My Ex-Boyfriend Laughed in My Face When I Shared My Concern About ADHD

And just like my space with him was never safe again

Photo by Eric Ward on Unsplash

I was that child who was affectionately labeled as having “ants in her pants.” I was restless, fidgety, and talkative. I had an abundance of energy and a poor attention span. Life was go go go, and even while sitting at the dinner table, my little legs would swing back and forth as if running on air.

Not much changed as I entered adulthood, but I found ways to direct this energy and mask the inability to sit still.

It wasn’t until I reached my early 30s and I read an article about ADHD that the cogs in my overactive brain started churning. Could this be a feasible explanation for me being how I was?

At the same time, a friend had recently been diagnosed with ADHD. I shared my thoughts with her about identifying with some of the symptoms. In her reply, she confessed that she, too, wondered if I had ADHD.

I didn’t receive the same perceptive acceptance from my then-boyfriend. I can still picture the scene; I was sitting at my desk researching the symptoms. …