12 (+1) Days of ADHD
Saturday 16th October, 2021

October is ADHD Awareness Month. I've decided that I'm going to use that as a writing prompt, and to set myself a challenge. For the next twelve days, I'm going to write something about my experiences learning about ADHD as a very recently diagnosed adult.

So why 12 days? Like the Twelve Days of Christmas, except instead of partridges and pear trees I'll be waxing lyrical about executive dysfunction, the Bastard that is working memory, non-linear thinking, and the myriad of other neurodivergent things which have shaped the very core of my personality throughout my life without me ever realizing it.

The connection to Christmas is incidental. Thought process:

• "I should write something about ADHD this month"
• "I should write somethings about ADHD this month"
• "I should write some things across several days this month"
• "I should write for like, seven days this month"
• "Haha, how does that song about Christmas go? AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE"
• "I should write for twelve days this month, like the song"

I have no advance plan as to what I'm going to write about, or when I'm going to, or how much I should try to write. I just know that for the next 12 days I have to write something.

That seems like a reasonable way of getting into writing, especially self-reflective writing, especially especially self-reflective writing which I intend to broadcast to a wider audience! It's longer than a week, so has a chance to blossom into a longer habit, but 12 days still feels short enough that I can push myself to the finish line, should I lose interest halfway through (which is... likely).

I hope that I can share some useful insights along the way, but ultimately this excercise in picking up writing as a new habit is my own personal challenge.

Hasta manyana!