ADHD Awareness Month

From “Never Enough” to “I Am Enough”

October is ADHD Awareness Month: a time to shine a light on what it truly means to live with ADHD. For me, this isn’t just a cause; it’s deeply personal.

For most of my life, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why I felt the way I did. On the outside, I was a high performer, achieving, pushing forward, ticking all the boxes. But inside, it felt very different.

There was a quiet, persistent voice whispering, “You’re not good enough.”

No matter how much I accomplished, there was always a gap between how others saw me and how I felt about myself. I questioned everything, my abilities, my worth, whether I really belonged where I was. This is what impostor syndrome can look like when you live with undiagnosed or misunderstood ADHD. The only person who saw me as me was my Dad and I remember as I got older I used to phone him for reassurance, that I had made the right decisions, I remember so clearly that he would always say " Sian, you are brilliant, why don't you believe in yourself like I do? " I didn't and the feeling just wouldn't go away. I'd get the odd quick fix from the praise but it didn't last, because I just didn't believe it.

The Invisible Weight of ADHD

Before I understood ADHD, particularly about myself, I thought I was just “bad at coping.” I saw other people glide through tasks that left me exhausted and overwhelmed.

I could achieve big things, and often did , but at a cost. The constant mental juggling, the emotional intensity, the racing thoughts, the never-ending to-do list that lived rent free in my head.

And when I struggled, instead of self-compassion, I’d default to self-blame:

• “Why can’t I just get it together?”

• “Other people seem to manage this — what’s wrong with me?”

• “I don’t belong here. I’m going to be found out.”

  
  

This quiet storm inside me fed a deep sense of not being enough. It chipped away at my confidence and left me feeling like I was always performing but never quite belonging.

Realising that I had ADHD wasn’t an excuse. It was an explanation. It gave me a new way to understand myself and to start loosening the grip of those old, limiting beliefs.

ADHD in Our House — Big Feelings, Big Energy, Big Hearts 🖤

My journey with ADHD doesn’t end with me, it continues through my youngest daughter. She, too, has ADHD, and living alongside her unique energy has been both beautifully chaotic and deeply enlightening and sometimes in all honesty exhausting, particularly as she just doesn't sleep.

Our house is often full of big feelings. There’s endless talking, bursts of energy at times when the rest of the world seems to be winding down, and a level of impulsivity that can make the most ordinary day feel like a roller coaster.

And yet… there’s also incredible creativity, curiosity, and joy. She notices things others miss. She thinks in ways that surprise and inspire me. She loves fiercely, with her whole heart, moves boldly, and experiences the world with an intensity that can be breathtaking.

Of course, it isn’t always easy. We’re constantly learning how to navigate those waves together, finding calm in the storm, building routines that help her feel safe, and giving both of us permission to be who we are without apology.

What I’ve learned through parenting her is that ADHD isn’t a flaw. It’s not something to be “fixed.” It’s a different wiring, one that comes with incredible strengths as well as challenges.

In our house, ADHD isn’t a burden. It’s our superpower.

We make sure our daughter knows that having ADHD makes her our superhero!

I Wish I'd Known Sooner

Looking at our daughter, I can’t help but think about my younger self.

I wish there had been more awareness when I was growing up. More understanding. More space to be different without feeling wrong for it.

Back then, there wasn’t the same recognition of neurodiversity. You either fit the “supposed norm” or you were labelled as lazy, distracted, too much, or not enough. I carried those labels for a long time, and they shaped the way I saw myself, along with my challenging childhood, I found that really hard, especially when i started to explore my childhood traumas.

How different things might have been if I’d known then what I know now, that we don’t all think, feel, or process the world in the same way. And that’s not just okay. It’s something to celebrate. Who wants to be the same anyway?

How Coaching Helped Me Reframe My Story

When you’ve spent years feeling like an impostor, like you’re on the outside looking in, it can take time to rewrite the narrative. That’s where coaching changed everything for me.

Coaching gave me:

• A safe space to explore the layers beneath the “high performance.”

• A mirror to help me see myself beyond the self-doubt.

• Tools to build self-trust instead of relying on endless external validation.

• The reminder that I am not broken, I am brilliant in my own way.

  
  

Through coaching, I began to see that I wasn’t failing. I was navigating the world with a brain that works differently, and that’s okay. I learned that I am enough, not because of what I achieve, but because of who I am.

And perhaps even more importantly, it’s helped me parent our daughter differently. To support her in embracing who she is, not trying to shrink herself to fit someone else’s idea of normal. To give her the language and tools that I never had at her age.

You Are Not Alone

If any of this resonates with you, the overwhelm, the questioning, the quiet fear of not being good enough, please know this: you are not alone.

ADHD doesn’t define your worth. Impostor syndrome doesn’t tell the truth about you. And confidence isn’t something you have to “earn” by proving yourself over and over again.

Coaching can be a powerful way to untangle those beliefs, to see yourself more clearly, and to begin living from a place of enough-ness rather than never enough.

You matter. You belong. And you are enough, exactly as you are.

✨ If you’re curious about how coaching can help you or your family embrace your ADHD superpowers and reconnect with your worth, I’d love to support you.

This ADHD Awareness Month, let’s rise and reframe the way we see ourselves, with compassion, courage, and the truth that we are already enough.