(Moral of the story is, don't be ADHD. I say this because I have it and it's ruined my life, and those of many others I know.)

Some of y'all in this thread make a guy jelly. Most of the ADHD folks I know didn't have their first job before 17 and some even as late as 20.

Some of the folks in this thread--clearly non-ADHD--are talking about having their first job at 10, working double time from 17 onward, basically always working even while in college.

Contrast this to ADHD, now. I couldn't handle college in the first place, let alone anything else on the side. Other ADHD folks I knew were the same. We/they have learning issues, self-control problems, low reward for anything that doesn't have relevance to our interests.

Right? What use is this place if all the "cynical" types will continue to rain on the parade. I get such advice is not practical for any given person's situation, but that is not what a comment should be discussing. Look toward the good, not the unhelpful.

I think a lot of 'hapless' folks will read these comments even, and they'll just nope right out of here...

But what if you're a truly wayward and lost soul, though, who ain't young. He became like a "zombie" nearly, for over a decade. What I mean is, someone naive and avoidant already, and then they even got worse--they doubled-down on the avoidance. They weren't 'working hard' to get out of it, either. They were even allowed to be this way. Sure, eventually they developed their hobby and it became their passion. But still they're not doing much with it, and they're not integrated in society.

Highly maladaptive. So he's not a case where you can say "still young" actually he's older and at the point, developmentally, like someone much younger than him. Is it a lost cause?

Some "explanations" of it, he does have autism and ADD, he ended up with addiction, and kinda self-assessed as a lost cause at one point. He kinda beats himself up over being a dead-weight, which keeps him (like a cycle) from making any real improvement.

A lot of folks here are all "damn I had to work super-hard" this or that, this guy would be ashamed to write anything about himself here. He hates himself already for what he has become, he don't need more judgment even if it's justifiable...