I often write about how great ADD and ADHD talents and traits can be and I really think they are wondrous. However, do you get noticed for them? Do you get credit for them? Are you able to utilize them in a manner which benefits others?
I mentioned in yesterday’s article that I am hyper-focused and able to think rationally around Big Names, especially when I am supposed to be nervous and this trait I have been able to utilize. I like to write a lot and hopefully inspire others with positive thoughts and ideas. I utilize that with my Blog. I have learned to utilize my traits and talents by trying, and trying always brings with it new understandings and discoveries of what more I can do, even if I use what I learn in something else other than what I originally started out with. For example, I started out something totally different than writing books and creating a blog and what seemed like a dead end actually led me to self discoveries about what else I could do and this blog is a product of the efforts I used originally elsewhere!
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You have great talents and ability. Of that I have no doubt and yet when I talk to fellow ADDers who do share many of the positive traits I have, they often prefer to tell me about what they can’t do or what has held them back. I think everything is important about you, even those things which give you a negative feeling, but when I ask about the positives it seems a very difficult thing for many of us to talk about. Some tell me they have tried to focus on their positive traits and have even tried to make a go of them to gain financial benefit, but give up because they are not consistent enough or dedicated enough or too much time passes without getting noticed and they just stop. I have done that too and I was confused because I could not get things to go my way in the things I wanted.
First of all, the positive traits are not about anyone else—only you. Whether you get noticed or not or if anyone else appreciates them is irrelevant. It really is. It’s about inner joy, satisfying needs within you to use abilities you have, even if it is just for yourself. That’s why there is such a thing as hobbies.
Concentrating on the negative either by talking about it or writing about it has the uncanny ability to bring more negativity in one’s life. Similar things are attracted to each other. It is very difficult to become positive if one’s only true focus is on what he or she can’t do or what hasn’t happened and what doesn’t work. I have tried, I have tried, oh, I have tried. Yeah? For how long? Things are going to fall, things are going to go wrong and things are just not going to work out—this goes for everyone, not just us ADDers. It’s the nature of life. Persistence is the only answer, in the midst of what seems like failure, persistence and tenacity is what will get you through. Call it will power: As an ADDer you must create your own, harvest it, creating a culture of determination and perseverance within your very heart.
The honest truth is that you are the only one who has what you have inside. You have a tremendous amount of resources at your disposal. The most important resource is your life, the very air you breathe. And hopefully, the next is the abilities to think, to walk, to talk and many more. Take nothing you have for granted—ever!
We ADDers are also gifted with unbelievable reasoning and negotiating skills, but most of us use those skills to talk ourselves out of things. No matter what I do, no matter what I try or say, I always fail and I will never change. No, indeed, if you think and believe that, then you probably won’t. It’s important to note that you cannot control anyone else, the only person you have control over is the most important person in your life and that’s YOU!
It
is not about the money and it is not about the praise, although both of those are nice, it is about how we feel inside. How we perceive ourselves. If you perceive yourself losing, then you will lose and if you perceive yourself winning, well then, at the very least you have a chance. In today’s world, it is very easy to fail and it seems there are many who will be more than willing to stand back and watch you fail. Negativity comes easy to mind and is easy to manifest because you don’t have to do anything for it, just sit back and do nothing and it will come and if you decide to think about negative things, well, that will speed up the process.
However, creating positive outcomes takes effort, the willingness to try and try again, especially when things go wrong. Trying is another word for creating. Nothing has ever been created by man from lack of trying! And there is nobody on this green Earth who has not failed at something!
~Bryan
