Those of you who know me and/or my work, know that I try hard to teach folks with ADHD to forgive themselves. We are sooo hard on ourselves when we are trying to manage piles of paper, keeping our homes orderly, remembering important dates, managing our families, staying on top of things at work…and more.
You know how some weeks can be simply overwhelming. Well, I am having that kind of week, myself. I feel like I’m a target for anything and everything that possibly could be going wrong. But to save you the trouble of having to read about my week of insanity, let me focus on one area that really got me crazed.
I’ll be writing a lot about my kids. After all, this is about Moms with ADHD and Moms with ADHD who have Kids with ADHD. I belong in both categories. I have one daughter with ADHD and one without.
Mackenzie, the one *with* ADHD has other special needs. That means that once a year (usually more), we have to attend an IEP at school. An IEP is an Individualized Educational Plan Meeting where we discuss what her needs are and how they’ll be addressed.
Of course, my IEP is THIS THURSDAY and my papers aren’t in order. That’s where the “sick” part comes in. Though I’ve known about my ADHD for…oh…a long time now…and am considered an expert in the field, I still have my moments. And this is one of them. Papers make me sick. Or I should say, disorganized papers falling off my desk into piles on the floor make me sick.
One of my mantras when I offer presentations on ADHD is to do what you can to get the help you need. In my case, I lucked out. My older daughter, Kate, is extremely organized. Now, I could have chosen to spend hours looking for and organizing the papers I need for this upcoming meeting, but Kate was in town and she offered to help me.
She was able to pull together a binder with all the needed papers in oh…about 2 hours, tops. If I had taken this on, either it wouldn’t have gotten done, or it would have taken me literally weeks to finish this horrific task.
The moral of the story- if something makes you so distressed it makes you literally feel sick, due to your ADHD, think about what options you have in getting help. It could be hiring an ADD coach, a professional organizer. Or it could be as simple as asking someone you trust to help you out.
Time to put away the Tums!
