I can’t draw very well …

I’m sure you’ve heard that people with ADHD are very creative. It’s nice to think that may be true, and it may be true, but it isn’t yet a fact.

A fact is something that current tests show to have a high probability of truth. At one time it was a fact that the sum orbited the earth once a day. Now we know that the earth orbits the sun once a year. It looks like the sun is going around us because earth is actually spinning itself around once a day. That gives us a view of space towards the sun and then a view of space away from the sun.

Since there are no tests to qualify or quantify creativity, there is no way of testing the creativity of anyone. The only test is if they create

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My old Pentax, manual external focus. My manual focus is internal.

Why can I focus on some things better than others? And why is it that the important things seem to be harder to focus on? These are questions that plague me.

They plague me particularly when I’m trying hard to view my ADHD as a way of being, rather than a flaw in my being.

I am always hoping that understanding issues will lead to being able to rectify them. If not, then I hope understanding them will possibly present a usable work around for the issue I’m studying.

The first thing I’ve noticed about things I am better able to focus on, is that they are, more often, things I enjoy. So why do I think they are less important if I enjoy them? Perhaps that is a self esteem issue. If I like them, they can’t be that important.

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I may still be out there, but I’m working on being organized , and out there.

Up until I turned 49, my life seemed okay. I didn’t analyze it, I didn’t really pay it much attention, I just assumed it was okay. I thought it could be better, but whose life couldn’t, right?

It’s true, I’d had more than my share of jobs, and I couldn’t find a hobby that I liked well enough to stay with it, forsaking any others. And yes, there was room for improvement in my tax return filing skills. But I was okay.

In 2009 I became aware that I might have ADHD. Lots of research and one diagnosis later, I became a certified member of the ADHD tribe.

Shortly thereafter, in an effort to better my life, a prescription was written for stimulant medication, with my name on it.

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Coping and recovery start within

I mostly write about ADHD. I write about the quirks of the thing. I write about how those quirks might be used to our advantage. If there is no way of that happening, I write about ways of coping with those quirks, overcoming them.

Sometimes I get indignant, I climb up on a soap box and I write about being marginalized, talked about, labelled by people who have a degree in the dual majors of blithering and stereotyping.

I’m sorry if my getting upset about this leaves anyone else upset, but stigma is such a huge issue to me. I see it as the biggest barrier to betterment. And stigma originates without.

And stigma is, to some extent, the issue I’m discussing again today, but only partially. Today my focus is on self esteem. Self esteem originates within, but is affected greatly by stigma.

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Something to focus on …

What happens when our pleasure centres are stimulated? We like it, that’s what happens. And what happens when we like something? We want more of it. In fact, with our propensity toward addictive behaviour, we’re liable to seek out that pleasure centre stimulation at great cost to our well being.

And what do we call that seeking out of stimulation? We call that focus, that’s what we call it.

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Just some random cat …

I don’t own a cat. And no, no cat owns me either. But there is a cat in my neighborhood that has adopted me. Well, okay, not me so much as my place. As I write this, the cat is hanging, spread eagle, on my patio door screen.

Yep, it marches to the beat of its own drummer. Sound familiar? That’s right, a kindred spirit.

When I first encountered it, I referred to it as “some random cat” on Facebook. One of the wits that I’m proud to say is a friend of mine dubbed the cat “Random.” I was against its having a name, didn’t want to give it the impression that it was welcome.

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Our Shotgun Wedding, donating their time

There are times when you should speak up, and there are times when you should keep quiet. There are times when you should stand up and be counted and times when you should conveniently be in the bathroom when the vote is tallied.

A Friend of mine is on his way to India for a month. He is volunteering to teach Tibetan refugees, that’s what the trip is about. Its a working vacation of sorts, more working, I think, than vacation.

He hasn’t left for India yet, but the work has begun already. He has to pay his way there and support himself while there and my friend is not so well heeled that he can just slap down the cash for a venture like this.

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This meal did not cause my ADHD

There was a time when there existed people who disbelieved in the existence of ADHD. I can hear you gasping as you ask incredulously “When?”

Prepare yourselves for a shock, the time … is now. There are still people out there who believe that ADHD does not exist. But that time is fast approaching its end. The proof may never be clear enough for the average person on the street to understand, but its wide spread acceptance by the medical community heralds the end of the time of doubt.

You see, genes have been isolated, risks calculated, detriments catalogued, impairments noted, deficits evidenced. Conclusion? There is a psychological disorder called Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.

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Katy Rollins: The view From Here

So, here we are with the last instalment of Katy Rollin’s answers to our questions.

It’s going to seem quiet around here when she leaves. I’ll try to keep things lively, you know I always try.

And if you haven’t had enough of the unsinkable Katy, don’t forget you can find her at her blog, 18channels, where she writes as an embedded reporter from the front lines of an ADHD family.

But enough of the future, here’s the present, according to Katy.

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Screen Capture from Google Maps

“You are here!”

ADHD is not a slice of heaven. Though I’ve had people tell me recently that it is wonderful, I can’t entirely agree.

Dr. Edward Hallowell is fond of saying that we have Ferrari brains with bicycle brakes. I agree wholeheartedly with that analogy. I wouldn’t trade my Ferrari brain for anything. But I’d love to take it for a spin on a closed track with no other traffic around. Someplace where I can let it go until it runs out of gas and coasts ’til it comes to rest. That would be a great day.

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