Where does Adderall come from?

You spend one-third of your life sleeping, and you spend another third of your life working. Eight hours of sleep, eight hours of work. Within an entire day, you have just eight hours of your waking life to spend with yourself. With such little time, it's understandable why you stopped drawing, writing stories, podcasting, adhering to a healthy diet, drinking more water, trying to start a business, and more, especially if you have ADHD!

As someone with neurodivergence, you may have struggled with setting and achieving goals. Whether completing a task at work or reaching a personal milestone, it can be challenging to stay focused and motivated with all of the other things life requires us to do.

An actual statistic says if you have ADHD, you're three times more like to start a business than anyone else. There's something you have passion for, and out of all the jobs and classes that failed to grab your interest, I guarantee you've remained passionate about "something" all the while, so why aren't you doing that now?

Strategic planning workbook, perfect for ADHD.

The eye movements or other bilateral stimulation used in EMDR therapy are believed to facilitate communication between the brain's two hemispheres, which may help process traumatic memories more effectively. It was explained to me as calming down the part of your conscious brain that looks for stressors (amygdala and prefrontal cortex) and keeping it distracted enough to deal with things you may actively suppress.

Francine Shapiro founded Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. She discovered it in 1987 while taking a walk in the park. At the time, Shapiro was experiencing personal distress. She noticed that her eye movements seemed to reduce the intensity of her negative emotions. Intrigued, she began experimenting with eye movements while recalling traumatic memories, and she found that the eye movements appeared to facilitate the processing of the memories.

FREE EMDR Online Tool

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects individuals of all ages and genders. It is characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. While ADHD has historically been considered a disorder that predominantly affects boys and men, recent research has shown that ADHD symptoms in women can manifest differently than in men. Understanding these differences is crucial for appropriate diagnosis and treatment.

The standard criteria for diagnosing behaviors associated with ADHD is a bit outdated. That's because it's explicitly designed to address neurodivergent symptoms in men and boys. As mentioned earlier, that's a problem, and let's talk about why. 

It's a typical O.G. ADHD symptom. Both men and women experience inattention, but as we'll find with all symptoms, The only difference is whether they express it internally or externally. 

For example, when it comes to inattention, women may need help overcoming procrastination, might experience difficulty starting tasks, and be more forgetful. Women may also need help keeping track of their belongings, engaging in conversations, not interrupting others, and maintaining routines. 

Men with ADHD, on the other hand, can be more prone to externalizing their inattention. They may struggle with impulsivity, distractibility, and difficulty with self-regulation.

Free ADHD Symptom Quiz

Cleaning and organizing can be daunting for anyone, but it can be incredibly challenging for people with ADHD. The combination of distractibility and impulsivity can make cleaning and organizing overwhelming and frustrating. However, with the right strategies, people with ADHD can successfully clean and organize their homes.

A clean space is a happy space, and clutter tends to poorly affect my focus whenever my office is untidy. Even so, the thought of cleaning and organizing induces waves of anxiety and procrastination for me. It may be challenging, but there are scientifically proven benefits to having a clean environment. 

For example, a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience in 2011 found that clutter in the visual field competes for attention, making it harder to focus and process information. Another study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology in 2013 found that an organized workspace improved performance on tasks requiring focus and mental stamina.

Moreover, a messy workspace can also contribute to increased stress levels, which can further reduce productivity. A study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin in 2010 found that women who described their homes as cluttered or chaotic had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol than women who described their homes as restful or restorative.

I say all of that to stress the importance of keeping a clean and tidy space. Try not to freak out. I know this entire monologue may be triggering for some of you, but overcoming the fear of controlling the chaos in your environment can significantly improve your ADHD symptoms. Want to learn how to improve your focus to become more productive with ADHD? Stay tuned!

In grade school, you may notice you're different than your peers. You love to talk a lot, even when the teacher is talking. People might seem drawn to you. Who has time for homework? It's more fun to daydream. As you age, your sense of wonder isn't as appreciated as it was. It's expected of us all, at some point, to give up on our dreams. It's never said outright, but daydreaming out the window, both lose their charm and hall pass in our society beyond a certain age.

I get it. It's a survival thing. How can you feed yourself if you're daydreaming at work? School is more of a boot camp to cement a hard fundamental truth deep into our skulls. Being an adult is not fun, and neurodivergent people have few satisfying career options. No matter how much educational programming we watch, the hours we spend in restrictive classrooms and cubicles, or how much fluoride we brush into our gums, we can't be swayed toward normalcy.

I'm not trying to glorify ADHD or its symptoms by any means. Neurodivergence can be exhausting. Losing things, forgetting appointments, having the tendency toward chasing addiction, thriving only in the highs of life, and supplementing in any way possible during the lows. I'd about do anything sometimes to keep my mind from shutting down and becoming a force against me like it always does in the end. Given the circumstances, I still wouldn't trade it for anything.

There's something special about neurodivergence, truly. When you do the research, you learn that the prevalence of ADHD is significantly higher amongst those who share ancestry with ancient people who migrated frequently. That tells me a lot. Perspective is everything, and now I wonder if ADHD is somehow a natural defense against the onset of homogeneous culture and its complacency-promoting tendencies instead of being a "screw-up."

We are ancient nomads in modern times. Instead of fighting bears and hastily digging irrigation ditches by hand, today, we discover electricity and send people to the moon. It requires the same set of "muscles" to pursue tasks that reach beyond the stretches of human understanding. 

A bit ago, I published an article called "The Top 6 Fictional Characters Who Have ADHD". I had lots of fun, and it's entertaining, but I think it would've been much more empowering to do an article about real people with ADHD. So here it is, "Top 7 High Achievers with ADHD".

Free ADHD Symptom Quiz

I was only ever attracted to Alpha Brain because I could not afford the expensive stimulant drugs to treat my inattention. Regular exercise, a healthy diet, and sleep were helpful, but I still needed help concentrating on my job. As a podcast fan, I stumbled across Alpha Brain by Onnit and tried it out. Here is my general experience with the clinically studied, plant-based brain vitamin. 

Free ADHD Symptom Quiz

Who remembers the movie, Limitless? It's not just entertaining but how I would describe taking a specific medication to treat my ADHD for the first time. Not all medications used to treat neurodivergence have the same effect, and all medicines have side effects. If you want to know about the drugs to treat ADHD and how they work, listen now!

The symptoms of ADHD can be overwhelming, and they can massively hinder job and personal life. It makes perfect sense to want to medicate for those reasons. There are all types of medication, from non-stimulants to antidepressants, used in treating ADHD, and there are also natural alternatives. Which is best for you?

Adolph (allegedly tripping off of WWII-era stimulants)

Free ADHD Symptom Quiz

ADHD can operate as a “silent impairment.”. An invisible paralysis that occurs in your mind instead of your extremities. The hardest part is, sometimes, it’s hard to notice how impulsiveness, inattention, or hyperactivity is impairing you. If you’re not careful to manage these symptoms, it can drastically threaten your livelihood.

Free ADHD Symptom Quiz