There I was—on a seven-day cruise from Vancouver, BC to Seward, Alaska. We had a spacious, as far as that goes, cabin. The Holland American ship was beautiful. The food was outstanding. There was a fully equipped exercise room with classes you could attend. There were movies shown daily in a full–size theatre or you could borrow DVDs from their well-stocked library to watch in your room.

How do you prevent overload in your life? Can you see it coming? Do you know how many tasks you can juggle without coming apart at the seams?

Do you plan your time, and have a realistic idea of how long-planned tasks will take? Have you learned to be assertive in saying, "I'd love to, but I need to check my calendar first." What steps have you taken to prevent ADHD overload?

—Learn about ADHD—what it is and what it isn't—resources include books, ADHD magazines, reputable internet sites, conferences, and support groups.

—Have people in your immediate circle learn about ADHD along with you.

In November, after being incredibly busy with activities for the Inattentive ADHD Coalition, I felt down--not quite depressed, but I had the blues. I was at loose ends and thought, "Is this all life has to offer?" Initially, I thought I was just tired and needed some downtime, some time to recover. But slowly I realized I was feeling down because I wasn't engaged in an interesting, mind-stimulating activity.

We are still relying on research done years ago on white, hyperactive boys. There are few studies and fewer insights on girls and women. Likewise, children with inattentive ADHD (formerly called ADD) continue to fly under the radar. Why?

Is it really possible for someone with ADHD to “get stuff done” when one of our biggest challenges is procrastination? I have known about my inattentive ADHD for 30 years and think I know “best practices” for becoming all you can be as someone with ADHD, so I am surprised when I come across new, effective information.  Here’s a nutshell explanation of what I learned yesterday.

The Opposite of Happiness is Not Sadness. It’s Boredom

Strategy one is to run away from boredom as often as the situation allows. Being bored makes us feel sluggish, dull, not alive so we need to avoid it whenever possible. Here are some ideas on how to beat the boredom blues:

“My brain is an overstuffed garbage can the lid doesn’t stay on, and stuff is falling out all over the floor.” This is how my son describes what it is like to have ADHD.  When he was diagnosed, I thought I understood ADHD.  I was a published academic researcher with a Ph.D. in pharmacology who studied ADHD medications.  It turns out my background as a scientist did not prepare me for the challenges of being a mom to a son diagnosed with the inattentive subtype of ADHD. 

The ADDitude Symptom Checker will guide you through a series of questions based on your primary concerns, and then compare your responses to symptoms of more than a dozen common psychological and learning conditions.

Because my husband and I spent countless hours wondering if certain behaviors could be controlled by our son with Inattentive ADHD, I found this excerpt from an ADDitude magazine to be essential reading.

Virtually all of the risks of ADHD come from not treating ADHD aggressively with a commitment to long-term management…..

For children, there is the Conners 3 Global Index (Conners 3GI) to measure improvement. These are forms your treating physician would supply to you and your child’s teachers to complete.

Years ago, Lynn Weiss, Ph.D. and author of numerous ADHD books said people with ADHD can do anything, they just have to figure out what works for them. After years of struggling to manage a household, I finally figured out ways that work for me.

Adults with ADHD don’t typically try to understand why things went wrong. We move on to the next shiny thing. ADHD medication slows down our racing thoughts, so we can ask, perhaps for the first time, “Is this the best thing to do?” or “Is this the right thing to say?”

I recently discovered free music videos that provide “Deep Focus … for ADHD Relief and Concentration.”  The RedGreen Productions company posts videos that vary in length from 2-12 hours!

Any child or adult with or without ADHD has many factors influencing long-term outcomes in his or her life.

We’ve known, for over 30 years, that adults have ADHD.  Why are there still clinicians who are unable or unwilling to diagnose or treat adult ADHD?   Why, when I visit online ADHD groups, do complaints about uninformed clinicians dominant the discussions?  

There are two meanings to myths. One is warm and fuzzy—traditional stories. The other is deadly—widely held but false beliefs. Certain myths about ADHD contribute to our early deaths.

In my next several blogs I provide the findings from research about the various life domains where (untreated) ADHD usually causes significant problems in a person’s life…

Take the quizzes and get an email with feedback on ways you may be different in that dimension…