#genuinely every time folks ask me about school stuff i need to emphasize I Dropped Out And Did Not Go Back Until My Mid-20s

[anonymouspuzzler]

how did you go through college/grad school with ADHD, don't know how to combat it well.

genuinely, I dropped out because I had no idea i had it, had other compounding shit going on, and subsequently lost the ability to take care of myself! when I decided to go back it was after learning I most likely had some form of adhd, and I bolstered my support systems in many forms (lived with family instead of alone, went to therapy regularly, generally was older and a little more assured of myself, etc). and even with all that it's still a huge struggle!!

a lot of it comes down to "acknowledge and accept that you're never going to be able to just Become Neurotypical, some days will be hard, be willing to experiment and figure out things that do help you and Use Those Things whether or not they're 'normal' or you think you 'should' be doing them". ie. I struggle a lot with graduate-level reading, and after a lot of experimentation figured out what works best for me is having a TTS read the text out loud at the same time I'm reading it! It took me a long time to realize that because for some reason I got stuck on "needing" to just do one or the other!

#anonymous puzzler answers #genuinely every time folks ask me about school stuff i need to emphasize I Dropped Out And Did Not Go Back Until My Mid-20s #it took me a WHILE to reach a point where I understood what i wanted and needed out of my education & build support systems accordingly #shit was hard! shit's still hard! but it was something I care a lot about and it was important to me to go to school anyway #and maybe this is bad advice but genuinely if you don't feel that desire to Go Through It: figure out why! #do you need a different major? are you not vibing with this school's approach? is college/grad school just Not For You? #(like i Know the way The Industries are now wrt College Degrees but genuinely college isn't for Everyone and that's Fine) #(trades are Awesome and if you vibe more with that that's fucking Awesome)