To The People Who Suffer From Attention Deficit,
Let me just start this whole letter by first of all saying this: you know who you are. I promise you that if you're reading this and aren't sure that this is you, then it probably isn't because trust me , you will know 100% if it is. When it comes to having a very minuscule to no attention span at all, literally doing anything becomes a monumental challenge. Maybe not because you don't have the skill or you're not prepared enough for it, because trust me, you could be the most knowledgeable person in the world on the subject manner, but when you don't have a conscious and/ or functioning attention span, even the best of the best can suffer.
People around you will try to tell you that taking medicine is the best solution. They'll tell you that you're not being smart or you're not helping yourself if you decide to not take medicine. And in their defense they don't really know how the medicine doesn't just help you with you attention span, but has side effects as well. So some people can rock through their life on Adderall (ADD/ ADHD medicine) and others, like myself, aren't able to keep up with the after affects of the medicine. I mean honestly, there are just too many cons that outweigh the one pro. But if you don' suffer from these side effects and can live your life on the medicine, then get on with your boujee self. Let me just inform you of some of the side effects:
- headaches, weakness, blurred vision, dizziness
- insomnia
- diaraeha, constipation, nausea, vomiting, stomach pains
- hair loss, loss of appetite, weight loss
- potential cardiac issues
Yep, so a person will take these tiny little pills once a day to help better their attention span, but in turn will also suffer from any of the above side effects. So now that you have a better understanding of the condition and understand the benefits and repercussions of trying to take medicine to temporarily cure attention deficit, let me tell you what it's like to live your life every single day with it. Some days are just your average Joe days where you just constantly forget what you're doing and can't for the love of you remember where you set that entire bucket of paint, which is massive so how did I lose it? And other days will be like your own personal reenactment of that one scene in Game of Thrones where Joffrey is repeatedly slapped.
Just think of it like this, you are Joffrey and your attention span is Tyrion (what a guy). It won't matter what you do, but for the love of the holy father himself you won't be able to remember anything. You won't remember what you ate for breakfast, if you ate breakfast, if you remembered to use the bathroom before you left for school, if you put deodorant on (this happens more than you think), if you did your homework, if you have a quiz or test today, and so on. Non ADHD people will think it's fake or an exaggeration, but oh baby do I wish that were the case.
I can't tell you how many times I've had a conversation with my mom where, about 2 minutes after it I have completely forgotten what we had discussed. I mean sometimes I'll even lose my focus in the middle of a conversation and be thinking about something completely different. I even fell asleep a few times in the middle of a conversation! We can't help it when it happens and we definitely can't help when it happens. We're kind of like little adorable new born puppies. One second we'll be playing with out new toy and the next second we're chewing on our tail because we saw it moving around. We're also like puppies in the sense that when you tell a puppy to do something they'll start to do it, but then stop or a few seconds and go do something else. It's almost exactly like that.
So next time you're dealing with someone who you know has an attention deficit disorder, just give us a moment to collect our thought and try to figure out what we're doing in that very moment. We may not hold some of the most topic driven conversations, but I promise we have some of the most interesting conversations.
Sincerely,
The Girl Who Just Wants To Graduate College
P.S. I have to carry around a tube of deodorant in all my purses and backpacks, because I seem to forget to put on deodorant all the time
#IDon'tWantToSmell2017
