Chloe Kim Wishes Her ADHD Diagnosis Came Sooner: It Doesn't Have to Be So Hard

It makes sense that I’m an athlete. As a child, I was always going to the hospital for jumping too high or hurting myself or breaking my arm. When I started snowboarding, all of that energy got funneled into my sport, which is a symptom of ADHD I didn’t know about. You can hyperfixate on one thing, and for me, that was snowboarding.

Snowboarding became my life. But when I wasn’t snowboarding, I didn’t know how to manage. I forgot appointments and plans I made with friends. I didn’t feel like myself. Getting diagnosed and discovering that everything had an explanation was the most refreshing, freeing feeling.

As an athlete, we know when something’s wrong with our bodies. My knee hurts, or my back hurts, or I’m bleeding — it’s so obvious. But when it comes to mental health, it isn’t. You don’t know what you’re working with sometimes. That was a big part of my ADHD journey. I was so unaware of what I was experiencing because it felt understandable in a lot of ways; I am very busy. I have a lot of things I need to do. Of course I’m going to be overwhelmed, of course I’m going to be exhausted. But surprise, surprise, there’s a world where that doesn’t have to be the case.

I found success during my formative years, so I really relied on the opinions of the adults in my life. In moments when I was starting to feel overwhelmed, I was being told that I needed to go to therapy and that there was something wrong with me and that I needed help — but I wasn’t being told that I should go see a psychiatrist.

Now, based on my journey, it’s important for me to shift the narrative and start spreading awareness on what [ADHD can] look like. I didn’t think I had ADHD because I wasn’t hyperactive. I thought I was just lazy. I was like, “I’m laying in bed all the time when I’m not snowboarding. There’s no way I have this.” But I did — it just looked different for me.

I’m able to process many things at once, which led to my demise in a lot of ways. But I’m also able to look at things from different perspectives. I appreciate how different my mind is, and I think that’s what has allowed me to find success in my sport. I’m able to watch videos of myself snowboarding and say, “OK, I think I would’ve landed this if my arm was a little more back.” I’m my best and worst critic.

I’m still going to be exhausted at times, but it doesn’t have to be so hard. I wish I had gotten diagnosed sooner and done a better job of checking in with myself. But also, how could I have known? That’s why I’m so excited to work with Supernus Pharmaceuticals on the Ms. Represented campaign, because I think that ADHD is truly misrepresented. Now, I feel like I have the rest of my life back.

ADHD is a spectrum. People experience it completely differently, and just because your experience doesn’t align with someone else’s, doesn’t mean that it’s a “you” problem. You’re not lazy . . . some of us just need a little extra love and attention.

Chandler Plante (she/her) is a staff writer and PS Fit Producer. She has over six years of industry experience, previously working as an editorial assistant for People magazine, a social media manager for Millie magazine, and a contributor for Bustle Digital Group. She has a degree in magazine journalism from Syracuse University and is based in Los Angeles.