"Find your passion."
That sounds simple until somebody asks you what your passion actually is.
I think it's one of the hardest questions to answer.
Maybe because the question makes it sound like there's supposed to be one thing.
One calling. One purpose. One thing you were put here to do.
I don't think that's how it works.
At least it hasn't worked that way for me.
MAYBE YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE.
I'm creative. I'm ambitious. I love ideas. I love meeting people. I love helping people. I like building things and figuring things out.
Those aren't necessarily one passion. They're different parts of me that keep showing up in different ways.
And as I've gotten older, I've realized that maybe finding your passion isn't about choosing one thing.
Maybe it's about noticing the things you keep coming back to.
The things that give you energy. The things you can talk about forever. The problems you naturally want to solve. The things you would probably be doing even if nobody told you to do them.
Those are signals.
Pay attention to them.
ADHD CHANGED THIS FOR ME.
After being diagnosed with ADHD, I started understanding parts of myself that I had spent years trying to explain.
And the more I learned, the more passionate I became about helping other people understand it too.
I grew up in the late 70s and early 80s.
There wasn't nearly as much information about ADHD available then as there is today.
You certainly didn't have millions of people openly sharing their experiences online.
You didn't have a phone in your pocket where you could type: "Why does my brain do this?"
And instantly discover thousands of other people saying: "Mine does that too."
A lot of us just figured things out as we went.
Or didn't.
I DON'T WANT PEOPLE HIDING WHO THEY ARE.
This has become increasingly important to me.
I don't want someone with ADHD feeling ashamed of how their brain works.
I don't want them thinking they have to hide it at work. Or around friends. Or in public. Or spending years trying to appear "normal" because they're worried about what somebody else might think.
That doesn't mean ADHD is easy.
It's not.
There are parts of it that can make everyday life ridiculously difficult.
I've experienced enough of those parts to know that pretending ADHD is nothing but a gift doesn't help anybody either.
Which brings me to something I hear all the time.
"ADHD is a superpower."
I'll admit it.
I think that phrase is overused.
Sometimes it feels like we've put it on so many coffee mugs and Instagram posts that it has almost lost its meaning.
But I also think there is some truth behind it.
ADHD can be a superpower.
But there's a pretty important word missing from that sentence.
IF.
It's a superpower if you learn how to use it.
Because the same brain that generates incredible ideas can create overwhelming noise.
The curiosity that makes you learn everything about something can pull you away from something else.
The ability to hyperfocus can help you build something incredible or make four hours disappear.
The willingness to take risks can create opportunities or create problems.
The energy can become momentum or chaos.
The difference isn't whether you have ADHD.
The difference is how well you understand your ADHD.
UNDERSTAND YOUR BRAIN BEFORE TRYING TO CONTROL IT.
For years, I think a lot of us approach ADHD backward.
We start with: How do I fix this?
Maybe a better question is: How does this work?
What gets my attention? What kills my motivation? When do I do my best thinking? What environments bring something out of me? What environments drain me? What can I do for hours without someone pushing me? What problems do I naturally want to solve? What am I constantly curious about? Who do I want to help?
Those questions tell you something.
They're helping you find your frequency.
And somewhere inside those answers, your passions usually start showing themselves.
YOUR PASSION MIGHT CHANGE.
I think this is important too.
The things I'm passionate about today aren't exactly the same things I was passionate about 20 years ago.
That's okay.
Life changes you. Experience changes you. Failure changes you. Having a family changes you. Understanding yourself changes you.
Sometimes passion isn't something waiting for you to discover it.
Sometimes you grow into it.
My ADHD diagnosis didn't suddenly hand me a purpose.
But understanding ADHD gave me a different perspective on my life.
And eventually that understanding turned outward.
If something I've experienced can help another person understand themselves a little better, I want to share it.
If something I've learned can make someone feel less ashamed about their ADHD, I want to share it.
If something that took me years to figure out can save someone else some time, frustration or self-doubt, I want to share it.
That's become part of my passion.
And I probably wouldn't have been able to tell you that years ago.
DON'T PUT SO MUCH PRESSURE ON FINDING "THE THING."
You might have one passion.
You might have five.
You might not have discovered some of them yet.
That's what makes the question interesting.
Keep paying attention to what pulls you in. Follow your curiosity. Notice what gives you energy. Learn how your brain works instead of constantly fighting against it.
Use the parts of ADHD that help you. Build systems around the parts that don't.
And don't be ashamed of either one.
Because the better you understand yourself, the easier it becomes to recognize the things that actually matter to you.
Your passion might not be sitting at the end of some perfectly straight path.
It might be scattered across everything you've been interested in your entire life.
You just have to start connecting the dots.
Do what you love.
Love what you do.
Find your frequency.