Great, I'm On The Fucking Middle-Aged-Woman ADHD Bandwagon

Welcome to my pyramid scheme.

Dear nerds¹,

News Update: I have ADHD.

And yes, I know. Not only have I got perimenopause (#sweatylife), I am also a woman in middle age who's getting diagnosed with ADHD.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year entrant Samuel Stone took this Jackdaw photograph titled, Precious Stones. I have never felt more seen.

Telling My Mum Was SOOOO Easy

After a visit to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I needed some peanut satay shrimp chow mein fortification.

When my mum mentioned a family friend whose son was recently diagnosed with ADHD, I took my opening: “Well, speaking of ADHD...”

After my news, my mom immediately rolled her eyes. "Oh, everybody is getting diagnosed with that ADHD, or whatever it is."

Great. My mom reinforced my greatest fear—I'm just another middle-aged woman jumping on a trendy diagnosis because I can't get my shit together.

The Gen X Identity Crisis Lives

This is where I get really uncomfortable because I DON’T DO WHAT EVERYONE ELSE DOES. I'm a Gen Xer. I’m a rebel. Fuck me gently with a chainsaw, Heather. What is going on?

When did I become the person following trends instead of mocking them from my laptop of cynical superiority?

Wait, You Mean Everyone's Brain Doesn't Have 49 Tabs Open?

Apart from managing my identity crisis, I’ve had a critical realization: I honestly thought everyone's brain worked like mine, and I'm having trouble understanding this.

I mean, I knew people were different, and I have always considered myself to be empathetic, working on being inclusive and trying to be a good person.

Now I'm like, well, if I can't even really understand that my brain is different, does that mean I'm not actually very empathetic and that I can’t really see different perspectives?

It's a bit of a mind fuck. Like finding out everyone else has been seeing the color blue while you've been seeing green your whole life.

Welcome to My ADHD Pyramid Scheme

The fabulous comedian Sara Pascoe recently came to my city on a tour and floored me with this bit:

@sara.pascoeHow I found out I had ADHD… #adhd

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So I’m in a giant pyramid scheme and now I'm inviting you in. Look at your friends. Who's always late? Who has piles of laundry that never make it into drawers? Who starts sentences with "Sorry, my brain just..."

I see you. And now I see myself too.

The thing about joining this bandwagon is that there are other many other humans here. And after 49 years of feeling like I alone, was pretty much the only person failing at being a normal human, I feel comfort knowing I’m not.

With love and surprising gratitude for getting this published,
Annabel
xxoo

If you made it all the way down here (thank you!) please hit the ❤️ button at the top or bottom of this email. Maybe if you really loved it share it with a friend, or leave me a comment below. Any of these actions support my work and make me feel like I’m not shouting into a fucking void. Word! ❤️

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1. I’m using nerds in the best possible way. Nerdship: How we love a thing with such veracity that we annoy others, and then one magical day we find other people who feel the same way about the thing we love. That is nerdship.