It can be incredibly frustrating for people, especially when it keeps on happening. If someone is late once or twice, it is understandable, but when it becomes a constant pattern, people often assume it means the person simply does not care.
The reality is much simpler.
There are several reasons people with ADHD struggle to be on time, but one of the biggest, at least in my experience, is a combination of poor planning and constantly losing things.
Growing up, the phrase ‘Where are you?’ was something I head so often in the morning that I could almost anticipate when it would come, along with the tone of voice it would be said in.
Again, when I was late leaving for school, the reason was rarely ever complicated. The morning would usually go something like this: I would wake up later than I should have, panic to get dressed, realise that something important for school was missing, and then turn my entire room upside down trying to find it. And by the time I found whatever I had lost, I was already running late.
My time management is much better now, but being honest, the change is not entirely from me alone. School was exhausting for me in a way that is hard to explain to people who didn’t experience it how I did. I would come home, go upstairs, and sleep until around one in the morning. Every day. I was so mentally drained that I couldn’t push myself to do anything afterwards, and this would lead into me rushing in the morning, repeating a cycle that only ended once I graduated.
You see, being late isn’t simply about not caring. It is about a brain that struggles with time, organisation, and the pressure imposed on it from everything else in life.
