“Finally, Everything Made Perfect Sense”
Rhonda Khan, founder of Simply Speech Solutions, and creator of the one-woman show Food sounds off on her long road to an ADHD diagnosis.
As a child I was enrolled in gifted programs but my teachers would say, “Rhonda is always looking out of the window. She’s falling asleep in class.” In high school I was called ditzy and spacey.
I had been going to therapy on and off since 19, but in my late 20s, I started noticing a pattern. Each therapist I met with had a different explanation as to what was going with me: anger management issues, anxiety, mood disorders. I was officially diagnosed at 29, and it was a huge sense of relief and validation. Everything in my life made perfect sense.
Attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD) feels like standing in the middle of Times Square, all day, every day of your life. It’s being on a treadmill that constantly shifts speed with no warning. I lose everything—keys, phones, money, my car. So I am starting to create systems for how I put things away. For example, I place my keys in the same pocket so I always know where they are.
When I’m in hyperfocus mode, magic happens. I have bursts of ideas and I try to execute them immediately. I have blind optimism and tunnel vision until I get the goals accomplished.
I continue to thrive despite the challenges I’ve faced. Today I am a business owner, I produce my own work, and I’m a mom. I still have days filled with doubt, but I keep getting up and getting it done.
Read the full interview on kaleidoscopesociety.com
