Getting present to social awkardness

I was diagnosed with Asperger’s/Autistic Spectrum Disorder as a child, so for a long time I viewed most of the struggles I was having through that lens. I was socially awkward, struggled with strong emotions, had an obsessive personality but also had an extremely hard time maintaining focus on anything I wasn’t interested in.

I was a quiet kid, ostensibly well-behaved, but my teachers would often complain that I didn’t seem engaged in the work and seemed to be in a world of my own a lot of the time. I also struggled with timekeeping and organisation a lot; I had a hard time visualising or planning for the future.

I first started considering ADHD as a possibility in my early twenties, after finishing university. I loved the course I studied, but still struggled a great deal with procrastination and staying focused on the task at hand. I wanted to write stories and think pieces, but found it very difficult to put my ideas into practice and stay focused. My lack of concentration was a huge problem at work, when despite trying hard I would frequently “zone out” and make mistakes. I felt that I wasn’t living up to my potential, but didn’t know how to fix it, and it wasn’t really something that ASD resources seemed to cover in much detail.

When I was 22, I sought out medical advice for my issues with concentration and was referred to a CBT therapist. While CBT taught me some valuable techniques such as mindfulness, the version I underwent was more geared towards depression and anxiety, neither of which I was suffering from to a significant degree, so it didn’t quite feel like the right fit.

When I started looking into resources such as “How to ADHD”, everything clicked. Suddenly I had access to advice and coping methods that actually worked for me! A great deal of the struggles I’d been experiencing made a lot more sense through an ADHD lens, and putting some of the suggested methods into practice was invaluable when it came to making progress. It didn’t solve all my problems straight away, but for the first time in a while I felt as if I could truly achieve the things I wanted to. It was as if I’d been wading through treacle for years, and I’d finally hit water. Not perfect, but a huge improvement!

I was initially drawn to Celebrating ADHD as I wanted to discuss things in person and connect with a group of like-minded people. It’s been incredibly useful to share ideas with others who are going through the same experiences, and to learn new methods of navigating life, such as how to overcome procrastination and manage strong emotions. Going forward, I feel a lot more optimistic about the future and would recommend subscribing, whether you’re officially diagnosed or have simply noticed that you display a lot of the symptoms.