My ADHD Wake-Up Call

On By LifeWithLa

🧠 Diagnosed at 35 with a Spicy Brain.

The first week of June, in the middle of an ordinary therapy session, I casually mentioned that I had fallen into a pretty bad funk the week before. Then I said, almost as an afterthought:

“Oh — and I realized I hadn’t taken my Zoloft in seven days.”

It wasn’t the first time I had forgotten my meds. In fact, it happens a lot — and I usually beat myself up for it. But this time, my therapist paused, tilted her head, and asked:

“Have you ever considered that you might have ADHD?”

I laughed at first. ADHD? Me?

But as we kept talking — about how ADHD often shows up differently in women, how it hides in plain sight, how it can look like forgetfulness and procrastination and overwhelm — something inside me shifted.

By the end of the session, I wasn’t just considering it. I was 100% sure.

📋 The Pre-Assessment & The Report Cards

Before the session ended, my therapist had me do a pre-assessment screening and encouraged me to ask my mom a few questions about my childhood.

And here’s the wild part — that same week, completely unprompted, my mom brought me a stack of my grade school report cards she had been saving. I hadn’t even told her about the ADHD conversation yet.

So when I sat down with her to talk about my childhood, we had these report cards spread out in front of us, filled with teacher comments like:

  •  “Need to work on organizing ideas.  Assignments from home have been late.  Need to listen during class reading.”
  • “Laura often tries to get work done quickly and does not always check her work well or doesn’t work carefully.”
  • “Laura generally uses her spare time reading, or working on class work from other subjects but sometimes has a problem talking.”
  • “Laura’s homework often comes back incomplete or has been forgotten. I try to remind her daily of her assignments.”
  • “Laura needs to work on organizing her thoughts on paper…still has a good attitude.”

It felt like the universe was handing me proof right when I needed it. The timing was so uncanny it almost felt like a sign — as if everything was lining up to finally give me the answer I’d been missing.

Taking the Next Step

That week, I reached out to a few local clinics and got on the schedule for an official ADHD assessment.

And then… I waited.

And in that waiting, I went through what I can only describe as a mini identity crisis.

Suddenly, everything I was doing made me stop and ask:

“Is this ADHD, or is this just who I am?”

I had to sit with the idea that I wasn’t “lazy” or “messy” or “scatterbrained” after all — that my brain was literally wired differently. And honestly? That realization was both incredibly freeing and really heavy.

💊 Starting Treatment (Eventually)

When I finally got my official diagnosis in July, I felt both relieved and overwhelmed. But because I travel so much for work, I couldn’t even start medication right away — I had to wait until I got home to see my doctor.

A lot of people have mixed feelings about medication, but ADHD is not a personality quirk — it’s your brain not producing enough dopamine. For me, medication is a tool. I’m not against taking it and continuing therapy to work on behavioral strategies. For me, it’s about building a toolkit that actually supports my brain, instead of constantly fighting against it.

🌱 The Hard Realizations

I won’t lie — the weeks after my diagnosis were tough.

I started to realize just how many of my struggles were tied to ADHD:

  • Overstimulation — crowds, noise, even bright lights can send my nervous system into overdrive.
  • Emotional dysregulation — I feel things big and sometimes that’s hard for me and others to manage.
  • Task paralysis — the times I get “stuck,” staring at a simple task I just can’t bring myself to start.
  • Anxiety & Depression — I’ve struggled with both for most of my life, but I now see how much of it is connected to living with undiagnosed ADHD.
  • Impulsivity & Dopamine-Seeking — realizing that some choices, like staying in a toxic relationship longer than I should have, were tied to craving dopamine hits and difficulty regulating emotions.

Seeing my life through this new lens has been both validating and heartbreaking. I grieved for the younger me who just thought she was “too much” or “not enough.” But I’m also learning to offer her grace — and to support myself better going forward.

Why I’m Sharing (and Why I’m Writing Again)

This is my first post back on the blog, and it feels like the right place to start.

Because this journey has reminded me that writing is how I process. It’s how I make sense of the messy middle, how I connect with others who might be feeling the same way, and how I remind myself I’m not alone.

So I’m sharing this in case someone out there is wondering why life feels harder than it “should.” In case someone is quietly calling themselves lazy or messy or broken. You’re not. Your brain might just be wired differently — and getting answers can change everything.

If any of this resonates with you — get yourself assessed. Ask the questions. Get the help. It doesn’t make you weak, broken, or “not normal.” It just means you’re ready to understand yourself better. It is never too late to ask for help.

Here’s to new chapters, more grace, and learning to work with our brains instead of against them.

— Laura

Leave a comment