Jeff’s A.D.D. Mind

Jeff discovered he has ADHD at about age 46 –”not the best of times to find that out,” he notes, “certainly not after 46 years of having bad habits solidify.”

Still, he dedicated himself to understanding the full depths of what it means to have ADHD, including learning to recognize problematic behaviors while they were occurring and modifying them for more desirable results.

Fortunately for his readers, Jeff has for several years shared his personal and philosophical musings on ADHD at his blog, Jeff’s A.D.D. Mind. I discovered it while writing my book and, frankly, feeling overwhelmed with the-then omnipresent rosy talk of ADHD’s gifts. The individuals and families I knew who were affected by ADHD were truly struggling; sure, they needed assurance and encouragement, but didn’t they also need realistic information and strategies? (My husband didn’t ease my worries about the book’s reception by jokingly offering to move us to a missile silo in Nebraska.) Jeff’s honest, thoughtful essays validated my approach at a critical juncture. Thanks Jeff! Here is one of my favorites from his archives:

The A.D.D.er Cannot Understand Life
Because the A.D.D.er Cannot Understand Time

Jeff

To make sense out of life, one must also be able to make sense of time; that is, understanding one requires understanding the other. In our everyday world, they are inseparable: Life requires time, and time has meaning because of life. The life of the human being is understood to be “a life” because it occurs in time over time. Read the rest of this entry »