For a good chunk of my life, I suffered greatly in the friendship department. The feeling of being hopelessly abnormal started in elementary school, where, as a child with ADHD, I struggled to sit still like the other kids, feared getting called on by my teachers, nervously solved math problems...
I’ve never been one to shy away from the spotlight. As a child, I was known to “sermonize” from the pulpit in church, and I’d always volunteer to read out loud in class. I relished every opportunity to say something funny or personally meaningful in front of a crowd. In...
I’ve always been long-winded. As a chatty kid, I saw myself (I’m embarrassed to say) in Donkey, the talkative motor-mouth and sometimes annoying character from Shrek who could not and would not shut up. I suppose the rest of my family and friends, to my chagrin, also saw the uncanny...
Death is terrifying, in part, because it’s impossible to imagine ‘nothing.’ Instinctually, our brains and bodies actively reject the unknown. I suspect this is why so many cultures and religions have formed beliefs and stories about the afterlife — to give death some boundaries, some purpose, and some meaning. Still,...
At the dawn of each new year, we set ambitious goals, buoyed by the feeling we can tackle anything — and now is the time to do it. Then the daily grind sets in, our initial enthusiasm wanes, and the novelty of new goals fades. Or we miss a goal,...
Woke up on the wrong side of the bed? We all have bad days. Sometimes our day starts on a sour note when we wake up late and have to rush to school or work. From there, daily obligations only seem to push the day tumbling downhill. Mix in stress...
Every day, I find myself staring at a giant mountain of things I need to do. Oddly, only some of what’s on the so-called mountain is real, important, and valuable. Most of it is a lot of airy nothing, the result of funky thinking on my part. Before I start...
I recall attending a school 504 meeting, as a single parent of a child with inattentive ADHD, where a panel of teachers, counselors, and administrators all sat across from me. I had a sinking sense that I was being judged for my child’s behavior and struggles. I felt like I...
You’re running late (again). As you rush to leave, you scan your mental checklist: “Okay, I have my keys. Now, where are my sunglasses? Oh, they’re on my head. Good. Wallet? Check. Hold on – is my ID in my wallet? Is the other ID I need in here? What...
The day I finally pulled the trigger and wiped all my social media accounts was the same day I posted a photo of my husband and me in a hot air balloon gazing thoughtfully at the miniature orchards beneath us. It was the perfect way to announce our wedding anniversary....
A colleague recently sent me a meme that compared living with ADHD to constantly choosing to play a video game’s side quests – optional missions that are not required to complete the game – over its main quest. I laughed at the meme and reflected on the side quests and...
“Positive reinforcement, encouragement, and rewards help us create good habits; shame, criticism, and negative self-talk do not,” I say to a client, terrified that they see right through me and know that I’m actively beating myself up for falling weeks behind on paperwork. I was diagnosed with ADHD at 24...
The following is a personal essay, and not a medical recommendation endorsed by ADDitude. For more information about ADHD nutrition, speak with your physician. One trademark of ADHD is low levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter released by the brain that makes kids feel good and helps them focus. Increasing dopamine...
The holiday season can feel more hectic than happy for parents. They’re juggling busy schedules, school vacations, holiday get-togethers — and trying to make it fun for the whole family. Parents of children with ADHD and learning differences, such as dyslexia, have added layers of stress. Hosting out-of-town relatives, attending...
1 of 11 “I Fired My Therapist. It Was an AI Chatbot.” By Elizabeth Broadbent “Woebot assumes neurotypicality. It expects that all brains can be retrained to cope with negative emotions using the same therapeutic model. But ADHD brains process information and emotions differently.” Continue reading “I Fired My Therapist....
As a child, middle school completely overwhelmed me. There were higher academic expectations, new interests and extracurriculars, a much wider and more intimidating social landscape, physical and hormonal changes, and a developing sense of self with which to reckon. Add to this madness a cocktail of executive dysfunction, impulsivity, distractibility,...
In a recent discussion with other ADHD coaches, someone beautifully summarized that coaching, at its heart, helps the client develop self-trust. Indeed, getting to the point where we can trust ourselves is a relief. Self-trust moves us toward who we want to be in this life. It’s also a skill...
My senior year in high school was one of my life’s most joyful, exciting — but stressful — periods. I am a huge planner and pride myself on working hard to achieve my goals. While these qualities are often beneficial, they can make tasks like narrowing down a college list...
I remember the time I set out to create the perfect routine that I vowed to follow for the rest of my life – an unusual endeavor for me, given that I had rejected countless routines like they were my mortal enemy. I believed in spontaneity and had feared that...
Ever since I can remember, I’ve chewed or picked at something. My mom tried to get me to quit when I was a kid, but this was back in the early 1970s, when body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRB) weren’t exactly a hot topic of conversation. My mom was clever though, and...
