A man describes taking Ritalin by chance in his mid-20s and experiencing four hours of unprecedented focus and mental quiet. Fear of medication and shame delayed his diagnosis for years until a GP referral to an ADHD specialist finally gave him clarity. He now coaches others and trains companies to support neurodivergent employees.
How my ADHD story led me to creating community, helping hundreds of other folks with ADHD. We're going to jump through this quickly, but when I was in my mid-20s, a friend who had a son who had Ritalin thought maybe I should check it out and see if it would be helpful for me. I took a Ritalin on a Sunday and for 4 hours I got more done than I get done in a week. And the most amazing thing was within 15 minutes of taking the Ritalin, my brain was quiet for the first time in my entire life. And I literally looked around and thought, people's brains do this. This, like, this is a thing. I've never had less than 3 to 5 conversations happening in my head at any given time. And at the time, I didn't do anything about it. I was like, well, what am I going to do? Get on medication? I don't want to be on medication my whole life. In hindsight, my life would be way better if I would have gotten diagnosed basically 20 years before I did. So jump ahead when I was mostly getting diagnosed because of marital problems. And I have a master's degree in psychology. I've been through tons of therapy. I've been reading self-help things since I was a kid. And my wife was like, all right, is this stuff ever going to change? Like, what is it? And I was like, maybe it's ADHD. Maybe I should check that out. So I went to get diagnosed. I was shamed after filling out a form for an hour, sitting with someone for an hour. I was treated like I was a drug dealer trying to get drugs to go sell on the street. Meanwhile, I was a successful entrepreneur who helps people all the time, but that's how I was treated. Therefore, I ended up not getting diagnosed until a few years later, still with marital problems, because I needed time to get over the shame because I didn't want someone to do that to me again. And then luckily, my general practitioner connected me with a therapist who has been around ADHD for 30 years, and I was diagnosed. Now I coach people. I've Built an online community for folks with ADHD, and I train in companies to help them understand this because I don't want people to go through the suffering that I've gone through. And I know what it's like in life to go through that suffering, and I know what it's like to be an employee and go through that suffering in the neurotypical companies that we work at. And I'm doing everything I can to help others, one, understand what this is, and two, help each other through this so that other people can have a lot less suffering and we can be more connected and help each other out.
ADHD Coaching, Career Coaching, Leadership Coaching for Tech Professionals & Founders
