There's a particular kind of disorientation that comes with receiving an ADHD diagnosis as an adult. You might have expected to feel clarity, and perhaps you do, for a moment. But alongside the relief, many people describe something more complicated: a quiet unravelling of the story they've always told themselves about who they are. Before diagnosis, most adults with unidentified ADHD spent years developing their own explanations for why things were hard. You were lazy. Disorganised. Too sensitive. Not trying hard enough. These weren't neutral observations, they became part of your identity. A diagnosis doesn't just explain the past. It asks you to rewrite it.