Saturday, October 17, 2009

Since my diagnosis with ADHD and beginning to take medication, my thoughts have been dominated by three main themes:

1. What are the characteristics of the disorder? What do we know? What do we not yet understand? What are the driving forces behind it?

2. These questions have led to a far more significant and fundamental one: if ADHD is responsible for many of the things that made me and others unhappy, then how does one decouple who you are as a person from the actions that you may have performed (or not performed) that led to the distress? In other words, my actions have led to the perception that I was unmotivated, disorganized, absent minded, and not very competent in many respects. But now, I find that I had a limitation that can be corrected through therapy and medication. Does that mean that innately, I'm actually not lazy and incompetent? That I am actually a very capable person with tremendous potential and all I need to do is correct my mental nearsightedness?

3. Well if it's true that all I had to do was make a few changes, and that innately I am not lazy, disorganized, and incompetent, then what does it say about us as people that we are ready to condemn a person who exhibits these behaviors and make moral judgements about them?

As this Blog goes on we're going to look at this in detail. ADHD and the attitudes surrounding it say a lot about us as a society. And what it says isn't all that good sometimes.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Hello and welcome to my little part of the online world. As the name of this blog indicates, I'll be talking about the very real and difficult task of living life with the condition currently known as ADHD. I call this "Flying through Life" because many days that's what it feels like. I'd like to talk through different aspects of this condition and how I evolve as I embrace and adapt to it. I know an awful lot of people will say it's a gift. I would say it's less of a gift and more an opportunity. This blog will chart my progress. I'll share my stories, and I'll also share helpful information that I learn on the way. Please feel free to comment. I hope this will be a good way to interact with others who share the condition, or would like to learn more about it. So, look for my first real post in a day or so as I get organized to begin send my thoughts into cyberspace on the topic of adult adhd.