“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.” ~Mark Twain

Choice

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” ~Robert Frost

Decisions

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” ~Stephen Covey

Direction

“It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.” ~E. James Rohn

Life

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life’s about creating yourself.” ~George Bernard Shaw

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” ~John Lennon

See

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” ~Henry David Thoreau

Think

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“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” ~Theophrastus

86,400 seconds are yours each day. Are your values and priorities reflected in how you spend your time or has your choice been forfeited based on a decision you did or didn’t make in the past?

Time comes with its own pace. You don’t manage time; time takes care of itself. However, you are given the opportunity to manage yourself within time. You can allocate your time being reactive to life circumstances or pro-active with your life opportunities, the choice is yours.

Time is indifferent to how you relate to it or use it. It’s not personal. It can pass you by or be on your side; the choice again is yours.

Time will be spent whether you intentionally spend it or not. Your 86,400 seconds will run out at the end of each day and renew itself with the arrival of the next day. The moments in between are gifted to you to make the most of them or let them expire.

I prioritize thinking about what...

Everything has a crack in it. Life as a whole is perfectly imperfect; art, books, bodies, relationships all perfectly imperfect. The sooner we get that lesson, the sooner we can get on with the opportunities that life presents us every day.

And so, the Procrastination-Perfectionism Loop. We encounter a life situation, our intention may be to follow through, and we face a choice: keep our word to ourselves or choose again. Many choose again and don’t follow through. The reasons vary yet the outcome is often the same.

We all have the ability to respond to the situations of our life. The catch is, not perfectly and so we procrastinate.

We may not like how we can respond or what our response will have to be, but we can respond to the calling of something that needs our response. It is our Response-Ability.

In her upcoming Webinar and companion Course, Dr. B goes even deeper into Breaking Free of Your Procrastination-Perfectionism Loop!  To be notified of release, please...

Life Story: How One Woman Conquered Adult ADHD and Depression

Adults seeking ADHD support and treatment sometimes find that depression is a side effect of attention deficit disorder. Learn how one Ivy League graduate with ADHD took back control of her life.

This is the first of many posts on Life Skills, what they are, when we learn them, how we learn them, what happens when we don't learn them and what we can do about that now.

LastPass

An ADHD friendly app solution to password protection.

"LastPass remembers your passwords so that you can focus on the more important things in life."

Written by Catherine Pulsifer

IF and WHEN were friends. Every week they met and had lunch. Their conversation usually centered on all the things they were going to achieve. They both had many dreams and they loved to talk about them.

This particular Saturday when they met, WHEN sensed that IF was not in a great mood. As usual they sat at the table reserved for them and ordered their lunch. Once they placed their order, WHEN questioned IF. “IF what is wrong with you? You don’t seem your usual cheery self?”

IF looked at WHEN and replied, “I’m not sure, I just don’t feel like I am making any progress. This last week I saw a course I wanted to take if only I had the time to take it.”

WHEN knew exactly how IF felt. “Yeah, ” replied WHEN, “I too saw a course and I am going to register when I get enough money together.” WHEN then said, “well what about that new job you were going to apply for. You were so excited about...

Depression and Anxiety are often the diagnoses that are first given to adults with ADHD because they are recognizable to most all Mental Health Professionals (MHPs). However, it’s a chicken and egg scenario. Which came first? Their unrecognized and undiagnosed ADHD led to the Anxiety and the Depression? Or their Depression and Anxiety masked their ADHD and hence it was not diagnosed?

Is it your job to educate the MHPs or to know what your diagnosis is when you see them? Of course not. And yet, it is happening more and more often. Can you imagine walking into a medical doctor’s office and having to inform them that you have hypertension, diabetes or whatever condition? Of course not. The doctor’s questions lead to testing and to a diagnosis followed by treatment because they can recognize the common diseases that plague us. For the less common ones, there are software programs, such as Isabel, that lead you through the possibilities to some solid options. If only...

If you’ve sought help from a mental health professional (MHP) and didn’t get what you needed this may shed some light. As of my July 2015 review of the California Board of Behavioral Sciences website, I do not see that there is an academic requirement to study adult ADHD in the licensure track for Licensed Marriage Family Therapist (LMFT), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) or Licensed Educational Psychologist (LEP). This specialty may be offered as an elective, depending on the university attended.

This lack of educational requirement leads me to believe that LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs have very little or no working knowledge or specialized training in addressing the serious issues of adults living with ADHD. Furthermore, the general public is not aware of this lack.

In the U.S., about 60 percent or 6 out of 10 ADHD children grow up to be ADHD adults, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

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The sense of relief many adults with ADHD express, knowing there is an explanation of how their life has been up to now is enormous. Looking back over a lifetime of confusion and seeing the pieces coming together to make a picture that explains the challenges is a gift.