ADHD: It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.

Have you ever had so many things you wanted to do—all at once, with equal passion and interest—that you felt completely overwhelmed and ended up doing nothing at all?

Girl, same.

I was a regular in the do-nothing zone, and spent more years of my life than I’d like to admit, attempting to sort through the overwhelm. I wasn’t necessarily comfortable, nor outwardly wanting to be in a state of perpetual limbo, yet I instinctively sashayed my ass over that way every single day. I continued to engage, and subsequently question myself for doing so, until my then-therapist said one simple phrase to me during our session:

“Look at it this way, it’s not a bug, it’s a feature.”

She was referring to the challenges I was facing while living with, and managing, ADHD. Her casual reframing of perspective seemed to instantly lessen the mental burden, and led me back towards reality. Feelings, once so intense and seemingly unmanageable, were able to be processed. Ultimately, I felt less stuck.

Recently, I found a screenshot that I had taken of an Amazon review from 2024.The product reviewed was an ADHD daily planner that I was looking to buy, as I find handwritten visuals to be useful in my everyday life. I circled the first three sentences, which were simple, but impactful enough for me to take a screenshot. The reviewer summed it up in a way that stuck with me, simple, but also so damn accurate:

“I am an adult with ADHD. I’ve had it my entire life. It’s not an excuse, it’s not a curse, it’s not a blessing… it just is what it is.” —JackyLuvsAmazon

I’m with JackyLuvsAmazon, it is what it is. I won’t go as far as saying, “it’s not that serious” but, at least for me, ADHD is a characteristic and not a flaw. Mostly it isn’t that serious, but I say this now, with a bit of distance from whom I was before I began to work on building tools to manage my otherwise “scattered” brain. For a very long time, too long in my opinion, it was that serious and, for so many living with the disorder, it IS that serious.

If I don’t have a plan in place, almost down to the minute, there is no telling where the day will take me.

Okay, that’s a bit dramatic, but it was my way of functioning for years. I was raised in both an era and a culture where ADHD was instantly dismissed as performative “nonsense” and, later in life, as flakiness. I was fairly young when I began to seek external distractions to avoid acknowledging all of the “open tabs” in my mind. Just thinking about the sheer volume of paused ideas would evoke a sense of overwhelm so heavy, that it inevitably led to the same response every single time —I simply froze in place. Assuming it was anxiety, I found myself increasingly frustrated, but unable to pinpoint the source. My mind set up basecamp in a state of uncertainty as I attempted to compartmentalize the waterfall of thoughts that had pooled in the front of my brain. I was too young to realize that what I needed was a set (or sets) of tools to skillfully handle most situations, rather than distractions to avoid them.

From an early age, I preferred for my surroundings to be abstract and colorful. I simply assumed that I liked fun things, but hadn’t yet made the correlation that I was actively trying to offset an inflexible black and white mindset that I had grown accustomed to. I relied on this type of rigidity in order to wrangle the rogue mental impressions and stay “on track”. The stimulation was strong, with very little room for rest. All of those visions, the many open tabs of wonderful, creative, and very attainable concepts? Well they remained frozen, on-screen with the others, and never saw the light of day. My favorite part of making and selling clothing was the process. Drafting was the most challenging aspect, and yet the most rewarding. Everything that came after required dedicated skill, for sure, but there would be nothing to flex those skills on without a solid blueprint, right? At least that’s what I told myself. I often hyper-fixated on whatever flaw or error I discovered, whether real or perceived, and would then go back to perfecting my blueprints before allowing myself to move onto the next steps in the process —a massive hurdle that I could not seem to move past. Like anything that goes unchecked, that hurdle grew into what eventually felt like a mountain that I didn’t have energy to explore, let alone climb. Into the “finish later” bin they went, to never be seen again.

It felt natural to allow my mind to freely wander and daydream, but completely unnatural to get it to stay in a zone.

Snippets from the therapy notebook stash.

What began in 2012, as a way to recall therapy sessions, later become an invaluable resource for both reference and reflection.

I must not be trying enough to maintain my focus or interest on “important” things.

My parents were well-intentioned but, at the time, they weren’t cognizant of many conditions that weren’t outwardly visible. As a second-generation Punjabi-American, there was no shortage of expectations to try to live up to. I can’t speak for other Punjabi households but, in our home, academically, the onus fell upon me and, by this logic, I appeared to drop the ball relatively early. In grade and middle schools, I’d grow tired with what seemed to be repetitive in the classroom. I was lucky, though, with teachers that had both the time and resources to provide me with projects and side assignments to keep my mind engaged. I’m grateful for my public school education in a small Connecticut town. It was unpretentious, yet substantial in nature. I have no complaints and all of the respect for my educators for the dedication and support that they provided. With all of that being said, I still found myself struggling for more than half of my life due our society’s, and my own, lack of understanding of atypical thought processes. I don’t blame anyone for not knowing that there’s an entire spectrum of neurodiversity. I mean, who proactively educates themselves about issues that don’t directly affect them? Well, some do (I see you), but most of us are comfortable in our blissful ignorance and also, you know, busy. I was unaware of anything outside of my scope until well into adulthood when one final dot connected the entire bigger picture and I was able to step back and view from a distance. Holy crap, so all this time I’ve been forcing my feet to move in a linear direction, while they were designed to zig zag? Well then, off I go to forge my own colorful zig-zag path! Okay, I kid (well, kind of). I wish it was as easy as just saying, “I’ll do my own thing!” but, in reality, it took me years of consistent, targeted therapy to learn what works (and doesn’t work) for me —understanding that ADHD is not a bug, but rather a feature and treating it as such. Discovering and accepting this has been more freeing than I imagined, but arriving at this space has been a freaking odyssey, y’all, and I still have moments of feeling overwhelmed. Baby steps, you guys, baby steps. If you can relate, let’s connect! I’d love to hear your ADHD management plans and tips —always down to pick up a new trick or two. ✌🏽

x, Navi

PS. The planner in question? I ended up going with another, well 5 others; but regardless, this is the one that left JackyLuvsAmazon so tickled. I ordered with the intention of keeping one, gifting two, and returning the others. None of these are ads or endorsements, just those that I picked for my own needs. This was in 2024, when Amazon was my go-to for all of those things that I decided I needed on the fly. These days, I live just fine without using their service. For those interested, below are the ones I purchased and ended up having to keep (because I forgot to return them). Phittay moo.

First we have this guy, then this one, also got this, figured I’d compare this as well, and finally, I threw this one in because I appreciated the cover. It’s like the book has its own personality! Having the large calendar and pull out vision board was a plus. If my story hits home and you also struggle sometimes with navigating in a neurotypical world with divergent processing, some of these may be up your alley. I’ll update with which of these I decide to keep and when I decide…to open the boxes. ✌🏽

Update!! September 1, 2025 —Ended up keeping this one but, full transparency, haven’t used it yet. Sometimes, even with effort and a purpose, it can feel like a bug for sure. I’ll update again when I put it to use. The other four didn’t work for various reasons, so they were donated, but I’m interested in focusing on making this one work for me. It’s simple, has the least amount of graphics and random quotes / images than the rest, and also isn’t bulky. Yay!