Diagnosed and dumped — what is the point of getting an ADHD diagnosis?
But what were you expecting?
I know what I was expecting, I was expecting the diagnosis report to magically turn me into a hyperfocus ninja and unleash all those ADHD 'superpowers' everyone talks about.
But that's not what happened.
I got my diagnosis and that was literally it.
No new information, just confirming what I already suspected, that I have ADHD.
I felt incredibly deflated.
I had spent months and months and a lot of money to get to this point.
I had always felt that I hadn't reached my full potential, the incredible amount of passion and drive I had and the enormous amount of effort I put into everything I did, just did not match up with what I had achieved in life.
I wondered if it was ADHD holding me back.
I had also read a lot about ADHD superpowers.
I convinced myself that if I did have ADHD, once I knew for sure, I would also have those superpowers and automatically be able to use them to achieve incredible things. Finally.
But there is no ADHD silver bullet.
The truth is that you are the same person after diagnosis as you were before diagnosis. The things that were hard then are still going to be hard now. Nothing is magically fixed.
So, it seemed like medication might be the missing link.
My doctor insisted I had ADHD coaching BEFORE he would prescribe me medication.
This was the best thing he did for me.
It changed everything!
It helped me realise that my diagnosis was the starting point of my journey, not the destination.
It helped me realise that ADHD is not a box of superpowers, people with ADHD have some wonderful traits, like all people do, but like all people, they also find some things really hard.
I have learnt that the key to unleashing your potential is understanding yourself and fully accepting who you are.
This is more than just being 'ok' with who you are internally, its fully embracing what you need to be you and making the adjustments that you need, even if they are different to 'everyone else'.
I understand now that a diagnosis itself doesn't change anything. But what you do with it and where you let it take you, is entirely up to you.
You don't need permission from anyone to live your life on your terms. But you might need help to get you there.
If you've recently got an ADHD diagnosis, you've got clarity on your starting point, my suggestion is keep going!
Learn as much as you can about yourself, fully and unapologetically.
Expect the sadness, grief, relief, joy, excitement, curiosity and many other emotions that might surface. Don't shy away from any of them, each has something to teach you.
Importantly, you don't have to do this journey alone, but the next chapters are yours to write, at last.
I would love to hear people's experiences post ADHD diagnosis.
