ABSTRACT
When the pandemic began in 2020, so did my downward spiral into anxiety. Academia had been a safe harbour where I found intellectual stimulation and opportunities to further the frontiers of knowledge through research and to open doors to the same for our students. During the pandemic, it became a place of doubt and despair. Isolation forced me to face the ugly reality of my long standing problems with chronic disorganisation, frequent mental blocks, missed deadlines, and poor teaching skills. My PhD, long in gestation, loomed as the biggest testament to my failure. I spent much of the two lockdowns distraught, but within this dark space, I also found solace and the tools to better tackle my challenges. Embracing ADHD and developing a system of journaling for self-care and managing my ADHD traits have helped ensure that I can have a better, brighter future in academia.
