I was diagnosed with ADHD late in life - here’s how I’m surviving university
ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - is actually a blessing in disguise.
Hello!
I’m Giorgia, and I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 18, and freshly out of Sixth Form.
At the time, I was genuinely shocked, but when I reflected on my childhood…yeah, it made sense.
As it turns out, not everybody grows up with leg spasms, total impulsivity, over-excited puking, verbal mimic tics and a completely inability to remember small details the second the words dissipate into the air.
Of course I have ADHD.
But I didn’t know that at school, and I spent all 13 years of my education forcing myself into a ‘structured’ way of living. I used all my energy sitting still, being quiet, and attempting to cram information that did not want to stay in my head, into my head, in torturous study sessions.
I worked my way through it, I passed my exams, I was the classic ‘successful student’ - but I was also burnt out, constantly stressed, and putting on an exhausted facade to seem normal.
Then I got diagnosed, and it was…freeing.
You wouldn’t think that being diagnosed with a disorder would be freeing, but there I was, eighteen years of age, and I suddenly had an answer to my most asked question - why am I like this?
Now, I’m twenty-two years old, and I have spent four years cultivating a collection of actions to protect my own sanity - and would you believe it, it’s worked!
I have a honed collection of things that I do, or let myself do, that have made me an infinitely more productive person. And you know what? I think some of these things might help some other people too.
So here it is: the ultimate kit for focusing the ADHD brain!
Letting myself wiggle around like a mad thing, or sit in any position I feel inclined to sit in.
Turns out, this is crucially important for me. After years of forcing myself bolt-upright, allowing myself to sit backwards or sideways on a chair, sit crossed-legged on the floor, or any other variation of sub-normal seating actually helps me concentrate.
By not having to concentrate on my posture and appearance of focusing - shock horror - I can actually focus!
I’ve found that this is the same for standing too. If I move around when I’m talking, do something with my hands or, more often than not, have one leg higher than the other (flamingo style), I can listen to people a whole lot better.
The pomodoro technique!
Oh, pomodoro. How I adore you. This technique, which adorably gets its name from the Italian for tomato and was developed in the late 80’s, has a basic concept and brilliant results.
This focus method, which splits study and break time into shorter segments, allows me to pick one thing to focus at a time. In my little breaks I get to reward my brain with a moment of relaxation, or more often than not, TikTok.
Pomodoro splits your time into 25 minute study sessions, with 5 minute intervals, until after four study sessions you get a (holy) 15 minute break.
Pomodoro has revolutionised the way I work. 25 minutes of focus works much better for my busy brain that the 90 minutes that often gets suggested, and something external telling me what to do is invaluable to me.
Online pomodoro, such as this website, 'Pomofocus', are free and work really well, but I have a little physical pomodoro machine too, which stops me straying onto my phone to check how long I have left*.
*The classic trap for ADHD. Wait, what did that notification say…?
Background noise.
I can’t work without noise in the background, but I also can’t work with interesting noise in the background. It’s a total Catch-22.
But actually, it’s not.
Lofi Beats!
Yup, it’s that simple.
No voices, but enough change in sound to keep my brain buzzing at a workable level. I can’t recommend these vibey beats enough for the busy mind.
1. Lists, 2. Lists; and 3. Lists.
Oh, and 4. Lists.
I write everything down, and neatly.
If I can cross something I’ve done off of a list, I can show my weird little brain that actually, I did that already.
This doesn’t just let me remind myself that *checks list*, oh yeah, I did that, but it also lets me:
Set my plan for the day
Get the stressful amalgamation of things to do out of my head; and
Physically check off my achievements, something I can not do in my head!*
*I also can’t do maths in my head, but that’s not relevant.
Clean spaces
I keep my space clean.
I have some serious tendencies to procrastinate-clean, so before I sit down, I make sure I’ve gone through my cleaning list (shocker), and have done my dishes, fluffed my pillows, laid out my study space, and that I am ready to sit down. Otherwise I’m up and down like a deranged jack-in-a-box, pulling out a good old ADHD buffer dance because I’ve forgotten what I was going to do.
Think of a buffering video. That’s me in my kitchen.
A tidy space is a tidy mind - they’re not wrong about that.
Drinking water, but, through a STRAW!!
This seems like a tiny adjustment but it works wonders.
I forget to drink a lot - it’s just not something my brain deems important amidst the hub-bub and general noise of useless information - so I make it fun.
Having a straw is like a fidget toy. I drink through a straw, it helps me concentrate, and the fact that I’m actually hydrating myself (and this revelation is a biggie) I can think better.
Who knew, huh?
Not stopping my ADHD ‘tics’.
Part of my ADHD is verbal mimics, or ‘tics’.
TikTok is notorious for providing me with a never ending stream of sounds to mimic absentmindedly on the daily - the current one is the catchy ‘all that work and what did it get me (do do do-do, do do do do-do) why did I do it’ - and what I’ve learnt is: don’t try to stop it.
I hum my little ditties, verbally mimic random brain-pleasing quotes, and ramble around subconsciously making noise.
And actually, that’s okay! It helps me think, and it keeps me stimulated, albeit with some weird looks from people who don’t know me.
Using operant conditioning on myself.
I’ve semi-pavloved myself.
I set out little treats for myself in advance when I’m undertaking something I really don’t want to do, treats like a square of chocolate, a cup of tea or, in desperate times, a little bit of the Sims 4.
I treat myself like a toddler in need of cajoling. I tell myself ‘right, get to the end of this essay/job/application etc., and you can have a special hot chocolate, one from the Tassimo machine’, or, ‘if you get to uni early today, you can buy a pastry from co-op!’
It seems crazy, but it positively reinforcing yourself works, and reasoning with my brain out-loud seems to give me a new level of motivation.
Learning something major about yourself later in life can be scary, but also undeniably helpful.
My brain works now, and I mean it works, rather than just ‘functions’.
I can think, and study, and enjoy doing those things, because I can do it on my own time and in my own way.
I gained my Bachelor of Arts by allowing myself to wiggle, and cajole myself, and learn about my own brain, and you know what? It’s really, really cool.
Late diagnosed ADHD man, what a ride.
Great read. I’ve enjoyed it. I like the way you have found comic in describing your diagnosis.