As part of my journey, I wanted to address things that I have neglected or failed to address. One issue I’ve always struggled with is organization and losing things. It has affected me in my personal as well as my professional life.
I had always chalked it up to were these weaknesses that I would always struggled with. It was something I could get marginally better, but never be at the level I wanted to be. However, I watched a documentary that made me believe there may be a reason why I struggled in those two areas.
One day I had watched documentary show,” Our America” with Lisa Ling. I enjoyed watching this show because it always had interesting topics and there was something always new to learn. I had watch the episode where Lisa was being evaluated on whether she had ADD.
A lot of things she said in the video, I could relate to. At times, I couldn’t focus and it impeded me on getting things done. I would procrastinate on tasks I was not interested in such as cleaning the house or a tedious project at work. I did some reading on the internet and tried to find more information about women and ADD. In many cases, it is harder to detect ADD in women/girls and often not diagnosed because we masked the disability.
But if there was a way for me to get better, I thought I should explore the idea. I went through my husband’s company’s EAP (Employee Assistance Program) and called psychiatrists and psychologists who specialized in ADD. I scheduled an appointment with a psychiatrist near my work.
I know people don’t want to go to doctors because they are afraid of the diagnoses. Sometimes, it’s better to know sooner or later, because it can be detected earlier and treatment can happen. Sometimes waiting too late, you may not be able to fix the issue.
After being evaluated, I found out that I didn’t have Adult ADD. I learned that the reason I was having issues was to due to my long time sleep issues. I’ve had sleep issues since I was a kid. Due to my lack of restful sleep, my brain didn’t have enough time to file all my memories in my brain at night. As a result, my ability to recall was affected.
I’m going to see a sleep specialist and fix my issue. When you have issues, you have to deal with them head on instead of shying away. My issue should have been dealt with a long time ago because I didn’t put me first. Remember, if you don’t take care of yourself and put you first, you can’t take care of others.