Product Engineering and Learning Leadership, currently in CivicTech

The Importance of Community

I was diagnosed with ADHD a few years ago. This came as no surprise to anyone that knows me, but was a bit of a surprise to me. I grew up with 2 family members who were high on the "-hyper" scale, so my inattentive ADHD slipped under the radar and left me feeling unseen, misunderstood, and convinced I was just bad at life.

When I finally got my diagnosis, I knew I needed help -- and went looking for a community where I could connect with other folks who understood me, could see me, and could speak to the things I was learning about myself. I found a great community on Discord, and spent a year or more connecting to these people who got me at a deep level. We shared stories, memes, advice, frustrations, and tips on navigating the world as neurodivergent people.

While our society here in the US is loudly individualistic, the only places I've found the connection and meaning I need is in community and the relationships formed there.

My Next Community

Starting a new role is scary, starting my first supervisory role even more so. I've been doing a lot of reading (some of which I've started posting here), but I realized that I was going to need a community beyond the 4 walls of my home, and beyond my virtual "office" I would inhabit for work.

So I bit the bullet and reached out to join Rands' Leadership Slack and I'm already picking up tips and resources on topics like learning to lead with ADHD (very relevant) and writing about your work ("1. write, 2. all the time, 3. go to 1.") and I'm sure I'll have plenty more to share as time goes on.