My whole life I felt like didn’t fit the mould, and since having the chance to create a community, the priority is to provide a sense of belonging for EVERYONE. The systems (school/ Uni/workplaces) are created with structures that don’t work for everyone. I didn’t fit these and was given the label of ADHD to a very high degree. To be honest I dislike these labels, I believe that our culture has created rigid guidelines that only cater to people who can easily adhere to them. if your mind works in a way that doesn’t function well within those set guidelines then you are the issue. These structures overlook that we’re not all meant to be the same, we learn and express ourselves differently. There’s so many people out there who are labelled adhd, yet there’s very few institutions out there that have flexibility to allow different ways of learning and working to express their talents. Many become criminals and drug addicts because they constantly feel like failures and are looking for somewhere to put their energy, they’re searching for a sense of acceptance or belonging. Many times I searched for belonging in the wrong places and I am so fortunate that I was able to channel my energy and passion into sport and then more recently into Puresport. So many people who felt like outcasts or not good or smart enough, found a way to put their energy into something positive but the problem is, there are so many more who were never able to fulfil their amazing talents because they believed they were dumb, bad, problems after being told off/failing over and over their whole lives (1/4 UK prisoners are believed to have adhd) I don’t think adhd needs to be a limiting label, I do think there is a difference in how the brain functions with many people and I think if the rigid systems of mainstream education etc opened their minds to find ways to function that catered to all people, then we would change the path of so many lives. In the mean time, I think it’s so important to have compassion for others who do things differently, we also need to question the status quo. At the end of the day, every single one of us is searching for belonging.