The common showbiz follower knows that singer-songwriter Moira dela Torre did not have the easiest time in recent years. It is one thing to look from afar, but Moira was calm and courageous as she opened up about her recent condition and self-discovery. That she is clinically diagnosed now with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
“It now makes sense,” Moira told us during our one-on-one interview on Thursday in Quezon City as she was just launched as the new face of Maria Clara Virgin Sangria. She added, “You can’t heal what you don’t acknowledge.”
Moira admitted that she hasn’t been the easiest person to be with in the past and that now, since she has been diagnosed, it all adds up. She has been seeing a shrink for a while and she was surprised when her ADHD was brought up and discussed with her.
“It wasn’t what I was asking to be diagnosed with, but that was what my psych led to, and now I’m seeing a specialist.”
Her core friends and bandmates were some of the first few people she shared her condition with and guess what?
“Noong sinabi ko siya sa best friends ko sa banda ko. Sabi ko, ‘Guys, I have to tell you something’… walang na-shock! Even my makeup artist for three years sabi niya nako alam ko,” she said.
What prompted Moira all the more to address it are the tell-tale signs.
“I used to think na na ti-trigger lang ako, yun pala may certain instances lang na naano ka and usually ‘pag may certain sounds na nawawala yung train of thought mo,” she shared.
Moira is not the first person in her circle or family who has ADHD.
“My sister was diagnosed with it and so is one of my closest friends,” she said.
There was an opportunity in ASAP in Milan that Moira was thankful for, that was when she found out that another artist has ADHD as well.
“Parang madami palang creatives ang may ADHD apparently and I’m about to find out what level, I’m looking forward to that. Also, another artist actually opened up about it to me and said she also has ADHD and we actually got close on that trip and she taught me terms about like overstimulated.”
Now that she is in her “healed era,” Moira looks forward to studying more about ADHD and how she could be better.
“It looks like a new season for me to better knowing myself. I feel like I’ve always been so hard on myself. I always beat myself up for not having it together,” said she.
Moira told us that there were times that she was also misconstrued by people because of her actions, but this doesn’t mean that being diagnosed with ADHD gives her the free pass not to better herself.
“I’m learning about it not to make it an excuse, but to work around it. So, I can be better as a person.”
In fact, being diagnosed with ADHD was liberating for Moira to heal herself from her past.
“I’ve made peace with it. I’ve made peace with whatever I’ve wanted to change in the past with whatever I didn’t like in the past and be okay with whatever emotion I felt, like allowing yourself to be angry. Anger is an emotion that you have to let out because if you don’t, you will implode,” said the singer-songwriter.
If there is one thing Moira wants her fans to take away from sharing her ADHD diagnosis, it is this: “There’s one thing I want to encourage people — to not be scared to learn about themselves. Don’t be afraid to ask (help from the) specialists.”
