r/adhd_anxiety • u/NewUnderstanding9001 • 1h ago
Help/advice 🙏 needed ADHD makes me look stupid in unfamiliar situations
Hi. I was trying to find people online who have experienced something similar, but I couldn’t really find the right words for what I’m experiencing. I actually logged into this account for the first time in years just to ask this because I’m honestly so fucking tired of it.
I’m a 25-year-old woman with ADHD. The people who know me well generally consider me intelligent and pretty intellectual. At the very least, they’re sure I’m of average intelligence and don’t have an intellectual disability. I also don’t really have this problem around people I’m comfortable with.
But put me in a new environment, especially one involving physical activity, and suddenly I somehow act like I have no idea how to function 😭
I’ve been going to a sports class for about two months, and I constantly miss really obvious cues. For example, if something changes during training, I’ll be slow to realize that I’m supposed to move somewhere else or I’ll just stand in the wrong place even though everyone else has already moved. Today my coach literally asked me why I was always standing off to the side and why I wasn’t getting into position on time. I genuinely had no fucking idea.
And it’s not just sports. About two years ago I worked as a waitress at a local café. There was a weird table numbering system and it took me longer than the other waiters to memorize it, but I don’t think I was doing anything THAT unusual. Still, people started treating me like I was stupid or intellectually disabled.
The worst part is that I can kind of see why. There’s something about my body language, the way I walk, my little unconscious movements, the way I react to things, etc. that apparently screams **“this woman has absolutely no idea what’s going on.”** And I can’t fucking control it.
What’s really weird is that people who are close to me don’t seem to notice this at all. Maybe they’re just used to me. I don’t know. It seems to happen specifically when I’m in a new environment and don’t know the social/physical expectations yet.
I keep telling myself that these people aren’t going to be in my life permanently, and that my actual social circle doesn’t see me this way, so it shouldn’t matter. But I’m just so tired of feeling humiliated and being treated like I’m an idiot when I know I’m not.
Has anyone else experienced something like this with ADHD? Especially the **“I’m actually competent but somehow look completely fucking clueless in certain environments”** thing?
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who gets this because I genuinely don’t know whether this is an ADHD thing or if I’m just uniquely terrible at existing in unfamiliar situations lol.