There was a phase in my life I call “The All-You-Can-Eat Chinese Buffet Era.” Picture it: Younger Me, sleep-deprived, knee-deep in coding projects, and…well, let’s just say my waistline was enthusiastically expanding right along with my appetite for egg rolls. I practically had a VIP pass to every buffet in town. Back then, I had no clue ADHD was behind my late nights and quirky routines; I just thought life was meant to be lived between coding marathons and endless plates of lo mein.

Somewhere in that haze, I stumbled onto The Red Green Show. At first, it was just white noise in the background, filling the silence between keyboard clicks and buffet binges. But the more I listened, the funnier it got, and I found myself getting drawn in more often than not. Before I knew it, I was binge-watching Red Green long before binge-watching was even a thing. His duct-tape wisdom and “make it work with what you’ve got” philosophy spoke right to my slightly chaotic, resourceful self—it also aligned with the New England way of thinking back then, making it oddly welcoming in a weird way.

Fast-forward to today, and I realize that a lot of those unique attributes—like my night owl coding marathons and hyper-focus on everything except my weight-loss plan—might have been ADHD in full, glorious bloom. But here’s the thing: I’m not saying everything was caused by ADHD. In many cases, it was how I dealt with things, how I thought about things, how I managed to internalize everything under the sun in my own special way—that was the real ADHD magic. I wasn’t just different; I had my own brand of wiring that made me a buffet-loving, duct-tape-wielding original.

This past week, I stumbled on Rick Green’s Rick Has ADHD channel, and let me tell you—I was immediately hooked. (He was a writer and performed on The Red Green Show. I didn’t know this when I clicked on the YouTube link!) His channel is like a mashup of Red Green’s “make it work” attitude with ADHD hilarity, and it reminds me that ADHD isn’t something to “fix” or duct-tape over. It’s just my brain doing its thing, sometimes in unpredictable (but always amusing) ways. And most importantly, it can be a superpower (did I mention the all-night coding sessions?).

Here’s my advice for young professionals with ADHD (or those gearing up for the working world): if you’re juggling quirks, trying to fit in, and masking so much you’re not even sure who you are—embrace those traits as your own custom-built user interface! I wish I’d had the resources we do now; maybe I would’ve realized sooner that my “oddities” were part of my charm. Sometimes, the things that make us feel out of place are what make us us. And while I can’t help with your Chinese food addiction, trust me—once you start hearing from others who “get it,” life might just make a bit more sense.

Although ADHD can look different for everyone, here are a few things to keep in mind:

  • ADHD doesn’t make you less capable—it just means you approach things your way, and let’s be real, that way might just involve an occasional all-nighter.
  • Embrace those quirks!Think of them as your own custom-built user interface, complete with hyper-focus mode and the occasional “Why did I walk into this room?” feature.
  • I wish I’d had today’s resources when I started out; I might not have felt like I was trying to “pass” as a norm. Now, with channels like Rick Has ADHD, I’m reminded that ADHD can be a superpower.
  • Your hyper-focus, creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, and yes, even the classic “shiny thing syndrome,” aren’t limitations—they’re strengths.
  • Find others who ‘get it’ and lean into what makes you you. Trust me, the world needs what you bring.

As Red Green might say, “If the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.” Or, in this case, hilariously unique, brilliantly creative, maybe a bit hyper-focused, and occasionally full from the buffet.

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