D
H
M
S
Offer
Provide additional details about the offer you're running
FLASHSALE
As a therapist who works primarily with women with a late ADHD diagnosis, I notice a few common themes that most of the neurodivergent I spend time with experience:
- Limited Free-Time: We rarely allow ourselves free time. Whether that is due to over-functioning, baseline business, or exhaustion. There is little time left for fun or hobbies.
- 100000% In: We go all in. Like research everything, buy $500 worth of supplies, become obsessed for a week and then never think of it again.
- Losing our Connection: Not having any idea of what we enjoy doing, which comes up a lot for neurodivergent moms. The idea that somehow we lost part of ourselves in becoming parents and don’t know how to connect with that part again.
- Hobby to Business: Turning your hobby into a business. The pipeline to noticing you’re good at something and then realizing you can in fact make money doing it should be studied.
Maybe you really resonate with one or more of those, so let’s set the scene. You’re scrolling on Instagram or TikTok or wherever you scroll, and BAM! Inspiration hits like a lightening bolt and you go all in.
The art supplies.
The sewing machine.
The guitar.
The Cricut.
The photography equipment.
The gardening phase.
The baking obsession.
The language-learning app.
The running shoes.
The unfinished puzzles.
The story starts the same…“I was so excited and then I lose interest”, but here’s what we might miss with that narrative.
This isn’t usually a discipline problem. It’s an ADHD brain doing what an ADHD brain does.
ADHD brains are heavily influenced by interest, novelty, challenge, urgency, and meaning. When something is new, it often creates a surge of dopamine, making it easier to focus, learn, and spend hours immersed in a new hobby.
It can feel exhilarating.
You buy the supplies.
You watch every YouTube tutorial.
You research every detail.
You imagine all the possibilities.
For a while, it feels like you’ve finally found your thing, but then something changes.
The hobby becomes familiar instead of novel. Progress slows. Skills take practice instead of coming quickly. The brain stops receiving the same dopamine boost, and suddenly getting started feels much harder.
From the outside, it can look like you’ve “quit”, but from the inside, it often feels confusing.
“I still want to enjoy this... so why can’t I make myself do it?”
That question can become another piece of evidence in the story many people with ADHD already tell themselves:
“I never finish anything.”
“I waste money.”
“I’m inconsistent.”
“I can’t commit.”
Over time, these experiences can create shame that has very little to do with the hobby itself.
But what if we looked at hobbies differently?
What if hobbies weren’t a test of commitment?
What if they didn’t have to become businesses, side hustles, or lifelong identities?
What if they were simply allowed to be experiences?
Every hobby teaches something.
Maybe you learned a new skill.
Maybe it helped you through a difficult season.
Maybe it gave your nervous system a chance to play.
Maybe it connected you with other people.
Maybe it simply brought you joy for a few weeks.
That time wasn’t wasted. Your hobby graveyard isn’t a failure or character flaw.
One thing I also remind my ADHD clients is this: Interests often cycle.
Many people with ADHD don’t lose hobbies forever, they rotate through them. A hobby that feels impossible to touch today may suddenly become fascinating again six months or three years from now.
Instead of asking yourself,
“Why can’t I stick with anything?”
Try asking:
✨ “What did this hobby give me?”
✨ “What need was it meeting?”
✨ “What did I enjoy about it?”
✨ “Am I allowed to come back to it later?”
✨ “Can I let curiosity be enough?”
Your worth is not measured by how many hobbies you master.
Your creativity is not defined by whether you finish every project.
And your collection of hobbies isn’t evidence that you’re scattered, it may simply reflect a brain that is endlessly curious, eager to learn, and wired to explore the world through interest.
I’d love to know: what hobby did your ADHD brain enthusiastically adopt? And what hobby keeps finding its way back into your life?
Was this post helpful? Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a post! Consider being a paid subscriber to help support my work.
Want more support?
Join my Substack Community, The Late Diagnosis ADHD Club
Join my upcoming group: Chaos to Compassion for women with ADHD . While my current group is in full swing, I will start a new cohort in early August and will start a wait-list for that group now.
Work with me: I offer virtual counseling in NC and SC as well as coaching for executive functioning support to those outside of NC & SC.
Email: rachel@racheltenny.com for more information.
Resources for ADHD: I have a library of mental health resources and a section just for ADHD and Women with a Late Diagnosis!
Are you a therapist? I offer supervision and consulting for therapists as well as The Therapist Toolbox Resource Library for other providers.
Related posts
When was the last time you did something simply because it was fun?
Not because it was productive.
Not because it was good for your mental health.
Not because you could turn it into a hobby, a side hustle, or something to check off your list.
Just because you wanted to.
For many women with ADHD, this question can be surprisingly difficult to answer, because we become very good at doing, managing, remembering, planning, catching up, and trying to keep everything together.
And somewhere along the way, play can quietly disappear as our energy and brain power/spoons for the day shift to managing instead of being.
When you have ADHD, procrastination is often highly misunderstood. It’s rarely avoidance, laziness, or lack of motivation. Many people with ADHD want to start earlier, but struggle to access the mental energy needed to begin.
The issue is often task initiation, not intention. As I shared a few week’s ago in the post all about Task Initiation, ADHD brains are interest-based. Tasks that feel boring, repetitive, overwhelming, unclear, or emotionally loaded can be hard to start.
Then suddenly, when the deadline gets closer, urgency kicks in and the brain finally starts to activates. Often intensely.
For many people, receiving an ADHD diagnosis later in life comes with a wave of relief.
Finally, there’s an explanation. Finally, things make sense.
But relief is often only part of the story.
What doesn’t get talked about enough is the grief that follows — quiet, heavy, and sometimes unexpected. Late-diagnosis ADHD grief isn’t dramatic or indulgent. It’s a normal response to understanding your life through a new lens.
And it deserves space.
Spoon Theory is a metaphor used describe the limited energy people with chronic illness or mental health concerns often have....
Personal reflections as a therapist who received a late ADHD diagnosis.
Rejection sensitivity can make even small moments feel overwhelming. This post explores what it looks like, why it shows up (especially for those with ADHD), and how to work with your brain instead of against it when emotions feel like too much.
Group therapy offers more than just support—it provides connection, perspective, and community. Whether you're navigating a new diagnosis, identity shift, or season of overwhelm, this post explores how group spaces can help you feel seen, supported, and less alone.