Sometimes I write about things, and I’m not sure if they’re part of ADD, or just part of me. 🙂
For instance, I have this need to do everything myself. I don’t like to be told that I can’t. I don’t know if it’s my stubborn streak or an attempt to prove I really can do everything even though I have Attention Deficit Disorder.
The truth is that I really can’t do everything, no matter how hard I try. None of us can, ADD or not.
I guess there are so many things that I know I can’t do well (focus, pay attention, stay still) that I try to overcompensate by trying to prove otherwise.
I think a large part of it has to do with the whole idea around ADHD. First of all, we have a “deficit” and a “disorder”. No wonder we feel the need to prove otherwise!
Then there’s the whole idea of what a person with ADD is like. Hyperactive, out of control, unable to pay attention at all – you know the rest. It’s all negative, blown out of proportion, and not always true.
So we go to the other extreme (we’re good at that) and try to do it all. And what happens? We forget something, we mess something up, somehow or another something goes wrong.
And when it does, no one recognizes it’s because we were trying to do it all. They just see our ADD and chalk it up to that.
I would tell you to quit trying to do it all, because no one can. But you probably wouldn’t listen. I’m not sure I would.