To the kids who shuffle around alone at recess,
To the kids who work twice as hard
And only get half the results,
To the kids who tap their pencils
And click their pens,
And to the kids who always forget their homework;
To the kids who cry themselves to sleep,
To the kids with their heads in the clouds,

To the kids who get made fun of, 
And to the kids who get overlooked and ignored by teachers,
To the kids who are silently imploding under the weight of their own frustration:

It’s okay.
It’s exhausting trying to navigate a world
That’s not built for you to succeed,
but I promise you that you are so much more than your struggles.
I promise that not being able to regurgitate information on a test
doesn’t make you stupid,
That being messy doesn’t make you a mess,
And that maturing a little more slowly
or acting a little differently
doesn’t make you inferior.
I promise that I understand the constant,
Aching
Hurt in your chest
That comes from a lifetime of coming up short.
But most importantly,
I promise that you are a remarkable person
That you are strong
That the gifts you have to offer this world are more innumerable
Than stars in the sky.

So to those kids,
and to my past self,
and to the part of my current self that
Still can’t look in the mirror
Without seeing failure--
It’s okay.
Let go of your old mistakes
and shortcomings
and understand that having these challenges isn’t your fault.
Embrace each second of the present
And welcome every thump of your heart
That feeds new possibility into you.
ADHD pushes difficulties onto you, but it also gives you gifts:
creativity & passion & determination & resilience & many more.
Grab these gifts and use them and be grateful for them.
Search for these silver linings
And color your world with them.

If you’re like me, and you let
the pain & embarrassment & frustration & bitterness & much more
fester inside you--
Please let go of it.
Nobody can absolve you of that burden
Except you.
So drop the weight,
Wring out the hurt
And push back the curtains.
Let in all the light
You’ve denied yourself for so long.
You deserve to see that light,
to bask in it,
To let it spill over you
Like salvation,
To feel its warmth
Seep through your skin.
It has always belonged to you.