Moving Beyond the Damage of Years of Undiagnosed ADHD - 023

Welcome to the twenty-third episode of Harness Your ADHD Power, a podcast show I created to explore the many facets of adult life with ADHD and how you can learn to harness your personal ADHD power to become unstoppable.

I’ve been hearing from more and more of you about how bad it’s been to live so much of your life not knowing about your ADHD, and what you could do to help yourself.  And I’ve also been hearing from loved ones and friends of adults with ADHD telling me they want to understand more about living with adult ADHD so they can be supportive of those they care about.

Well, that’s what I’d like to go after today and see what I can do about eliminating some of the needless suffering and misunderstanding that is tearing relationships and families apart, as well as having you think of yourself in a less than favorable way, to put it mildly.  Hearing so many adults with ADHD tell me they think of themselves as a loser, defective, worthless and so on is heartbreaking to me! 

YOU are not alone in your pain or your potential!  There are millions of adults all over the world with many of the same struggles you are experiencing.  So what, you might be thinking!  I agree.  Unless I help you get out of your pain and into your potential, then it’s good to know that you’re not alone, it is, but what about your pain?  I’ll be getting there.  Stay with me.

Some adults talk about their struggles openly, while others feel such shame that it’s their "best-kept secret."  I want to share a powerful message with you that DTC shared with me years ago; it’s their heartfelt perspective: 

“The reason we feel so stuck, is because we live in a world that appears so rigid, and feels so unforgiving, leaving one with the impression that there are no alternatives to functioning successfully.  That our possibilities are limited, that there is only one way of doing things...and that way simply does not work for us, so all of our attempts at life feel hopeless.  No one ever really tells us that there is flexibility in functioning, that there is more than one way to go about maneuvering through the world, ways that can work for us, ways in which we have the ability to succeed, just like everyone else...only differently.  But no one knows they have to tell anyone this because no one really realizes it.  The non-ADD people are just functioning the way they know how, and it's working, and the ADD people are functioning the way they know how, and it's not working.  So until you flip the lid off of this mystery of life, and uncover this world of differences, reveal the array of alternative paths, everyone remains positioned exactly where they have the ability to be; the functioning people remain ignorant, and a great many of us are left feeling inept, demoralized, and utterly stuck.”

In this episode, I’m going to be taking a look at WHY not knowing about your ADHD can lead you to make very damaging meanings out of your life events and have you feeling like a horrible person, and what you can do about that to turn it around and claim a more successful life for yourself.  AND – Knowing is only the first step; the next step is taking action on what you know to start getting new results, fine tune your process as you go along, and get better and better results.  It is a process, so please don’t let yourself off the hook here with taking action once, not getting the results you hoped for, and stopping there.  Seriously!!  Did you learn to speak fluently or dress yourself nicely with just one attempt?  I know I didn’t, so keep going!!  You’re learning to do, not just standing up and do, like you’ve known how all your life.  Get real here!!

 Episode Resources:

• Put yourself on the informational Waitlist for the ADDventures In Achievement Foundational Skills Program, so that you receive all the amazing emails we’ve written to both educate you about Executive Function skills as well as the details of the program; there is absolutely no obligation by being on the Waitlist.  You’ll thank yourself for getting informed.

• Free Video and e-Book - Many Mental Health Providers & ADHD
• 13 EF Skills
• Join the amazing Living Beyond ADHD Facebook Group & hang out with your peeps
• Follow me on Dr B Facebook Page and enjoy live videos and more
• Follow me on Instagram and enjoy relevant resources
• Download the transcript for this episode.

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Let's put an end to the worldwide needless suffering together! We can do this!