Understanding Your Brain, Changing Your Life with Saara Haapanen

What was your first thoughts and feelings about when you learned, hey, you have ADHD?

I think it was exciting.

Well, it was nice to, like, know.

Because I always, you start reflecting back.

And here's the thing.

A lot of people go through, like, this grief cycle, which is okay.

Make it kind of short.

But, like, you get to decide.

This is a timeline shift, right? If you can be, like...

wow, wow, poor me, here's all the things that happened that I have no control over.

Or, okay, like I now know and I can work towards working with my brain better, like towards or against how it was wired.

And like the things that happened, happened.

Like a lot of people, it's the same as being open-minded or closed-minded.

Like you're going to have an excuse or like a reason to push through.

So I was excited.

But then what was really frustrating, so I start hyper-focusing on it.

And then, of course, my like scrolling algorithm becomes like everything ADHD.

And everything that I thought was a unique Sarahism ended up being an ADHD characteristic.

And that made me sad.

Because I was like, no, like, I can bring the life of the party or, like, be the hypermobile person who could do the move on the trampoline.

And now it's like hypermobility and EDS is a comorbidity with neurodivergence.

Like, being extra bendy is because my brain is wired differently.

And, like, digestive issues and, like, all these... it's great to know all these things, but it's also just hilarious.

How many, how many of my mannerisms are ADHD or like the, it just explains so much of all the things that have happened to me in my life and like my experiences and my body and my, the way that I think and like, yeah.

But I see it as a superpower, so.

What was your first thoughts and feelings about when you learned, hey, you have ADHD?

I think it was exciting.

Well, it was nice to, like, know.

Because I always, you start reflecting back.

And here's the thing.

A lot of people go through, like, this grief cycle, which is okay.

Make it kind of short.

But, like, you get to decide.

This is a timeline shift, right? If you can be, like...

wow, wow, poor me, here's all the things that happened that I have no control over.

Or, okay, like I now know and I can work towards working with my brain better, like towards or against how it was wired.

And like the things that happened, happened.

Like a lot of people, it's the same as being open-minded or closed-minded.

Like you're going to have an excuse or like a reason to push through.

So I was excited.

But then what was really frustrating, so I start hyper-focusing on it.

And then, of course, my like scrolling algorithm becomes like everything ADHD.

And everything that I thought was a unique Sarahism ended up being an ADHD characteristic.

And that made me sad.

Because I was like, no, like, I can bring the life of the party or, like, be the hypermobile person who could do the move on the trampoline.

And now it's like hypermobility and EDS is a comorbidity with neurodivergence.

Like, being extra bendy is because my brain is wired differently.

And, like, digestive issues and, like, all these... it's great to know all these things, but it's also just hilarious.

How many, how many of my mannerisms are ADHD or like the, it just explains so much of all the things that have happened to me in my life and like my experiences and my body and my, the way that I think and like, yeah.

But I see it as a superpower, so.