© Bryan L. Hutchinson
Positive Thinking part1 post1:
Seeing Through the Fog
Positive thinking is probably the single most important aspect of dealing with and overcoming the negative traits of adult ADD ADHD. The first thing to know and realize is that there is always a flip side. To any negative there is a positive and so it is with ADD ADHD. Here at my site click on ‘positive sides’ and explore the many positive traits of ADD ADHD and then come back to this article fresh minded, ready to explore your due and achieve results unlike ever before. If you’re ready, then let’s go forth and win the day!
“The positive principle is the vital process of mental and spiritual alteration whereby the individual shifts from a concept of self-limitation to that of self-improvement, from deterioration to growth, from failure to accomplishment” -Norman Vincent Peale
Living with ADD ADHD can be a very difficult experience and just about all of us know how devastating it can be on relationships with friends and family. We are neglectful, we are forgetful and we are often in a fog of daydreams. Sure the daydreams are clear to us and yet the outside world, the world we live in and walk in, is a fog, even a mystery.
With diagnosis comes clarity. With clarity comes understanding. With understanding we can start to see through the fog. The first step for any ADDer is to be diagnosed. I lived the majority of my life not knowing I had ADD and I had no clues what to do about my traits. I assumed what my parents told me as a child: that I was lazy and that I didn’t care about others. But, those words always conflicted with my true beliefs inside of me, inside of my mind and inside of my heart. I did care and I did want to achieve. I just couldn’t show it or if I did show it, it was for a limited time and then I would fall back into my normal neglectful ways. Shame on me! I was a bad person! I was mean and I didn’t care! That’s just the way it was. That’s what I thought. It wasn’t true and yet without diagnosis how was I supposed to know any different? I had no reason to be the way I was. What else was there?
I tried many things before I was finally diagnosed with ADD, to change what I termed “my evil ways”. Nothing worked, or if it did work it was for a very short time until I became bored with it or was distracted by something else and forgot what I was trying to do. That was so frustrating. Sometimes weeks, even years would pass before I realized I had stopped what I was trying to do in order to change and be a better person. I berated myself for being so forgetful. How could I forget such a thing? I mean, I forgot to the point it was as if my attempt to change never happened in the first place. I figured I must not care about it really, in my heart of hearts. Think about it: if you’re going to forget something to such a degree that must mean you don’t care and you’re rotten, just no good for nothing! At least that’s what I thought.
As you can see there was much negativity floating around in my head. Not only did I have ADD (unbeknownst to me), but I was eating myself up alive from the inside out with my negative thinking. It just wasn’t healthy. It was so unhealthy to the point that I got sick to my stomach and had headaches frequently. Yep, it was really bad. Then I got lucky. Really lucky, the kind of lucky that only happens in movies or maybe the kind of lucky you should expect if you are a firm believer in the Law of Attraction, but at that time I didn’t know what the Law of Attraction was, so, for now, we will call it lucky—even though it was what I wanted and later could or should be considered the Law of Attraction.
I got lucky… to be continued…
~Bryan
