Anyone else with ADHD feel guilty for not catching up with certain people that actually mean a lot to you? Even though they probably understand, it still makes me feel so unsettled on the inside. Thereโs always a lot going on and Iโm so easily overwhelmed
Psychology says some people avoid socializing not because they hate people, but because they can read them too well. They walk into a room and immediately sense the fake laughs, the hidden agendas, the performances. Their nervous system doesn't misread the signal, it just refuses to ignore it. Small talk feels like a tax they didn't agree to pay. Forced smiles cost them energy that takes hours to recover. They're not broken. They're calibrated differently. They don't avoid people. They avoid emotional labor that leads nowhere. When they do connect, it's deep, intentional, real. No masks. No games. Fewer friends doesn't mean loneliness. It means higher standards. That's not antisocial behavior. That's emotional intelligence.
R.I.P. Richard "Beebo" Russell (1989 - 2018)
In August 2018, Richard โBeeboโ Russell, a 29-year-old ground service agent at Seattle Airport, using his ground clearance, he got into the cockpit of a Horizon Air Q400 aircraft. Even though he had never operated an aircraft before, he managed to start the plane, taxi it onto the runway, and take off.
For about 75 minutes, he flew around the Puget Sound area while talking calmly with air traffic control. He kept the plane over open water and unpopulated areas, never meaning to harm others. To the dismay of everyone watching, the untrained Russell performed a successful backflip coming only several feet from the water. Richard refused attempts to guide him to a safe landing, he had made up his mind.
The flight ended when the plane crashed on Ketron Island, killing him. No one else was harmed.