The ADHD Field Guide for Adults
I can feel the wrongness lurking around corners, in stacks of dishes gone undone, in piles of laundry and clutter that crowd my hallways, in the unsent emails and unanswered texts, in the plans I keep making and breaking, in the way that I seem to be outside myself, watching my world fall apart. I am drowning, and the water is invisible to everyone but me.
Sep 3, 2026you cannot “cure” ADHD. You CAN manage it by being willing to put in the work.
Sep 3, 2026The executive functions are impulse control, emotional control, flexible thinking, working memory, self-monitoring, planning and prioritizing, task initiation, and organization. People with ADHD are generally deficient when it comes to executive functioning.
Sep 3, 2026People with ADHD struggle with regulating dopamine and serotonin, which are responsible for things like regulating your emotions and your focus/concentration. So a person with ADHD might seem like they get angrier or more joyful than most people. The wall between what we’re feeling and what we’re outwardly presenting can be less consistent than others’.
Sep 3, 2026We have to make a concerted effort to manually regulate our emotions, because we tend not to do it as automatically as other people.
Sep 3, 2026That depression is often compounded by anxiety—while I am struggling to do basic care tasks, I’m also watching those care tasks: The dishes go from a single dishwasher load to four or five days’ worth of dirty dishes. The tasks start to feel bigger and scarier and more overwhelming the longer they sit, so I become less and less likely to start. The anxiety and depression cycle continues while I keep putting off tasks and then beating myself up when it happens. It’s fun in my brain.
Sep 3, 2026People with ADHD have a really hard time knowing how much time has passed. We have a really hard time estimating how long something is going to take. We have a really hard time estimating how long it will be until something happens in the future. For example, if something is happening in a week, that’s forever! Until it’s tomorrow, and then you’re fucked.
Sep 3, 2026the point of hobbies and projects is to enrich our lives, and even if you never finish any of them, your life is still enriched by the joy you feel while working on them. So if you abandon a project, you did not fail. You succeeded in allowing a hobby to enrich your life, even if only briefly. Keep your eye on the ball.
Sep 3, 2026When you’ve got a little gremlin making you worry about every choice and every decision you make, it often results in less externally visible impulsivity or hyperactivity. That’s because you’re spending all your time living in your head, worrying about that thing you did, or meant to do, or need to do, or still haven’t done.
Sep 3, 2026