As a kid I remember never feeling like I quite fit in with my peers. I had a few good friends who understood me and were actually a lot like me, but I always preferred being on my own and reading, writing, or doing creative projects. I had a wild imagination and some teachers took issue with this, only one teacher ever reached out to my mom about it, but since I was a smart kid she never believed that it could be ADHD or any other learning disorder. Elementary school was easy for the most part, but once I got into middle school and was placed in advanced math, I started to fall behind. Concepts that other kids could pick up so quickly just never made sense to me. On top of that, I had no interest in doing homework or outside of class work, but I still managed to perform well on tests and assignments (well, except for in math class). I knew I wasn't stupid, but I began to feel like something was wrong with me. As a kid I got called a lot of names, lazy, annoying, stupid, loud. These things, when you're told them often enough, start to become what you believe about yourself. As a result of this I became incredibly anxious and shy, and later would develop some depressive symptoms as well. Whenever anything happened that would upset me I would explode with emotion, especially at home (sorry, mom). For most of my childhood these were never really big issues, but small things that I couldn't get over. Later when I was 14 and experienced a traumatic incident, this would change and occur in a way I had never experienced. I lost all of my friends, and I didn't know why. Sure, I had been acting differently, but in my head they all knew that I was dealing with some big issues. I think they had expected me to be over what had happened, and I couldn't tell them all of the details because I was too scared of what they might think of me. Later on, I went through my first real break-up and became so severely depressed that any time I was not at school or an after-school activity I would sleep. I began having panic attacks in the halls at school, was eating less because I was constantly nauseous, and eventually got a diagnosis of Depression and General Anxiety. In college is where things really started to come to the surface. I changed my major three times, resulting in me spending way more time in school than my peers.I struggled to remember due dates, to keep track of time and manage it, and I never thought that this was abnormal. I had friends, I had good relationships, and I thought that despite the struggles I did have, I was still learning so I'd probably be ok. It was after my fourth year, when all of my friends began graduating, that I started to feel those old feelings of not belonging come back up. I went to therapy, and after a few months she suggested I talk to a psychiatrist about possible attention issues. So, at the age of 22, I was diagnosed with Inattentive type ADHD. After learning more about what that meant, my whole life began to make sense. In a weird way, this diagnosis that yes, something was "wrong" or different about my brain, started to make me finally feel like there wasn't something wrong with me. It explained everything, from my sleep issues, to my anxiety and shyness, my emotional deregulation, and my inability to organize and manage my time as well as my lack of self-motivation. Over the past two years, I have learned more about ADHD and especially how ADHD effects women. When I learned that so many women go through what I went through, I became passionate about the issue and would tell anyone who would listen. So many women just learn to cope or mask these issues, but they never really go away and will rear their ugly heads in one way or another. I wanted to create this podcast to help bring awareness and shed light on this issue. We need more research, yes, but we also need more representation in media, more advocacy, and more understanding from parents, teachers, coaches, and even doctors. I hope that we can create a world where less girls are overlooked like I was, where more women can recognize these symptoms, and where ADHD is not just seen as a young boys' issue. -Nellie