“Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually!”
1 Chronicles 16:11
DISCLAIMER: I am not a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist or trained mental health professional of any kind. Everything I write is based on my own personal experience with coming to terms with my differences and adjusting to how my brain works. Please do not take my word as gospel of any kind – these posts are only meant to help further open the dialogue around mental health and dispelling the stigma around mental illnesses and disabilities.
ADHD or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is classified by the CDC as: “one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood. It is usually first diagnosed in childhood and often lasts into adulthood. Children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors (may act without thinking about what the result will be), or be overly active”.
However, this is just a definition on a website. It does not encompass the entirety of what life with ADHD is like. Most people do not even realize that they have ADHD, and have lived undiagnosed since childhood.
Table of Contents:
- Forget Things Right After Hearing Them
- Need to Have Background Noise When Working
- Completing Tasks and Projects is Difficult
- You Get Overstimulated in Busy Places
- Needing Your Hands or Legs in Constant Motion
Forget Things Right After Hearing Them
“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?” or “Say that again?” or maybe just the ever-popular “Huh?” are all frequently used phrases in your daily life. After you hear some lengthy set of instructions, you feel embarrassed because you cannot recall many parts of what was just said. You were listening earnestly, giving the speaker your full attention, but it does not matter. You still cannot remember. A way to help cope with this is to stop someone before they are about to tell you something important and ask if they mind you writing what they say down or recording them saying it. If you explain that this will help you retain what they will say, the likelihood is that they will not mind you doing this and might even be impressed by the amount of respect you give them by ensuring that their words will actually stick.
Need to Have Background Noise When Working
You often leave a TV show or music in the background while working on school or work. If you don’t, you think you will quickly become bored with the task you are working on. You think, “This does not affect the quality of my work. It just keeps me entertained while I do it.” You feel that being distracted while you work is inevitable, so you want to control what you will be distracted by. I recommend using lofi music or white noise to ensure that the background stimulation you have while working is aiding with your overall productivity instead of fighting for your full attention.
Completing Tasks and Projects is Difficult
You have roughly three movies, 4 TV shows, two books, and countless projects you are in the middle of and have forgotten about or “just put on hold.” You just lost interest in most of these things but want to continue working on them or finishing them at some undetermined later date. There is just a much more exciting show, movie, book, or project that you are really interested in at that moment. To prevent the accumulation of half-completed projects, I recommend giving yourself small deadlines and goals to reach with your projects. The satisfaction of meeting these mini-deadlines can give you the inspiration and motivation to keep working on the project. You can repeat this process as long as you need!
You Get Overstimulated in Busy Places
Shopping malls and department stores are some of your least favorite places, especially during huge sales or events that make said locations more hectic and chaotic. You are always on edge in those places and feel entirely drained once you leave. You feel exhausted from focusing on so many different factors at once – like the blaring music, the people moving around you and trying to focus on what you went into the store to get. The employees ask you questions, trying to assist you. You dread going shopping because it makes you too exhausted to do anything productive once you leave the stores. This is called overstimulation, and it is extremely common for neurodivergent people, especially those with ADHD. If you want to read more about this trait, read my post here.
Needing Your Hands or Legs in Constant Motion
People point out how you pick your nails, drum your fingers on surfaces, or play with your hair. You are sometimes surprised when people point it out because you do not always realize you are doing it. It just kind of happens whenever you are deep in thought. It feels like this helps you get in your mental rhythm. I recommend investing in a fidget toy or doodling whenever you need to fiddle with something or bounce your legs.
I want to make something clear. This post is not meant to be accusatory or to say that something is wrong with you if you relate to any of these things. The opposite is true. I have often found that it is nice to hear that there is not something wrong with you – your brain is just wired differently than those around you. And when you process differently, doesn’t it make sense to learn differently?
Alas, that is a post for another time.
I hope this list offers some clarity on the common symptoms of ADHD. If you relate to any of these, I encourage you to do more research into Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and even reach out to a psychologist and psychiatrist that you trust to talk through these symptoms and figure out whether they are signs of ADHD.
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Until next time!