Yep, that’s me. Here. In Florida on vacationwith my family. I’ll bet you didn’t know that I love to fish. I’ll bet you can guess that I can’t sit around in the sun doing nothing but catching rays. Instead, I……
CAUGHT THIS SHARK.
I’ve noticed how rare it is to see women fishing.At least around here. So score one- again- for feeling a bit different from the mainstream (ladies, if you fish, drop me a line. I mean, a comment in the Comment section below).
My husband is into fishing in a HUGE way, so if I want to spend time with him where there’s more than a puddle nearby, it better be with a rod in my hand. Thus, my passion for fishing was born when I met this man.
When you’re catching sharks(I know, I know, but we throw them back and we’ve never found ourselves in shark territory before, so this is a once in a lifetime kind of thing), people come racing up to you asking…IS THAT A SHARK?? Can I take a picture of it?
Other than needing to be busyeven if it’s via shark fishing, what does this have anything to do with ADHD?
Well, it’s about being spontaneous.It’s waiting for that catch. It’s a woman, me, you, not fitting into the mold- something many of you probably understand and relate to. The women I see on the beach are reading romance novels and collecting shells. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I need to do something that feeds my hungry ADHD brain. And from my experiences here, shark fishing is, apparently, not a common site when the person pulling in sharks from the sea is…a woman.
In fact, a fellow cameby to see what we were up to, and commented that there was a couple right down the way, catching fish too.
“…and the interesting thing is, SHE was catching the fish.”
So I asked him: what is so interesting about that?
He floundered quite a bit.But there you go. Women aren’t supposed to be the fish catcher (I think I just made that term up) of the couple. So we had a little chat about gender expectations and gender bias.
Ladies, we still have a long way to go in having people understand us as women with ADHD. Partly because there are so many people who still don’t understand women or accept them- us- in non-traditional roles.
Now go out there and do whatever it is you love to do,even if you’re the only woman on the beach. Or enjoy wearing stripes with polka dots. Or raising llamas. As Sari Solden says, be your authentic self.
What’s YOUR shark?Share it with me and my readers in the Comment section below.
And by the way,if you missed Sari’sand Michelle Frank’s session at the ADHD Women’s Paloozalast week, don’t fret. You can purchase the entire week’s sessions- over 30 of them- at a huge discount if you order before tomorrow (Friday, March 8). Do it for yourself. Do it for those who need to understand you better. Just do it.
