ADHD and Distraction in the Military and at Home With Justen Scott [Video]

By Understood

Justen Scott got diagnosed with ADHD this year at age 27. His ADHD “aha” moment happened while he was stationed in Qatar for military service, and work just kept piling up. Trouble with focus and time management had been a problem for Justen since high school. But when others in the military started to notice his challenges, he knew it was time to get evaluated for ADHD.

Host Laura Key and Justen talk about trying to seem “cool” on the outside — even as thoughts race a mile a minute on the inside — and how one small noise can be a huge distraction. Hear Justen’s take on how the military handles ADHD. And pick up a few tips on managing ADHD along the way.

To find a transcript for this episode and more resources, visit the episode page at Understood. https://www.understood.org/podcast/ad…

We love hearing from our listeners. Email us at ADHDAha@understood.org.

Understood is a nonprofit and social impact organization dedicated to shaping a world where the 1 in 5 people who learn and think differently can thrive. Learn more about “ADHD Aha!” and all our podcasts at u.org/podcasts.

Copyright © 2022 Understood for All, Inc. All rights reserved. Understood is not affiliated with any pharmaceutical company.

Transcript provided by YouTube (unedited)

0:00
when i was over in qatar you know i’m
0:01
the deputy for my office
0:04
and at this time i had a lot of meetings
0:07
to go to and i went to my first meeting
0:10
and when i got back
0:12
my boss was like what are you doing i’m
0:14
like what are you talking about sir he
0:16
was like you know you have another
0:17
meeting and i’m like oh man so i had to
0:20
rush to that meeting and i’m already
0:22
late so you know kind of already feeling
0:23
bad
0:24
so when i get back to the office the
0:27
phone rings i’m on the phone
0:29
and i’m supposed to be doing some more
0:31
work fixing some excel sheets so after
0:34
that phone call i tell my boss hey i’m
0:37
gone for the day see you tomorrow and
0:39
he’s like did you finish the excel
0:41
sheets and i’m like
0:43
oh
0:44
those excel sheets
0:46
so i had to stay you know a little later
0:48
to finish the excel sheets
0:50
and that’s kind of like the time i was
0:51
like
0:52
wow what’s going on like
0:54
why am i always distracted why can’t i
0:56
remember stuff like i realized well you
0:59
really got a problem dude
1:02
[Music]
1:05
from the understood podcast network this
1:07
is adhd aha a podcast where people share
1:10
the moment when it finally clicked that
1:12
they or someone they know has adhd
1:16
my name is laura key i’m the editorial
1:18
director here at understood and as
1:20
someone who’s had my own adhd aha moment
1:23
i’ll be your host
1:26
[Music]
1:29
i’m here today with justin scott justin
1:32
is a student in new york city who is
1:34
currently in the army reserves welcome
1:36
justin thanks for being here today
1:38
thank you for having me i’m excited to
1:40
talk with you today and i guess i want
1:41
to start i want to say thank you for
1:43
your service in the military
1:45
thank you for your support ma’am
1:47
tell our listeners what you do or what
1:49
you have done in the service
1:50
so i went to bethune cookman university
1:53
i was in the rotc program there got a
1:55
commission and i went to the reserves
1:58
for like three years i went to drill and
2:00
stuff every month then i eventually got
2:03
on active duty orders i was in kentucky
2:06
went to fort bragg and then i recently
2:09
last year came back from qatar and i’m a
2:11
medical service officer but when i was
2:13
in guitar i was doing more operation
2:15
contract work what led you to military
2:17
service
2:18
well when i was in college i’m a
2:20
physical education recreation major and
2:22
i wasn’t doing no extracurricular
2:24
activities
2:25
so somebody put a little bug in my ear
2:27
said hey you should try rotc tried it
2:29
got a scholarship and then that was it
2:32
you’re in the new york area is that
2:33
right yes mayo where did you grow up
2:36
fayetteville north carolina
2:38
yeah i’m an army brat my dad was an army
2:41
okay so was that part of your motivation
2:42
for joining the military as well no
2:45
interesting the
2:47
whole military thing was my
2:49
ex’s parents idea
2:51
got it that’s why i said a little birdie
2:54
put it in my ear got it
2:56
tell me about what happened in qatar
2:58
related to adhd
3:00
my favorite boss that i ever had is
3:01
named major jonathan ward he’s one of
3:04
those people who’s like very detailed
3:06
like
3:07
by the book like hey after this done you
3:09
do this after this done you do this so
3:11
at the time i was kind of transitioning
3:13
to take his position before a new person
3:16
came in so i had to go to more meetings
3:18
and
3:19
there was a meeting one time
3:21
i went to it but we had other meetings
3:23
scheduled after that
3:25
and me my adhd i forgot so i got back to
3:29
the office and i’m just like relaxing
3:31
he’s like what are you doing and i’m
3:32
looking at him like what do you mean you
3:33
have another meeting and i’m like oh my
3:35
goodness so have to rush check me in and
3:37
you know in the army don’t like you
3:39
being late so
3:40
now i’m kind of like looking all ashamed
3:42
like sorry for being late you know it
3:44
was my fault and then i also had work to
3:48
do previously before that the meetings
3:50
so when i got back from that meeting i
3:52
got a phone call got distracted forgot
3:54
to do my work i’m about to leave like
3:57
hey sir have a nice day he’s looking at
3:59
me like
4:00
did you finish her other work i’m like
4:04
oh
4:05
and that happened a lot but luckily i
4:07
had a massage that was like my partner
4:10
in crime he would kind of remind me like
4:12
hey
4:13
lt you have a meet and hey we have to go
4:15
here
4:16
my mind just be all over the place
4:18
what’s lt a lieutenant lieutenant i
4:21
don’t like me calling sir because it
4:23
just feel weird to me i feel older i
4:25
just say lt or lieutenant this was an
4:28
aha moment for you this sounds like it
4:29
was some kind of breakthrough like it it
4:31
really stuck with you this incident or
4:33
incidents that happened in qatar you
4:35
were struggling with focus it sounds
4:37
like distraction time management it’s
4:40
one of those things like when it keeps
4:42
happening other people start noticing it
4:44
too so they’re kind of like trying to
4:46
help out my
4:47
girlfriend she was over there at the
4:49
time and she wasn’t even in my section
4:51
but she would remind me of stuff too as
4:53
well like don’t you have to be here
4:54
don’t you have to do this and i’m like
4:56
oh you’re right i do have to do that
4:59
so it’s just like one thing like when
5:00
people other people start noticing then
5:02
you start thinking a little more about
5:04
it so what did you do from there so when
5:06
i was in qatar they couldn’t really do
5:08
nothing there because covet and where i
5:10
was at they weren’t letting us go off
5:12
base or get a real evaluation from my
5:15
actual doctor so when i came back that’s
5:17
when i went to the actual doctor and
5:19
they did like the evaluation you went to
5:21
your primary care doctor well now it’s
5:23
my veteran affairs doctor yeah you’re
5:26
going to have to school me a little bit
5:27
on the terminology around the military
5:29
i’m not as familiar as i should be it’s
5:31
all good it’s like the va you know
5:32
that’s kind of like a separate entity
5:34
they deal with the veterans and
5:35
everything then actually at the like the
5:38
military providers is adhd something
5:40
that’s openly talked about in the
5:42
military just based on your experience
5:44
from my experience now to me personally
5:47
like military stuff when it comes to
5:49
anybody that is different or has a
5:52
problem depending on your leadership of
5:54
course they don’t like to really talk
5:56
about it or
5:58
help
5:59
in a way but there’s some leaders that
6:01
actually help out like my favorite boss
6:03
i told them my problems i’m having i
6:05
also have a sleep problem too so they
6:07
think it’s narcolepsy type two thing
6:09
like diagnosed and diagnosed it but i
6:12
already took my sleep study test and
6:13
everything like i can go to deep sleep
6:15
in less than three minutes wow
6:18
and so i told him that and he didn’t
6:20
need no diagnosis or nothing he
6:23
understood so if i’m in the office and
6:25
that’s what messes me up too if i might
6:27
forget i might go to sleep mm-hmm and
6:29
then he’d be like oh wake up sunshine
6:31
about oh my fault sir like i can’t help
6:34
it like i just go to sleep depending on
6:36
who your leader is
6:37
they’ll either really help you out like
6:39
they’ll understand but some they just
6:41
don’t care
6:42
you got evaluated you got diagnosed how
6:45
old were you at that time 27. 27 so that
6:48
was this year okay welcome justin
6:50
welcome to our club
6:51
and welcome to the good day
6:53
[Music]
7:00
how was school for you did you ever
7:02
experience any adhd symptoms that you
7:04
can remember growing up elementary
7:06
school like k-5 i used to get in trouble
7:09
a lot because i finished my work before
7:11
everybody like i ain’t got a lot like i
7:12
was to me i felt like i was real like a
7:14
little genius type thing like when i was
7:16
younger stuff was just so easy to me
7:18
like i finished my work and everybody
7:20
else is
7:21
still doing their work so i talk a lot
7:23
and i’m like hey why are you still doing
7:24
your work so then i get in trouble for
7:26
that and they always put me like in
7:27
advanced classes in elementary and
7:29
middle school but when i got to high
7:31
school that’s when i was like i really
7:33
don’t school was really not doing it for
7:35
me like i never did homework if i did do
7:37
homework it was in the morning time five
7:39
minutes before class but i could score
7:40
high on the quizzes and tests so keep my
7:43
grade at like a c or something if i did
7:45
homework probably could have been making
7:46
all a’s but i wanted to go home and do
7:49
what i wanted to do i don’t want to come
7:51
home to do homework so it sounds like
7:52
you were procrastinating a lot in high
7:54
school
7:55
yes
7:56
and it could have been from it i think
7:58
you couldn’t appreciate they didn’t want
8:00
to do it and get distracted while you
8:02
think about it yeah wow i mean that’s uh
8:05
that’s pretty common with adhd and i’m
8:07
not surprised to say that this started
8:09
to pop up for you in high school because
8:11
in high school there are so many more
8:12
demands on our executive functioning
8:14
skills our time management our
8:16
organization our prioritization so
8:18
obviously you’re
8:20
super bright super smart and lots of
8:22
people with adhdr adhd has nothing to do
8:24
with intelligence right you were in
8:26
advanced classes you’re doing well and
8:28
then it sounds like maybe you hit a wall
8:29
in high school
8:31
yeah and it’s like learning wasn’t fun
8:33
for me then in high school i don’t know
8:35
it’s like a switch game like in
8:37
elementary school in middle school i
8:38
actually like reading books and stuff
8:40
like now i have to listen to audible
8:42
books because at least i can still move
8:44
and listen and i know people make fun of
8:47
people for doing it but i had to read
8:48
with my finger because i literally get
8:51
lost so quick
8:52
and then boom
8:54
page 10 come and i’m asleep
8:57
that’s actually a good tactic for people
8:59
with adhd it sounds like maybe you were
9:01
distracted looking at all that stuff on
9:03
the page
9:04
yeah it’s like the two lines above and
9:06
two lines below it like they start
9:07
smushing that line i’m like oh no so
9:10
either like you use the ruler or you use
9:12
your finger so they also have apps for
9:15
on your phone where you can just like
9:16
you’re only looking at the one thing
9:18
you’re supposed to be looking at i’m not
9:20
surprised to hear you say that was a way
9:22
that you coped just like you came to
9:23
that on your own frustrating
9:26
so what were you interested in in high
9:27
school
9:28
video games sports
9:31
and hangout with my friends i played
9:32
football and baseball
9:34
never made basketball because they can’t
9:35
cut me even though they weren’t really
9:37
that good
9:39
what position did you play in baseball i
9:41
have a theory going in my head right now
9:42
i want to test it out i was center field
9:45
in left field okay i wanted to pitch but
9:47
coach digg didn’t let me did you ever
9:49
get distracted out in the outfield
9:53
you’re laughing
9:54
so
9:56
baseball
9:58
like when i’m in outfit i dance
10:01
even in little league like when i was a
10:02
picture i danced sona man when i just
10:05
throw it and when i’m in the outfield i
10:06
dance
10:07
yeah especially if the pitcher is just
10:09
having an off game and you see him just
10:11
walk everybody
10:13
and you just like come on dude like
10:15
i’m out here bored so i just have to do
10:17
something so i just start dancing and
10:19
you just hear coach j scott stop dancing
10:21
and i’m like my fault coach
10:23
you’re kind of confirming my theory here
10:25
i talked to someone recently about
10:26
baseball on the show and i was asking is
10:29
baseball one of the hardest sports for
10:30
people with adhd to play unless they’re
10:32
the pitcher or the catcher because
10:34
there’s so much down time outfield’s got
10:36
to be tough when you struggle with focus
10:40
i’m glad to hear you danced your way
10:41
through that i had to like
10:44
so it sounds like you weren’t as
10:45
interested in like typical school
10:47
subjects
10:48
oh no it’s like i was already thinking
10:51
in my head why am i even taking this
10:52
subject what is this gonna do for me so
10:55
if i really thought about it like that
10:56
then i really wasn’t doing nothing for
10:58
that class like chemistry i was like
11:00
when we do a chemistry like what i’m
11:02
ever going to use pre-calculus
11:05
it’s not like people with adhd are all
11:07
interested in math or all interested in
11:09
sports it’s really just like any other
11:10
human you have your interests but you
11:12
have to have that interest of focus
11:14
whereas people without adhd it’s much
11:16
easier for them to
11:18
focus on something that they’re less
11:20
interested in
11:22
[Music]
11:33
when i talk to you you are very calm i
11:36
get a very calming presence from you
11:38
relaxed in like the best possible way
11:40
like aware but chill is your brain that
11:43
way too no not at all at all what’s it
11:46
like in your brain well i was explaining
11:48
to somebody yesterday
11:50
that there’s so much stuff that’ll be
11:51
going on sometimes
11:53
i could cry i would say it’s like a
11:55
painful cry it’s like a cry like why
11:58
can’t you just focus on one thing justin
12:01
like
12:02
because impressive my brain’s so
12:04
creative i like making skits and i like
12:07
doing music and i’m doing acting now so
12:10
i think of like short films and then i
12:12
think about one of my bros he makes
12:14
beats so i think about songs and stuff
12:17
and this is all this stuff like it’s
12:19
coming at once
12:21
and i want to like focus on it but then
12:23
something else comes and i’m like oh let
12:25
me do this one then i’m like oh no this
12:27
is a better idea and i did i like three
12:29
things back i haven’t even finished that
12:31
and that’s just like the creative part
12:33
in wanting to do something but the
12:35
actual just even
12:37
i got a lot of dishes in the sink i
12:39
supposed to wash the dishes i supposed
12:41
to wash the couple of dishes
12:43
because she cooked
12:44
but i see it and i literally have a
12:46
fight i’m like
12:48
justin do you want to do the dishes
12:49
right now i mean we could leave them to
12:50
the morning but what is she gonna say i
12:52
mean we could worry about that in the
12:53
morning it really ain’t gonna matter and
12:54
then if i my room i go in to play the
12:57
game i just leave my headphones on the
12:59
bed controller on the bed and whatever
13:02
else i had in there and then she’ll come
13:03
in there be like you don’t know how to
13:04
put the controller back and the
13:05
headphones back where it was supposed to
13:07
be i’m like i thought at the time that’s
13:09
where the headphones and the controller
13:11
and stuff supposed to be
13:12
and then on top of that supposed to wash
13:14
the dishes right after that then i’m
13:15
like well i need to go listen to music
13:17
in the shower and go jam out so i didn’t
13:20
forgot about all these things
13:22
because i’m focusing on going to take my
13:24
shower and go to bed so it just stuff be
13:26
like the flash just
13:28
just like slow down yeah the woman
13:30
you’re talking about and all that that’s
13:31
your girlfriend yeah she doesn’t have
13:33
adhd at all trust me i don’t know
13:36
does she know that you have adhd
13:38
yes
13:39
even before i got dark she was thinking
13:41
that already too she was like do you
13:42
have like that’s what i say when people
13:43
start noticing like why you always
13:45
forget to do this why you can’t never
13:46
sit down nowhere like you always want to
13:48
do something different
13:49
focus on this focus on that i’m like oh
13:51
my gosh yeah we have a lot of resources
13:53
on our website for all kinds of people
13:54
but one of the tips that we give parents
13:57
who have kids with adhd is try to avoid
13:59
saying just focus just try harder to
14:02
focus
14:03
because it’s not like you can just flick
14:05
a switch i’ll be there trying to tell
14:06
people i am like i wish i could just be
14:09
like hey let me just go wash the dishes
14:10
real quick
14:11
and somebody would like that should be
14:12
easy it’s literally not easy like i had
14:15
to fight my brain to say hey we’re not
14:18
about to do this right now because is
14:19
that important right now let’s go do
14:20
what we want to go do i hate that should
14:23
word you should focus
14:26
you should leave me alone
14:27
you should leave me alone so your brain
14:30
your brain moves what 100 miles an hour
14:32
a thousand miles an hour 5 000 miles an
14:34
hour about to say about almost a million
14:37
just about
14:39
but your actions aren’t catching up to
14:40
what your brain is doing
14:43
no
14:44
they don’t i try to be more chill so you
14:47
don’t see me like
14:49
expressing all that because then you’re
14:50
really gonna be like dang heck around
14:52
with him cause i’ll literally be
14:54
bouncing around if i’m not like relaxed
14:56
you just reminded me of something
14:58
growing up i remember like before i
15:00
realized that i had adhd like in high
15:02
school and college i always wanted to
15:04
seem really like cool and relaxed but it
15:07
was such a hoax because i just i’m like
15:09
the opposite of that oh my goodness like
15:11
i used to hate like if i was chilling or
15:13
like what’s wrong with you and i just be
15:15
like what do you mean what’s wrong with
15:16
me like i said i can’t be chill
15:19
and if i’m really relaxed my voice goes
15:20
to like
15:21
yeah okay you just dropped like a full
15:24
octave i was like i can’t just relax and
15:26
chill this is how i feel right now and
15:28
then that makes you get back into your
15:30
mode again like the whole
15:33
like
15:34
hyper type thing but then also a lot of
15:37
energy goes into that and then like when
15:39
you need to step away it’s like i need
15:41
to step away leave me alone i need to be
15:44
alone
15:45
then on top of that with me i have like
15:47
anger problems too like i get irritated
15:50
real quick and that’s what my
15:51
psychiatrist is trying to tell me that’s
15:53
kind of one of those things too with it
15:56
your irritability because
15:58
it is
15:59
crazy how i get mad that way
16:02
i really relate to that too justin
16:04
listen a lot of people don’t know and
16:06
maybe you do know but trouble managing
16:08
emotions is a common sign of adhd
16:10
it’s related to your executive
16:12
functioning skills which is kind of like
16:15
the ceo of the brain pulling the strings
16:17
and it’s like you can go from zero to 50
16:19
really fast and that irritability i mean
16:22
i know that feeling too like sometimes
16:24
i’ll catch a sound from across the room
16:25
and i’ll just start to get irritated and
16:27
then i can’t shake it for like 20
16:29
minutes yo
16:31
oh my goodness that vb i don’t like
16:35
i love being like petty like
16:37
once like you get me upset or something
16:39
i like harp on to it and i just like
16:41
zone in and it’s like i feel bad for my
16:44
girlfriend because she just like i just
16:45
say one simple thing and you just get
16:47
mad i’m like you might not thought it
16:49
was something big but
16:51
my brain thought it was something
16:53
out of this world like you got me angry
16:54
like that so they didn’t put me in anger
16:56
management yet i’m still waiting to go
16:59
justin it has been so nice to talk with
17:01
you today thank you so much for coming
17:02
on thank you for having me
17:10
you’ve been listening to adhd aha from
17:13
the understood podcast network you can
17:15
listen and subscribe to adhd aha on
17:18
apple spotify or anywhere you get your
17:20
podcasts and if you like what you heard
17:22
today tell someone about the show we
17:24
rely on listeners like you to reach and
17:27
support more people
17:28
and if you want to share your own aha
17:30
moment email us at
17:32
adhdaha understood.org
17:35
i’d love to hear from you you can go to
17:37
u.org
17:39
adhd aha to find details on each episode
17:42
and related resources that’s the letter
17:45
u as an understood dot o r g slash adhd
17:49
aha understood as a non-profit and
17:52
social impact organization
17:54
we have no affiliation with
17:56
pharmaceutical companies
17:58
learn more at understood.org
18:01
mission
18:02
adhd aha is produced by jessamine mali
18:05
say hi jessamine hi everyone justin d
18:08
wright created our music seth melnick
18:10
and brianna berry are our production
18:12
directors scott cochier is our creative
18:15
director
18:16
and i’m your host laura key editorial
18:18
director at understood thanks so much
18:20
for listening
18:23
[Applause]
18:24
[Music]
18:55
you

—

This post was previously published on YouTube.

***

You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project

You Said ‘Race’, but Are You Actually Talking About Race?

Understanding the Nonbinary: Are You Confusing Gender With Sex?

The Difference Between Compassion for Those With Disabilities & Ableism?

‘Masculinity’ Is Having an Identity Crisis

—

Photo credit: Shutterstock

The post ADHD and Distraction in the Military and at Home With Justen Scott [Video] appeared first on The Good Men Project.