Adult ADHD: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

My life with adult ADHD has good, bad, and ugly components.

The good

There are times when I exhort my adult ADHD to sit in the driver’s seat and have a free rein in my life. These are the times when adult ADHD is unabashedly my super power. There is no doubt in my mind that I could not accomplish what I do without my ADHD.

I’ve been successful in creative and problem-solving jobs most of my life… in fact, I’d say my entire adult life. My adult ADHD has been one of my strongest assets for discovering unique solutions and creating metaphors and paradigms to communicate concepts with clients.

You could almost think of my current job as being in tech support: this time I’m working with wetware instead of hardware and software. Clients tell me what isn’t working the way they feel or hope it should, and I make suggestions on ways to improve the situation. Sometimes we make little changes to settings, other issues call for a completely new framework. My adult ADHD offers insights into my clients’ worlds in ways many other coaches have only read about.

The bad

There are many times I struggle against my adult ADHD on a regular basis, sometimes even daily.

I have tasks that are boring, repetitive, and— quite frankly, things I would simply rather not do DO NOT WANT TO DO. Organizing my workspace. Answering emails and returning phone calls. And when I owned my publishing company: monthly sales tax filings.

If I want to enjoy the good elements and outstanding successes my adult ADHD provides, I need to endure the rocky spots of adult ADHD as well.

The ugly

There are still times I want to scream, yell, tantrum, and storm out the room when my adult ADHD finds its unmitigated, unhappy voice. Chris shares advice with me for when I’m starting to feel my frustrated adult ADHD bubble to the surface: you can’t just tell a client “we’re done” and throw them out.

Like with the bad, if I want to enjoy the positive and wonderful elements of adult ADHD I need to acknowledge, direct, and manage the ugly assets of adult ADHD.

Let’s work together to discover the ways your adult ADHD is your superpower and manage the ways adult ADHD pulls you away from where you’d really like to be.