When Cristobal was 5 years old, he was diagnosed with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and his mum told him to take a pill every day. We all have one label or another that highlight our differences. We are good or bad at something, we have a personality characteristic, such as being introverted, or we behave in a certain way. These labels can often have a limiting impact on what we think we can accomplish. But it doesn’t have to be that way. How do we take advantage of those labels? How do we transform what can be limiting into a positive influence?
In Episode 23 of Beautiful Ghosts Podcast (listen on your favourite podcast app, YouTube, or website), our guest Cristobal told us how he turned ADHD into a positive influence in his life. In this post we look at the importance of a supportive environment and how he learned to turn ADHD to his advantage.
A Supportive Environment
When Cristobal was told to take the pill every day, he didn’t really understand why, he just took it. His parents never really made a deal out of it. There was never any negative connotation associated with his diagnosis. He just took the pill and that was it.
This is a fantastic example of accepting differences. It would have been very easy for his parents to turn ADHD against him and to blame him for being different. Instead, they accepted him and never mentioned that there was a difference.
They also supported him. His father started playing darts with him to help him learn maths and his mother was relentless with discipline and work ethic, a huge challenge for people with ADHD.
It was only when he was 15-16 years old that he understood what he had. At school, he was having a very hard time learning grammar, history, and maths. Could this realisation have a negative impact on his self-confidence and self-acceptance?
The Positive Side
Since then, Cristobal has been learning to turn ADHD to his advantage rather than fighting it. As he said it “there is a positive outcome to anything”. First, he realised that he is good at maths when he visualises the problem. He also has a great ability to remember facts, even if they seem random sometimes.
But more than that, he actually sees ADHD as something positive for him. He enjoys hyperactivity and playing with ideas, so he has learned to write those ideas down to get them out of his head. Cristobal channels his hyperactivity into productive activities.
He is very good at starting things but not so good at finishing them. Aware of that, Cristobal puts a lot of effort into finishing something before moving to the next idea. He has learned to rein in his hyperactivity when he needs to finish something first. By actually finishing things, he avoids feeling overwhelmed which then leads to anxiety.
Medication When Needed
Cristobal has learned when he needs to take the pill for ADHD and when he can have a break from it. When he is working in a routine job and there are aren’t many changes in his life, he can stop taking the pill without problems.
But when he starts something new such as a new job or forming new habits, the pill helps him to focus on forming those new habits. He simply goes to the psychiatrist and asks for the pill. In a world that sometimes looks over-medicated, it is good to know when you really need to take a medication and when you can have a break (not a recommendation, talk to your doctor!).
It Is Good to Be Different
Mariana highlighted that we live in times when many kids are diagnosed with ADHD and one wonders whether it may either be over-diagnosed or a problem of our times. Cristobal provided an example of how he grew up happy, in a supportive environment that helped him not only accept his differences but turn them to his advantage and into something that he likes about himself.
His message to anyone with ADHD is “there is a place for everyone, just because you are different doesn’t mean you are worth less”. And we can expand that message to all of us because we are all different, and if there is something that working with other people teaches you is that it is good to be different.
Make an impact,
Pablo
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Image by Magnascan from Pixabay
This post was originally published on Beautiful Ghosts.