Dealing with Normalization of Symptoms

This may sound silly, but it’s helped me so much. I found that ADD/ADHD accounts on Insta that have meme’s, reels and posts about this to help me find humor and not feel so frustrated and alone. It’s annoying when ppl are like “we’re all a little ADHD” when they have no idea how deep the internal struggles are for us. We don’t look like a “sick” person, so we are often put in a weird place bc it’s impossible for someone to understand when they don’t have it. I’ve become very open & honest about the intensity of my symptoms and overstimulation is a BIG one for me. I’ve found that laughter helps me so much which is why I love the ADHD memes so much, and I mad a decision to “let go” of all the comments ppl would make ab my symptoms. You are not alone!!!

I really feel like that’s really inconsiderate of them to take that approach towards you, you should always feel liberated to feel your emotions. They’re yours and no one else’s. Please acknowledge your own pain and try to take care of yourself. Many people try to tear us down with their harsh words, it’s up to us to be strong and be the bigger person to just let their words go and heal ourselves accordingly. I wish you the best of luck in everything.

I don’t tbh. It’s the worst feeling to be invalidated.

i usually laugh! which might seem mean but it helps me. because usually when they say “everyone does that!” they mean “everyone does that on occasion!” and they actually have no idea what i’m talking about. so i just laugh at how silly they’re being and move on. it’s much less exhausting for me mentally than arguing about it.

“But it’s the degree to which it affects someones life. And it really affects mine.”

You're alloud to struggle even if it's something that other people have to deal with. No one knows exactly what you are going through and everyone deals woth things differently. I didn't know that I had ADHD for a long time because TV told me that kids were supposed to hate studying and not be good at it, I didn't realize that what I was experiencing wasn't normal. And I was a straight A student so of course I couldn't have a learning disability. It is totally valid to struggle, just because some people experience similar things doesn't mean that they experience the same thing or that they understand what you are going through. Very few people actually like to do homework but I'm guessing most of them have never looked at a text book and litteraly not been able to comprehend anything on the page or burst into tears after hours of studying with frequent breaks only to realize that it's 2am, they have to give a speech in 5 hours and they can feel their blood vibrating because they downed a can or redbull. You can't know for sure what someone else has gone through but the same can be said about you. Only you know what you are going through, even if someone does experience something similar or even worse it doesn't take away from your struggles or what you've done to work through them.