to listen or work better while you distract yourself with something else?
My train of thought closely resembles an Asian overpass.
This is my life. This is what it’s like having ADHD.