[just-bpd-thoughts]

I've spent my day feeling really grown up and resilient and proud of myself

But now it's night, and I'm alone, and I can't stop thinking about how my life has been a perpetual state of prolonged crisis, I've never really been safe, and I'm still here fighting and running from every single thing that's ever tried to hold me down in a frantic effort to just keep surviving. It's literally all I know

And, fuck. I never wanted my life to seem that dark.

But there it is.

[soaplantro-deactivated20250112]

oh yeah don’t worry about my leg bouncing, i’m fine. that’s just a thing i do when i’m bored, or excited, or nervous, or alive

[sabertoothwalrus]

I made this because I actually did manage to brush my teeth tonight. Mimnty :-)

[adhd-alien]

I get a lot of DMs asking me “How do I know if I have ADHD?” and the short and boring answer is “you can’t unless you talk to a doctor”.

But I want to share what I think should have been obvious clues to me!

I think it’s hard to judge your own symptoms if all you’ve known your entire life was ADHD. I was convinced I had no problems and just had to stop being lazy and all my problems would go away.

So, to everyone asking themselves “what if I’m just lazy?”, I hope you can find the courage from this to seek a diagnosis! And if you can’t:

Your struggles are legit and real, if they have a name or not.

[midwestgender]

ppl don’t understand adhd/autistic cleaning processes. we think so far ahead it’s like,,, impossible to do shit. you want me to vaccuum my bedroom floor? okay. we need to pick up all the stuff thats on it first, though. and where are we going to put the stuff? well, theres a couple categories of Stuff- Clothes, Random Items, and Trash. Trash is easy, we just throw it away. Clothes have to be sorted into Clean, Not Clean- and then the not clean ones have to go in the laundry bag, but theres so many so i might have to start a load now- ugh, distracted. lets go back to the clean clothes. well, these go in my drawer but- my drawer is really disorganized, so i’ll have to organize the clothes first so that theyll fit and look neat. by the time i’m done with that, i’ve spent an hour and a half trying to do stuff in my room. i finally turn to random items, most of which can find a home on my desk, but others i dont really know what to do with. plus, my desk is dirty. so i have to organize my desk, figure out where everything goes, and the stuff that doesn’t have a place can go in… a box, i guess. (not like i don’t have three other boxes full of random stuff in my closet)  so i put all the items back up but now i have this box full of stuff i dont know if i need so i have to go through it, sorting it into donate and dont donate piles. i might as well throw in some clothes to, so i dig through my clothes drawer and get the clothes i dont want, throw them in there too. okay, back to the random items- the ones i dont want to donate are still here, so i have to put them somewhere. i dont have anywhere to put them- maybe i should get a shelf? i start googling shelves, figuring out which ones would be best for my room, debating prices, learning about installation, and eventually im like ‘well, already on my computer’ and i decide im going to ‘check’ social media and end up lost in it for an hour or so. you walk back in, and theres stuff all over the floor, albeit in bags and boxes, and it still hasnt been vacuumed. its been five hours since i started. how does it take five hours to clean your room? it just does. 

[headspace-hotel]

I made some depressing “growing up autistic” memes

And yeah this is for the adhd peeps too

[viiuan]

yall with adhd or autism or such ever just get…. bored. like so Painfully bored. like its not “oh hehe i was so bored and i made this” to flex or “oh im so bored bc i have nothing to do” but like a “i am physically incapable of ending this horrible understimulation with any activity i might attempt” and its genuinely fucking painful

[aspergersissues]

[piesandswords]

checking your phone in the middle of a task

[adhd-vibes]

adhd.  i was going to add the other half of this but this was so on brand as is

[oh-so-much-adhd]

Me: ok we have to finish the work by tomorrow

My brain:

[ID: John Mulaney standing with a microphone. The caption reads, “Tomorrow? That’s not a real day.” End ID.]

[adhd-owl]

I don’t know how to be “romantic.” At all. My idea of romance is just talking to you for 8 hours straight on a first date. My idea of love is “I see that you are struggling with depression and part of that is how much you hate your job. I’ve sent you several job listings and I made you a professional portfolio website for your art.” My idea of love is inviting you to go running with me (even though I hate the idea of someone invading that private activity) because your self-esteem is being affected by your body image (he never took me up on it, and that’s fine. But I know that having someone to exercise with can help folks with depression). My idea of love is researching everything there is to know about your physical/mental health condition(s), to the point of knowing far more about it than you do. My idea of love is sitting next to each other in silence while we each play different video games. But I don’t know how to be sweet and lovey and comforting in the neurotypical sense. At ALL. And I have definitely been accused of being “uncaring and cold,” because folks with ADHD can be Spock at some times, and B'elanna at others. Being in a relationship is  VERY DIFFICULT and time-consuming when you have ADHD, and it’s part of why I feel exhausted all the time. Folks with ADHD and Autism struggle with relationships, because they express affection and empathy in a totally different way than what is the societal norm. I almost shared this thread last night, because so much of it rings true to me, but then I got upset that I wish others did the same for me, especially because executive functioning for MYSELF is such a challenge. But then I realized that those are ridiculous expectations. Managing my expectations is something I am always working on, but being vocal about my feelings and needs is also something I’m working on.

[le-dreadmau5]

It's literally that simple

Friend: "hey my son can't concentrate on his homework. He chooses to do literally anything else everytime. He said his head doesn't feel like it."

Me: "Did you give him music?"

Friend: "No! No tech until he's done! He doesn't need more distractions."

Me:

"k, bring me the child"

*Go to her house*

*points to the obviously ADHD boy struggling with his homework*

Me: "so your head doesn't feel like doing homework?"

Son: "yeah. It would rather do ANYTHING else."

Me: *unwrapping earbuds* here, listen to this for an hour while you do it.

French voice: 1hr later

Son: "k I'm done! :-)"

Friend: "wow, what'd you give him? Concerta, Adderall, Ritalin‽"

Me: "Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics and some lo-fi"

***Edit: Love the responses here!!! But just to clarify, the "Simple" part is getting an adult with ADHD to help a child who is struggling with ADHD. Adults usually have some tricks mastered or can at least properly translate what le child is going through mentally and can give proper tools to function. Oh, and medication isn't the answer to ADHD...at all. It just suppresses the disorder resulting in the person not learning how to properly work with it. I.e it's lazy parenting

[furiousgoldfish]

one rational braincell: there can be more than one task done during the day

all other braincells: you know what, now it’s zero

[chaotic-adhd-babe]

ADHD brains be like

Pressure? Boredom? Shame? Shut her down, boys! No higher cerebral functioning whatsoever. Read my lips, people. Productivity. Will. Be. At. Zero. Or else. Everyone go out to lunch or something, I don't care what you do. Just get out. Now. Or else everyone's getting pink slips.

[thedarklingdude]

My inability to process written words vs my inability to process spoken words, fight

[nonbinary-adhd]

hey just a reminder that things like adhd and autism are NOT a mental illness and are not things that should be treated like an unfortunate thing to have

if u have adhd or autism u are so wonderful and u are not a burden for processing the world differently than neurotypicals 💜💕

[adhbabey]

Remember folks, it's a disorder!!! Something people are born with!!!! Sure there are disorders people develop later in life, but people with these disorders have different brains and it's okay!!!!