As you may or may not have noticed – things look a little
different around here. It was time for a little spring cleaning and I decided
to revamp the blog layout. What do you think? You may also have noticed that I haven’t
been around as much. Sorry about that. I have been so distracted with life that
I have completely neglected my little online sanctuary.
I have been dealing with a lot of personal issues that are a
complete and total time suck. But they are also most important and where all of
my focus has been lately. Since January I have been completely distracted and
unable to give anything besides my family much thought. My apologies to my
friends whom I have undoubtedly (though not purposefully) neglected. I’m back
now – hopefully for a while!
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| Source: Columbia Psychiatric |
I want to share with you something I struggle with on a
daily basis. I have ADD and I have since I was a kid. Those closest to me know
about this and see how it affects me.
I was diagnosed quite young and I never
thought much of it though it affected my life dramatically growing up. I grew
up in the 90’s when ADD was rampantly diagnosed and there were not as many
treatment methods as there are today. My parents chose not to medicate me
because Ritalin was pretty much the only option at that time and I didn't respond
well to it. I was “not myself” as they said – though I don’t really know what
that means.
Since they chose not to medicate me, my parents and teachers
had to develop alternative strategies for helping me cope with my inability to
focus. I hate to say it but nothing really worked. I responded well to extra
attention in class and was good about asking questions when I didn't understand
something. But as I grew older, my ADD didn’t seem to get better, in fact I’d
say it got worse. I am so easily distracted. Throughout high school and college
I struggled just to stay up to speed as best I could. When you’re older, people
don’t check in with you as much as they do when you’re a little kid. Nobody is
there giving you extra help in class – you have to go looking for it, which I would
often put off doing.
As a college student, I found it insanely difficult to remain
focused on school and gave more attention to my peers and social life. Often,
my social life weighed in as more of a priority. My ADD keeps me from
maintaining balance in my life and I am constantly challenged with the concept
of doing multiple things at once. Scratch “skilled multi-tasker” from my
resume. J Things
that were once a priority take a backseat to the next most important thing. I
feel like this a lot of the time;
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| Source: Dr. Scott Graves |
If there is something I am really passionate about my
immediate focus shifts to that particular thing, though it may not be the most
important task at hand. I consider myself a fairly creative person and I have
always had more success with projects involving my right brain.
Now my inability to focus and maintain awareness of
important tasks is causing major anxiety issues for me. Since my ADD has never
really been dealt with and treated, I feel like now is the time to do something
about it. But the idea of finding a specialist or going on medication makes me
nervous.
I want to be great at ALL THE THINGS and I get frustrated and
upset with myself when I lose focus or things start to fall apart. I know it’s
silly (and really impossible) to do it all – but I truly do feel like I should
be able to do more than I am doing now. And I don’t want to feel upset with
myself all the time.
Do you or anyone you know have adult ADD? How has it
affected their daily life & how do they get help for it? Feel free to post any tips or advice in the comments!
