How I Survived Life with Undiagnosed Adult ADD and Learned to THRIVE!
Link to This Article Having ADD or AD/HD is not a life sentence for living with chronic disorganization. ADD is OFTEN accompanied by great intelligence, creative personality, and passion that absolutely CAN be channeled into a highly productive lifestyle. It requires effort, okay a LOT of effort, but there are ways to make your life simpler and easier. It IS POSSIBLE to balance structure and planning ahead with creativity, spontaneity, and freedom.
I was diagnosed with ADD last year at 48 years old. Even though I struggled and had to overcome many hurdles and challenges along the way, including my own attachment to clutter and near financial devastation (read How I got out of $25,000 in debt ) I learned to manage my issues and become more organized and now I help others overcome their emotional blocks, build confidence in themselves and learn the skills needed to master their clutter, time management, home office organizing, financial organizing and especially to manage the stress and chaos that often comes with having a ADD or creative personality type!
I still work hard to manage my own challenges, like perfectionism, overcommitting, balancing my work and personal life, and focusing in the midst of the incessant flow of ideas from my brain that nearly crushes me at times.
But in spite of my imperfections, I have learned to set limits, and say no more often so that I can focus and reduce stress. I attribute my ability to go through life with undiagnosed ADD to the fact that I am a whole person and not just someone with ADD. I have developed many other qualities, beliefs and thinking patterns that drive me to overcome my fears and challenges, accept my imperfections and work around them, and acknowledge my strengths and build on them.
Here are a few of the skills and qualities I attribute to having helped me "overcome" the odds and make a decent life for myself. Even though I often feel that I did not live up to my "full potential", I have accomplished a lot.