{"id":2930,"date":"2022-10-24T08:59:02","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T07:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humansofcode.org\/?p=2930"},"modified":"2024-10-25T11:01:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T10:01:04","slug":"adhd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humansofcode.org\/fr\/wellbeing\/adhd\/","title":{"rendered":"TDAH"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I don\u2019t know if you know this, but October is ADHD Awareness Month. This is particularly significant to me this year, having just had my suspicions about having it myself, confirmed in the last few weeks – something I\u2019ve suspected for a long, long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because this has only happened very recently, I haven\u2019t really spoken to many people about it, but those I have <\/em>spoken to have justifiably not known how to react. And that\u2019s ok! So, for the record, I\u2019m genuinely really happy and relieved to finally have this confirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I totally get it if you don\u2019t know much about ADHD. I\u2019m still learning too, to be honest. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve lived with all my life, so it\u2019s a part of me. I\u2019m just not yet sure which parts…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, let me formally introduce you! Attention Deficit \/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurological condition which impacts, unsurprisingly, attention. There are three different types of ADHD – Inattentive, Hyperactive\/Impulsive, and Combined. I have Combined-type, which in its simplest form means that sometimes I can be daydreaming and unable to focus on whatever I\u2019m supposed to be doing, and sometimes my head is absolutely buzzing with thoughts and ideas and it\u2019s like my brain is working too fast to keep up with itself trying to focus on a million things all at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve found that I do my best thinking in the shower. Haven\u2019t figured out why yet – that remains a mystery. Maybe it\u2019s because there are no visual distractions. I keep thinking about getting a waterproof notepad and pen as there\u2019s a very high chance I\u2019m going to come up with the world\u2019s greatest idea one day, and instantly forget it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"brown<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was warned by a few people (and the internet!) that it\u2019s completely normal when you get diagnosed as an adult, to go through a period of \u2018grieving\u2019 for what could have been, for what once was… I\u2019m really curious about how other people reacted to finding out \/ having it confirmed, how friends and family have reacted to the news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It got me thinking about when I changed career, and mental health-wise had the worst year of my life. I was absolutely consumed by imposter syndrome. I knew I struggled with focusing and paying attention, I\u2019m easily distracted, I\u2019m not good at listening and typing\/writing at the same time, if I made a mistake I struggled to move past it (in a fast-paced classroom environment) without going over it in my head because I needed to understand what I\u2019d done wrong… I remember finishing one module and moving on to the next and feeling like any new information I\u2019d taken in and managed to retain, was being replaced and would be gone forever. I already felt like I was struggling to keep up (I wasn\u2019t), and couldn\u2019t imagine ever being good enough to get as far as the interview stage for a job at the end of it. That\u2019s a pretty crushing feeling…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, I\u2019ve already dealt with all of that and moved on with my life. And so my \u2018grief stage\u2019 was very short-lived – maybe only a few hours. I don\u2019t want or need, to relive what was a fairly traumatic time in my life. It always surprises me when I\u2019m optimistic about things, and I hate cliches, but my life up until now has shaped the person I am today. And, I\u2019m going to make a pretty bold statement here… I think I might like who I am! I think I\u2019m pretty resilient. I\u2019ve spent my life masking and finding ways to live in a society that wasn\u2019t designed for the neurodiverse, and as a result, I always do what I can to make other people’s lives even just a tiny bit easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"This<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I feel empowered knowing that I have ADHD. When the psychiatrist told me I had ADHD, I burst out laughing. Of course I did! There wasn\u2019t a doubt in my mind! This wasn\u2019t a diagnosis out of the blue, it was just confirmation. It was the validation I\u2019d been looking for – the explanation for so many things over the years. I could finally take off the mask and just be my true, authentic self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I now feel like I can ask people in meetings to give me a minute to write down what they\u2019ve just said, instead of me furiously trying to write down what I\u2019ve just heard at the same time as continuing to listen to the next thing that\u2019s being said. And I\u2019ll ask for a bullet-pointed list of instructions instead of a \u2018quick call\u2019. I can\u2019t really follow verbal instructions as I won\u2019t remember them, so if you want something done, PLEASE, write it down for me. You\u2019ll only have to repeat it later anyway if you don\u2019t! (You\u2019ve been warned!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, as I said, this is all still very new to me, so I\u2019d really love to hear about other people\u2019s experiences. How has it been for you, your family, friends, employer, colleagues? Are you taking meds, and how has that been for you? What changes have you made in your life to make things a bit easier? Any chat will be completely confidential. Please do feel free to get in touch with me – you can slide into my DMs, or email me at debi.skea@humansofcode.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debi :)<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t know if you know this, but October is ADHD Awareness Month. This is particularly significant to me this year, having just had my suspicions about having it myself, confirmed in the last few weeks – something I\u2019ve suspected for a long, long time. Because this has only happened very recently, I haven\u2019t really […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"ADHD - humans of code","description":"I don\u2019t know if you know this, but October is ADHD Awareness Month. This is particularly significant to me this year, having just had my suspicions about having it myself, confirmed in the last few weeks - something I\u2019ve suspected for a long, long time. Because this has only happened…"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal","category-wellbeing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofcode.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofcode.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofcode.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofcode.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofcode.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2930"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/humansofcode.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3564,"href":"https:\/\/humansofcode.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2930\/revisions\/3564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofcode.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humansofcode.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofcode.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humansofcode.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}