Never Fully Fitting In. Overcompensating, Internalising and Feeling Exhausted With Bridget Hustwaite

Most late aged diagnosed ADHD folks have a bit of a moment where all of a sudden the final puzzle piece is put in place and there’s the ‘lightbulb’ revelation of what has been going on all along. It might be from seeing a video on instagram or tiktok of a list of ADHD symptoms and realising that it was a list of your ‘personality traits’.

People have asked me when I first had a bit of insight into potentially having ADHD, and the truth is that I can’t really remember. I don’t know whether this was because I kind of always had the feeling that it was there and maybe just pushed it down, or if the burnout from ADHD had become so bad that I actually have memory impairments.
Today’s guest is a bit similar to me in this way. Bridget Hustwaite is an author, presenter and broadcaster. You’d likely know her from her days gracing the airways at triple J, or from either of her fantastic books ‘how to endo’ and ‘figuring out 30’.

We spoke about:

• The symptoms of ADHD Bridget had prior to diagnosis and what she struggled with
• The ‘internalising’ aspects of ADHD
• Do we have memory issues or were we just not really present to begin with?
• Our fears of ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ and the trend of having ADHD
• The emotional labour of speaking about ADHD with loved ones
• Comparing the diagnosis of ADHD to endometriosis & why one was more validating than the other
• Emotional regulation and mood & how it’s shifted with medication
• Masking, fitting in and friendships

You can find more from Bridget Hustwaite on instagram

You can get a copy of Bridget’s new book “Figuring Out 30” here!!

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.