Friend believes I shouldn’t tell people about my ADHD

For context, he is an amazing friend who has helped me get through many tough situations in life. This was a long reply but I think I got the message across the best way I could. Had to pick a flair that best matched this. There is no “awareness” option.

This was my response to him:

If only you knew how hard it has been for me for the last 26 years…Not knowing how I felt and why I felt things the way I did.

I always felt stupid, less-capable, lazy, unmotivated, impulsive, couldn’t do basic tasks, couldn’t articulate properly what was on my mind, couldn’t pay attention to anything, couldn’t hold a thought in my head, couldn’t understand what I was feeling. I had a million thoughts racing through my mind every second, but couldn’t grasp any of it, it was overwhelming to say the least. The ever-increasing feeling of Emptiness, depression, anxiety, stress.

Even when I could speak my mind, it wouldn’t have come out the way I intended, and people often misrepresented or just didn’t understand.

This made everything in my life more difficult. I was somehow barely was able to keep it up until now, but I was almost at my tipping point. The best to way to put it is: Everyone is sprinting to the finish line, but I had my feet tied together, so I had to learn to run with my hands.

But i had to make compromises and sacrifices to keep up, and this impacted my physical and mental health, as well as those around me who also didn’t understand why I acted or reacted the way I did. And I don’t blame them for not understanding, because neither did I.

If I never met my friend with ADHD, how much longer would It have taken me to get help? If at all? How would that have impacted me and those around me? I don’t think I would have made it much further given the situation I was in.

Now it’s time to pass the message on, like my friend did. Nothing special, just a little nudge. I am forever grateful for that person, because if it wasn’t for her, I don’t know what would have become of me.

I can only imagine how many others are going through the same thing as I am. I read somewhere that, statistics show that out of 100 people, 5 have adhd but only 1 knows. (Don’t know how accurate it is, but the point has been made).

I will not stay silent, I will not keep this to myself. It is now my mission to bring awareness to others and help even if one person. I won’t hold onto the baton. That would be selfish of me.

I need to be the change I want to see in the world. For myself, for my family, and for the future generations. My kids and grankids to come. Whatever it takes, I don’t care how.

People do deserve to know. We cannot solely rely on the system to help, educate and guide those in need. We are the system. One is everything and everything is one.

What they do with that knowledge going forward is up to them. I’ve done my part and passed on the message.

My life has completely changed once I had it figured out. But I wouldn’t have done it alone. And now that I am taking my meds I can finally start to put my life back in traction, I can take better care of myself, my family and my friends. And I don’t expect anything in return, I only hope that my actions will leave a positive mark behind for those to come and to better understand themselves and what they’re going through. Only this way will we truly make a difference in the world.

I hope you understand the message I am trying to get across.

Ps. I would never have been able to write this prior to understanding what was going on with me.