Judah has ADHD

Hi! Judah here. I am writing to tell you a story that has unfolded over the last 9 months or so. Spoiler warning: the conclusion is in the title.

First off, for any of you who don’t know me, I am a very energetic person. The company I worked for until April of last year was a very good place for an energetic person to work. I got to get out of the office about once a week and do surveying work all over PA. When I was in the office, we had ping pong and board games to play over lunch or if we just needed a break. Unfortunately some of their contracts dried up and they had to let about a quarter of their small workforce go in April, and that included me. (I left on good terms and am still friends with my old boss). The next two months consisted of trying to hunt down a new job.

I finally found a job at a medium sized company through a recruiter and started working there just after the 4th of July. At first things seemed to be going well, but I quickly discovered I was having trouble focusing and didn’t really fit into the company culture. After about a month and half, I was feeling pretty miserable there. Around that time I was contacted by a different company that I had applied to in my job hunt. It was a smaller, family company that seemed to have a culture that I would fit into better. They offered me a job and I accepted. My first week was pretty great. Then everything started to fall apart again. At the end of my first week the head of my department of three people resigned. Within a month the other member of my department as well as another employee resigned as well. They all had their reasons for leaving and none of those reasons made me wish I wasn’t there. However their leaving took the company from 12 to 9 employees, and my department that I was just brought on to help from 3 to 1 members, that one member being me. Obviously this led to some pretty stressful times (which I am still in) and I was finding it harder and harder to focus.

During one of my moments of lack of focus, I came across this video by Hank Green titled “Do I have ADHD?” and I resonated with a lot of the things he said. At the end of the video he recommended this video on the How to ADHD channel on YouTube about “How to Tell if You Have ADHD” if you thought you might have it. That video prompted me to do a lot of research about ADHD and take a lot of screening tests online for it. This included watching a lot more videos from How to ADHD. Finally in December I decided that I should ask a medical professional about having ADHD. After meeting with my doctor and then a therapist I was diagnosed with combined hyperactive and inattentive ADHD at the beginning of January and have been prescribed medication to help manage some of the symptoms.

Depending on how well you know me, this diagnosis is probably not a surprise. In fact, a few good friends assumed that I already had a diagnosis.

So, why did I tell a long story for a conclusion that is somewhat obvious? It is because of my fear of labels.. The possibility that I might have ADHD is not something new. I have been told for as long as I can remember that if I had been in public school rather than home schooled, I would have been “labelled” as ADHD, and given the impression that that would be very bad. A few years ago I had looked into getting a diagnosis but was convinced not to because people asked me if I really wanted to have a “label” for the rest of my life. However something that I have come to understand from my research is that ADHD isn’t about having a label; it is about having a brain that works differently from a neurotypical brain. The host of How To ADHD has a very good Ted Talk about this titled “Failing at Normal.” She ends it with this encouragement to those who have ADHD or think they might.

“You are not weird
You are not stupid
You don’t need to try harder
You are NOT a failed version of normal

You are different
You are beautiful
And you are NOT alone

Welcome to the Tribe”

So that is why I pursued a diagnosis; not because I wanted an excuse for when I act impulsively or interrupt you when we’re talking, but so that I can stop trying to be normal and get the resources and help I need to be the best me. As anybody who has ever met me knows, I am by no means normal and it sure is nice to know that is okay.

Here are a couple more links to videos that I would recommend:

What it is like to have ADHD (How to ADHD)
https://youtu.be/ji0hg1LduU8

My 10 Favorite Things About Having ADHD (How to ADHD)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFCKa9CVzGU&t=5s

Getting started playlist (How to ADHD)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvq9Tp5JZ8oDV3SIpSJX25Twp9FHKqi_l

This last one is pretty long, but I thought it was both fun and well done.

Unofficial test (Totally ADD)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iozAFIr3BEw&t=2s

Hello! It’s me, Jane. Some of you might be wondering about my reaction to all of this. I’d just like to note that I have known Judah since our freshman year of college, and when he wrote this blog post today, this is the first time that I’ve ever seen him sit down and write more than a few sentences at a time without getting extremely stressed out. I’m very proud of him and can’t wait to see how he grows on this journey!