Hello and welcome…
I`m Lowri Anne Wilson otherwise known as Lowz. I am an actor and model. I enjoy creative writing, as well as going for coffees and teaming up with my good friend Floppy-Joe. Floppy-Joe is my therapy dog and best friend. His job is to make people feel better about their mental health as well as to help them with their struggles, illnesses anxiety and loss.
This is my story that brought me here… I am currently a third year B/A acting student at the University of Wales Trinity St David in Carmarthen. While I was in my second year of university, I noticed that I was struggling academically. I got offered a student screening and that’s when my life changed forever…
The screening picked up that I had Dyslexia and ADHD.
I had been living with undiagnosed ADHD for 35 years.
I always knew I was different growing up as a child. I found it difficult to fit in and form friendship groups, and I was always late and untidy. I was hyperactive and fidgety and always very talkative. I found my school life overwhelming, and I found it hard to concentrate and focus in class. I spent my time either disrupting the class by talking, doodling, or just gazing out of the window. I did excel in creative subjects like Music, Art, English and Drama, but unfortunately, I struggled to engage in any other subjects.
I found myself being on report constantly or being in detention as my time-management wasn’t great, and I continued being late for school and failing to complete my homework on time.
It wasn’t long before I was known as the naughty child in school. I remember feeling alone and feeling thick and useless. I can remember feeling anxious and low all the time. I had no confidence or self-esteem. I just felt like I was just plodding along. I wondered why everyone else was just sailing along and doing well and wondering why that couldn’t be me.
All my life I had been going back and forth to the doctors, and my GP would give me anti-depressants. I knew then that I wasn’t depressed as there was some days that I felt okay. Although I still now have greater highz and lowz than anyone else I know.
Growing up into adulthood was more difficult, as I found it hard to pass my probation period in my jobs due to being late all the time. That’s when I turned to modelling, in a way I was my own boss and I felt free, I had no restrictions. I felt like I could use my creativity to my advantage, and I thrived on every photo shoot being different. I get bored quite easily, so I need to have lots of different things to do.
Living with my ADHD is exhausting. I feel like I have 15 channels on at once and I don’t know which one to tune into. Something must catch my attention for me to tune in to that channel. My mind never switches off and sometimes I struggle to sleep.
When I was officially diagnosed with ADHD by my psychiatrist, I felt like I had found the missing piece of the puzzle. I started learning about myself all over again and realising “ah, so that’s why I did that before” and so on. I’ve learnt now not to be so hard on myself and sometimes I even laugh about the things that I did and still do.
When it came to my dissertation, I already knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to raise awareness for ADHD through drama in education. I have learnt so much about ADHD and it has really helped me discover who I am. I can truly say that I now use my ADHD to my advantage and my superpower!
I have exceptional time-management and so many new skills that I never knew I had before and I can hyper-focus on activities I truly enjoy and I am achieving good grades. In one of my online modules, contemporary challenges I chose to do a project ‘School Refusers and ADHD’ where I received an 82% distinction.
The road I now find myself on was not the road that I started on. But I have learnt through this journey that roads can take you anyway that you want to go.
I have been on a total journey and discovery with my ADHD, and I just want everyone to know that you are not on your own. There are thousands of people out there that are unaware that they are living with undiagnosed ADHD and not getting the correct treatment and support that they desperately need.
My aim is to share with you my personal history and experiences with ADHD. Maybe you will find out more about yourself like I did. Maybe everything will start making more sense on why you, or someone that you know do the things you or they do. I will take you through my journey of ADHD and maybe, just maybe, you will find the missing piece of your puzzle, that you have been always searching for.
