One of the reasons I didn’t know I had ADD until my thirties is because I functioned well as a student. I could organize myself around deadlines and wanted to excel and did. Except for freshman year of college, once I left home there were always jobs, too — providing more structure.
Nineteen of the first thirty years of my life were spent attending school.
The free-for-all business of raising two “highly active” boys was another matter altogether. When the younger son was tested for ADD, we checked all the same boxes.
Raising kids is part joy and part guerrilla warfare. Ed Asner
So now I know.
Next Wednesday (five days from now) is the first of my “Last Wednesday” Etsy store updates. It’s an experiment in promotion and setting deadlines. All of a sudden, I have a half dozen quilts to finish!
I probably will, even though my brand of ADD makes finishing things waaaaaay harder than starting them. So stay tuned!
Now if only I could impose a deadline for a first draft. Or rather (since I’ve done so multiple times), if only I could impose one that worked.
This TOTALLY speaks to me. I was a successful student & professional due to almost compulsive organization skills & desire to “do my best”. My second child/son, on the other hand, has always walked to a different drummer. When he was in Junior High (LOL – now called middle school) a new therapist was recommended to me as an adult who had ADD. In our first interviewee made a comment that I will never forget, “Takes one to know one”. In many ways it’s gotten worse for me since retirement and the lack of enforced structure. ADD combined with depression can be a tough combination. I’ve recently taken on a volunteer position involving way more tech than I’ve done in 10+ years & the learning curve is steep – now at 6 weeks behind on what I need to get done by June 10th I’ve got to pull out some of my old resources & drop some of the “I want to’s” for now. Good luck with the writing.
That therapist line is a good one. I can spot folks with ADD a mile away. They often are not aware. Think they’re just mildly disorganized. Unlike you I didn’t do that well professionally because calendars and numbers really challenged me (even tho I did fine in AP calculus in high school). After two decades of creative work, the parts of my brain that track and quantify are even weaker. The good news? I’m an excellent global thinker. I’ll bet you are, too.
Mo Crow – Sydney, Australia – I am an illustrator & bookbinder living in Sydney Australia with the spirits if Old Man Crow wordsmith & musician and our bossy muse Ariel P. Cat
Mo Crow
So interesting Dee. I know a dad, ADHD and afraid his son will have it too. I believe he will. I procrastinate up to a deadline. I guess I like to work under pressure! haha Good luck with yours. xo
It is genetic so it’s a possibility for sure for your dad-friend’s son, but not an inevitability. In school, I was an ace with deadlines. Gawd, I still remember handing in HANDWRITTEN English papers, because back then not everyone had even a typewriter!
You had me worried there. I always have trouble finishing. So I went and wrapped up two just to prove I’m not ADD. Though I took the test too. Close but no ADD dumb questions like “do you hate repetitive boring tasks” uhh, yeah, there are actually people who like them!?! And “ do you loose track of time on stuff you like?” Doesn’t everyone?
I embrace what’s left of my hormone drive. OCD. I miss her. I really got a lot done in the old days. Cest la vie. See you are a talented ARTIST that’s all the description you need. And maybe a young editor? That might keep the book on track. I hope you’re enjoying our newly arrived summer weather. Happy days ahead. And Nor has been visiting here. That’s why she’s off your shoulder. She’s hanging out to see what happens to her linens. I think she approves of the first one. Damn it I wish she could point me in the right direction on what type it is. It’s a beauty. Thank you (and Noreen) for gifting it. Xo
I used to get a lot more done, too. Now it seems like I need space around appointments and social engagements. As in: Chunks of days. I agree that the test for ADD is not very scientific, but raising a child with it, living with it, and having been raised by a mother with it, I find it a serviceable framing. The whole business of it being a “diagnosis” is highly off-putting, of course. Some people consider ADD an extremely valuable adaption for our early kind — keeping guard for predators, etc. That makes sense to me (not a diagnosis, in other words). There are more than a half dozen types of ADD, which a lot of people don’t realize. hyper focused is one type (not my type). They’ve done brain scanning in support of. Never availed myself of that tho because it seemed like an expensive way to confirm what I already knew. I’ve also learned and know From experience that ADD tracks closely with high intelligence and creativity. So there’s that.
Wish I could help you out on the linens. She may have gotten them in college. Upstate New York. So who knows.
The painting is a stunner by the way. Timely and powerful. Noreen would’ve liked it, too.
This TOTALLY speaks to me. I was a successful student & professional due to almost compulsive organization skills & desire to “do my best”. My second child/son, on the other hand, has always walked to a different drummer. When he was in Junior High (LOL – now called middle school) a new therapist was recommended to me as an adult who had ADD. In our first interviewee made a comment that I will never forget, “Takes one to know one”. In many ways it’s gotten worse for me since retirement and the lack of enforced structure. ADD combined with depression can be a tough combination. I’ve recently taken on a volunteer position involving way more tech than I’ve done in 10+ years & the learning curve is steep – now at 6 weeks behind on what I need to get done by June 10th I’ve got to pull out some of my old resources & drop some of the “I want to’s” for now. Good luck with the writing.
That therapist line is a good one. I can spot folks with ADD a mile away. They often are not aware. Think they’re just mildly disorganized. Unlike you I didn’t do that well professionally because calendars and numbers really challenged me (even tho I did fine in AP calculus in high school). After two decades of creative work, the parts of my brain that track and quantify are even weaker. The good news? I’m an excellent global thinker. I’ll bet you are, too.
(((Dee))) good luck with the shop!
So interesting Dee. I know a dad, ADHD and afraid his son will have it too. I believe he will. I procrastinate up to a deadline. I guess I like to work under pressure! haha Good luck with yours. xo
It is genetic so it’s a possibility for sure for your dad-friend’s son, but not an inevitability. In school, I was an ace with deadlines. Gawd, I still remember handing in HANDWRITTEN English papers, because back then not everyone had even a typewriter!
You had me worried there. I always have trouble finishing. So I went and wrapped up two just to prove I’m not ADD. Though I took the test too. Close but no ADD dumb questions like “do you hate repetitive boring tasks” uhh, yeah, there are actually people who like them!?! And “ do you loose track of time on stuff you like?” Doesn’t everyone?
I embrace what’s left of my hormone drive. OCD. I miss her. I really got a lot done in the old days. Cest la vie. See you are a talented ARTIST that’s all the description you need. And maybe a young editor? That might keep the book on track. I hope you’re enjoying our newly arrived summer weather. Happy days ahead. And Nor has been visiting here. That’s why she’s off your shoulder. She’s hanging out to see what happens to her linens. I think she approves of the first one. Damn it I wish she could point me in the right direction on what type it is. It’s a beauty. Thank you (and Noreen) for gifting it. Xo
I used to get a lot more done, too. Now it seems like I need space around appointments and social engagements. As in: Chunks of days. I agree that the test for ADD is not very scientific, but raising a child with it, living with it, and having been raised by a mother with it, I find it a serviceable framing. The whole business of it being a “diagnosis” is highly off-putting, of course. Some people consider ADD an extremely valuable adaption for our early kind — keeping guard for predators, etc. That makes sense to me (not a diagnosis, in other words). There are more than a half dozen types of ADD, which a lot of people don’t realize. hyper focused is one type (not my type). They’ve done brain scanning in support of. Never availed myself of that tho because it seemed like an expensive way to confirm what I already knew. I’ve also learned and know From experience that ADD tracks closely with high intelligence and creativity. So there’s that.
Wish I could help you out on the linens. She may have gotten them in college. Upstate New York. So who knows.
The painting is a stunner by the way. Timely and powerful. Noreen would’ve liked it, too.