Stories of an ADD Adult

Most of my friends got their driver’s licenses the day they turned sixteen, or soon after. Definitely by seventeen, at least.

I, on the other hand, waited until I was 23. I had wanted to get my license sooner, but I was afraid because my concentration was so bad. It seemed like I would never be able to drive because I just didn’t have the focus and attention span for it.

I finally had to get my driver’s license when I was 23, because I was out of college and looking for a job. I needed to be able to drive myself to job interviews. It was terrifying to drive, but at least my medication helped.

High school is probably one of the roughest periods of life for a person with ADD or ADHD. It is when the amount of homework assigned each day rises sharply, to the point that it becomes difficult for most people and unmanageable for the ADD/ADHD sufferer.

I was so overwhelmed by homework that I became significantly sleep-deprived. Not out of stress, but out of desperation to finish each assignment. If I didn’t cut into my sleep, I would never finish my assignments and therefore never pass my classes. I was no perfectionist; I merely tried to earn passing grades in each class, because it was the best that I could do.

The sleep deprivation only made the ADD worse. The less I slept, the harder it became to concentrate. Sleep deprivation was really the last thing I needed for my ADD, and it made studying feel like torture.

When I was in elementary school, I was not allowed to drink coffee. Fortunately, my mother had a weakness for coffee ice cream, and she reasoned that if she allowed herself to eat coffee ice cream, then she should allow me to eat it with her. So I developed a taste for coffee before I was allowed to drink it.

Throughout middle school and high school, I was allowed to drink coffee. I began with iced coffee in middle school and graduated to warm espressos in high school.

I loved coffee for the taste, and for the effect it had on me. I rarely felt jittery from drinking coffee. Instead, it relaxed me and made me feel at ease while doing my work. With a cup or two of coffee, my concentration was much improved.