Systems for That

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This meme has been going around for a while. For me it's become a really useful shorthand way of addressing imposter syndrome around a lot of things. 

Obviously, this relates to imposter syndrome around ADHD. It's easy to think "I have a PhD. Heck, I have TENURE! Clearly, that means I don't really have any issues." This helps me remember all the structures and work that I have put into place to work around the ways my brain works. While it can do amazing things, it's never in easy mode. I have to plan for everything and use a whole suite of tools to do simple things that most people don't think about. However, that, I've mostly processed through a long time ago, and it doesn't hit me too hard.

Where it's actually been really useful to me is more on the physical side. I'm a very active person. I lift weights. I bike and walk everywhere. I'm strong, I have lots of energy, and I often default to thinking of myself as physically healthy and fit. This both is and is not true in some complicated ways.

I have thalassemia intermedia, which means that my body produces much less hemoglobin than it should. As long as I manage it very carefully, it has very little (although not no) effect on my life. However, if I don't manage my iron intake in extremely precise ways, I can either leave myself fuzzy, nauseous and brain fogged or have periods where I literally can't stand up (or sometimes move my legs at all) for half and hour to an hour after activity. But those are rare these days, because I have a system for managing my diet to avoid them.

I'm hypermobile. Probably (?) not enough to qualify for an EDS diagnosis, although maybe the vague "hypermobility spectrum disorder". My joints move in ways that they shouldn't and I have a few partial dislocations a year. Over the course of my life, I've done some permanent damage with this. It makes sitting still for long periods literally painful and means that I have to think hard about choices I make in how I do some things physically. However, weightlifting is actually fairly effective treatment for mild to moderate hypermobility because the stronger muscles support the weaker joints. ADHD helps me avoid the problems of being sedentary. I've put a lot of work into strengthening particular muscles to balance the weakest joints (like ankles). I wind up in physical therapy every few years to address whatever the latest issue is. But most of the time, I'm healthy, active, and strong. In part, because those things are part of the system I've put in place to deal with these issues.

So, ADHD isn't really a problem: I have a system for that. Thalassemia isn't really a problem: I have a system for that. Hypermobility isn't really a problem: I have a system for that. 

But remember: some people don't have to have a system for everything. For some people, some things just get to be easy.

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