As someone who’s late diagnosed I’ve recently been thinking about how much of my personality is actually me, and how much of it has developed through years of masking/mirroring etc. I’d be interested to hear if anyone else in the group has any thoughts on the impact living with undiagnosed ADHD can have on shaping personality.
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I was diagnosed with ADHD a while back , it’s only recently I’ve started to understand what it means for me, led to a lot of ongoing reflection/reframing which is a bit of a head f*ck at times but it’s not just been about ADHD.
It’s provided me with a context to understanding myself more , for aspects of my experience & unidentified/undiagnosed adhd (& autism ) probably influenced some of the decisions I took.
Others perceptions/misconceptions of my differences & general stigma interplay too. Most of my life everything was seen through the lens of mental illness which for my parents generation was a huge taboo , (feels like lately things are reverting back to this ) & influences how you’re perceived but doesn’t define self ; it’s hard working out what’s your BS & what’s others rhetoric.
I think it’s easy to become consumed by everything adhd or other ND ;attribute a lot to this & lose perspective , particularly with social media & some online spaces; sometimes need a break from it, a wider perspective/ reality check .
It messed with my head trying to figure out what aspect of me was adhd, autistic - I can’t . There’s no one way to be human and there’s no one way to live life, nothing or no one stays the same , a bit hypocritical given I struggle with change.