Finding out as an adult

From one ADHDer to another, let's make our lives better.

I found out I had ADHD as an adult, after a lifetime of storms I could not explain.

At school I was the naughty boy. That was the label, and for years I wore it because nobody gave me a better one. Looking back, a lot of what got called naughty was a brain that did not fit the room it was in.

I will not pretend my story is a tidy one. There were fights, trouble when I was young and people I hurt along the way. There was also love, laughter and a family who stuck by me. My wife saw the storm up close more than anyone.

Getting the diagnosis did not fix anything overnight. What it did was give me words. Words for why my head works the way it does, and words I could share with the people closest to me so they could understand me too.

That is a big part of why I write things down now, and why so much of what I make is about families and partners. Understanding came first. Everything else was built on top of it.

Yes, I have ADHD. But it does not have me.

My lived story. Not advice, not therapy, not medical guidance.