Read on Twitter
Today on the @translatingadhd discord we are discussing ADHD and grieving the past.
Grieving for our past selves is a common experience when we are newly diagnosed with ADHD. We wonder what could have been if only we had known. /1
Grieving for our past selves is a common experience when we are newly diagnosed with ADHD. We wonder what could have been if only we had known. /1
I see this come up even stronger in my clients as they start to experience better outcomes by examining and learning from their own lived experiences as ADHD people.
With the awareness that sustained change is possible with ADHD, we again grieve for our past selves. /2
With the awareness that sustained change is possible with ADHD, we again grieve for our past selves. /2
What would have been possible if I knew sooner? How much pain could I have been spared if I knew that, as an ADHD person, it was possible to be successful even when I am struggling? /3
Someone today asked how to cope with that grief. After considering the question, I answered that it isn't about coping.
Where there is grief, there is an opportunity to be curious about our past lived experiences. /4
Where there is grief, there is an opportunity to be curious about our past lived experiences. /4
Curiosity does two things here.
The first, is to allow us to apply what we know about ourselves now that we didn't know then... to use past experience to examine and deepen our understanding of our individual ADHD manifestation. /5
The first, is to allow us to apply what we know about ourselves now that we didn't know then... to use past experience to examine and deepen our understanding of our individual ADHD manifestation. /5
The second, is acceptance. In using our past experiences to deepen our learning about our own ADHD manifestation, we also get a clearer picture of how ADHD was impacting us at these times. We start to see that we were never actually lazy, unmotivated, or broken. /6
With acceptance, we arrive at this beautiful new place: A place where we are working with our uniquely-wired ADHD brains instead of against them. A place where success and struggle can go hand in hand. A place where being an ADHD person is neither gift or curse, it just is. 7/7
