Status Updates From Your Brain's Not Broken: St...

"I tried shoving my pesky ADHD traits into a closet, but it was too tiring, and they kept coming out anyway. I realized that over the long haul, pretending to be ‘normal’ is exhausting and comes at a dangerously high cost to my self-worth and even my health."

Many of us have made a habit of last-minute work to experience euphoria’s rush at seemingly having overcome the odds.

This emotional hypersensitivity takes on a variety of forms. First and most importantly, what would be a small emotional event to most people would feel like a big event to those of us with ADHD. When our ADHD brains confuse what is a big deal and what is a small deal, we can respond to minor irritations with the same intense emotional energy as we would in dangerous situations.

I have tried to hide my natural way of thinking or behaving from people so that I can fit into a non-ADHD world. I have studied the patterns of non-ADHD people—how they think and act—to help me blend in. I have come to the conclusion that I cannot fake being neurotypical any longer.