I’ve written a lot about how my dog Samantha is one of the best parts of my ADHD multimodal treatment. For those of you who don’t know, she’s diabetic. In a weird twist of fate we received our diagnoses (diabetes / ADHD) just months apart. I was still wrapping my head around not being able to maintain structure in my life when I was told that her life depended on structure.

Sam and I have managed, over the past six years, to maintain a regular routine of meals followed by insulin shots. About two years ago, she decided to up the ante by going blind. In response, I had to learn to focus. Big time.

If I didn’t, she’d walk right off the edge of the sidewalk while on a leash or careen into a tree, when running free. Either way, I’d end up feeling neglectful and guilty. What a great daily workout for developing my ability to pay attention!

My non-ADHD Friend Sharen

I’ve written before about how picking the right friends can make or break you if you have ADHD. That might sound extreme, but if you haven’t been diagnosed until adulthood, you’ve probably suffered from a lot of hurts and heartbreaks. A good friend is a lot like a good ADHD treatment plan: they’ll help bring out the best in you, while helping you to minimize the more challenging traits.

I thought it might be interesting to hear my friend Sharen’s perspective. Sharen does not have ADHD. We met a few years after I’d received my diagnosis.

Especially for those of you who at this very moment are being hard on yourselves – LISTEN UP! You CAN have a best friend you can trust and confide in – and who will love you just the way you are.

My new desk, less ADHD mess!

Yesterday, I gave a progress report regarding the 5 areas of life identified by ADD Coach Nancy Ratey as part of a holistic approach to self-coaching.

Today, I’ll report on my self-coaching goals of addressing my ADHD symptoms of disorganization and procrastination. When I made my commitment to self-coaching, these were the two areas I identified as priorities.

disorganization – improvements

1 ) I bought a new, grown-up desk with 3 drawers.

Drawer 1: calculator, letter opener, ruler, book ‘o passwords

Drawer 2: post-its, checkbook, staples, dry erase markers

Drawer 3: hanging folders with files for current projects and an expandable file with monthly tabs for ALL my receipts (with dates & amounts highlighted in yellow as per my last progress report. Thanks again to Sidney Parker Holt, author of ADD Simplified)

Holy Moly! The last self-coaching progress report I wrote was on February 23, 2011. Nearly one year ago! I had no idea that much time had passed since my last update.

Funny, I’ve been thinking about reporting for a couple of months now, but didn’t because I didn’t want to bore you with all my self-coaching posts. Sheesh. You must have thought I’d fired my coach!

The Möbius strip has the mathematical property of being non-orientable. So does my ADHD life... Photo by David Benbennick; licenced under the Creative Commons

I don’t know about you, but before my ADHD diagnosis, my life was kind of like an Escher painting: lots of elements looked normal, but the big picture was definitely screwed up.

I particularly relate to the drawing where you’re not sure if the figures are walking down the stairs, or up the stairs, or both. It’s disorienting; it’s anxiety-provoking; the perspective leaves you feeling slightly off-kilter.

If you have undiagnosed ADHD and you see these works, something inside you screams: Hey! That’s me! Continuously moving, but never getting anywhere!

I love Saturdays. It’s the one day of the week I cut myself some slack and listen to my favorite comedy show, The Debaters, and to advertising genius, Terry O’Reilly, on CBC Radio, Canada’s national broadcaster.

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to the early morning show on a Saturday and making an omelette (yes, that’s something I can actually cook!) The host, Mary Ito, spontaneously decided to ask her listeners to send in words that they had made up.  Great! I thought. I’ll tell  her about my word “blurtatious.”

Fire’s burning, fire’s burning
Draw nearer, draw nearer…

A while ago, I reminisced about good times as a Girl Guide. I have very few childhood memories, but incredibly, 40 years later, I can still tie a clove hitch, and I’m a mean fire pit architect: I can build it teepee-style or log cabin.

I’m amazed that I can still remember these things, not to mention the indelible memory of the night we had a séance to channel Lord Baden Powell (the Guiding Founder).

My friend Keri went into a trance and channeled Baden Powell, and we all peppered him/her with questions, only stopping when she went white as a ghost and nearly passed out, scaring the beejeezus out of all of us. What I don’t remember is how we got away with that, right in the Trillium Hall. No doubt about it: Girl Guides was cool.

It was also the perfect place for a hyperactive Chick A-D-D like me.