ADHD is hereditary. Learn from the ones who have maneuvered this illness far longer than you have. Learn how they overcame, conquered, and succeeded despite this mental stumbling block.
Dear Old Dad
I see a lot of my grandpa and my mom and the way she works around her ADHD symptoms. Both of them are extremely hard-working despite the executive function dysfunction that sometimes overtakes them. I don't know who was the first person in my family to develop ADHD, but I do know that I got it from my mom who got it from her dad.
My grandfather has really severe ADHD symptoms. One of his most obvious symptoms is hyperfixation. It is extremely apparent in conversations with him when a problem is brought up, solved, and the topic is changed only for my grandfather to bring up the same problem and the same solution 30 minutes later. Although my grandfather is sometimes hard to talk to, his hyperfixation is probably why he is so successful. My grandpa was raised in the Great Depression. He is very resourceful, strict and determined because his upbringing contained harsh economic strain and an abusive father. He is someone I look up to a lot.
When I was little I didn't really understand my grandfather a lot. He confused me because he was always super black and white. there wasn't a lot of grey in his world, and it wasn't until I was older that I realized why he thought this way. Living with ADHD feels like you're on a never-ending mental roller coaster. Your brain is constantly at 150 percent with 4 tabs open, 3 songs playing and a loading web browser. In order to be as successful as he became he had to give up some of the creativity that comes along with this mental illness. He created a structure that still works at the age 81.
“I wake up at the same time every day. I sing every single day. And I do what must be done every single day.”
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