Maica

Fellow ADHDer here! (Hi friends!) I just woke up so I'll try not fumble around with my words too much. I am gonna ramble a lot so uuuuuhhhh... Hang in there? ;v; Syl's interlude was super relatable, even if it had ties in the supernatural. I don't think she's necessarily ADHD, being a little piece of Honor, HOWEVER she IS pure cognitive function, so... I don't see why not either lol. I think the personalities of a lot of radiant spren are meant to "offset" the personalities of their chosen radiant, see: Kaladin gets-his-head-stuck-in-the-crem Stormblessed, tempered with Syl Born-to-be-free Phrena. Or Teft who gets trapped in self-loathing spirals, and Phendorana, kind-and-patient-but-firm, who'll call him out on his non-sense. So... Syl being distracteable maybe in direct foil to Kaladin who has a hard time LETTING himself be "distracted". As for Rushu I'm... Hesitant. She's got the inattentiveness, only maaayyybe hints of executive dysfunction, but I haven't seen much evidence of rejection sensitivity dysphoria. Like in Dawnshard, If that were me in that situation, I'd be getting inundated with shame spren whether I like it or not. (If it hadn't been polite, it probably would've been anger spren. Reactiveness is funny (annoying) like that.) RSD is shown in, and I think I'm remembering this right, 97% of ADHD folks. Rejection, be it litteral or even PERCEIVED, feels like a huge mental punch in the gut, even over little things. It can be confused for bipolar disorder if it's really bad, but can spiral off into depression, avoidance disorder, social anxiety, etc. Depending if the ADHDer in question is prone to externalizing or internalizing. That sensitivity, in combination with the other a Big Two (Three if you include hyperactivity *points at self*) can result in, well... A Very Annoying Character. Seeing how polarizing (whomp whomp) Shallan can be in the fandom (I've avoided those forums bc I LOVE Shallan, as an artist and as someone who copes/coped with trauma by... Blanking.) I'm anxious about whether I actually want to see her shown with the full ADHD buffet. THAT SAID... Navani is just about the best patron/master/guide one could ask for. She never blames or berates Rushu for Being Rushu, just gently and firmly guides her on her own path. Which makes for an engaging yet low-stress environment for her to flourish! (I'm a little envious, actually.)

Yeah, that's fair. I totally forgot about body dysmorphia. I knew something felt off about the idea of her being trans but couldn't put my finger on it. (That's what I get for posting at 1? 2 in the morning? Bleh.) Had the same experience wishing I was a boy due to the period nonsense too. And fist bump of solidarity for the PMMD: I have the same deal. Started out as melancholy throughout my teens and twenties, then got a bit worse once I hit 30. Thankfully I got help for my "regular" depression before that happened so I've the tools to deal with it but STILL. Really flippin' annoying, to put it lightly. ;P

I think Lyft might actually be trans? She (and forgive me I'm gonna use she, if only to refer to her current self) talks about wanting to stay her mother's "little girl" and, being a kid, expected that to mean she would never grow up. From what I've read from Trans folk (particularly those who experience gender dysphoria): Puberty is The Worst, because all the ways in which your body felt "wrong" now start to become pronounced in ways that are harder to ignore. Like, she's wearing a flippin' binder to flatten her chest. When mine were popping out at that age I was ECSTATIC. That is not the reaction Lyft is having. This is much deeper than just being able to squeeze into small spaces. She does NOT like these things. As for her meeting with Cultivation: Lyft being a kid, she miiiiight not realize this was what she meant? I know lots of trans folks know pretty early on something's off/different about their situation, but I wouldn't be surprised Lyft didn't have the language to express her exact desires, to Cultivation or to herself. (I may not be trans but there's plenty of situations as a kid I couldn't articulate at the time. Lack of grownups to talk to, be it neglect or simply a lack thereof, about this sorta thing can do that.) It could be Cultivation made it so that one part of her soul kinda "locked" into place, so that she would stay a She when she might actually be a He or They or something else. Anyways I think for Lyft, her Boon /is/ her Curse. Boon: you won't change! Curse: you won't change. (Also I don't think investiture stops someone from going through puberty, based on what I know of the Returned from Nalthis. So the Peter Pan route was never in the cards.) I also recognise this doesn't really explain why she can make Lifelight, but my best guess is that Lifelight doesn't have the same properties as stormlight? Or maybe it's because Cultivation saw the creation of Anti-stormlight, so she decided to create a wild card out of Lyft.