02/09/2026
Heads up, it's a long one 😅
💛 ADHD, masking & finding your way back to yourself — where can EFT fit in?
For many people with ADHD, life can become a cycle of masking → overwhelm → self-criticism → shame → self-sabotage → masking again.
You learn to watch yourself closely.
You learn what is “acceptable”.
You try to remember to sit still, listen properly, respond in the “right” way, control your emotions, be productive, be organised, not forget things, not interrupt, not talk too much, not be “too much”.
And over time, masking can become so automatic that you can lose touch with something really important:
Yourself.
💭 “Who am I when I’m not trying to be what everyone else needs me to be?”
💭 “What do I actually like?”
💭 “What do I actually need?”
💭 “What am I feeling?”
💭 “Why do I keep doing things that I know aren't good for me?”
And this is where it gets interesting.
People with ADHD can become incredibly knowledgeable about ADHD. They may read the books, listen to the podcasts, watch the videos and understand the dopamine system, executive functioning, rejection sensitivity, emotional dysregulation and masking inside out.
They can become experts in understanding their ADHD…
…and still feel completely disconnected from who they are.
Because knowing about yourself isn't always the same as feeling yourself.
🌿 This is where EFT can offer another layer of support.
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) can provide a gentle opportunity to slow down, come out of the constant thinking and begin noticing what is happening within the body and emotions.
Instead of immediately asking:
“Why am I doing this?”
We can begin with:
“What am I feeling right now?”
“Where do I feel it in my body?”
“What do I need?”
“What am I afraid would happen if I stopped masking?”
“When did I learn that this part of me wasn't acceptable?”
Through tapping and gentle exploration, we can start bringing attention back to those internal signals that may have been ignored, overridden or drowned out by years of adapting.
This can be particularly meaningful when someone has spent years thinking their way through life rather than feeling their way through it.
And slowly, we can begin to separate:
✨ Who I really am
from
✨ Who I learned I needed to be.
We can explore the shame of “not being good enough”.
The frustration of constantly feeling behind.
The fear of disappointing people.
The exhaustion of pretending everything is fine.
The inner voice saying “Why can't you just be normal?”
The behaviours we use to escape overwhelm, procrastination, avoidance, emotional eating, scrolling, impulsivity, withdrawing or sabotaging things we actually care about.
Not with judgement.
But with curiosity and compassion.
Because self-sabotage often isn't about not caring.
Sometimes it's a coping strategy that made sense at some point.
And when we start understanding what sits underneath the behaviour, we have something we can actually work with.
🌱 EFT isn't about changing who you are.
It's about creating space to listen.
To notice.
To feel.
To understand.
And perhaps, little by little, to reconnect with the person underneath all that masking.
The person who was there all along. 💛
EFT is not a treatment or cure for ADHD, but it can be used as a complementary wellbeing tool to explore emotions, stress, self-beliefs and patterns of behaviour.
If this resonates with you, you're not alone.
You don't have to spend your whole life trying to become easier for everyone else to understand.
Maybe it's time to start understanding you. 🌿
