Esme Stewart

At the start of this year, I was diagnosed with ADHD. I’ve gone back and forth over whether or not I would ever talk about it online. Despite being an open book in my private life, and oversharing being one of the many traits that led me to my diagnosis, I never felt sure that I wanted this to define me.

Back in 2021/22 I almost completely stopped voluntarily listening to music. Not out of protest or as some kind of mindfulness practice, but because the sheer amount of music available to me, combined with my mental health at the time (like a lot of people, the post Covid years were dark ones), meant that I couldn’t listen to a song all the way through without skipping it. It was compulsive. Even songs I liked didn’t make it all the way through to the end.

A deadly serious, not-at-all-satire guide to surviving - no THRIVING - in your 20s