Jordy

I got a late diagnosis of ADHD at 26 when I was living in Australia, by chance with a therapist I’d started seeing due to what I came to understand was anxiety and depression. Those with ADHD are more susceptible to these demons. The more I learned about them, the more detail I saw in order to recognise them when they showed up. Through facing them through therapy and my own reading around these diseases I’ve become more attuned to recognising the demons and putting healthy practices in place to mitigate their appearance in my life, or at least lessen the intensity and negative impact. Don’t Let Your Demons felt like a clear reminder not to forget that they exist, ignoring them only serves them. It became about learning to live with them. Talking openly to trusted friends has been a primary source of relief, along with meditation, exercise and writing. There are six demons on the T-shirt but we all have more, choosing to name them has allowed me to feel like I can face them head on and reason with them when I need to and draw the energy away from them. 

I feel like ADHD gets a bad rap, it’s overly self diagnosed, which can be fruitful to an individual but it has gained negative connotations surrounding laziness. But really we have different ways of receiving, processing and delivering information, that the current educational and work structure does not tailor to. I was certainly made to feel different, and at times not intelligent enough for the day to day or to achieve the long term goals I had set myself. Which fed a number of my demons, but understanding how to reason with them has allowed me to navigate the working world and my own issues and has allowed me to find where I want to be, but most importantly, where I don’t want to be.