God I miss words! I miss the thrill of capturing a complex thought or feeling and managing to articulate it though writing. My arms get too sore to type or text much these days and I can't even express how much I miss pulling together a contemplative twitter thread.
I know we are supposed to pretend we don't care about tweeting but I miss being present here. Like, I'm still shitposting occasionally and sharing things like this impulsively but it's not the same as painstakingly drafting out a series of ideas for people to easily engage with.
Even these two tweets are hurting too much! Chronic pain seriously robs you of things that are integral to your sense of self and I'm so tired of slowly losing the parts of me that I love.
I have never been able to express myself verbally as well as I can through writing. I miss my voice.
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Can you please retweet or like this tweet if you have anxiety and/or depression AND adhd?
Have had multiple friends report being told by doctors that they "just have anxiety" so can't have ADHD. So many of us ADHDers have both!
Usually I hate "trying to see something" tweets bc they always feel like people just trawling for likes. In this case I do actually want traction, but because I'm so tired of hearing about people who are dismissed because they're anxious/depressed.
The MAJORITY of ADHDers I know have anxiety and/or depression, especially those of us who got to adulthood without a diagnosis/treatment. Undiagnosed ADHD is damn hard and the coping mechanisms we form and the impacts on our mental health are often pretty bad.
I don't want #Music to become a "cult classic" like I've seen some articles claim it will be. Yeah, it seems like it's on the same level as Cats and The Room. But it's ableist to the core and I don't trust people to watch it 'ironically' without making fun of autistic people.
Neurotypicals saying they'll see it as a "fun hate watch" makes it clear that they're engaging with the bad reviews, but not the disabled voices screaming out about how dangerous the representation is. Will they think about the ableism as they watch? Or will they laugh at it?
If they're laughing, do they really get it? Do they get how much harm this movie has already done, how many autistic people are feeling unsafe because of it? I loveeee to watch things ironically but watching something like this in a tongue-in-cheek way just feels wrong to me.
Did you know fatigue is one of the most common symptoms of #ADHD? I didn't- I spent over ten years telling people I felt exhausted all of the time, and nobody connected the dots.
There's a few ADHD experiences tied to fatigue that many of us struggle with:
Understimulation: Ever try to start on a task you've been putting off, only to feel fatigued? You might be understimulated, and your boredom is manifesting as brain fog. Often you'll find it'll fade after some positive stimulation, but return as soon as you try the task again.
Overstimulation: You're out with friends at a bar, and the music is blaring and all of a sudden keeping up with the conversation is exhausting. You're overstimulated. While understimulation feels like brain fog, overstimulation can feel like overload, heat or static in your head.
Hey I've gained a lot of followers lately which is awesome, but you should know that I'm just a messy 26 year old sharing her reflections on things. I'm not an expert, and there are people on here who are far more considered and committed. Make sure you're following them too!
Idk, I've started getting a bit anxious about saying the wrong thing on here, but actually this account is primarily for connecting and learning, and while it's dope that others are sharing in that, I'm not a content creator. I'm just a chaotic gal!
If at any point I decide to move more intentionally into an activist or advocate space then I'll be more purposeful with what I say, but for now this is just where I put my bouncing thoughts so I can focus on my actual 9-5 job.
1. I am incompetent 2. I am immature 3. I am an imposter
Sound familiar?
These are the descriptors undiagnosed ADHD women use most in reference to themselves, according to @SariSolden's book.
According to the book, ADHD women (though not sure this is all gender specific) feel that:
1. There is no way to keep up with the demands of life 2. Their symptoms are character flaws and signs of immaturity 3. Their successes are flukes and they are secretly failures
I share this to push against the idea that ADHD adults get diagnosed bc of straightforward symptoms like lack of focus and hyperactivity. Most of us get diagnosed because the demands of life overwhelm us, and we or someone else finally recognises something else is going on.
This got more traction than I expected so I just want to add: if you are neurodivergent, you NEED to create your own relationship norms. It you try to replicate neurotypical relationships, it will feel like hard work because you aren't neurotypical.
My partner and I really started making strides out of the "storming" stage of our relationship by embracing ADHD and (mostly me) letting go of neurotypical indicators of relationship success. For example, I really like talking about my day. I used to feel hurt that my...
...partner wouldn't take an interest in my day when we first got home, and wanted to watch tv over dinner instead of chatting. But this is actually because at that stage of the day, he is still too overstimulated to talk properly. Now we watch tv, and go to bed early to have...