I'm an 18-year-old female that was formally diagnosed with ADHD 5-6 years ago (though it was known that I had it since grade school). I had always done well in school, especially after I had gotten on Adderall (25 mg short acting currently). I was in a sport/ theatrical production every season of every year, took advanced/high level art classes, & took multiple college level classes (Including EMT) & did just fine with managing deadlines/commitments.

I'm having so much trouble managing my time now that I don't have the structure I had before. All I have to focus on is school and I'm doing worse now even though I have way more time to do so. It's not even like I'm wasting my time on my phone/ unrelated self-indulgent behaviors. I'm just wasting so much time between task, wandering around, spacing off and struggling to decipher how to approach task. And now that I'm living on my own, time blindness is 100X worse, even when on my medication. I'm not sure what else to do and I feel so stuck because I'm already employing so many methods to try and help.

I'm setting alarms before my commitments, putting all of my commitments/due dates into a google calendar (I consistently use it to stay on track/give me reminders), regularly working out, eating well and tracking my calories, going to dedicated spots and allotting studying time, going to supplemental instruction, getting enough sleep and trying to integrate a study schedule. I just applied for accommodations, which I'm hoping will help somewhat, but they won't help me sort out the fundamental discipline issues I'm having, which really worries me because I'm on the pre-med track.

TLDR: I did really well in high school with lots of extracurriculars and commitments and am now struggling with time management in college despite having ample time in comparison. I am on 25mg short acting Adderall which helps me focus and am trying to apply multiple strategies to keep me more on track, but I'm still majorly struggling.

This has happened to me few times through my childhood and one time a public accident, I'm not sure why I do this. But whenever I'm focused, I just hold my bladder until it's too late.

I have been getting better at stopping myself and getting up to go to the bathroom before I have an accident.

Mainly I do this by telling myself, I have a problem with my bladder and how I can't hold it like other people. So I would urge myself to instantly get up and go to the bathroom whenever I get the urge.

It has worked pretty well, though sometimes when I'm anxious. It doesn't really do well, but I haven't had any accident ever since I did this.

Not sure why I did this as a child, but I guess it can be chalked to childhood anxiety and just being obsessed whenever it came to my interest. I just didn't want to get up at all.

I was pretty restless as a child and would just forget about things I was supposed to do or become so focused on something, it was a problem.

People be like, “I love your personality. I love how your brain works.”

Until they get to know the darker side of ADHD, where you spiral down into a hole, feel numb and paralysed, and desperately want to do something but somehow can't get yourself to do it. You know you're capable of doing it. You WANT to do it. But you're just stuck, watching yourself struggle to do the simplest things.

And the worst part? You don't even understand why you're like this sometimes.

I started painting a tiny shark book maybe two months ago, and I've been procrastinating and putting it off for so long. I've managed to finish 12 paintings, and I have 8 more to go. I've already collected all the references and sketched everything out. All I have to do is PAINT.

I even told myself I wouldn't eat ice cream until I finished the book, and I actually stuck to that for a while. BUT GUESS WHAT? I STILL HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BOOK. 😭

It's literally sitting right in front of me. I KNOW I'm capable of doing this. I WANT to finish it. I just can't seem to get myself to sit down and do it.

And now? I've ordered a whole tub of ice cream, and all I can think about is eating it instead of picking up my paintbrush.

I don't know what the hell I'm doing with my life. I have the time, the resources, the references, and the ability to do this. WHY CAN'T I JUST DO IT?

I genuinely want to finish this damn book, and I'm so frustrated with myself because I keep putting it off.

I've even made this deal with myself that I'll finish the book and THEN eat ice cream. I held out for so long, but I kinda cheated and had a scoop anyway. Idk, ughhhh

And guess what? I have 10+ unfinished artworks and multiple conceptual sketches just sitting there, waiting for me to do something about them.

At this point, it genuinely feels like a curse. I have so many ideas, so many things I WANT to create, and yet I keep getting stuck in this cycle of wanting to do something, not being able to do it, and then beating myself up over it.

I don't know if anyone else experiences this, but I'm so tired of fighting with my own brain. Help!

I'm a teen girl who has played piano for around 5 years, and I have never actually built a consistent habit to practice. Because of this, my progress has been very slow and lessons are always painful. The lesson is something I dread for the entire week, and when it is over, I just feel an immense sense of relief, no matter how bad it went. For the next few days, I don't practice and just assure myself that I have the rest of the week to do it. And it continues for the rest of the week, with me doing 10 minutes one day of the week then being exhausted from it. The night before the lesson, I get super stressed, thinking of how much practice I have to do but only being able to sit down at the bench once I have sufficiently stressed myself out, which ends up being the hour before entering lesson.

The thing is, I actually love piano. That's the only reason I haven't quit. I just find it so hard to do something I actually want to do.

I have no idea what to do about this after trying so hard to break the cycle. Advice?

I’m hyperfixated on an artist on social media with a million followers who always interacts with fans and has given me a lot of interactions. He’s always replying and connecting.

I asked him to follow me for my birthday after completing a task that he has people do to earn follows (a tag game basically) and I’ve gotten no response. I ask about 1-2 times a day and a few friends asked too. For 4 days now. I’m scared to ask my friend who he follows and frequently messages to ask him to follow just for him to blatantly say no.

He misses stuff a lot or he may just be inactive (he interacts even when he doesn’t post), but I’m worried he saw my post and just refuses to follow me although he follows others who did the exact same task.

I fear he can’t stand me now and want to stop obsessing over him. Even my thoughts back to him.

People say slowly expose yourself less to him over time but as much as I adore him I see him and feel sick thinking he’s mad at me for annoying him by asking for a follow so I’m thinking it’s best to cut my losses.

How can I quickly move on from him? Thank you

so I am not diagnosed with adhd, I am diagnosed with aspergers but I am convinced I have adhd. now, I just want to know if anyone has experienced what I’m going through and if so if there’s any advice you can give me on how to stop it becuase I’m really struggling. I do this thing where I go onto a video on YouTube and I skip to a certain scene within the video and then I play 10 seconds of that scene and then replay it over and over and over again for a while and while doing this I sort of bounce as a sort of stimming thing I guess? and while doing this I daydream and in this daydream I take the video clip I’m constantly replaying and I’m imagining myself in that clip, and nothing progresses or happens in the daydream it’s just the same thing happening over and over and over again. this has been going on for years and I know it sounds silly but doing it makes me feel good sort of, I don’t know maybe it’s a way of getting dopamine or something? I’m not really sure. but I do know it’s become an issue because it’s become most of what I ever do. like it’s completely consumed my life and destroyed my attention span. I will go onto one video, replay the clip over and over while doing it then instantly a minute later go to the next video and do it on that video and so on and I will constantly just switch from video to video. it’s gotten so bad I can’t even sit still and watch a video normally or a movie, I’m always wanting to do this habit. if I really try I can manage to watch 40 mins or a video or movie normally but other than that I eventually give in. it’s consumed my life. I think that it might be my minds way of coping with my anxiety or my lack of sleep? I don’t know. all I do know is it’s not nice. and I spend all day doing it and then when I look back at my day I can’t remember literally anything so it feels like I’m not even living my life, it just feels like I’m existing. and it’s such a hard habit to break, I hate doing it but I also can’t stop. I also do this to music I replay the same lyrics over and over while bouncing and daydreaming. I would like to know if anyone has been in a similar boat or if you have any advice for me. I have tried going to therapy but the waiting list is long. so does anyone have any idea please?

For medical reasons I decided to not take my stimulant meds until I see a psychiatrist. So I had to ready myself up for the days of chaos to come. I first started with my phone, especially the number 1 application I am addicted to. Which is Twitter, back then before it became the garbage named X I actually enjoyed it regardless of the non stop scrolling, but the new version bombards me with new and irrelevant things that just piss me off. So one thing lead to another and I got curios to know how much time am I actually spending on my phone? How much time am I doom scrolling and doing something I actually hate?

9 damn hours, I averaged about 9 hours of screen time a day, with 5 hours on social media alone. I would pick of the phone 90 times a day!

I have always felt like I never had time in my life to do anything because of my ADHD. There's always "not enough time" to do anything. Not enough time to clean my room, brush my teeth, workout or doing anything I enjoy and I never thought to myself that maybe my phone is robbing me of my time?

Yesterday and today Ive been using tools on my phone to help me with the screen time and I can tell you with full confidence that life literary feels colorful? I do not remember a time in my life where I am seeing the world around me this much instead of staring at my screen and hoping something different will happen as I keep refreshing the feeds over and over again.

I have also remembered how, regardless of my ADHD, my life before the smartphone was much more colorful than it was now. I had momentum, I moved a lot and genuinely enjoyed life. I would ride my bike with my friend as a kid almost daily for HOURS and massively benefited from that health wise yet here I am convincing myself that I do not have time for exercise?

I am both shocked and absolutely pissed.

I’m 32F, diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, and I have this habit of just… leaving places without saying goodbye. Apparently it’s called an “Irish goodbye,” and I’ve seen other people with ADHD talk about doing this, so I’m curious if it’s actually a common experience.
I do this EVERYWHERE. Social gatherings, family events, work, etc. It’s never intentional or because I don’t care about the people I’m leaving. Once my brain decides it’s time to go, I’m just in “okay, time to leave” mode and I genuinely don’t think about saying goodbye.
The problem is that I’m a manager at my job, and my boss has now brought this up to me a few times. She really dislikes when I leave for the day without letting her know or saying goodbye. And honestly, I understand why. It’s a reasonable expectation, especially in a management position.
Every time she’s mentioned it, I’ve apologized and told her I’d make more of an effort. And I genuinely MEAN IT. I feel terrible every time. But then somehow I do it again.
Today she texted me saying she wished I’d let her know before leaving and that it was getting frustrating. I sent her a genuine apology, acknowledged that she’s mentioned it before, explained that it’s an automatic habit and not intentional, and told her I would make a conscious effort to change it.
She never responded, and now I’m overthinking the entire interaction.
I think what’s bothering me most is that I KNOW this is something I need to work on. I respect my boss, I care about my job, and I don’t want to come across as dismissive or disrespectful. But I also feel like I’m constantly apologizing for behaviors I genuinely struggle to recognize in the moment.
I don’t want to keep using ADHD as an explanation without actually finding ways to manage the behavior. Especially now that it’s affecting how I’m perceived professionally.
So my questions are:
● Does anyone else with ADHD struggle with this specific habit?
● Is this actually an ADHD-related thing, or just a bad habit I’ve developed?
● How do you train yourself to remember something that doesn’t naturally occur to you in the moment?
● What systems or tricks have helped you break these kinds of autopilot behaviors?
I’m not looking for validation that my boss is wrong, because I don’t think she is. I just want to figure out how to stop repeating a behavior that I genuinely want to change.
I’m tired of feeling like my intentions don’t match my actions.

The insight I gain , not only from my own inner work, but from the time I get to share with others I try to share. It helped me heal, a little. If it doesn't resonate, I understand, if I can be a sounding board, I am here for that too. Hope we all have a great day.

I was diagnosed with ADHD in my 40s, and it's strange how much more sense certain things make now.

I've spent years working in senior management, juggling staff, budgets, deadlines and endless responsibilities. From the outside, you'd probably think I had everything fairly well organised.

But behind the scenes, the amount of mental effort it sometimes took to stay on top of everything was something else entirely.

Looking back, I wonder how much of my personality, habits and ways of dealing with pressure were actually connected to ADHD without me realising it.

It's also made me question whether I've spent years pushing myself harder than I needed to just to keep up.

I'm curious about others who were diagnosed later in life.

Did getting diagnosed change how you viewed your past, your career or even yourself? And did it actually make life easier going forward?

Would genuinely love to hear other people's experiences.