As an adult with ADHD, I’ve never been at a loss for questions and this is especially true when I’ve given someone tacit permission to poke, prod, x-ray, and provide potent chemical substances meant to assist healing or at least mask my symptoms.

With this in mind, I felt even more empowered to ask questions after reading Confessions of a Medical Heretic. It was written in 1979 by Robert Mendelsohn, M.D. (I finally got around to reading it.)

Written by a medical doctor, Confessions describes the dangers of putting blind faith in those to whom we’ve ascribed near-supernatural powers and unquestioned authority over our body, mind, and soul.

lintmachine via Compfight

This Monday is Victoria Day in Canada. Its origin is a celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday and it occurs on the weekend prior to May 25. (Canada still has a British Queen, why I don’t know. Maybe we’re just too polite to point out to the Brits that we’re Canadian, but I’m just speculating).

In lieu of ousting the monarchy, we’ve created an alternative name for our holiday: the May 2-4 weekend, thus named both for the date, and after a 2-4 case of beer (hey, we’re poetic like that.)

With the first summer-ish holiday looming, and Canadians across the land opening their cottages for the first time in our short summer season, I thought this would be a good time to review some do’s and don’ts of holidaying with ADHD.

Ibrahim Iujaz via Compfight

Life was so messy and topsy-turvy before my ADHD diagnosis, these days I make a conscious effort to notice how (and when) things have changed for the better. Otherwise, I might just notice the places where I’m still messy, still awkward, still completely incapable of assembling small furniture or a batch of cookies in under 15 hours.

And that would just be depressing.

If you’ve been diagnosed with ADHD as an adult – don’t despair! Things do (and will) get better. Just give it some time. And effort. And chocolate.

Here are a few signposts along the way to – perhaps not recovery – but to living better with ADHD.

Pascal via Compfight

Ok. That’s it. I’m down the rabbithole again.

The more I learn about ADHD, the more complex and interconnected everything gets. I’m totally overwhelmed by the plethora of theories, webinars, tools, and tricks of the trade.

Not to mention the amazing, fascinating, infuriating, and fabulous personalities representing a myriad of contrasting, conflicting, and concurring opinions available through blogs, articles, Twitter peeps and peeping twits (including those who randomly steal and re-post my writings without so much as a by-your-leave).

  Tambako The Jaguar via Compfight

Don’t panic! I’m not talking about housework.

I’m talking about a Buddhist expression, “polishing your mirror.” It means clearing up your personal inner gunk, so you can shine more brilliantly.

After my ADHD diagnosis, I realized my mirror was more spattered with toothpaste than I thought.

Paolo Margari via Compfight

Finding the positive side in any situation is something I’m pretty good at. In spite of life’s challenges, I’ve been called “insufferably cheerful” (whatever that means) and consider myself to be irrationally optimistic.

Even so (and even though it’s been over 7 years since my ADHD diagnosis) until recently, I couldn’t really come up with any benefits of being diagnosed later rather than sooner. (Besides the obvious one of life finally making sense.) (Sort of.)

Imagine my surprise when I finally did stumble over a plus.

Zoe on a camel in Rajasthan, India, 2013

So the first day I’m back from India I’m all like flooded with amazing ideas I want to write about. I jot them all down, and I know I’ll be able to rattle off three or four of them over the next week or two, just riding that wave of inspiration.

Then – wham! – after being completely healthy during the entire trip, I’m taken down the moment I walk in my front door.  Now, two weeks later, my pee is the color of molasses and it takes all my energy just to sit upright. My muscles are screaming that they’d really rather collapse back into bed.

Now, before anyone panics – yes – I have had medical attention. I’m waiting for the test results.

TMI? I’m sorry, I’m too sick to care.

Navigating northern India, navigating new social skills with ADHD

MD. Hasibul Haque Sakib via Compfight

If social skills are foreign to adults with untreated ADHD, then imagine what it’s like to have ADHD in a foreign country. Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

Having just returned from a two-week vacation in India, I’m still absorbing all the lessons learned. (Unfortunately, absorbing ideas is about all I can absorb at the moment; I’ll spare you the grim details.)

Having only recently decoded my own country’s social rules, I suppose it was too much to hope for to bone up on acceptable social interactions in a land so different from my own. Besides, given my time management challenges, I barely had time to pack and catch my flight let alone school myself in the niceties of communication between the sexes in a country as complicated as India. In hindsight, this proved to be a grave error.

Dear ADHD Treatment:

I’m so glad I met you.

Before we met, I was completely lost.

I admit it: there were many others before you. In my 20s, I flirted with alcohol. I came to realize this wasn’t a healthy relationship. I tried smoking, but I knew that that relationship would eventually kill me.

Our relationship is different; I’m happier. I’m healthier. And I’m still getting to know you. There is so much more to learn! But one thing’s for sure: I believe you and I can grow together. And I know we’re together for life. This may sound overly dramatic, but I can’t live – really live – without you.

©Zoë Kessler

Does your cat have ADHD? While it’s not contagious, it is genetic. How much do you really know about where your kitten came from?

Here are the signs to look for if you think your cat has ADHD.

1) She’s old but runs around like a kitten

I often think of ADHD as the fountain of youth. Ever notice how many people with ADHD act, think, and often look younger than their years?

If your cat’s running around like a kitten even though she’s a senior citizen, she might have ADHD.