The NSFW of ADHD

Here’s an interesting benchmark of growth and progress …

In recent months, my trauma responses have been reduced significantly - both in frequency and intensity. I still deal with some anxiety and anxious attachment reactions when I’m fatigued, but most days and moments I am present, centered, and grounded. So it appears I’ve successfully integrated the majority of my old trauma!

However …

The significant drop in trauma responses has exacerbated and amplified my ADHD symptoms. It is somewhat ironic that trauma responses release a flood of dopamine which my ADHD brain needs. It was one of the many drama loops I found myself embroiled in earlier this year. Thank goodness that loop has been broken. But it does mean that one of my main sources of dopamine is gone and so my ADHD symptoms have cranked up.

ADHD in my home/personal life is mostly harmless. I can be fidgety; lots of stemming, foot tapping, leg shaking, and moving around a lot. I can get fixated on small details and patterns. I can be impulsive with the cheap dopamine of food and information. I can spend waaaaay too much time social scrolling. This is all common with us ADHDers. You can see it in the many videos you see on social from a neurotypical person sharing the habits of their neurodiverse partner.

I would say that 80% of my struggle with ADHD is work-related. I would boldly proclaim that ADHD is NSFW. If you are not familiar with that now-old acronym, it means Not Suitable for Work. In that context, ADHD can truly be a detriment to our work productivity, interactions with others, and following processes and procedures. Consider this … most work contains calendared meetings, lots of information to read, interactions with neurotypical people, rules to follow, decorum to adhere to, etc. In short, most work is designed by neurotypical people for neurotypical people. Neurodiverse people need a different kind of coaching - but there are few business/life coaches that specialize in neurodiversity. This is largely why my friend, Tracy Winter, and her business partner have launched the Neurodiversity Coaching Academy.