Being Thankful For Having AD/HD
I’m not an expert on time management. I’m not an expert on AD/HD. I’m a normal person like everyone else, except that I have one of the greatest gifts in the world. I have AD/HD. Why is this a great gift? Isn’t this a disorder? Isn’t this a curse that has caused millions of people pain and suffering, myself included? Yes to all of the above. So let me tell you why I think it’s a great gift.
- It helps me to think faster
- I can multi-task better almost anyone
- It helps me to think of new ways to do things
- I can do more because I need less sleep
- Food tastes better
- Touch means more
- Colors and settings are prettier
- Success feels sweeter
- I get to help my children grow up stronger
How do I know these things? I just look around. I look at the way I do things, the way others respond to me, and I look at my successes and failures. Here’s my corresponding list to explain the above.
- I am and always will be the idea man to those around me. Where some people look at the box and see a box I see a stand, a seat, a spaceship, the body of a robot, a container for donations for the drive tomorrow. Is that distractability? Yes. But it’s my brain firing so much faster than others.
- I take on multiple projects when I shouldn’t. It’s the complete lack of impulse control that gets me into this pickle. Is that bad? Not even close. I have a full time job where I manage the hardest projects, many at the same time. I have a side business doing what I love most, cooking. How I do it is with managing the information and the tasks as they come to me. I use lists, project plans, recording devices. I manage my emotions by taking breaks when I need it and find ways to transition.
- In my life I see 10 options for 1 choice. Some people see 1 choice. Maybe the 1 choice is the best choice, but sometimes it’s not and it’s the ability to think outside the box that I value.
- I don’t need a lot of sleep. Is sleeplessness a symptom of AD/HD? Not necessarily but the energy that prevents me from sitting still is the same energy that wakes me up after a 4 to 6 hour sleep each night. So I have so much more time to do what I want.
- The next three are all related. Normal everyday stimulus can be overwhelming to people with AD/HD. Noise, smells, visual, taste, touch. Not everyone, but for some. I am one of those. This sensitivity helps me to enjoy simple experiences. The taste of dark chocolate as it kicks the chemicals off in your brain down through your body just by sitting on your tongue. The simple electricity that is felt in the touch of a hand. The sights of the leaves changing in the fall. When I was younger and learning to speak two different Chinese dialects I couldn’t shut out the conversations so I began to use that and practice my language skills by translating from the side conversations into English. Sometimes from two different conversations in two different languages at the same time. Curse? No way.
- The person with AD/HD yearns for and more importantly needs praise or gratification. It means a lot to the person with AD/HD as praise is responsible for kicking off key chemicals in your brain that help them feel “normal” or right. When praise or that gratification from others comes even in the smallest forms it feels like a warm blanket on a cold night. Similar to that piece of chocolate above.
- Understanding what I have makes me that much better prepared to help my children in the event that they have this too. It doesn’t mean I’m going to start medicating them at the age of 6 or 7. It means I get to educate them and their teachers about their strengths and weaknesses. It means they gets to learn coping methods I had to figure out on my own. They get to see the world in such a great light.
Like I said at the beginning of the article. I’m not an expert. I’m newly diagnosed and like all new things am excited and have a lot of energy. So I spend this energy on reading as much as I can. Articles, forums, book, etc. I see how people portray this mixed bag I have, some positive and some negative.Most important of all this Thanksgiving is that I am grateful for finally understanding why and what I have. My life just got so much better.