You’ve Always Been This Way is a column written by Taylor Harris, a late-diagnosed neurodivergent woman and 1980s preschool dropout identifies every moment from her past that filled her with shame, and mutters, “Yep, that tracks. I see it all now.”
I stopped writing when I no longer recognized my world. What a profound betrayal to rifle through your everyday belongings—your thoughts, your days, your life—only to find that nothing quite fits.
So, what changed?
Fair question. Should I make you a list? I love a good list, but rarely finish one. I can’t possibly finish a list of this magnitude, which is more like a to-don’t (at least not all at once) list. But I owe you something. An assay. Let me give it a try.
In the past five years, my family and I have crushed that Holmes and Rahe stress scale:


