I’ve heard people say their ADHD makes them more fun, or more flexible. They can go with the flow. Me, not so much. I bristle at the use of an overhead light after dark. When I opened the case for my (non-prescription) “TV glasses” at the beginning of a vacation and realized I’d left the […] The post Calm in a crisis, frazzled under the overhead light appeared first on The ADHD Homestead ..read more

Y’all, I am bursting with opinions and feelings about the ongoing ADHD medication shortage. There’s a lot to say here. About the pharmaceutical industry, about health insurance, about the state of healthcare in the United States generally. However, I’ll save that for another day. Today I want to share a few lessons I’ve learned, because […] The post Lessons on navigating the ADHD medication shortage appeared first on The ADHD Homestead ..read more

To live a healthy and satisfying life with ADHD, I’ve had to make some sacrifices. This isn’t necessarily good or bad. I do, however, think it’s important to acknowledge. ADHD is a disability. Like with any disability, there will be things I can’t do in exactly the same way as someone without that disability. This […] The post I’ve had to give stuff up to make room for ADHD. Here’s one thing I miss and one I really, really don’t. appeared first on The ADHD Homestead ..read more

For many of us with ADHD, help -- even freely offered -- can often feel like a judgement on our competence and worth. The post Why I’m trying to get comfortable accepting help appeared first on The ADHD Homestead ..read more

Editor’s note: a previous version of this post appeared on April 2, 2015. At various points in my adult life, people have told me I can’t have ADHD. I’m too smart. Too organized. I’ll set aside the insidious myth about ADHD and intelligence for another day. However, the upshot is, someone can appear “smart” and “organized” but still be struggling. A kid who looks like a great student on paper can be underperforming. I’ve often managed to seem okay or even above average, but this masks the full story. In fact, sometimes being “smart” allows us to mask more of… The post “Too smart” for ADHD: a n ..read more

I love projects. That said, not all ADHD people do. Maybe it depends where we exist on the hyperactive-inattentive continuum. I have a lot of restless energy, which I often channel  into industriousness. This has its benefits and its drawbacks. One benefit: I’m quite driven to do things. Tackling an ambitious project feels exciting (hello, dopamine rush). Under the right circumstances, I can get hooked on little bits of progress. This has pushed me through several ADHD feats of strength over the years. An accompanying drawback: I struggle to direct this energy. I’ll skip to the exciting p ..read more

If you’ve read my blog in January, you know I don’t buy into New Year’s resolutions. This particular January I’ve taken things a step farther and made intentional efforts to reduce my focus on goals. I know this sounds weird, especially from someone who’s written a whole book about achieving your goals with ADHD. But hear me out. Stereotypes would have us believe ADHD is all inconsistency and lack of focus. We can’t stick with anything, we get distracted, all that jazz. And I can definitely describe myself this way! However, ADHD is not so much an issue of attention… The post Giving myself a b ..read more

“I’m trying to relax.” “This can be a chill trip.” “It’s only one night.” When I heard myself say these words last weekend, an alarm sounded in the back of my mind. I tried to ignore it. After all, it was only one night. We would leave Saturday morning to visit out-of-town relatives and return Sunday afternoon. Not even thirty-six hours. Hardly any time to miss anything I might forget. And how much could I possibly need in the first place? I always say — I may even say officially in Order from Chaos — I can’t do a chill… The post “Let’s be chill.” Or, how to maximize stress on a one-night trip ..read more

This is the first in a series of posts about my journey from ADHD-oblivious, to ADHD-curious, to where I am today. See the full series here. I could’ve gotten an ADHD diagnosis in high school. Maybe even sooner. I could’ve avoided years of stress, anxiety, shame, and overwhelming emotional highs and lows. Instead of wondering why everyone else seemed to live by a rulebook I couldn’t see, I could’ve had a toolbox to help me navigate my life and relationships. The ADHD red flags arrived on my report cards in first grade. Unfortunately, no one recognized them. Not even the… The post How academic ..read more

Every once in a while a gentle reader shoots me a comment or an email about my use of the term time blindness. I once saw my work reshared with a content warning re: my use of the term. They explained time blindness was a more commonplace and accepted descriptor for ADHDers’ time perception impairments when I published my article (roughly two years prior). Some folks in the ADHD and disability advocacy communities have come to see time blindness as ableist language. Many consider it harmful to use the word “blind” to describe anything other than visual impairment. I agree… The post Is “time bl ..read more