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Thinking about mental health a lot recently. My own, foremost, but also those around me; colleagues, friends and family. Hard to be open and honest about that stuff isn't it?
It's like, who wants to go around telling everyone what their biggest flaws are? In the workplace especially, where you may feel like drawing attention to your weaknesses is tantamount to saying you're not good enough to be there; you're struggling, you're this/that/the other.
But that's how mental illness can work, right? You effectively gaslight yourself. The imposter syndrome runs rampant. Got praised for some work today? Surely they're only saying that to be polite, to trick you into believing in yourself. Oh do fuck off, anxiety!
I'm getting much better at spotting those mental pitfalls that I used to subject myself to. This past year has been a particularly wild ride of self-discovery. I made the decision to pay more attention to my mental health. Not only for me, but for those around me too.
My "world's best dad" mug can't just earn itself now, can it? So in and amongst the many ups and downs came a "holy shit!" moment. I only bloody well got diagnosed with ADHD, didn't I.
I'm honestly amazed that I never spotted it earlier. Because now it seems so flippin' obvious. Having a 1:1 chat with someone then forgetting what was said 5 minutes later isn't forgetfulness, it's fecking ADHD. Procrastination until a point of desperation? God 👏 damn 👏 ADHD!🎉
Long path ahead, but now that I know you can't spell ADrian HanD without ADHD, mitigations can be made, medications can be tried. The latter seems to be going well and the former is a work in progress. Which brings me to the point I wanted to make...
Earlier in this ramble I alluded to how we handle perceptions of mental illness in the workplace. Part of mitigation is communication. Be open and honest about your needs. For me, that's written requests over verbal ones and a quiet place to work from time to time, to name but 2.
It'd never happen, but I did wonder if we could create a "Sonder Day". A day where everyone could stick their worries, hopes, hangups, needs, diagnoses, whatever in their email signatures, Twitter bio, or wherever else without feeling self-conscious about it. 
Congrats on reading all of this, if you've done so. If this struck a chord with even one of you then it was worth the effort to articulate my muddled thoughts. Now I'm off to make Sonder Day a thing. Cheerio. Adrian Hand, BSc, MSc, ADHD.
