I was diagnosed with ADHD a little over 10 years ago, and I'm now in a job where I actually feel like my neurodivergence threatens my productivity. I've been dragging my feet finding a doctor and getting another Rx, but I really need to get it done.
No one ever asks me what living with ADHD is like, but I keep picturing that cold open from Malcolm In the Middle where Hal comes home and sees the garage bulb is out. But to replace it, he pulls out the ladder, which he then realizes is wobbly and unsafe. So he goes to the tool drawer in the kitchen to get the screw driver, but realizes the action on the drawer is sticky. So he goes to the pantry in the back of the house to get the WD-40. Meanwhile, now Lois comes home and sees this string of half-started projects strewn about the house and yells to Hal to ask what he's doing, and now he's so perturbed, he yells back in annoyance: "I'm changing the light bulb, what does it look like?!" or something along those lines.
Therapy was a great help in framing in my brain what I wanted to get out of a job. I then started looking at fields that are constantly changing and evolving as well as ones where there would be a fair amount of research and learning. Tech, medical, marketing, journalism, etc
Day to day style jobs didn’t work for me. Essentially doing the same thing everyday was like pulling teeth.
I landed in tech/marketing and my day to day tasks are so varied and the digital marketing field has so many options for what you can focus(or not) on that it keeps me changing, learning, and researching. With all that, at the end of the day I don’t love my job… but it pays for my hobbies.
For me, it's a tie between having no object permanence and waiting mode. My lack of object permanence really shows in my kitchen, because I will keep everything I commonly use on the counter. If Idon't, I forget I have it. Waiting mode really speaks for itself. If I have an appointment, I can't do anything else til I'm done with it. I'm also compulsively early to every appointment because of how angry my parents would get if we were even a minute late to anything.
I'm still not sure if I have ADHD or not, but it's still a common trait, so I'll say the fact that I keep forgetting everything! Some things, I can remember in meticulous detail, as if it's right in front of me - Calvin and Hobbes strips spring to mind. Other things slide off my brain into the etheral unknown space, and while they're still lodged somewhere in my memory banks, they're painfully out of reach.
I seem to forget a lot of very basic stuff, to the point where it looks like I can't be arsed, and it's as frustrating for me as it probably is for everyone else - if not more so!
I have a lot of problems with poor memory, difficulty initiating tasks, time blindness, and problems with processing auditory information. It's hard to say which one is the most annoying though.
For me is when I'm talking with someone and my mind starts to wander away, then I realize I have no clue what they just said. This is really problematic at work where I have to write down every single thing my boss says to me, otherwise sometimes I don't even know what task I have been assigned.
It's very frustrating with my wife too but at least she understands better what's going on with me.
For me it's choosing what I want to focus on. Obvious things like needing to prioritize important but understimulating tasks sure, but more frustrating is just trying to have a convo with someone while something like the TV is on in the other room or a car alarm is going off in the parking lot.
Procrastination for sure. Plus some kind of object blindness/forgetfulness: i forget stuff i don't see and things i put down somewhere just blend into the landscape really soon. Even if i consciously see them again, my brain doesn't make the connection to do something with them. Like putting them away or throwing them out.
“Oh, I’ve been meaning to do (X). I’ll get right on that!”
I will not get right on that. No matter how sincere I am when I tell you that I will. Unless I am incredibly anxious about it, it’ll drop out of my head and poof into nonexistence the instant this conversation is over.
No concept of time. I'll sit down and feel a bit hungry, but not enough to eat yet, so I'll tell myself "oh I'll eat in an hour". Then I'll blink and it's been at least four hours and I didn't notice getting so hungry I'll end up overeating.
For me it’s the seeming like a really forgetful person. I have a good memory about things I’m really interested in or when my meds are working. When I don’t remember something it’s usually because I wasn’t paying enough attention or was off my meds and half paying attention.
It used to be difficulty starting things, which led to insane burnout. Now with medication, that's mostly taken care of, but my forgetfulness hasn't gone away, so that's now the new leader lol.
For me it’s probably forgetfulness. When it comes to events I’ve started telling people if it’s not in my calendar it doesn’t exist. Now I just need to start utilizing a to-do list so I don’t forget things I have to do.
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