Aaaaahhhh!!
My first book “The Anti-Planner: How to Get Sh*t Done When You Don’t Feel Like It” is officially up for pre-orders!
I'm only doing a ✨limited run✨ of pre-orders (which are $10 off right now!) so get yours while you still can!
Check it out:
yeah sex is great, but have you ever been running late only to find out the person you’re meeting is running even later so it looks like you got there on time
Getting diagnosed with ADHD as an adult feels like being told you suck at Mario Kart your whole life and then finding out your game generates 40 times more banana peels than it's supposed to
Remembering that time in 8th grade when I wrote a letter to Roald Dahl telling him he was one of my favorite authors and got a really nice letter back from his publishing company informing me Roald Dahl has been dead since before I was born
me: let’s do something productive
🧠: not today
me: why?
🧠: i’m overwhelmed
me: by what?
🧠: nothing. everything. i don’t know. what’s with all the questions
the ADHD urge to pour time and energy into developing a complex organizational system, just to immediately abandon it because it requires too much effort to maintain
therapist: and what do we do when we’re feeling overwhelmed?
me: accidentally alienate myself from loved ones by not answering their text messages
therapist: …no
the ADHD urge to over-complicate a simple task by turning it into an ambitious project, until you get so overwhelmed/intimidated by the massive (uneccessary) undertaking that you abandon ship and never return
therapist: and what do we do when we’re feeling stressed?
me: stop making plans, avoid text messages, and accidentally alienate myself from all of my friends
therapist: no
the ADHD urge to procrastinate by obsessively tinkering with some unimportant subtask that's only quasi-related to what you were originally trying to do
the ADHD urge to force yourself to get up early in an attempt to get more stuff done, only to spend so much time “getting ready” to work that you might as well have just slept in
the ADHD experience of telling a story to a group but realize in the middle of a sentence no one's actually listening anymore so you slowly get quiet and die just a little inside
children who are constantly criticized
grow into teens who learn to hate themselves for failing to live up to others’ expectations
who grow into adults who reflexively over-apologize
because they have been conditioned to believe they are always disappointing everyone
i mean, who would’ve guessed a kid who learned to manage the emotions of those around them as a survival skill might,
y’know…
grow into a hyper-vigilant, people-pleasing adult with poor boundaries whose self-worth is based on their ability to make other people happy
LIFE HACK: If the person sitting in front of you on a plane leans their seat back to the point that you’re uncomfortable—simply reach up, twist your fan on, and point it straight at the top of their head
Here’s a fixed version of my flowchart with a watermark.
It will never be as popular as the bastardized one on FB—but if you’re reading this, you are the special few who know the original artist 😉
RT to support crediting artists and not watering down the
#ADHD
community 💕
Made this flowchart today to explain why it takes so long for me to tell stories. My brain can have a hard time distinguishing which thoughts/ideas are more important than others. It gets complicated. 🧠
#ADHD
the ADHD urge to turn a small task into an overly-ambitious project, only to get so overwhelmed/intimidated by the massive undertaking that you abandon it and never return
just a reminder that depression in cis men often goes overlooked because they may present as uncharacteristically irritable, stubborn, aggressive, controlling, or reckless instead of “sad”
(1/5)
Starting a "Hard to Swallow Pills" series!
I'll be covering various aspects of the
#ADHD
experience, and hard truths many of us need to remember.
First prescription: Rejection-Sensitive Dysphoria 💊
“Why can’t you just—“
I don’t have a procrastination problem. I have a “getting started” problem. The first step is always the hardest.
Getting enough willpower to initiate action is difficult. Constant shaming wrecks my self-esteem, and teaches me to always blame myself.
#ADHD
the ADHD urge to fidget when you’re trying not to interrupt, because waiting your turn to speak when you’ve got something to say makes your brain feel like it’s gonna explode
"Why don't people like me?"
Growing up with undiagnosed
#ADHD
, I struggled to make friends. I was always "too much" for people.
Too loud. Too weird. Too annoying.
But I deserve friends who love me for exactly who I am... rough edges and all.
#ADHDInvasion
#ADHDAwarenessMonth
did it hurt? when you realized you don’t allow yourself to express any negative emotions because you’re afraid people will be mad at you for being mad at them?
when you finally do the thing you’ve been procrastinating forever
and it didn’t actually even take that long
so instead of feeling proud of yourself for finally doing the thing you’ve been avoiding
your first instinct is to feel stupid and guilty for not doing it sooner
Been working on how I write emails:
“So sorry for the delay”
New: “Thanks for your patience”
(I FORGOT, BUT YOU CAN DEAL)
“What works best for you?“
New: “Could you do __:__?”
(MY TIME MATTERS TOO, OKAY)
“No problem!”
New: “Happy to help!”
(YEAH, YOU’RE WELCOME)
‼️ UPDATED VERSION! ‼️
Bottom left used to say “Do you know when I can expect an update by?” and I took off the top part because it didn’t fit, but forgot to re-read it.
Nice catch,
@Andy_Macster
! Updated file attached. Thanks for letting me know! 😉
“You just need to try harder!”
“Don’t be lazy.”
“Nobody likes doing that stuff.”
“Just make a plan & stick to it.”
“Set a reminder in your phone.”
“It’s not that difficult. Grow up.”
Those with
#ADHD
know how it feels to struggle with basic habits that come easy to other people:
All or nothing.
For me,
#ADHD
results in a lot of black-or-white thinking. Anything less than perfect feels like a total failure. Breaking even ONE DAY of a streak immediately results in falling off the wagon.
I am 100% or 0%, and have a hard time accepting anything in between.
the neurodivergent urge to over-explain things in an attempt to avoid any potential miscommunication because you’ve felt misunderstood your entire life so now it’s really important to you that everyone knows exactly where you’re coming from at all times and even if you know…
It took me a long time to realize that other people don’t have to constantly argue/negotiate with their brain and shame themselves in order to do basic, routine household tasks
did it hurt? when you realized the reason you don’t stand up for yourself is because you’re worried people will be mad at you for being angry (and leave you like everyone else did)
Dude explaining how he made his first $10 million:
1. Get up at 5:00AM every day
2. 90 minutes of cardio
3. Take a cold shower
4. Journal
5. Schedule out your day
6. Dad owns Fortune 500 company
7. Meditate
PSA: if you tell someone they are “annoying,” “too much sometimes,” or “good in small doses,” you are doing serious and lasting damage to their self-esteem
years of therapy, and i’m still working to stop apologizing for who i am
“not sending handwritten thank-you notes is lazy and ungrateful”
my ADHD means i barely have the executive functioning skills to feed myself, how about you take a seat
i mean, who would’ve guessed a kid that’s criticized 20 times more often than their neurotypical peers might,
y’know...
grow into a validation-seeking adult with low self-esteem and a crippling fear of failure that manifests as ✨self-sabotaging perfectionism✨
Think about your *own* ADHD in any way you want. Whatever helps you cope.
But... “your ADHD is a superpower, and if you don’t see it that way, you’re just not doing it right”?
No.
Invalidating others’ struggles/experiences is ✨not a vibe✨ and you won’t convince me otherwise
My deep-seated anxiety of annoying others is at the core of my low self-esteem. I can read into anything and everything. A one-word e-mail from my boss? He must be pissed at me. People whispering just out of earshot? They must be talking about me. The list goes on and on.
#ADHD
People with ADHD often struggle with hygiene routines.
Sensory issues, boredom, and forgetfulness make it difficult to:
🪥 brush teeth
🦷 floss
🧼 wash face
🚿 shower
Share your best ADHD-friendly hygiene tips below 👇
ADHD isn’t “oh yeah, i get distracted sometimes”
it’s getting accidentally sidetracked multiple times while attempting to complete a single task
it’s losing hours every day doing things i didn’t mean to be doing
if my brain shifts gears even for a SECOND, it’s all over
little miss “picky eater” who didn’t realize her food aversions stem from taste/texture hypersensitivity and sensory processing issues related to having a neurodivergent brain
and not—as others had always insisted—an unwillingness to “grow up” or “try new things”
did it hurt? when you realized you self-sabotage progress you've made with impulsive decisions you know you'll regret later because deep down you expect yourself to fail and quitting is the only thing you feel like you can control
PSA: Telling someone they're “annoying,” “too much sometimes,” or “good in small doses,” can cause serious, lasting damage to their self-esteem.
Years of therapy, and I’m STILL working to stop apologizing for who I am.
Having ADHD is trying desperately to make sure nobody misunderstands what you’re trying to say
and yet being misunderstood your whole life because no one has taken the time to try to understand where you’re coming from