Having ADHD is like having a car where the ignition only works sometimes. Other times, you have to sit in the seat, revving the engine futilely over and over, praying for a miracle so that you can make it to work on time.
And then sometimes you get it to work after an hour of begging, and you sprint your way into the office with your hair on fire and smelling like engine smoke, already prepared to face the worst of your boss scowling at you. You know what they’re going to say. It always goes like this:
Boss: “Why are you late?”
You: “I’m so sorry. It was my car-“
Boss: “Well, you should have planned for this. You should have started earlier.”
You: “But I woke up at the regular time and everything, and I was already sitting in the car and it just wouldn’t start.”
Boss: “Well, so-and-so has a car, too. And they have no trouble getting here on time.”
You: “I know, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. It worked just fine yesterday.”
Boss: “See? So you can get here on time. You just don’t want to because you’re a lazy employee.”
And that’s for the times you actually can get it to work. Some other days, it’s so demoralizing that you just give up and go back to bed.
No one’s ever driven your car before, so no one’s ever been able to say, “you know, that’s not right. Maybe there’s something up with that car so it isn’t connecting the way it’s supposed to. It isn’t supposed to be that hard to start up a car.”
But nobody says that. They just tell you to figure yourself out. Or be fired.
Again.