Life Is One Crazy-Making Adventure

Life is one crazy-making adventure, huh?  We have been on one journey after another over here and by God’s grace, while it has been crazy, we have not gone crazy.  Personal struggle has produced personal growth, research has produced applied knowledge, insight has produced positive changes.  God has been faithful and steady, proving to be my rock and my strength through it all.

I arrived at a bittersweet discovery recently through an article on an ADD/ADHD website, which is that a lot of times kids with ADD/ADHD usually get it from a parent.  And after reading through a couple more articles, I could see that I am the parent Big Bro gets it from.  I guess I struggle with ADD myself.

Dr. West just chuckled when I asked her if she already knew that from treating me and she said she had picked up on that.  She thought I knew because of how much I could relate to Big Bro, but I had not put two and two together until recently.

The piles that are my never-ending nemesis?   Classic ADD symptom.

Jumping from task to task, project to project?  Yup, classic symptom.

A mind that never. stops. thinking?  Another classic symptom.

Being consumed with a task or project to the point where everything else slides?  Uh huh… classic symptom again.

The point where I read about how much harder it is to provide the consistent parenting a child with ADD/ADHD needs when the parent doing the parenting  is struggling with ADD themselves made me cry.  I never knew I was looking for those words, but reading them just unlocked the mountain I climb everyday.  The lens of life just came into focus.

Of course, the realization of it all made me feel broken and worthless.  And for a tiny bit, I was overwhelmed by understanding that I, like Big Bro was doing life harder than most people.  Of course we all have our struggles, and people who’s brains are not dealing with ADD/ADHD are just climbing different mountains everyday and are pushed to their limits, also.

But, it got me thinking.  Here I tell Big Bro how God has made him just how He wants him to be and he is perfect in God’s eyes, but let me tell you- that statement is NO consolation when you are feeling broken because of how God made you!

Anyhow, after I got past my pity party I began to realize that there are good things that come from the ADD/ADHD brain function and that it enables so much of what makes my who I am.

That design talent I have?  The ADD/ADHD brain is super creative.

All the research that I needed to do for my family?  The ADD/ADHD brain often gets hyper-focused.

The ability to think outside the box to find ways to effectively parent Big Bro? Yup, another benefit to the ADD/ADHD brain.

You know, normal is a blend of two extremes.  We already know there is a left  and right brain, one being more scientific and one being more creative, but I have discovered that the left brain to the extreme is more like the Asperger’s brain (think Sheldon from Big Bang Theory, who struggles with the abstract and emotional connection) and the right brain is more like the ADD/ADHD brain that cannot seem to focus and is super creative.

Together and perfectly balanced, the brain blends both sides together easily focusing and moving from task to task, can read social ques and can understand math and science as it applies to life.  But we need all sorts of people types to make this world go around!

God in his power and might created the extremes with purpose and he also created each person specifically for a purpose.  The brain he gave us enables us to do what we were created to do.  The families we were born into and the experiences he allowed us to experience have  served to shape us to fulfill that purpose we were created for.

That’s why its so important to be walking with God.  God uses both our strengths and weaknesses in combination to use our lives for His glory!

We need to remember, too, that our weaknesses are what continually keep us at his feet and seeking him, the very same weaknesses that bring about his purposes in our life’s adventure.

I read a Psalm yesterday that contained a beautiful promise that we can hold on to and so perfectly speaks into my life and I want to share it with you- I hope you enjoy it!