Many people discover, sometimes much later than expected, that they are not neurotypical, often because the signs were there, but just interpreted as, say, a fun, personal quirk. So we’ve gathered examples of neurodivergent and ADHD traits that people thought were just “normal” behaviors for the longest time.
An important note, don’t diagnose yourself from an online list, many of these behaviors are not necessarily exclusive to neurodivergence. Settle in as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own experiences and thoughts in the comments down below.
#62
Object permanence. But also getting blind from objects that are always in the same place because my brain doesn’t register them anymore
11points
#63
Apparently your mind is supposed to be quiet and think one thought at a time. My mind was FLABBERGASTED when I realized that was normal.
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11points
#64
I thought it was normal for people to always be thinking about something and I would ask my husband what he is thinking about and he would say nothing and I would wonder why he didn’t want to talk about what was going on in his head in the background all the time. Then I learned in therapy not everyone has an inner dialogue constantly. it’s a symptom of my ADHD. I was just diagnosed this year. I’m 27. 🖤
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11points
#66
believing people were decent and were telling the truth. boy, oh boy did that one bite me
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11points
#68
that some people cannot see images in their mind? like extreme disassociation or maladaptive daydreaming. I can replay entire movies in my mind and see and hear everything like I'm actually watching in real time. apparently that's not the normal 😬
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11points
#69
Having one specific line of a song stuck in my head so often that every morning, within five minutes of waking up, I was like “oh that’s today’s anthem”. And then it just…never goes away.
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11points
#70
Forgetting to close cabinets...being tired as hell all day then doom scrolling til 2AM...having 10K tabs open on my phone's browser...
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10points
#71
Constantly tell myself “I’ll clean the house today or imma clean the dishes (and then keep saying and saying it untill on a random day I CLEAN THE HOUSE AND THE DISHES RIGHT AWAY WITH 0 READON)
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10points
#72
All of it. All. All of it! Not wanting to cook cus it’s too many steps, not wanting to clean cus it’s too many steps, not wanting to do laundry cus it’s too many steps.. only being motivated by having to.
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10points
#73
I thought everyone had constant chatter/sounds or songs going through their head 24/7. Apparently that is not normal 😃
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10points
#74
the postural sway 100% I thought everyone could do it🤣😭
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9points
#75
Vocal stimming. I didn’t even know it had a name. I thought it was just a habit
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9points
#76
Having a conversation in my head first then blurting the other half of it out loud to my partner… or jumping to random topics
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9points
#77
Listening to the same song on constant, not just a little bit, repeat for 2-4 weeks.
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9points
#78
hearing absolutely everything at once and being unable to focus on singular sounds or just blocking it out which apparently is a thing neurotypical people can do
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9points
#79
Needing to research something for days, weeks, months comparing each one on multiple different websites different models or years, learning everything about it. finding a YouTube video unboxing, how it looks. then how it is when it has a problem. Then if it is something that a lot of companies would make a case for that I could find that I liked. Whole time it’s a Nintendo switch. Or how it would look in my house like for tvs. I think everyone does this but after like 7 hrs straight or a couple days of that that’s it but it’s like I can’t I need to know I’m right
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9points
#80
Rejection sensitive dysphoria. I had no idea how people could just shake it off and move on.
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8points