I'm impulsive, reckless, spontaneous,I find it hard to listen to people without zoning out, I get confused and stressed with simple tasks, I interrupt people and can't help it, I blurt things out without thinking, I fidget, I can do a million things at once but I can't focus on more than one- if I am listening to the radio and someone interrupts my concentration I feel angry and irritated, because its so much effort. I am always late, I constantly forget what I am doing, I lose something every single day- keys, phone, purse...I have racing thoughts that I find very difficult to ignore (although the power of now book teaching us to stay in the present moment has really helped me on that score). I bounce from 1 activity to the other, I read magazines backwards and whilst writing this I am bouncing between each paragraph rather than finishing one and moving on to the next!! I am obsessive with lists and calendars and I have 2 alarm clocks because I have been told all my life that I am so disorganised, erratic and chaotic that I am a mess, and I put in 100% effort to organise myself but it's organised chaos, it really really does not come easily. I want my parents to read this site!! I start things (I am a writer) and I don't finish (I now have 7 books I have started and need to finish!!); my motivation lasts approximately 3 weeks, and yet when motivated I am absolutely full of creative energy that feels like it comes from a higher source- I am high, I am elated, I am so positive and full of energy, then it disappears and I can't write or focus again- I wish I could bottle it! I don't know if these symptoms are linked to ADHD but also, despite being extremely sociable and outgoing, I have sudden days of paranoia, anxiety and agoraphobia, that arrive from nowhere and leave just as quickly. I thought I might have bipolar but actually when I looked into it it's nothing like that, more just odd days where my brain is racing and thinking and worrying so much that it drains my energy, so I'm thinking it could be ADHD related.
as knowing my uncle would be murdered the day he died as an 11 year old. I am a pantheist and feel an enormous love for and connection with nature- when I was a child I would cry if people picked flowers or carved their name in trees, and say 'they have feelings too'. My friends ridiculed me but actually now one of them is very spiritual himself and thinks I was aware of the interconnectedness of everything and consciousness, so that's what I meant although I couldn't articulate it.
I have to say I think the drugging our children (there's a film of the same name if you search on youtube which EVERYONE with ADHD or any other 'illness' should watch. Two hours ago I was still asking myself the lifelong question- 'what's WRONG with me?'. Then I checked out the symptoms and a huge smile spread across my face because I needed to know what makes me different, and now I do. A few minutes later I typed 'ADHD spiritual' into Google (my friend had mentioned she had made her 'diagnosis' also as a result of having 2 ADHD colleagues who she says are both extremely spiritual, with all the signs I talk about above- so, more proof there's a link).....and here I am, suddenly knowing I have what the doctors call ADHD but what I call awareness. It looks like we are all spiritually advanced, wonderful human beings who deserve the freedom to express their gifts and teach them to others to promote light, love and peace in this world we are hurting so much. Put down the ritalin and embrace who you are! And thanks so much to this site and to all the stories I was reading. You're all inspirational, you don't have 'problems'.
Comments for This site has just woken me up!
I'm 53 years old. I've struggled with attention issues my entire life and always wondered what was wrong with me. I drove my parents crazy. Dad would ask me to run to the house and grab him a tool. I was so un-focused that I almost always forgot what tool he asked me to get. He'd get angry. Similar scenarios played out like this my entire life. I'm intelligent (about 130 iq) but it always takes me longer to read and understand things at work. I often read things over and over again. I hate to be interrupted, when listening to music, reading, at work .. Because it takes me soooo long to get back on track. I had always wondered why I liked looking at magazines back-to-front. It never made sense, even to me. That's actually what brought me to this article. My lack of focus irritates significant people in my life.
After reading this, I literally started crying because it sounded so much like me! I don't know what the next steps are but I've at least begun my search. Thank you for sharing this!
Omg. Wow. I am speechless. This sounds just like me. I started tearing up reading the part about hypersensitivity. I am now about to go to look up "adhd spirituality"