The Forums › Forums › What is it? › ADHD/ADD in Adults › Not sure why I meet the criteria as an adult, but "normal" for my childhood…. › Re: Not sure why I meet the criteria as an adult, but “normal” for my childhood….
wawabyjohnah and KrazyKat: so much of what you both said resonate with me too. As Dr. J. said – sometimes brute intelligence will get you through some schoolwork as a kid, but there are times when you just can’t…quite….get…it…done and those are the times (without a diagnosis) that you think that you’re a failure, or lazy or stupid. I hated doing projects of any kind – from when they were first introduced back in the early grades. Because I knew I couldn’t keep focused. And later on, I did well on exams, but could only study the night before – at which point I was able to go into hyperfocus. That didn’t work with the higher grades though, or where there was memorization involved. I remember Grade 13 as being brutal. One of my favourite subjects was history, but Grade 13 history frustrated me to no end. Instead of learning about events in a story-like way (the way I had learned up until then, which always kept me interested) we were now told we had to memorize everything. I flunked badly, and pretty much got depressed and gave up.
At work, I eventually learned how to “fake it” – either sidestep projects that I knew I’d never complete, or find a way to let things slide. Surprise surprise – most times, people were too busy to call me on it, and so some of the projects will mercifully slip off of the radar. And the guilt – always there was the guilt. When I worked in a factory, I aspired to do a job that would keep me off of the line, but it involved memorization again, and once again, I failed miserably. My boss shook his head and sent me back – and of course the label “stupid” came up. I mean it was a really easy job, punching a series of buttons, but I had to remember sequences and for the life of me, just could not.
What a relief it was to find this place – totallyadd.com – and take the “you might have ADHD” test. It answered so many questions. I also attended a few seminars hosted by Rick Green and Dr. J. – all of which merely confirmed it. Still, I knew the importance of getting a proper diagnosis.
wawabyjohnah: be aware that the process takes a lot of time, and as impatient as you might be, the wait is going to be worth it. It took me about a year before I was diagnosed. And then it took about six months before I started getting treatment (long story there).
Good luck to both of you!
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