I Really Enjoyed Your Response
I really enjoyed reading your response to Natalie Slivinski’s article. Several of the points you brought up really hit home with me.
Revisiting My School Environment
Recently I visited my elementary and middle school and saw a bunch of my old teachers. I thought going back there would help me get a sense of who I am. This being at a time where I was at a crossroads in my career and trying to figure out what worked for me. I’ve never been evaluated for ADHD, but your words along with Natalie’s are really hitting home. And the more research I am doing the more I’m able to connect the dots on things I’ve been experiencing.
What struck me about my visit to my elementary school/middle school was one of my Music teachers who I met with told me about this box of pencils that she keeps and how I NEVER had a pen or pencil in her class. I did not only have her for one year, but multiple years. Me not having a pen or pencil happened so often that she got the pencil box and kept one in her class at all times. She still has the box to this day.
In College I was insanely disorganized. My room constantly looked like a bomb hit it. To the point where on numerous occasions when we had room inspections they told me it was an actual fire hazard. But still, I ran track (which was year round) which helped at times. It wasn’t uncommon for me to go to the gym two times a day to burn off excess energy. Or wake up at 4am to start doing work for my Accounting classes, or to do laundry.
Work Environment
Getting thrust into the work environment, similar to your experience did not help. I was in an extremely fast paced environment with strict deadlines, where I was constantly adapting and scratching means of staying organized.
I also found that random noise like people typing or conversations outside of the room that we were in would make it extremely difficult for me to concentrate. Suddenly I could only hear the conversations going on outside of and would constantly have to start from scratch with the task that I was doing.
Also there was a quote from Natalie’s article that said
“Most often, though, it’s half-baked big ideas that turn my mind into a clown car. Ideas for work. Ideas for a new book. Ideas for the nursery for a baby who doesn’t exist yet. The world is full of endless possibilities to contemplate, and my brain has no idea where to put them all. They just tumble around in there like balls in a lottery machine.”
I related to this so much, and never came across anyone who had this problem. For example here is a screenshot of my Medium dashboard that says how many posts I have in my que that I haven’t finished.
What was the process for you receiving a diagnosis? I would be very interested to hear because I don’t know where to start.
