What makes the subject of goals so terrifying for people with ADHD? It is not that we don’t want more in life. We do, but we really aren’t sure just how to get there! We can think and think about this, get more overwhelmed, and then give up! It is not that we don’t care. We actually care a great deal. So exactly what gets in the way for us, and what can we do about it?

The traits of ADHD
The first stumbling block is ADHD itself. Achieving goals typically requires some level of organization, self-discipline, and persistence. Traits associated with ADHD often run counter to them. Let’s look at the three types of ADHD.

• Inattentive type. Some common challenges include not paying close attention to detail, difficulty sustaining attention, becoming easily distracted, avoiding activities that require sustained mental effort, being forgetful, and having difficulty organizing tasks and activities. Need I say more?
• Hyperactive/Impulsive type. Symptoms might look like acting fidgety or being “driven by a motor,” talking excessively, interrupting or intruding on other’s conversations, blurting out, or having trouble waiting your turn.
• Combined type. You might experience some or all of the above symptoms. 

Many of the tasks associated with being organized are tasks a person does sitting down, like using planner, sorting papers, or doing taxes. For someone in constant motion, it’s a challenge to sit down in the first place – most certainly when you are trying to complete a task that doesn’t come easily.

Sleep is important for good health, but it’s often an area of tremendous struggle for people with ADHD.
 
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wrestled with insomnia. Like many people who have ADHD, my struggle starts with going to bed. I’d rather stay up late, doing something more interesting. Once I finally make it to bed, it’s hard to fall asleep. I toss and turn, struggling to fall asleep and stay that way. But at some point I do, because it’s hard to wake up in the morning. The impact of ADHD is felt around the clock.
 
I’ve attempted numerous methods over the years to address my sleep challenges, including avoiding electronics in the evening, going to bed earlier, reading when I couldn’t fall asleep, and taking supplements of melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone. But nothing worked all of the time.
 
So when I heard a speaker explain that experiencing bright light daily could not only boost one’s mood, but also promote a healthy sleep-wake cycle, I was eager to try it.  That very day I went home and dusted off an old “bright light,” to see if the theory would work. And I have been amazed. For the past month, I have been able to fall asleep around 10 p.m.  Before that, I had been staying up until 2 a.m.!
 
Here’s why it works, according to Leslie Wade, a registered nurse and social worker who helps veterans cope with post-traumatic stress disorder and its side effects, which include insomnia.
 
In the fall and winter, we are exposed to less light as the days grow shorter. Our internal clock responds by reducing the production of brain chemicals, such as serotonin and melatonin. When these chemicals get out of balance, it can affect our moods and sleep patterns.
 
Getting an adequate supply of light in the morning can help reset your inner clock and improve melatonin production at night. Melatonin is an antioxidant and hormone that naturally occurs in the body. Bright light therapy can support individuals with ADHD in the area of sleep onset that is the ability to shut our minds off in order to fall asleep. Many of us who are night owls resist going to bed early because we know that we won’t be able to fall asleep, anyway.  For teens and young adults, ADHD can look more inattentive by day, and more hyperactive by night. Teens and young adults will often maintain a rigid schedule for school and then crash on the weekends, often sleeping until 11 a.m. or 12 noon. According to expert Wade, this is like putting your body through jet lag, each and every week. When sleep-wake cycles are normalized, we can not only fall asleep at night but also wake more easily in the morning, another struggle for people with ADHD. What can help?
 
1.     Using a full-spectrum light box in the morning for 30 minutes while you are doing other daily activities, such as checking your e-mail or getting ready for work. You want to be sure that the device yields at least 10,000 lux, a measure of the light’s intensity in the space where you’re using it. Normal daylight is upwards of 200,000 lux.
2.     Keep blue light to a minimum in the evening, especially one hour before bedtime. Blue light is extremely alerting and delays the release of melatonin. Electronic devices, such as televisions, computers, and tablets, are common sources of blue light.
3.     Wear amber goggles to minimize your exposure to blue light in the evening.
4.     Dim your lights in the evening and keep your bedroom dark. If you can see your hand one foot in front of you, then your space has too much light, according to Wade.
5.     Hang light-resistant curtains in the bedroom.
6.     Wear a sleep mask at night to keep out light.
7.     If you do wake up in the night, be sure to keep the lights very low.
8.     Create a night time routine that supports the transition to sleep.
 
To learn more about the connection between light and sleep, check out the excellent book by Michael Terman, Ph.D., and Ian McMahan, Ph.D., called Chronotherapy: Resetting your Inner Clock to Boost Mood, Alertness, and Quality Sleep. ( amazon link)
 
Check out The Center for Environmental Therapeutics (www.cet.org)
 
To find sleep products click here (www.litebook.com)
   
To discover additional resources on sleep, including a video library, click here (www.sleepfoundation.org )
 
As in any area of health, consult your health care provider as to the effective use of bright light therapy.  While it’s generally safe, there are some conditions, such as Bipolar Disorder that require special supervision.

The power of unity.  Many coming together as one. The glory of the human voice!  The breath of life that sustains us!

Last week my husband and I were privileged to attend a service and concert, featured as part of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians conference. The evensong at St. Paul's Church featured a marvelous children's choir.  We reveled in the purity and innocence of their young voices.  Later that evening we heard the world renown King's Singers, a 6-part men's a Capella group from the UK. The beauty and wonder of choral singing is that is a collaborative effort.  Together we can do what none of us could do alone.  Each voice is of vital importance and valuable to the whole. Together we create great music as it was meant to be sung.

Who are your people and where is your community? Where is it that you can go to share your story, in a safe setting, where people "get it"?

Since the new DSM V (Diagnostic Statistical Manual) in 2013, many adults are being diagnosed with ADHD for the first time. Embracing a diagnosis that  has the word, "deficit" in its title can be a challenge. Yet, when you have struggled for years at home, in school, in relationships, and on the job, you are ready for a new way. Coming out of isolation and into community is key!

Three years ago I started an adult Support Group to empower adults with ADHD, through education, resources, and community. In an educational support group, you receive tools and practical skills that help you to not only to navigate the challenges of ADHD, but also to thrive with ADHD. Sharing our common experience with ADHD  is empowering! As someone once said, "If you are struggling, then you need the meeting, and if you are doing well, then the meeting needs you!"

Takeaways...

If ADHD didn't hold you back, what would you do in this world?

What does multi-modal treatment look like to you? Have you successfully treated your ADHD? If so, what worked in the past? How can you build on that?

What is your true voice?  What is your song to sing?  How can your journey inspire someone else?

Come blend your voice with ours, as we create a chorus of advocacy!

​Last month a friend and I went to a women’s ADHD conference in Manchester, MI at the Sharon Mills County Park.  The event was hosted by Sari Solden, psychotherapist, author, and champion for women with ADHD, along with ADDA, the Adults with ADHD Advocacy Organization.
 
The Better Together Conference was a day filled with joy and hope, bringing together women from the United States and Europe.  Keynote speakers Sari Solden, author of Women with Attention Deficit Disorder,  and Ellen Littman, co author of the book,Understanding Girls with ADHD, shared with us their stories of advocacy on behalf of women with ADHD.
 
Sari Solden talked about the need for women to “put ourselves out there” and to “not hide our brilliance.”  She stated, “great fears can accompany the journey, so take small naked steps.” Solden says that to feel vulnerable is profound, and that it often means that we are on the edge of something new!
 
Ellen Littman, a psychologist who specializes in girls and women with high IQ's, took up the cause for women with ADHD 25 years ago, when she heard a keynote speaker say that girls with ADHD were “ADHD boy wannabees".  That, together with the fact that Littman had a daughter with ADHD, fueled her passion to support girls and women.  Littman states, “Women with ADHD need to create permanent stretch marks in our society’s view of feminity!”
 
In addition to Solden & Littman, several women shared from the heart, specifically the turning points in their lives.  One of the recurring themes of the day was that “You must do that thing that you are afraid to do!” “Let this be the moment to begin anew!” We were challenged to create a “year of saying yes"!
 
Takeaways...
 
As people with ADHD it is vastly important to hold a disability perspective.  In other words, we are people who “have ADHD” verses people who, “are ADHD”.  While seemingly a small distinction, it is enormous in its’ implications.  Are we objectified and defined by ADHD? We would not say that a person, “is diabetes” or any other disorder, because obviously an individual is so much more than the disabilities or disorders they may have.  We are persons with skills, talents, abilities, aptitudes, experience, and unique strengths who happen to have a brain based, neuro-developmental disorder.
 
What would you like to be able to say about your life one year from today? The act of stepping into the new task is often the first step in being qualified to do it.  In the words of George Eliot, “It’s never too late be what you might have been.”