7 Dyslexic Realisations That Changed My Life
I was diagnosed with dyslexia at 10.
Then I left school.
And I genuinely thought that was the end of it.
Like dyslexia was a school thing.
Reading. Spelling. Exams.
Once I walked out those gates, I kind of put my head down and told myself I could do anything. My mum had always said that. “You can do anything you put your mind to.” And I believed her.
So I forgot about dyslexia.
Or at least I tried to.
But it didn’t go away.
I just got better at hiding it. From the world. And from myself.
Here are seven realisations that took me years to see clearly.
1. Dyslexia doesn’t disappear when you grow up
I thought adulthood would fix it.
It didn’t.
It just changed shape.
Instead of struggling with spelling tests, I struggled with overthinking emails.
Instead of reading aloud in class, I struggled with conversations replaying in my head at 2am.
Instead of feeling “behind” at school, I felt like I was chasing something I could never quite catch in life.
I wasn’t broken.
I was just still dyslexic.
And I hadn’t understood what that actually meant beyond school.
That deeper understanding didn’t come until my thirties, especially after working with Davis and digging into how visual thinking really shapes my world
Understanding Dyslexia Differen…
2. Dyslexia is hereditary
This one hit me hard.
Once I understood dyslexia properly, I started seeing it in my parents.
In my mum’s creativity and emotional intensity.
In my dad’s patterns and quirks.
In my grandmother’s way of seeing the world slightly differently.
At first it was confronting.
Then it was freeing.
Because I stopped judging them.
I could see their intentions were good. Their love was real. But sometimes the “engine power” didn’t hit the wheels quite right.
And when I saw that in them, I had more grace for myself.
It actually brought us closer.
Understanding neurodiversity doesn’t just help you.
It can heal whole family stories.
3. My mind creates movies… and sometimes they’re fiction
This was massive.
I’ve always had a visual mind. I can see things so clearly. Conversations. Scenarios. Outcomes. Disasters. Success.
But what I didn’t realise for years was this:
Just because I can see it vividly doesn’t mean it’s true.
I’ve had moments where I believed something so strongly because I had a picture of it in my head. Only to find out later… that wasn’t actually what happened.
Davis talks a lot about perception and how our visual brains can misinterpret reality
13 Our Pictures Can Lie
For me, that translated into:
- Overreactions.
- Assumptions.
- Emotional rabbit holes.
At one point I genuinely estimated that up to 50% of my past was made up of slightly distorted stories in my head.
That’s not me being dramatic.
That’s me being honest.
When your brain is a supercharged visual emotional creating machine, awareness becomes your best friend.
4. Overthinking isn’t weakness. It’s horsepower without a steering wheel.
I used to think something was wrong with me because I could have full blown conversations in my head.
Rehearse arguments.
Play out five different futures.
See entire worlds in my mind’s eye.
But here’s the thing.
That same ability is what lets me build businesses. Solve problems. Create ideas.
The problem wasn’t the overthinking.
The problem was not knowing how to slow it down.
When I didn’t understand how my mind worked, I would justify my reactions, defend my stories, and double down
11 A Story That Changed My Life
Now I try to pause.
Not always perfectly.
But more often than before.
Awareness changed everything.
5. ADHD and dyslexia are very good friends
I was diagnosed with dyslexia at 10.
I was diagnosed with ADHD at 32 or 33.
That gap tells a story.
For years I thought I just had “energy”.
Or anxiety.
Or ambition.
Turns out I had a spicy combo.
When ADHD and dyslexia mix, it can be powerful.
Big vision.
High creativity.
Entrepreneurial drive.
But also:
Inconsistency.
Emotional swings.
Burnout.
Understanding that cocktail stopped me from fighting myself.
It let me work with my brain instead of against it.
And it explained why I could be both wildly productive and completely overwhelmed in the same week.
6. I am probably unemployable… and that’s okay
Entrepreneurship found me around 24 or 25.
And it felt like oxygen.
Structure in school never fit me.
Corporate rules felt tight.
But building something from nothing?
That lit me up.
Do I deal with anxiety?
Yes.
Do I overthink decisions?
Absolutely.
Do I sometimes wish it was easier?
Of course.
But I would not trade the autonomy for the world.
Being dyslexic made me a pattern recogniser.
Being ADHD made me a risk taker.
Being aware of both made me a better leader.
Not perfect.
Just better.
7. I wish I’d asked for help earlier
This one matters.
Through the podcast I’ve had people in their 50s, 60s, 70s reach out and say:
“I just found out.”
There’s grief in that.
But there’s also relief.
Relief that you’re not stupid.
Relief that you’re not alone.
Relief that there’s a name for the way your brain works.
Dyslexia is not just reading, writing and spelling
18 Dyslexia is not just reading…
.
It touches relationships. Emotions. Time. Cause and effect. Confidence.
The earlier you understand it, the more years you get to live with self-compassion instead of self-criticism.
But even if it’s late.
It’s still worth it.
If you’re reading this and thinking:
“I thought it went away too.”
It didn’t.
You just got good at masking.
And if you’re starting to see it in your parents, your kids, your partner…
That’s not blame.
That’s clarity.
And clarity gives you power.
There are so many of us.
We’ve got communities. We’ve got tools. We’ve got programs like Davis doing incredible work helping people understand the roots, not just the symptoms.
Most importantly:
You’re not alone.
You never were.
You just didn’t have the language yet.
