I found this pic, it may be a little too far off base, but I thought it was funny and relates. It’s all fun and games, until…

Someone recently shared with me an article from the New York Times about the end of having a best friend. My first thought about this was “Are they crazy?” and my final thoughts on this subject are: “Are they absolutely, ridiculously, out of their minds?!?”

People of all ages are going to fall to peer pressure, both the good and the bad kind. Yes, there is a good kind of peer pressure, which will enable a person to achieve something better for themselves and possibly for a group. Then there is the bad kind of peer pressure which usually involves getting into some kind of mischief or doing something which one will eventually regret. There are plenty of definitions out there, so I am not going to try and explain all of the types and ways peer pressure exists.

Have you ever shown brilliance and extraordinary talent and yet less talented peers passed you in the long run?

In any endeavor, sports, dating, work and even tinkering in a hobby with the hopes of accomplishing anything, there is nothing more important than mastering basics and fundamentals. Undoubtedly, you’ve heard this before, but do you really know what this means – especially in the context of ADD and ADHD?

You can have incredible talent mixed with ADHD risk taking and impulsivity and you can do absolutely amazing things which blow the minds of any spectators, but at the end of the day, most times you will fall short of your desired outcome, you will lose! You will fall flat on your face. And, it will hurt! Sorry, I know that is painful to read, but you and me, we know it’s true. Don’t we?

I guess when you are insane famous a little photo can get a lot of attention, especially if you are considered the perfect role model. Truth is, nobody is perfect and nobody should be expected to be perfect. That being said, I read a couple recent blog posts about Michael’s situation and how his actions do, or better yet, do not relate to ADHD. Can you really separate the actions of someone with ADHD from ADHD itself? That’s a very good question. Check out these two articles which take a moment to put this whole shebang in perspective:

Dr. Rory Stern’s take

And another very interesting, no BS article by Jennifer Koretsky

What do you think of Michael’s recent actions concerning smoking marijuana? Related to ADHD? Or just a 23 year old experimenting? Or…

~Bryan

ADHD has brought us together in a community of caring and common cause. We have discovered that Depression, PTSD and Fear are not simply the result of ADHD, but more often the negative treatment of one with ADHD by others due to apparent shortcomings in ADHD tendencies. Not only that, but also the way we treat ourselves for ‘not’ measuring up. Through our sharing we give each other hope and aspirations for better tomorrows.

Let’s give thanks that The Brilliant Reality of ADHD is finally seeing the light, we are discovering that there is more to ADHD than the negative connotation associated with the abbreviation.

I think it is very important that we learn to think positive and use positive thinking and visualizing positive results to cope with ADD ADHD.  I talk a lot about positive thinking and visualizing positive results here on my blog and thanks to years of therapy I have learned to do that. The point I want to make is that ADD ADHD causes a lot of devastation in many lives, the symptoms and traits have caused numerous struggles in my own life.

If you Believe, you can acheive anything!

(click the image for your copy)

Finally, after so much, the manifestation of my life’s story is here, it is in print, it is published and I hope and believe what I have written will help people across the world in a new enlightening way. This is my story, my memories, the good, the bad, the ugly and the wonderful, the successes and the reality that there is more and we can all find it within each of us. This is the story of what I went through and the people around me were subjected to and reacted to. This is the story of a boy who was lost, all over the place, struggled with school, with friends and just about everything, but with all the struggles, there was always something special within and for many reasons I found that something special and believe with all of my heart and my soul, you will find your something special within you too!

A few parents have written me from time to time asking me what I did as a child to succeed with my homework. Because this question comes up quite a bit from concerned parents I thought I would put my two cents into the hat and if you decide to read this, remember this is from my experience and my opinions—ultimately what you decide is up to you.

To be bullied or not to be bullied – is that the question? Many Adder children suffer from being bullied and as it turns out a high percentage of bullies have ADHD. This might seem confusing, but if I take a moment to think about it, no, I guess it is not that confusing. Adders have trouble in school with both the standard educational side and the social side. I bet the inattentive adders are probably more likely to be bullied and the hyperactive types are more likely to be bullies. However, it could probably go either way, but inattentive’s usually try to stay out of the way and in the background when possible.

One particular thing that I believe helped me significantly was how my mother would have us kids gather around her for a story. I loved it when my mother read aloud for us. Mom always picked wonderful stories, full of adventure and fantasy. I listened intently, probably the best attention I gave to any books as a youngster.