ADHD for Smart Ass Women Quotes

“Women are more likely to internalize their symptoms Boys and men with ADHD are more likely to “externalize” their symptoms, meaning they might break rules, engage in aggressive behaviors, or mouth off. They act out. Girls and women with the condition, on the other hand, are more likely to “internalize” their symptoms. They live with their symptoms in their head. Girls and women are also more likely to suppress feelings of anger and frustration, and many times are too fearful to share with others what they’re going through. Instead of reaching out for help—or receiving it passively because they display disruptive behavior like boys often do—girls and women develop negative thought patterns when dealing with their symptoms. This exacerbates low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression.”
― Tracy Otsuka, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: How to Fall in Love with Your Neurodivergent Brain

“The truth is, I felt different my entire life. Because I was always too much.”
― Tracy Otsuka, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: How to Fall in Love with Your Neurodivergent Brain

“ADHD also manifests differently in everyone. And you don’t have to exhibit the stereotypical symptoms that many people, including doctors, associate with ADHD. Like fidgeting, misbehaving, or doing poorly in school. I was gobsmacked. How could I have made it through 4 decades of life and never considered that I might have ADHD? Pretty soon I learned I wasn’t alone. As many of 75% of girls and women with ADHD go undiagnosed.”
― Tracy Otsuka, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: How to Fall in Love with Your Neurodivergent Brain

“For many women with ADHD, we may be able to sit still but we can’t stop moving through our never-ending thoughts.”
― Tracy Otsuka, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: How to Fall in Love with Your Neurodivergent Brain

“Do you want to feel powerful over your partner or would you rather feel connected to them? Being right may feel good in the moment, but it does little to build empathy or love.”
― Tracy Otsuka, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: How to Fall in Love with Your Neurodivergent Brain

“Since the Covid 19 pandemic, medical professionals who don’t understand ADHD, have chided women who have diagnosed themselves with the condition by using TikTok, a real phenomenon chronicled by GMA, time magazine and many other eminate media outlets. The reason women have turned to TikTok to get help with ADHD, is because we haven’t felt heard or seen. And we’ve been undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or worse still: told it’s all in our head.”
― Tracy Otsuka, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: How to Fall in Love with Your Neurodivergent Brain

“While those of us with ADHD may struggle to focus on school, work, and other structured activities, that doesn’t mean we’re not smart. Far from it. In fact, those of us with ADHD are usually intensely curious, persistent, and lifelong learners… When we find a learning strategy that works for us, we can be excellent students, especially if we’re interested in a certain subject, since we’ll usually we want to know everything about it. If we’re not interested in the subject but have to learn it to satisfy a school or work environment, we can struggle. When ADHD students pursue university or graduate degrees where they can tailor their classes to their interests, they do much better.
I often hear stories from women with ADHD who struggled through grade school but went on to receive a PhD and graduated with highest honors.”
― Tracy Otsuka, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: How to Fall in Love with Your Neurodivergent Brain

“You see, we’re not hyperactive, just otherworldly energetic. We’re not distractible, just incessantly curious. And yes, we can be impulsive, but some experts believe that creativity is simply impulsivity gone right (and one reason why many believe that Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso all had ADHD).”
― Tracy Otsuka, ADHD for Smart Ass Women: How to Fall in Love with Your Neurodivergent Brain