Friends, I wanted to include a short section here about autism and adhd, among other things. After a lifetime of feeling like there was something wrong with me, I finally went and spoke to some mental health professionals. As we pieced together what was happening upstairs, it became clear that I have both autism and adhd. Clearly, I saw the brain buffet and ate.
Both of these issues present differently within women, let alone as adults and children. And, coupled with the conditioning that life hands us, can create a host of problems. For women, this tends to happen when we’re in our late 30’s to early 40’s. An upswing in diagnoses was particularly noticeable during the pandemic because, with our lives reshaped and priorities changed, some of us were able to cope. Others were not so lucky.
I consider myself one of the others.
I don’t want to make this my entire personality, though it’s hard not to. Once you realise where your brain is at, as you chip away at things and unravel years of learnings and falsehoods, you become acutely aware of just how much of a hold these two conditions have on your life.
And I wish more people understood this. The misconceptions around autism, adhd and mental health are enormous, making it very clear that many organisations and people merely pay lip service to the notion of equal opportunity or inclusiveness.
But, without running off on a slippery tangent, I simply wanted to highlight the fact that mental health is incredibly important to me. Prozac is yummy, and Ritalin is a great kick in the pants. Eventually, I’ll get around to writing think pieces and blog posts about the world from my perspective. Right now, though, I’m focusing on my books.
