Thank you for the concern. On one hand, it's haunting to consider what it's like to learn you've been operating at 50% efficiency all your life. On the other hand, you focus on how much you've done in spite of the condition.

I didn't mean to imply that you would suggest to someone with a condition to "just reflect on it." No reasonable person would, and apologies if it came off like that.

Rather, my hope is that more people realize that this condition does exist, it does carry a stigma, and you might not find out until you are well into adult-hood. Too many self-help and GTD-like books and articles focus on simple tricks. These all might help out, but if you find yourself constantly struggling, get checked.

And if you know people like this, people that are otherwise smart and do good work, but are somehow always behind, always playing catch-up, suggest they get tested.

A part of me was ashamed about having this condition. I felt as if it said to everyone around me that I'd really never been giving 100%. That I had lied to people around me. I thought that I can't complain. I had a great life already, and who was I to worry about not doing enough. OCD and ADHD, the premier first world problems.

None of that is true, of course.

The truth is, the best thing I can do is speak up about it. Make people aware. And share with them the fact that proper treatment and care can result in a dramatic difference in their lives. That the more we are aware of ourselves, the better off we can be.