Post #4113745

ADHD isn’t a fun quirk, it’s an invisible disability, often misunderstood and misdiagnosed. It’s a different set of motivations (interests, novelty, competition, urgency, pressure). It’s a nervous system that learns to maintain the neurotypical status quo to keep the peace for everyone else while being bottled up. It comes with rapid “mood swings” which are emotional regulation dysfunction caused by… executive dysfunction. Nervous systems that struggle to keep bottled up emotions in check like any nervous system would. It leaves those with its “quirkiness” a life expectancy at least 10 years shorter than neurotypical peers. It comes with a 6x risk for addiction. It comes with 20000+ peer social rejections and criticisms by age 12. It comes with a higher rate of suicide. It comes with higher rates of peer alienation. It comes with challenges in the workplace. No place is “safe” for long. ADHD seeks change when stagnation hits. It seeks things others don’t, stimulation and novelty. Burnout doesn’t look the same. Rest & recovery isn’t the same for those with ADHD. We crave deeper relationships and closeness, which many times leaves us alone again. It’s explaining yourself and intentions 100 times, only to have to do it a 100 times more. We coregulate to understand our neurotypical peers, but it doesn’t mean we are regulated, we’re regulating to keep the peace and fit in. ADHD is knowing that while things are good, change takes one bad moment or misunderstanding to put us back in isolation. Everyday is doing the best you can with what you’ve got, but a brain that doesn’t want to do the boring stuff like laundry, exercise, or food prep unless it’s fun and exciting. It leaves our partners & families wondering if we’re lazy and broken; we are not broken, we just have different operating directions built in.