ADHD Awareness Month: Myths, Truths, and a Dash of Quirk
Kylie Becker, LCPC, ATR-P
“Oh, you just need to focus.” If only it were that simple.
If you’ve ever told someone with ADHD to “just focus,” imagine telling a goldfish to stop swimming circles. Both are doing their best in their natural environment, they just look different from the outside.
October is ADHD Awareness Month, and at Brighter Sky Counseling we see this as the perfect time to shine a light on how ADHD really shows up, dismantle myths, and bring in a little levity along the way (because — spoiler — life with ADHD isn’t boring).
Myth-Busting Time 🕵️♀️
Myth 1: ADHD is just for kids.
Truth: Many adults live with ADHD — often after years of wondering why they misplace keys, forget appointments, or need 37 sticky notes just to navigate a Monday.
Statistics show about 2.5% of U.S. adults have ADHD.
Myth 2: People with ADHD are lazy.
Truth: If you’ve ever seen someone with ADHD hyperfocus on a project they adore, you know “lazy” isn’t in the playbook. Sometimes the drive is there, it’s the wiring and timing that are the challenge.
Myth 3: ADHD is all about attention.
Truth: ADHD is as much about regulation, of focus, energy, impulses, and emotions, as it is about attention. Think of a brain that’s part race car, part flat-tire bicycle, and sometimes both at the same time.
Myth 4: ADHD mostly affects boys.
Truth: ADHD is just as common in girls and women, but it often looks different, internal restlessness, emotional dysregulation, or quiet inattentiveness, and is underdiagnosed as a result.
The Human Side 💛
No two ADHD brains are the same. For some, it’s losing track of time. For others, it’s juggling five unfinished projects or feeling emotions so big they could fill an arena.
Yes, it can be frustrating, exhausting, and even isolating. But here’s the thing: people with ADHD often bring a spark, a creative bend, a fearless curiosity, the very traits that shift paradigms, tell stories, ignite innovation. They’re the friends who light up a room (even if they stroll in 20 minutes late).
Tools, Tricks, and Gentle Reminders (No Magic Wand Needed ✨)
If you or someone you care about has ADHD, here are a few strategies that many find helpful:
- Timers & external structure — alarms, countdowns, visual timers. Your phone is underrated.
- Body doubling — working alongside someone (in person or virtually) boosts accountability without pressure.
- Visual reminders — sticky notes, whiteboards, habit apps — making the invisible visible.
- Movement breaks — stomp, stretch, dance, walk. Your brain wants you to move.
- Adjust expectations + self-compassion — ADHD is not a flaw. It’s wiring. Be gentle with yourself (and others).
These aren’t cures, but they are tools to help you navigate an environment not always built for ADHD brains.
Why Awareness Matters 🌍
Beyond all the quirks and memes lies a truth: ADHD lives within real people striving in a world not always attuned to their rhythm. Raising awareness chips away at shame and stigma. It opens doors for more empathy, more accurate assessments, more support.
This October, let’s lean into curiosity, swap judgment for understanding, and acknowledge that losing your keys three times in a morning? That’s an Olympic sport in its own right.
So here’s to the brains that zig when the world zags. Here’s to unlearning assumptions. And here’s to more space, more grace, more light.