Airplane Musings or ADD?

If you build it they will come, role models, business, family, ADD, exercise, too much sugar, school, summer activities, too much to do, too many plans scheduled, down-time, friends, family, filing business expenses, bills, unpacking, color of the kitchen walls, septic system, radon in the basement, sales, meetings today… ADD. Sitting on a plane on my way to Los Angeles. (well, I was yesterday as I’ve now been up for 22 hours minus some naps on the plane). Had planned on sleeping for at least three hours, but lucky if I got 90 minutes. My brain is in gear and has begun its daily musings, so my body will obey and follow suit.

A little over a year ago I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Edward Hallowell, author, psychiatrist, and well-known expert on attention deficit disorder (ADD). Interestingly, it was a business opportunity for my company because Hallowell believes that omega-3s can help improve our ability to concentrate.

Before meeting him, I read his book Delivered from Distraction. Every couple of pages I’d ask my husband to read a paragraph because I thought it described me. The descriptions were uncanny in their resemblance to how I process information and think. Since an early age in school I realized that I had a different learning style from my classmates. For example, I calculated (and still do) math problems with different logic than everyone else while still coming up with the right answer. I learned to work around it and work with it by creating tools to stay organized. (I’ll come back later with tips that have helped me).

ADD has served me well. It’s not severe enough to be debilitating and is probably the reason for my ability to see lots of possibilities and solutions where others may give up. I have learned that this is common among entrepreneurs, but sometimes frustrating to be around for those who see the linear path and not all the wonderful twists and turns that life presents us with.

One of the things I struggle with most is winding down at the end of the day and going to sleep. I can lie in bed and one thought just leads to another. How frustrating to watch my husband fall asleep within a couple of minutes. In observing our two daughters, my older daughter is just like my husband, and my younger one – well, just like me. If you have a tip on this one, please share it!