How Living With ADHD Has Taught Me Patience
Living with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is not an easy task. When the simplest of tasks turn into a winding road of offsets and distractions it is hard to believe productivity can be achieved. Moving from one task to another has been a significant challenge for me ever since I was a little kid. I was often invited to the principals office or a secondary conversation with my dad and the teachers for how energetic and chaotic my behavior seemed to be.
From there I learned how to navigate my learning in a painful and awkward way. Communication has been improved, my ability to stay organized, and best of all my patience. Fast forward a few years and my patience has persevered…..although to a very small level.
However, seeing in myself so great improvement I pushed forward. It took every ounce of my being to not start bouncing my thoughts around in my head or doing seventeen things at one time. It became so overwhelming that my brain shut down when deciding on what task I needed to do. It became so much of a hinderance at work and at home that I tried just to keep my brain together daily and for a long time that was just the goal.
With a little extra elbow grease and a healthy amount of tricking my brain not to be overwhelmed I accomplished the simplest of tasks without my brain imploding and having a nervous breakdown because I didn’t do anything the entire day. The trickiest part and the trick to help alleviate some of the stress was teaching myself to be patient.
The first few months of trying to rebuild the foundation in which I had been taught in order to better suit my needs was…egregious to say the least. I had been so used to the way my brain had operated and functioned that doing a complete teardown was almost too much to handle.
But I got myself together and did simple tasks to mitigate what had been going on in my head. Notes and lists had been written to help with organization, books could be read (albeit with still some difficulty), and my brain could begin to process thoughts and do tasks in now a semi-seemless fashion. I’ve seen and I know that new parents and others like me are trying their best to try and accommodate their needs. My first piece of advice to anyone is always; Patience.
This means that extra steps must be taken, for the parent and or child. Taking an extra two seconds to force yourself on task an get a cohesive plan going, grab a stress ball or a fidget cube, even just going on a quick walk (or pacing) could help. Be patient with yourself and others that have the same mental inhibitor. Help them and yourself with a little bit of patience.
