Tag: ADHD

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Lyric Rivera - NeuroDivergent Rebel - refusing assimilation into neurotypical society

The Rage That Saved Me & The Pain Before the Pride: What Success Looks Like When You’re Late-Diagnosed – A Late Identified AuDHD (Autistic and ADHD) Story

Lyric Holmans

There is a lot of talk in Neurodivergent spaces about how much relief late-identified Neurodivergent people find when they finally learn the truth about themselves. However, there’s not as much discussion on the pain and grief late identification can bring.

Don’t get me wrong, being diagnosed Autistic (and then later ADHD) did bring me relief and was a critical turning point in my life. Yet, early on, as I learned to sit with that new information, joy and relief were not my only (or even primary) emotions.

People who join me in this chapter of my life, when I am confident, happy, and proud of my multiply-Neurodivergent identity, might falsely think I’ve always been this way, or that getting here was easy. However, they’re missing out on the first thirty-eight chapters of my life’s story, and nothing could be further from the truth.
Continue reading The Rage That Saved Me & The Pain Before the Pride: What Success Looks Like When You’re Late-Diagnosed – A Late Identified AuDHD (Autistic and ADHD) Story

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Lyric, years ago, with long black hair and pale skin from staying indoors, dressed as in a red hood and red and silver mask.

Growing Up Not Knowing About My Neurodivergent (Autistic and ADHD) Brain and What I Wish I Had Understood Sooner

Lyric Holmans

Question for my late-identified Neurodivergent readers: Is there anything you wish you’d known or understood sooner?

If you could give one piece of advice to your younger, unidentified self, what would it be?

I am Neurodivergent, but I didn’t know it (or even what Neurodivergence or Neurodiversity was) for most of my life.

Being diagnosed Autistic, at the age of 29, a few months shy of my 30th birthday, during a mental health crisis, turned my world upside down. It also saved my life. Continue reading Growing Up Not Knowing About My Neurodivergent (Autistic and ADHD) Brain and What I Wish I Had Understood Sooner

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My Birthday is Next Month: Savoring Sunsets While Packing a Go Bag – Turning 39 in a Texas Spring

Lyric Holmans

The Art of the Personal New Year: Why I Reset in Spring, Not Winter What I’m “Burying in the Ground” and What I’m Cultivating This Spring I’m going to be 39 this year. My birthday is in about a month (give or take a few days). I am a spring baby, born in Texas in March 1987. Spring is one of my favorite seasons (with Fall close behind). Here, in Texas, Spring has already sprung – and I am loving it! As far as Texas goes, while many of our laws and corrupt government officials and politicians are ass-backwards, the … Continue reading My Birthday is Next Month: Savoring Sunsets While Packing a Go Bag – Turning 39 in a Texas Spring

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ADHD and Me – Is It Trauma, Autism, ADHD, or… All of the Above?: Years After Being Diagnosed, THIS YEAR I’m Finally Unpacking My ADHD Identity

Lyric Holmans

I Almost Convinced Myself I Wasn’t ADHD. Then a Deadline Proved Me Wrong. What Does a Healed, Untraumatized ADHDer Look Like? I’m determined to find out.
Continue reading ADHD and Me – Is It Trauma, Autism, ADHD, or… All of the Above?: Years After Being Diagnosed, THIS YEAR I’m Finally Unpacking My ADHD Identity