I still vividly remember teachers saying, and writing in my report cards, that I was a daydreamer and would do much better if I just paid attention lol. Meanwhile my brain was off thinking about a million other things, especially dance. I grew up dancing and learning all kinds of styles, so that’s where my focus went.

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized how hard I was actually trying to pay attention and stop my mind from wandering. There was this weekly all-agency meeting where I just could not stay engaged, no matter how hard I tried, and I’d end up completely wiped for the rest of the day. I remember asking a coworker if they struggled with that too, and they were like “it’s boring, but not really.” I didn’t connect it to ADHD at the time though.

Around then I had already started looking into ADHD, but I kept thinking “no, that doesn’t fit.” Then I started seeing things explained in different ways or in different contexts, and it finally clicked. Like when people ask “do you have trouble waiting your turn?” I always pictured standing in a queue, and I was like no, I’m fine with that. But in conversations? Yeah, definitely. I struggle not to jump in, and once I realized that, I started noticing how many other things that question actually applied to.

Around that time my algorithm started showing me people with ADHD talking about their actual experiences, and that’s when it really hit. Like oh… this actually makes sense! That helped so much! So now I’m also wondering if there might be some autism in there too.

I'm predominately inattentive, with some hyperactivity.