Focused Forward

It could involve hiring executive and/or organizational assistance whenever you can afford it.

The ship’s captain orders the crew to turn the ship away from the wind, to “fly away from the gale.” The crew refuses to follow his orders, choosing instead to obey Mad Jack, an experienced, if unranked, sailor who tells them to turn the ship directly into the wind. His order is nearly impossible to carry out, but it saves the ship and all of their

Or some coach says, Here, take this laminated list of strategies—everything will be fine. When those suggestions fail, it’s hard to think anything will work. Each miracle that fails to materialize leaves a little scar, a little ding. More commonly, a storm subsides on its own, in its own time, and you never really know why. You remind yourself that

Think of the storm roaming the sky uneasily like a dog looking for a place to sleep in, listen to it growling. —Elizabeth Bishop

You need more—more than meds, more than a consistent schedule—to tolerate the inevitable inconsistency. Things will go out of balance, and if you feel lousy every time they do, that’s just too much vulnerability.

Different. Weird. Out of sync.

Rhyme and Reason: Intellectual and Emotional Curiosity Curiosity comes easily for people with ADHD. That’s good. Really. People with ADHD have this perception that curiosity breeds distraction, and that therefore they need to keep it in check. Not necessarily. I think it’s possible to channel curiosity, to use it to calm emotional distress.

TRY THIS AT HOME A VISIT TO YOUR EMOTIONAL SAFE PLACE Find a little spare time—10 to 20 minutes. Stop what you’re doing. Begin to slow your thoughts. Get into a comfortable position, probably sitting, but possibly lying down. Uncross your legs. Sense your body, wherever it is. Start to observe rather than to react. Close your eyes. Focus on your br

A lot of us rely on adrenaline for motivation. Sometimes, not having any better ideas, we do a little self-trash-talking to get the adrenaline to kick in. It can feel almost motivational to scold yourself, in a scornful, disapproving voice. Perhaps your childhood gave you a hair-trigger sensitivity to the subtleties of those voices.