ADHD Awareness: Understanding Your ADHD Before and Beyond a Diagnosis
- Angela Greenwell
- Jun 7
- 5 min read
When you experience the world differently—when your energy, focus, and reactions don’t match what others expect—it’s easy to question yourself. You might long for a name, a label, or a framework that helps make sense of it all. Maybe you’ve been drawn to personality tools like the Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder, DISC, or the Working Genius model. Maybe those frameworks offered some comfort or clarity, just enough to feel seen in a way you hadn’t before.
And maybe you’re wondering if an ADHD diagnosis might offer an even deeper understanding. A sense of closure. A path forward.
That was the case for me. I spent years taking numerous assessments, trying to understand or define something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. The start of deeper self-awareness came only after I received an ADHD diagnosis. It was a powerful, clarifying moment. Research supports this. Diagnosis is associated with better emotional outcomes, greater access to support, and reduced shame (Kooij et al., 2019).
This is important, especially considering that up to 60% of adults with ADHD experience chronic struggles with employment, performance, and career progression (Biederman et al., 2006). But diagnosis is just one part of the story.
In the iPEC coaching model I use, the first foundational principle is Awareness, followed by Acceptance and Conscious Choice. This article focuses on the first step: awareness, both before and after diagnosis. In future articles, I’ll explore the next two stages of the journey.
Before a ADHD Diagnosis: The Fog of Uncertainty
Before diagnosis, many people live with confusion and self-doubt. You might feel like an outsider, or even a stranger in your own skin. You may carry shame, burnout, or exhaustion from years of second-guessing yourself. You might constantly try to meet expectations by overperforming, people-pleasing, or hiding your differences—sometimes even from yourself.
That kind of internal dissonance is painful. And it's understandable to avoid looking too closely. Full awareness can be hard to come to terms with, especially if you’ve internalized the message that your differences are flaws.
But here’s the truth: curiosity and self-exploration are essential to managing ADHD effectively. If you don’t understand the nature of the dragon, it’s hard to learn how to work with it.
Just the other night, I had dinner with two friends. One has ADHD. The other has a teenage daughter who does. While all three of us saw similar themes—motivation, focus, impulsivity, sensitivity—ADHD showed up in profoundly different ways in each case. It was a clear reminder that the scaffolding we use to manage ADHD must be customized to each person’s brain, strengths, values, and goals. While we can share ideas that resonate, it is important to custom-fit solutions to you. And that requires awareness.
ADHD Screeners
If you’re starting to wonder whether you might be neurodivergent, an online screener can be a helpful first step. You can search for ADHD screeners on reputable ADHD sites or message me. I’m happy to share the one I recommend.
A screener can give you a sense of whether there’s something worth exploring further. Just keep in mind: many people with ADHD also experience co-occurring conditions, and there are screeners for those, too.
Once you have some initial insight, you can speak with a doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, and/or therapist to seek a formal diagnosis.
Awareness Isn’t a Label—It’s a Practice
After “I have ADHD and/or something else,” the next step is learning how your mind works, because no two neurodivergent brains are the same.
Awareness means:
Noticing patterns without judgment
Being curious instead of critical
Tuning in rather than tuning out
Releasing shame around past behaviors or struggles
Learning what energizes and what drains you
And most importantly, it means becoming an active participant in your own growth.
For those of us with ADHD, this kind of self-awareness can be transformational. Research by Barkley (2012) and Brown (2006) shows that developing metacognition—the ability to think about our thinking—strengthens emotional regulation, executive function, and decision-making. These are areas often impacted by ADHD, and they can improve with intentional awareness.
But we can’t reach that growth if we only look outside ourselves for answers.
The Temptation to Outsource Our Identity
That brings me back to the assessments. Tools like DISC or StrengthsFinder can offer insight, but they can also become crutches. If we’re not careful, we start believing someone else holds the key to who we are.
We begin to outsource our identity to experts, algorithms, or systems that weren’t designed with neurodivergence in mind. And we forget that we are already living inside the most valuable data set: our own experience.
I’m not saying don’t use these tools. I’m saying: use them alongside your own observations. Partner with doctors and experts, but bring your full self into the room. You are the expert on you. It may not feel like it yet, but it just takes curiosity, attention, and time.
That’s what I want for the teens I coach, the professionals, and the parents I support. Everyone who has ever asked, Why does the way I work feel so different from everyone else?
Once you begin to answer that question, not with shame, but with curiosity, you stop trying to be someone else. You start building a life based on how you are built, not as a workaround, but as a foundation.
Awareness Is the First Step Toward ADHD Empowerment
Whether you’ve just been diagnosed or you’re starting to wonder if ADHD might explain some of what you’ve experienced, here’s what I want you to know:
You don’t need permission to understand yourself.
You don’t need a tool or a test to explore how your brain and nervous system work.
You don’t need a perfect label to have your lived experiences valid.
Start with awareness.
Notice your patterns
Stay curious
Take notes
Ask open questions
Drop judgment and shame
Pay attention to what lights you up—and what shuts you down
Practice, reflect, refine. Let it take time.
Because this kind of self-awareness isn’t a one-time insight, it is a lifelong relationship. And it leads to something even more powerful: ownership.
Next week, I’ll write about Acceptance: how taking full responsibility for who you are (and who you’re not) opens the path to growth, confidence, and peace.
But for now, ask yourself: What do I already know about myself, and what am I still learning?
ADHD isn’t a static label or an identity. It’s a dynamic part of living your life. And no one is better positioned to understand it than you.
References
Barkley, R. A. (2012). Executive functions: What they are, how they work, and why they evolved. Guilford Press.
Brown, T. E. (2006). Attention Deficit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults. Yale University Press.
Biederman, J., Faraone, S. V., Monuteaux, M. C., Bober, M., & Cadogen, E. (2006). Gender effects on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults, revisited. Biological Psychiatry, 60(10), 1025–1032. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.01.003
Kooij, J. J. S., Bijlenga, D., Salerno, L., Jaeschke, R., Bitter, I., Balázs, J., ... & Asherson, P. (2019). Updated European Consensus Statement on diagnosis and treatment of adult ADHD. European Psychiatry, 56, 14–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2018.11.001
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