Today, I realized that my greatest survival skill is the thing that’s making my survival very challenging.
Neurodivergent masking is so common, but what if pretending you’re not struggling causes people to assume you don’t need help? Imagine a person living with blindness had developed a skill to appear as if they aren’t blind. Maybe a parent taught them to so that people wouldn’t take advantage of them. They’re so good at doing things as if they can see that people can’t tell that they’re actually blind. Now, imagine they always take the elevator in their work building, but it’s not working today, so they need to take the stairs. They’ve never needed the stairs before, so they don’t know the route. The doorman, clerk, co-workers, etc. see them walk easily to the elevator everyday. So they say, “No,” when the person asks for help. They don’t know the route. They need the help, but no one can see that they really need support.
That’s what my successes and what I’ve done/created has done for me. People see all I’ve done and assume that I am struggling because I’m just not trying hard enough. And the reality is that I’m drowning, asking for help, and not receiving it. I’m waving from the center of the ocean and everyone’s on the shore waving back, not realizing I am out here fighting for my life.
I could say more here, but then the podcast would be pointless, so I’ll just say please press play.
Oh… and random funny ADHD side note:
Somewhere in this podcast I totally started making a point, took an offramp, and never finished the thought. 😂 The fact that I’m talking about the symptoms of ADHD when it happened makes it even funnier. If you find it, comment found it, and I’ll circle back and complete the thought in the comments.
Anywho….
Blessings!
Marlene Dillon Empowerment Specialist
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