Hi internet. This is my first attempt at starting this stupid blog that I've wanted to get down to for a long time. It takes courage to publish my writings, but more then that, it takes the capacity to ignore the perfectionist voice that tells you you're not a good enough writer. My writings will never feel complete, but I started accepting the notion that this blog will be my unkempt personal wiki of unfinished lines of thought and unpolished ideas. This place will be home to anything that I find interesting or worth talking about. My hope is that this blog will serve me by means of recording my thoughts, seeing myself and my interests evolve, and be an excuse to process the things I'm going through in this journey of life. But other than serving me, I hope this blog can be a comforting stay for passive readers that may be interested in the same topics, that may find in my words inspiration or validation for how they are feeling, and that may share my passion for personal growth. A little background about myself. I'm a software engineer and I love science. I'm fascinated with physics and math even though I'm not good at it. I love listening to podcasts on brain science, health and fitness and how to become the best version of ourselves. I'm passionate about entrepreneurship and currently in the process of building an app that helps me manage my inconsistent life. And I have embarrassingly big dreams that I'm not sure I'm comfortable enough sharing them, maybe not until I achieve them ;) As a child, I was diagnosed with ADHD and took medications throughout school. Then, by my own decision, I stopped taking them altogether around age 16, while still in high school. I'm 21 now, and beginning the process of getting medical treatment again after doing my own research. It's a long story—one I’ll be sure to write about soon, both for anyone interested and for myself. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with self improvement and planning the life I wanted to have, and the person I wanted to become. There was never a time I didn’t have at least one goal I was actively working on. But along with this ambitious mindset which I was proud of possessing, I also experienced intense highs and lows: periods of high productivity followed by what sometimes amounted to weeks of complete [[Dopamine exhaustion|dopamine-chasing chaos]]. I carried a painfully conflicted self-image that I’m still working to heal. I've learned a lot about myself over the years living with untreated ADHD, and being curious, whether by nature or by circumstance. I’ve learned (and continue to learn) how the brain works—what drives us to pursue certain things and avoid others at all costs, but taken to the extreme. Still, even though every post I write comes from my neurodivergent perspective, I believe there’s something in it that anyone can take away. And just to put this disclaimer out there: I'm not claiming to know anything like a professional. I'm just someone learning from my own experiences and sharing my insights while still processing my own thoughts. Enjoy my messy blabbering :) <iframe src="https://adaphna.substack.com/embed" width="480" height="150" style="border:1px solid #EEE; background:white;" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>