🌿 What Women with ADHD Need to Know

Rediscovering Your Strengths & Self-Compassion

So many women reach their 30s, 40s, or even 50s before realizing that the executive functioning and emotional regulation parts of our brains weren’t functioning the same as those without ADHD. When I was diagnosed at 46 years old, it immediately answered a question I asked myself far too often for as long as I can remember, “What the fudge is wrong with me, why can’t I do these simple things?” My thoughts were negative and extremely critical, my emotions were always activated to some degree with overwhelm, anxiety and anger (sorry nervous system), and habits of numbing, stuffing and avoiding were the go to coping strategies.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone, and you are not broken. ADHD is hidden, hard for others to see/believe, and can be devastating in many areas of one’s life. I know because it’s how I lived too. Rest assured there is a way out, and that is simply understanding more about ADHD, learning about how you’re personally affected (everyone is unique with a combo of different symptoms and severity) and learning to how to manage your individual challenges.

How ADHD Shows Up in Women

For decades, research and diagnosis patterns focused on boys with hyperactive-impulsive behaviours. For girls and women, ADHD often shows as the inattentive type: less external hyperactivity, more internal overwhelm, masking, and perfectionism. Women often learn to “keep up” by over-functioning and compensating, but the cost is exhaustion, self-criticism, low self-esteem, and burnout.

Some common challenges include:

• Racing thoughts and overthinking

• Emotional sensitivity and self-criticism

• Masking (“holding it together” in public, then collapsing at home)

• Chronic overwhelm and guilt

• Difficulty saying no or setting boundaries

• Feeling like you’re always “failing at normal”

When supported authentically, women with ADHD bring insight, innovation, empathy and fun to the moment.

Practical Tips Adult Women with ADHD Can Try Right Now

• Mini “mask check”: Write down three behaviours you’ve engaged in that felt like “keeping up” (e.g., volunteering extra time, taking the task so someone else wouldn’t, staying late to finish work), then ask, What could I stop or reduce this week? or What do I wish I wasn’t doing but having a hard time saying now?

• Tiny step list: Identify a task you’ve been putting off. Break it into micro-steps (5 minutes each). Schedule the first one. Give yourself permission to stop after step one.

• Self-compassion statement: Begin each morning with one sentence that inspires you. “I’m grateful today, I’m going to do my best and good things happen to me always.”

• Leverage your strengths: Make a list of 3 ways your ADHD gives you an edge (e.g., outside the box thinker, energetic, empathetic, courageous, innovative, creative, quick thinking, good under pressure,

If you’ve spent years trying to “get it together,” please know , you already have everything you need. You just haven’t had the right framework or understanding of how your brain works yet. Life does start flowing easier when ADHD symptoms are managed.

If you’re ready to understand your ADHD, reconnect with your strengths, and rebuild confidence, I would love to work alongside you to help make that happen. Visit Courtenay Edwardes Coaching to book a free consultation. Let’s create the calm, clarity, and confidence you’ve been craving in a fun, compassionate and productive environment. Looking forward to connecting! Courtenay