…
Life is sweet when my soothe seeking nervous system and my interest seeking mind are nice to each other 🤸‍♀️

…
I wish someone had challenged mine…
I wish I knew AuDHD wasn’t something you “look” like — it’s something you live.

For me, it looked like constant rumination, lifelong anxiety, starting therapy at sixteen,
hormonal storms I couldn’t make sense of,
and an over-reliance on alcohol just to quiet my mind long enough to breathe.

It looked like a sensitive Autistic nervous system, mixed with an ADHD mind that raced, scattered, leapt, pulling me between overwhelm and overdrive.

It looked like being quiet and watchful in myself, yet also the class clown, the life of the party — carrying so many identities, bending and shaping to everyone around me
until I couldn’t find myself in the mix.

And while I know many AuDHD people experience challenges far beyond my own,
this is simply my story — not a map for anyone else.

Understanding my neurotype didn’t erase my struggles, but it did soften the way I treat myself and helped me build a life that finally feels like it fits. I don’t believe that struggle is an always an inherent part of being AuDHD and for me, today, it isn’t.

If my story expands your view of what it can mean to be Autistic and ADHD, I’m glad you’re here.

#latediscovered #lateidentified #autisticjoy #nervoussystemregulation #unlearningautism
#adhd #adhdwoman #adhdwomen #audhd #audhdwoman
#audhdwomen #autistic #autisticwoman #autisticwomen

…
Self-doubt is part of late-identification
I wish more people knew that

This is not a sign to be trusted
But an echo from the past
From a past voice
Whose only understanding was self-blame, shame and confusion

For years I mistrusted my own perception
As my communication and experiences were misinterpreted or misunderstood by others around me

You see doubt is not the opposite of knowing … it’s part of it

When my old voice whispers ‘maybe I’m wrong’
I pause and remember what I know

And what I know often lies beyond words

It lives in every glimmer
Of pure and indescribable joy
It lives in those small gem of encounters
That were so rare and pure you held on to them for years
It lives in every moment of overwhelm,
Where the world felt too much, too fast, too loud,
And in every struggle
That never made sense

You don’t need to prove what you have already lived
And you deserve to finally trust
What you have always truly known

#unlearningautism #latediscovery #afterknowing #lateidentifiedautistic #lateidentification #latediscoveredautistic #audhd #audhdwoman

…
The clues were always there, just misunderstood
Late-discovery doesn’t change the past - it rewords it
This rebuilding isn’t reinvention; it’s realignment
Let go of who you were expected to be
And breathe where you are, where you finally fit

#unlearningautism #latediscovery #afterknowing #lateidentifiedautistic #lateidentification #latediscoveredautistic #audhd #audhdwoman