Making comics about my experience with ADHD - Patreon http://patreon.com/adhd_alien/
Collab with @blackgirllostkeys
“IT’S HERE: When I was diagnosed with ADHD, I felt alone, misunderstood, and broken. Now I’ll never feel alone again. This beautiful collaboration with ADHD Alien is complete, and my heart is overflowing. Happy tears. This is what happens when the #neurodiversesquad teams up.” - René
René’s social media:
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#adhd #actuallyadhd #adhs #tdah #webcomic
I used to think I can’t have ADHD because I wasn’t hyperactive.
Not everyone can allow themselves to act on their hyperactivity, so we find ways to redirect or hide the understimulation.
(Sneak introduction to the new inattentive Alien! A hommage to a collab I did with René ♥️)
If yo u’d like to support my work, check out my patreon :)
Hey! Someone has pointed out that I don’t share many Tipps on how to cope with adhd. (It was said to help me understand a point, not to bash or criticize!) The truth is that I’ve not been diagnosed so long ago and was sent home with „congratulations, you have ADHD, now figure it out yourself.“
I get a lot of DMs asking me “How do I know if I have ADHD?” and the short and boring answer is “you can’t unless you talk to a doctor”.
But I want to share what I think should have been obvious clues to me!
I think it’s hard to judge your own symptoms if all you’ve known your entire life was ADHD. I was convinced I had no problems and just had to stop being lazy and all my problems would go away.
So, to everyone asking themselves “what if I’m just lazy?”, I hope you can find the courage from this to seek a diagnosis! And if you can’t:
Your struggles are legit and real, if they have a name or not.
Why do I keep losing things? Aka Nothing good has ever come from trying to “just not forget”
(I whipped up a quick comic cause I had a joke on my mind, but I’ll be doing a whole graphic on coping with memory issues!)
The last panel is based on an incredible video by How to ADHD
I’m anxious about being able to concentrate, so when someone interrupts or distracts me, I can get overwhelmingly frustrated and angry.
If you want to support me in making comics, here is my patreon! https://patreon.com/adhd_alien
I also streamed while drawing the lines for this and I’m considering doing this regularly for patreons :>
Sometimes I talk so much about coping and accepting ADHD that I forget how much I’m still hurting.
(Next weeks comic - tomorrow on patreon)
I make the comics with you in mind just as much. I’m actually more inattentive than hyperactive myself and that probably reflects in the comics.
To simplify things I simply use the new, overarching term “ADHD” that includes the 3 subtypes inattentive, combined and impulsive-hyperactive!
I think it’s incredibly important for inattentive folks to be seen and for people to understand that there is not only the hyperactive folks. I absolutely like the idea of ADHD being a spectrum (being combined type myself). I don’t think ADD is any less severe or hindering than ADHD just because the hyperactivity is internalized.
And for the non-Aliens: our ADHD doesn’t become “better” when we have inattentive phases. We might just not be interrupting you because we are lost in the fog.
ADHD can feel like it gets ‘worse’ when we get older and have to organize ourselves more - the same thing can happen when we start working from home. For me, wfh is a double edged sword. It has it’s upsides, but was also the reason I almost got fired and had to seek a diagnosis.
While I learned that I can generally concentrate better at home where I’m able to be inunterrupted or walk around when I need to, I was also unable to get myself to work for WEEKS without medication (and sometimes even now). I want to make a comic about how to deal wih this, but as I’m still trying to figure this out for myself (I feel like hardly any coping strategies work for me), I’ll need a some more time to make it right. Also, this isn’t trying to make a case for or against wfh!
Pomodoro technique = set a timer to 25minutes, then take 5 minutes break, repeat and adapt to your own time preferences
Body doubling = sit with someone in voice chat (without chatting) as you work, so you’re less likely to wander off and start procrastinating
I have so many interests but can never start on any of them. Or, I keep starting projects just to abandon them half way through. More contradicting ADHD things (that drive me nuts)
Almost through with the year! I’m planning a fun themed January, I hope you’ll enjoy it! (RSD is fun, right?). Please consider supporting me on patreon if you like my comics :)
ALTCha cha cha….
(This is a Eurovision tweet)