Back when I was first diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), a sub-form of ADHD, in second grade I had no idea that I would graduate high school let alone be going into in the second year of college. I was terrified after I got that high school diploma and said the myself “Now what?”, I obviously knew where I was going to college but I had no idea how I would do when I got there. Would I need to take my Ritalin every day like I did in High School? Would there be someone to help me? What if I disappoint everyone who loved me? I knew I was a good student but was I good enough to be a successful college student?
The thing about College that I didn’t realize is there are a lot of distractions. Between parties and sporting events, it was hard to distinguish a time for studying and homework. Being ADD those distractions are amplified by a thousand. It was hard enough studying when you can hear the TV in the other room going. I am the type of person who will put off homework to watch a football game because watching my team beat their rival is so much more fun than reading about why clouds form.
The cool thing about ADD is that there is this thing called “hyper-focusing” which means that I have the ability to intensely focus but that only works when I have an interest in the topic so I definitely screwed up when I chose the wrong major because I had minimal interest in it. During my first semester, my major was meteorology which I thought was super cool... but it slipped my mind that I hate science and math so I really only had one class that I loved and did well in and that was my English class. After that first semester, I changed my major to Journalism and excelled. I started doing well on exams and got myself out of academic probation. If I would have just picked journalism to begin with, I wouldn’t be a semester behind, but college is all about making mistakes.
My mistakes that I made during my freshman has taught me a lot. I have learned it’s okay to stumble and as long as I keep going everything will work out. I have learned that I should never be afraid to ask for help because no one really knows what they’re doing. It’s not the end of the world if I get a terrible grade because that’s an opportunity for me to learn from.
The best place to do work, in my opinion, is the library. The library has magical powers that will motivate people to get projects and papers done in no time. The most important thing that I learned is that while studying and doing work is important it should never negatively affect your mental health. So if you’re feeling super stressed go hang out with some friends and blow off some steam.
College isn’t easy but just because I have ADD doesn’t mean it’s impossible. It took me a while to figure it out and get into the flow of things but once I did it became a bit easier. College is, in fact, doable with any disability, it doesn’t matter if you don’t learn as fast as others as long as you make an effort you’re okay. Just because someone has a disability doesn’t mean they are doomed to live an uneducated life, a disability doesn’t define a person the person defines it.
