I was diagnosed during my very last semester of college. I had struggled tremendously through the previous years with procrastination and completing school work, but I blamed it on my own personal failings. I tried so hard for so long to change and nothing was changing.
In my last semester, I finally decided to seek help at my school’s counseling center. When I learned about ADHD, suddenly my struggles made sense. It was such a relief to know I wasn’t just a bad student and there was a reason things were hard. Just knowing that my difficulties with schoolwork weren’t my fault helped me to earn my best semester GPA. However, it was a grieving process to understand and accept the diagnosis. I had many moments of anger, sadness, and disbelief.
I still have doubts sometimes. My tip is to ride the waves of grief in your diagnosis process but to know that your life is going to be so much better once you understand how your brain works and learn to work with it instead of against it.
Rebekah