ADHD Women… here’s what life looks like after 50

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If you’re a woman with ADHD, or you think you might have ADHD, then this is something that you’re going to want to tune into. Today, I am sharing sage advice from having lived with this neurodiverse brain for 52 years, even though I only got diagnosed a couple of years ago.

As I look back at my life, I see that I have built a lot of compensatory methods, which is just a fancy word for coping strategies for dealing with a world that wasn’t made for me.

I realize now that there are a lot of choices that I made earlier in life that have actually helped me, which is very surprising given that I was a hot mess express when I was younger. So the fact that I’ve made some good choices that have really helped me as an adult has been great, and I want to share those with you.

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Everybody’s ADHD presents differently.

Men and women present differently, and there are different kinds of ADHD. There’s inattentive, hyperactive, and combined type. We all have our own experience with ADHD based on our lives, the resources we have available to us when we were diagnosed, and any other sort of comorbidities that come along with ADHD, because rarely does it travel by itself. It usually comes along with OCD, anxiety, or depression. Not all the time, but it can come along with those things as well.

I’m sharing from my experience, and I’m in no way an ADHD expert, but I hope you can glean some helpful insights from what I’ve learned, the mistakes I’ve made, and what I feel is really important for anyone with ADHD to know. If you have additional insights that you would like to share, please drop them in the comments below.

ADHD After 50 Strategy #1 – Know What Grounds You

First, it’s really important to find what calms you and to get really clear about it and make sure you have it set up for yourself. That is a resource that will serve you throughout your entire life.

The more you can manage your nervous system and stay out of fight, flight, and freeze mode, the better your quality of life will be, the better your decision making will be, and the better your health will be. Find things that make you feel calm and at peace when you feel overwhelmed. Yoga, meditation, journaling, creative activities, and play are all great options.

Make sure you know what those things are and make sure that you’re doing them on the regular as a self-care practice.

ADHD After 50 Strategy #2 – Mind Your Consumption Habits

Whether it’s online content or the news that you watch. If it gives you anxiety, it’s not worth consuming because it is likely beyond your control.

Also, take a very hard look at the people you follow in social media. Do they make you feel bad about yourself? Do they trigger your impulsivity to purchase things or eat things or do things that are not good for you? Ask yourself if you were no longer following this person in social media, would your life be a little bit better or would you have more money in the bank?

ADHD After 50 Strategy #3 – Personal Growth + Healing Starts With Acceptance

The sooner you accept your ADHD, the sooner you can start working with it as opposed to against it. It’s really important that you dive in and learn about it without judgment or shame, but just really understand what it means. Not just the downfalls and the struggles, but also the strengths and the way that you can leverage it. Then you can start moving forward and design a life that works specifically for you.

ADHD After 50 Strategy #4 – Get Choosy About Relationships + Work

If you’re over 50, then it might be a little too late to warn you to be careful about who you marry and the career you choose. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that both of these things have a huge impact on your life. But no matter what your experience is, there’s always an opportunity for change.

As someone who is once divorced but now happily married, I can attest to the reality that a life partner for however long they’re in your life is going to determine the quality of your combined life for a very long time. The person you decide to have as a life partner should not only complement your weaknesses but should also be secure enough in themselves that they can allow you to continue to grow and develop and to become the multi-passionate person that you are.

If you find that your partner likes to keep you in a box or feels threatened or annoyed by your exploration, passion, curiosity, and energy, then it’s up to you to ask for change and see where that leads.

ADHD After 50 Strategy #5 – Mind Your Money + Your Energy

No matter what your age is, it’s never too late to start taking your finances and fitness seriously. Exercise is the next best thing to medication in the treatment of ADHD. It helps to improve your memory, concentration, and mood, and it’s a powerful tool that can help you manage your ADHD symptoms.

Embracing personal finances, even if you don’t love dealing with money, will help you gain financial stability, and give you the ability to make decisions about how you spend your time, energy, and focus. When you have financial stability, you have choice and you have the ability to make decisions about your future.

Last Words on Life With ADHD After 50

It’s never too late to start improving your life. Many of my readers are late-diagnosed (I wasn’t diagnosed until age 51!), and while I understand that you might have thoughts about it being too late to change, those thoughts are not true. People change ALL THE TIME no matter what their age or circumstances.

Don’t believe me? How about an 81 year-old ESPN bikini model cover?