In my ADHD journey, I’ve had to take enormous, terrifying leaps of faith.
I wanna give you some examples, because all too often,
it’s hard for us ADHD women to know what progress looks like,
on this ADHD journey.
So: first terrifying thing I had to do was—
1️⃣I had to admit my ADHD-related problems were deadly serious.
I had been in the habit of telling myself it was no big deal, that next week or next month or next year I’d finally catch up enough, or grow up enough, that things would improve.
Meanwhile, I physically felt like crap—exhausted and sick.
Mentally, I was deeply sad almost all the time. I thought about death a lot.
I resented what I did for a living, even though I was well compensated and was doing extremely meaningful work. I felt totally locked into what I was doing professionally, and felt that if I stopped, everybody would be mad at me and I would end up living on the street.
Even the healthy relationships in my life felt unbalanced, because I didn’t know how to advocate for my needs. How could I when I didn’t even know what my needs were?
So even just admitting that I had serious problems was terrifying, an enormous leap of faith for me. I had to have faith that admitting that I had serious problems in my life could create something positive.
2️⃣Second, I had to open to the idea that ADHD is a disability.
A lot of the ADHD women I talk to are very uncomfortable with this idea, so let me explain what I mean:
By “disability” I mean that our particular skills and talents do not line up with our culture's expectations for adult women.
That’s what a disability is – it’s when your struggles are not supported by the wider community you live in.
That being said, I do not view ADHD as a disorder. Our brains work differently, but they’re not broken, sick, or unhealthy.
It was such a relief when I learned this different way of thinking. This paradigm best expresses my experience of myself: that I'm an enormously talented, multiply-neurodivergent person with a perfectly healthy brain, whose skills and talent do not always line up with neurotypical expectations.
This may be hard to imagine, but claiming my disabilities unlocked HUGE RESERVOIRS of power for me.
3️⃣Third, I completely transformed my professional life.
After 20 years of teaching yoga and running very successful studio, I was bored and increasingly overwhelmed by the work. What was originally a pretty good fit for my ADHD brain was no longer workable.
Unlocking my goldenish handcuffs and walking away from a work situation that was familiar and successful was TERRIFYING.
Many ADHD women face this quandary—they’re in a professional situation that DOES NOT WORK for them, maybe it’s NEVER worked for them, and they are terrified to walk away.
I’m here to tell you, adjusting your professional life to better suit your present ADHD self is ABSOLUTELY worth doing.
4️⃣Fourth, I invested in coaching, multiple times.
Some of the coaching I got was extremely expensive. Some of it was low-cost. Some of it was incredibly helpful and effective. Some of it wasn’t. Sometimes those two things lined up, but sometimes they didn’t!
As I went along, I got way better at figuring out which coaches were actually a good fit for me. But at the beginning, I had to take big leaps of faith that coaching would work for me. I bet on myself over and over again. It was terrifying, but as coaching worked on me, I started seeing enormous changes in my quality of life.
- My health got better
- My relationships got more joyful
- I felt way more grounded and steady professionally
- My home life got less chaotic
- My ability to face my finances improved
- I could set boundaries, with myself and others, and keep them
- I started caring way less about what others thought of me, and thinking way more highly of myself
I could just keep going and going with these, but I digress.
If you’re miserable with your ADHD, maybe it’s time to try something different.
Your path won’t be the same as mine.
But if you’re like me, and you have a sneaking suspicion that coaching could really help you, let’s talk about it.
Take a leap of faith.
Book a free Discovery Call with me.
And let’s find out what’s possible for you.
Warmly,
Emma