I found out that I had ADHD in my first year of teaching. Everything about that year was overwhelming: organizing my classroom, planning ahead for lessons, staying focused on one thing at a time while teaching, remembering dates and items that I needed for a lesson, etc.
I had to take a teacher survey for a student of mine who was being tested for ADHD. The whole time I was filling it out I was thinking โoh sameโฆ haha, me tooโฆ wow, thatโs meโฆ wait, that tooโฆ wait, that too? Waitโฆโ
So I scoured the internet for ADHD information, followed some ADHD blogs, and took some self diagnosis tests. I was honestly amazed that there was a disorder that described literally everything about me, and I didnโt even know it! The worst thing about it was that it was ADHD, a name I had heard in so many places and about so many KIDS, and I had no idea that it was what it actually was.
I eventually got diagnosed with moderate ADHD, and it was the most validating experience. But I wish that I had known when I was a kid, rather than finding out at 25. I wish I knew as a kid that there was a reason why I procrastinated and forgot everything, no matter how hard I tried. I wish I had known then that emotional dysregulation and RSD were symptoms rather than personality flaws.
Overall, I just wish that I had known sooner that I had ADHD. And I wish that it was common knowledge what ADHD even is - not just trouble with focusing or being hyperactive. It wouldnโt have made anything easier to know sooner, but I might have loved myself more if I had known before now.