At 5 years of age, my teacher told my family that I was mentally retarded, because.. get this... I couldn't skip like the other children...
Years later I spent several schoolyears on ritalin, which was enough to get me through gradeschool... I never noticed if it ever helped or not..
School was a constant struggle. I usually pulled a low-C or D average in all my classes, except science.
I never knew I had ADHD, I just thought I had just as much trouble remembering stuff as everyone else did. Kinda like when you ask for directions and all you hear is: "Well you turn lef<blah><Blah><blah><Blah>< ;blah><Blah>, and then it should be right in front of you." Then you drive off, not even knowing if you drove off in the right direction.
Then something happened. I joined the military because they offered me a position in some sort of electronics field. I jumped at the chance. After boot camp, I spent 2 years in various military electronics schools around the country. Suddenly, this kid who couldn't even skip in Kindergarten was pulling top marks, and graduating each successive class within the top 3. I stayed in 10 years and experienced some of the most valuable electronics and computer training in the world.
At 39, I spent a year in flight training and got my pilot's license. (aced the FAA written exam). Life was good.
Then I entered my 40's and some of the old demons started to come back... Walking into a room and not knowing why, losing my car keys, forgetting where I parked... the list goes on.
My doctor was also my flight surgeon, so I had to be careful what I told her, but I did tell her my story about ADD and that I feared it was coming back and that it haunted me.
Come to find out, my doctor has ADHD as well, and then she told me it never left me. I had always had it. She said I just learned to cope with it, but some of those coping mechanisms were breaking down. This made sense, as I had just left one of the stressful jobs I had ever had... idiotic management, poor morale, you name it.
Today I am a success, and am exactly where I want to be in life, and exactly where I had HOPED to be in life, despite the ADHD. Knowing I have ADHD has made me somewhat of an over-achiever, fearing that I need to work twice as hard to break even with my colleagues, but always outpacing them in the long run.
ADHD is always on my mind now, but... I have come to terms with it. It's like my alter-ego. I have coping strategies, but being new here, I am very excited to learn of other's coping mechanisms!
Best Regards~
Ray S.
It would be great if you could tell us what some of those coping strategies are!
Welcome!
I have a few that help a lot...
(NO Laughing!)
The first one... I will lock myself in the bathroom if I have any heavy reading or studying to do. For some reason, the seclusion, and "knowing" that I can't be interrupted makes for a calm environment.
The 2nd one: Headphones. They are great if I need to be doing some concentrated thinking or programming at work.
The 3rd one: Flying. When I'm up in the air and it's just me, the airplane, and the sky... it does wonders for my thinking. It clears my head immensely so that the only thing I am thinking about is the horizon in front of me. (and eventually making sure I get back on the ground safely!) When I land I will spend the next few hours at peace until the noise starts creeping back into my brain.
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