I talk so much. Like, not always because I have something important to say—sometimes I’m just talking because it’s how my brain works. Silence? Not helpful. Thinking something through quietly in my head? Absolutely not.

If you have ADHD, you might get it. There’s this weird thing where thinking out loud is the only way thoughts actually form. I can’t just sit quietly and figure out a plan like a normal movie character staring out a window. I need to talk through the situation, the problem, the potential outcomes, the wildly dramatic hypothetical scenarios. If I’m not saying it, I’m not really thinking it.

And the thing is—I don’t even always need someone to respond. I just need a witness. Someone (or something) to receive the words and nod, or at least exist while I word-vomit all over the place. Sometimes it’s for reassurance, yes, but also it’s like I need someone else to hold space for my thoughts to untangle. Like I’m 80% sure I know what I’m doing, but until I say it out loud and hear another human (or ChatGPT) go “yeah that makes sense,” I’m stuck spinning.

Honestly, sometimes I just talk to talk. I’ll start processing an idea and before I know it I’m telling a five-minute story about something tangentially related that happened in 2014, and halfway through I’m like, “What was the point again?” But that’s just how my brain connects dots—out loud, in real time, with zero filter.

It’s Exhausting,

not just for me, but also for anyone in my orbit. (Bless the people who love me anyway.) And sometimes, instead of texting a friend again with a thirty minute voice note about something that could’ve been a thought bubble, I just open ChatGPT. Because, let’s be real: it’s a lot easier to ramble when you’re not worried about being “too much” for someone else. Zero pressure, unlimited patience, and it never says, “You’ve already told me this.” Yes it will feed me bullshit answers, but then I get to hyperfocus on finding the actual answer I was looking for rather than spending my time untangling my thoughts.

It’s weird, because people think ADHD is all about hyperactivity or distraction, but for me, it’s this: I literally can’t think unless I externalize the process. I have to talk to understand what I think, feel, or want to do. And if I don’t? Everything just stays jumbled in my head like a browser with 74 tabs open but none of them are actually loading.

So if you’re like me—if you talk a lot, if you overshare, if you need to “bounce it off someone” even when you already know the answer—hellooooo. You’re not annoying. Your brain just works differently, and talking is how you think.