ADHD Ask: Why Do You Make ‘Nests’ Around the House With Your Stuff?

By Kristy Westaway

You grow into ADHD, not out of it
 

It goes without saying that ADHD is a spectrum. One person's experience will be very different to another.
Based on the stereotypes and myths of ADHD, and answered by someone who grew up not knowing they have ADHD - this book covers my experience with often-asked questions and concerns.

• What are ADHD Nests, and how should you manage them?
• Why are mornings so hard?
• How do I deal with the grief of a late-in-life diagnosis?
• Did you know that 'out of sight, out of mind' extends to people?
• What to do when being a person with ADHD becomes your entire personality.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kristy Westaway
• Release date: Nov 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215525654

Book preview

You grow into ADHD, not out of it.

Iwrote this book to answer questions that people often asked me about having ADHD, including:

•  What are ADHD Nests, and how should you manage them? 

•  Why are mornings so hard? 

•  How do I deal with the grief of a late-in-life diagnosis?

•  Did you know that ‘out of sight, out of mind’ extends to people?

•  What to do when being a person with ADHD becomes your entire personality.

THESE QUESTIONS ARE based on the stereotypes and myths of ADHD, answered by someone who grew up not knowing they have ADHD. With 40 years of seeing how the world treats people with hidden disabilities, I can now look back at my life and see how ADHD has impacted my identity as a mother, daughter, wife, and overall as a person.

THIS BOOK CONTAINS the phrases ‘ADHD person’ and ‘person with ADHD’. 

It is up to each individual to decide which phrasing works for them, and I have included both depending on how I felt at the time of writing. 

Why Do You Make ‘Nests’ Around the House With Your Stuff?

The frustration of living with ADHD housemates

IT WAS TEMPTING TO include a photo of my workspace with this question, but honestly, I was too embarrassed. 

Although I have an ‘office room’ with a desk, I move about the house to different workstations, like some sort of house-nomad (homad?).

I regularly move between working while sitting on my bed, on the couch in the lounge, and then sitting at the end of the dining table. If I settle into a spot for more than a couple of hours, I feel a need to move all of my necessary supplies into that spot as well.

Diaries, notebooks, cups, pencil cases — yes, there is a reason those are all plural. One enormous problem for people with ADHD is that we are often very visual to where, if we cannot see it, it doesn’t exist. Information and memories that are out of sight are out of mind. 

This can lead to complicated and multi-layered systems of organization, with varying levels of success. One Reddit user described the need to be surrounded by their required items as ‘The Clutter of Availability.’ That phrase is the