“My ADHD Diagnosis Changed My Life!” How Jonah Platt Discovered his Full Authentic Self

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One of the key tenets of this program is

the idea that we all deserve to live as

our full authentic selves. Usually I'm

speaking in the context of Jewish

identity, but we are all multifaceted

humans and I guarantee you that many of

us have other aspects of our identity

that we continue to either conceal or

with which we are not yet fully in line.

Today, I want to share with you my

journey of self-discovery that brought

me into alignment as my full authentic

self for the first time in a long time.

Not because I have a burning desire to

talk about myself, but because as

always, I hope my words maybe knock a

little something loose in your brain

that just need a little nudge. Let's

start somewhere Jewish. That being the

theme of this show and all. From age 2

to age 13, I attended Jewish day school.

And the experience was a mixed bag to

say the least. When I had challenging

and empathetic teachers, I thrived. When

I had rigid and overwhelmed teachers, I

got into trouble. My parents and

teachers chalked this up to a combined

lack of intellectual stimulation and an

inability to control myself, which was

very bad indeed. By the time I graduated

8th grade, I had received 30 detentions,

two suspensions, been compared to a Nazi

by the Judeaic studies director, and

received one inschool suspension, a

punishment they made up just for me on

my very last day of school before

graduation. Good times.

Fast forward to 2023, 15 years into my

never-ending struggle to achieve success

in the entertainment industry, jumping

from writing to acting to music to

producing, always trying to have as many

balls in the air as possible. And yet, I

was in a constant state of feeling

disappointed in myself. Why wasn't I

more prolific? Why wasn't I breaking

through? How would I ever reach my full

potential? If I tried something else,

wouldn't that make me a loser, a

quitter, a coward?

Around this time, my son, who had been

having clear impulse control issues from

age 2, was diagnosed with ADHD. They

don't actually distinguish it from ADD

anymore. It's all ADHD now. His

diagnosis brought great relief for me

and my wife. Weekly shout out to

Courtney. We began to learn all the

different ways ADHD could manifest. How

so many things that we might chalk up to

rudeness or forgetfulness or defiance

were in fact just symptoms of a

condition over which my little boy has

little control.

I recognized a lot of myself when I saw

in my kid. And that realization on top

of the strong urge I had to find more

achievement in my own life led me to get

tested for ADHD. And wouldn't you know

it, I've got it, too. And while I

appreciated having that new knowledge, I

didn't really put any effort into trying

to understand what it meant. So, it

didn't do me much good. In fact, as the

year went on, my mental state continued

to deteriorate. I'd always felt I lacked

purpose. What am I supposed to do with

my life? Who am I supposed to be? And

with those existential questions turning

over and over in my mind, I always felt

like my life was lacking despite it

being so full with so many blessings.

Things came to a head during the summer.

I was in a constant state of

frustration. My meter always at 99, so

the tiniest thing would push me right to

100. Nothing felt worthwhile. I didn't

seek out any of the things that bring me

joy. I wasn't getting work. Everything

was just going through the motions,

hollow. After I lost my temper one too

many times over nothing, my wife and I

both demanded that something had to

change in me immediately.

So I made three major changes and almost

overnight I became a totally different

person in the best way. The first change

was medication. Sweet, sweet certain

baby. Overnight, my impulsivity was

curbed and the temperature on my temper

turned all the way down. I can't

overstate how amazing it feels to not

have impulsivity getting in the way of

the person I truly am. The second change

was that at my wife's urging, I got

serious about trying to understand my

ADHD. Most of us who don't know any

better think of it as a condition that's

exclusive to kids who can't sit still in

school. Not super meaningful to an adult

who has done well professionally, as a

family, all that. Boy, oh boy. As I dug

into a book called The ADHD Effect on

Marriage by Melissa Orlov, we discovered

that so many facets of my core

personality, including many of the

behaviors I had been told were bad or

made me bad, were actually

manifestations of my ADHD.

Like when I forget to lower the garage

door, it's not because I don't care

about my family safety. It's because

between the time I open the garage door

and think I got to remember to close

that and then get into my car 4 seconds

later, I've already thought about 20

other things. So, if I don't happen to

notice the open door in my rear view, it

never re-enters my mind to close it. The

trouble I have getting started on

non-preferred projects. It's not because

I'm lazy or dumb. It's because people

with ADHD have a hard time getting

started on non-preferred projects. My

impulsivity is not because I'm a bad

person. It's because my brain moves

really fast and doesn't produce enough

dopamine and is constantly searching for

stimuli.

I also learned that some of my struggles

could actually be superpowers. When

Courtney calls my name and I don't

answer, it's not because I'm ignoring

her, but because I have hyperfocus and

can get into such a deep flow state that

the world disappears.

Understanding moments like these has

been a huge win for both of us

personally and for our marriage. Another

fascinating one, ADHD brains don't

employ hierarchical thinking the way

nonADHD brains do. So, while a regular

brain sorts various tasks or details by

order of importance, my brain treats

everything as equally important, which

is why everything I've ever produced,

from scripts to vocal arrangements to

lyrics to this podcast, is so

meticulously picked over and my

standards set so high. But what really

blew my mind was reading the expansive

list of ADHD symptoms courtesy of Dr.

Edward Hallowell. Things I had no idea

were ADHD related. A sense of

underachievement and insecurity

regardless of how much one has actually

accomplished. Many projects going on

simultaneously.

Impulsivity. Inaccurate

self-observation.

It was me to a tea.

The transformation was instantaneous.

By realizing how much of my lifelong

internal struggle was due to my own

brain's erroneous view of myself, I was

able to let go of that struggle and

embrace myself in a way I never would

have even considered.

The last change was committing to the

creation of this podcast.

My ADHD told me I wasn't successful

enough, that my worth was less because I

hadn't reached a high enough height, and

that until I did, I would never realize

my full potential and my life would be

wasted. But once I understood where

these false ideas actually came from, I

stopped believing them. I realized that

so much of the turmoil I'd been

experiencing was due to the internal

conflict between my mind, which told me

I had to keep my foot on the gas of

entertainment at all costs, and my

heart, which told me there was a pursuit

far more significant and potentially

impactful waiting for me if I would only

take it up. Rather than spend an

afternoon prepping an audition for a

four-line role on the Rookie, I could

spend that time trying to empower and

educate folks about the modern

experience of being Jewish.

Understanding my ADHD allowed me to

release myself from the shackles of

unfair expectations and step gratefully

into the role I was meant to play all

along.

You know, I actually always hated when

people shared stories like mine because

it's not like anyone is trying to be

spiritually misaligned. I had to

organically stumble into my situation

after lots of struggling. So just

because I can say, "Hey, do this and

you'll feel great," doesn't necessarily

help you in any way. Your circumstances

are your own. But I do feel there is a

universal truth at play here. Your gut,

your instinct, your inner voice, your

soul, your intuition, your divine spark,

whatever you want to call it, is always

right. We do our damnedest to ignore it.

To allow our brains or our emotions or

the brains and emotions of other people

to drown out the wisdom that's already

there. Feeling out of alignment, bereft

of the ease that comes from inhabiting

your full authentic self. Is your

insight telling you that there are

waring factions at play within you?

Recognize this. Examine it. tease out

the intuition from the impulse, the

natural from the noise, the push towards

salvation, from the pull of fear and

doubt. As the ghost of Babe Ruth says in

the sandlot, follow your heart, kid, and

you'll never go wrong. So follow yours,

and when you do, I'll be here waiting to

wish you an enthusiastic masletov. Well,

waiting at least until my brain needs

more dopamine and I got to go do

something else. But you get it because

you at last are you and I'm just being me.