If you don’t believe me, check this out!
There are very real differences in the brains of those who have ADHD and those who don’t, and the challenges of ADHD are easily explained by these differences. So yes, when I say ADHD is all in your head, I mean this very literally.
But I also mean it figuratively. Because a lot of the time, the challenges of ADHD are due to faulty perceptions and inaccurate assumptions.
- This will take all day.
- Everything is equally important.
- This will only take a minute.
- I have to respond to every notification immediately.
- I messed up before, so now I have to over-deliver.
- If I only do a good-enough job, people will think I’m slacking.
- They didn’t adopt my ideas in the meeting, so they must think I’m stupid.
- Planning is a waste of time.
I’ve heard all these explanations about situations where they just weren’t true. ADHD messes with your mind. It makes you perceive things differently. You are making decisions and taking action (or not) based on faulty information. To find the truth, it’s often necessary to do a reality check. Test your assumptions, or at least talk them out with someone else.
These ADHD-falsehoods often come along with overwhelm and negative self-talk. In fact, overwhelm and negative self-talk are often very good cues that faulty thinking is happening. So step back, take a few deep breaths, and ask yourself what might be ADHD-falsehoods, and then take the brave step of challenging them.