ADD-ADHD Mindfulness Matters Musings

I'M ALIVE

Hello all of you wonderful people who have tried to befriend me and get to know me over the past two years.  I have been 'missing in action'.  I'm Back!

For 2 years I steadily traveled back and forth from Vermont where I live, to Florida where my elderly, ill folks lived.  I tried to run my therapy practice, my coaching business and my life while helping to take care of my parents. Unfortunately my writing suffered. Actually, because of the pain, I've been blocked  most of those 2 years.  Over a 2 month span I lost my Mother, Father and closest Aunt/ally.  We just had another memorial service in New Jersey last weekend so that all of our relatives could attend.  This huge, 3/4 of ones life, huge chapter of my life is physically closed.  Emotionally and cognitively it is very active.

I am ready to start writing again. I feel the need so strongly.  And here I am on this website, "adderworld.ning.com/profile/JudiJeromeLICSWLADC" choosing for some unknown reason, to write my first blog entry in a VERY long time. This must be "home". Thank you for that very needed and special feeling. 

So, here I am, all of my grown-ups are gone.  That truly makes me the grown-up.  Me, this professional woman with ADHD and so many years old (a woman has to have some secrets), so many years as an adult,  I am the grown-up that I have to depend on and get cudo's from, and hear the opinion of... ME.  How strange. How sad. How?

The support of professionals, friends, cousins, and the social networks that I have built is what I will purposely fill this empty hole with.  That is a big part of the "How?".  Trust in myself and allowing the grief process to transcend all 5 stages is a really big part of the "HOW?".  And the biggie for me, 'writing' is a very big part of the "HOW?".   Again, thank you all so very much for being there, here and everywhere. mindfulness matters

ADHD & GRIEF

I would like to offer a sincere apology to all of my readers, followers, subscribers, fans, friends and ADDers for not publishing this blog for so many months.  The illness and then loss of my mother and my special aunt along with the terminal illness of my father has kept me on a plane, in flux and writing in private. Cleaning out the house of 61 years of marriage, and the belongings of a family with ADHD, along with my grief, has clogged the creative writing part of my ADHD brain as well as my heart. 

Multi-tasking and balancing is more difficult when an ADDer is grieving.  Prioritizing and choosing what to let go of can be difficult for people with ADHD and we have to work very hard to achieve balance.  Our moods, schedules, activities, projects, tasks, joys, passions, play, work and various roles that comprise our life are all affected by our grief on a daily basis.

Like the playground "see-saw" of my childhood, everything in our life that we must balance hinges precariously on that middle point of production.  Being the smallest kid in my class each year meant that the other kids were always able to hold my end of that see-saw up in the air.   An ADHD coach is an amazing help in helping to form and maintain that middle "axle" that keeps you balanced.

As a child I struggled to ground myself and keep my playmates in the air. (I started see-sawing with younger kids!).  As an adult and an ADHD Coach, I use mindfulness and mindfulness meditation to calm ground and balance myself. 

Grief, two businesses, writing/publishing, and continual trips down south would seemingly be enough to clog the creative process.  The difficulty of letting go of my parent’s possessions and my overly sentimental attachment to these historical 'mementoes' that they collected over the last 61 years has taken up way too much of my emotions and time.

ADHD and Emotions, ADHD and Possessions, ADHD and Time management, ADHD and Grief: there I've been and still am but I am also back in the world of blogging!  mindfulness matters!

Mindfulness Matters Coaching®

Monday morning, too many choices, too little caffeine. Stay focused and mindful to survive and stay on track. tea - black!

Try New Things

I have ADHD. I am going to take a weekend workshop titled "write a book in a weekend" with Donna Kozik and Suzanne Evans. I am excited because I have been trying to write 2 books for more years then I can count. This could be it!

Being brave and knowing that ADHD makes some things a little (OK, a lot) harder, hopefully does not stop you from trying new things and growing in new directions.  Just remember, having ADHD also enhances your creativity and your flow of ideas!  Talking to the teacher or facilitator before signing up and telling them that you have ADHD and would like to know their experience teaching or leading the subject matter with this population, as well as any concerns you may have, allows you to reduce any fears that may be stopping you.  Asking if extra time and help will be available if you need it and making those arrangements up front also allows you to bravely go where you have not gone before (thank you Gene Roddenberry). 

Try it. The new year is at our front door; open it up and invite in your dreams.  Have the welcome message be: "hey dreams, you are getting fulfilled this year so come on in".
Remember, mindfulness matters.  Take care, smiles and cheers, judi

Mindfulness Matters Coaching