Being Diagnosed And How It Manifests In Relationships

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I've never thought I'm "special" but people always tell me I'm different, interesting, weird, strange, unique or one-of-a-kind. Every social group or different circle of friends, they would always say the same. I have always chalked it up to having a diverse collection of interests and a diverse collection of friends, where these different experiences would rub off on me.

But I've recently learned that the source of this difference with social norms and thought processes is more likely to do with my brain itself and the way it functions. Being diagnosed with ADHD/nerodivergence, albeit on the milder end of the spectrum, has been eye opening and provided a lot of answers to things I always thought of as personality quirks. Although they may be quirks, there is a deeper reason for many of them.

But with every wonderful thing that I'm capable of, there have always been things I struggle with that seem so easy or effortless for other people. Like how easy it is for me to get stuck in prolonged periods of alcohol use (an easy hit of dopamine), or simply talking on the phone when I don't understand the point or purpose of the conversation and I can visually see a dozen things that need to be addressed or are more interesting.

unfinished draft....work on post later.

-list of symptoms
-how/if they affect me daily and longer term
- how they changes relationships
-things I was asking for that were "soothing" or helpful to me before knowing they were common coping mechanism for others with adhd
- advocating for myself. My poor way of asking for help/change. Now understanding there are real reasons for these requests
-changes with new coping strategies
-changes with new medication
-affects of alcohol and why it was difficult to quit...but extremely easy once I understood why i subconsciously drink excessively to "self-medicate"