Truth Talk about My ADHD

Art TherapyADHD

22 May

At the age of 43 I found out I have ADHD.

Prior to that, I’d experienced lifelong anxiety, cycles of epic productivity and burnout, an incredible eye for creativity, deep, boundless empathy, massive awe and a visceral undercurrent of feeling like there’s something inherently wrong with me.

No matter how hard I tried and learned, read all the self help books, studied, attended 24 years of counselling - no wellbeing strategy seemed to ‘stick’ internally. I might have felt some improvement for a short while, then I would go back to feeling on the cusp of overwhelm, often without a trigger — even when life was ‘good’ or devoid of big challenges.

When I spoke to my psychiatrist about possible ADHD, I aced the test results and began my journey of learning myself in a new way.

I still experience all these symptoms, except now it’s so much easier for me to embrace them, because I know WHY I experience them. And I can have deeper cate and empathy for my needs as I navigate the works as a neurodiverse person.

My brain and nervous system are uniquely wired. I’m super sensitive - literally, my senses pick up a cacophony of sensation, energy, sounds, sights and tastes.

Approximately 5% of the population in Australia have unique wiring like me. Many of us don’t know it - especially those of us who identify as women - because our symptoms are often internally felt.

And we’ve learned to mask well to ‘fit in’.

But you know what?

As hard as it is navigating life with such epic sensitivity, it makes me the artist, friend, Mum, partner, teacher and art therapist I am.