Thursday, May 15, 2008

bounce much?



I find myself laughing when I see my results on quizzes like this. I can be so over the top sometimes! Do I have ADHD? Probably, but does it really matter? No, I can function just fine thank you very much. I know the places and environments I have a hard time in, and I know how to help myself function better. When I took a week long intensive class once I brought crayons. I gave me something else to do and totally helped me focus.

I think ADHD tends to be over diagnosed in society, and I wouldn't want to have a label hanging over me, even if it did help explain some of my weird behaviour. The test results said I should "seek medical assessment immediately. Yeah right! On the other hand, if they'd recognized this about me when I was younger, maybe we could have looked at helpful ways to help me learn, instead of me getting in trouble all the time for not staying on task, talking to much, and not sitting still enough. Now I just know that I can't sit still, and if I think people are going to be bothered, I warn them ahead of time (or apologize after). I know that if I colour, or swing my feet around I'll stay focused better even if it looks like I'm not paying attention.

At work, I know that I need to get up every 15 minutes or so, unless I'm deeply absorbed in something, or at least have changing interactions. My job right now is SO good for that because I'm always doing something, or if I'm not, there's always something that will need to be done in a certain amount of time (punches in IPDA, bed checks in Detox, laundry, cups, coffee, soup etc...). I explained to a couple people that I have a really hard time sitting still, when it came up in conversation, but I really don't think it's going to be a big deal for me.

That being said, when I did program development for one of my practicums it nearly killed me. Sitting at my desk is just so not a good thing for me. At this job, I don't have a desk, and I like that. It also means I can't clutter up my space, which is really good for me. Clutter + me = bad.

Oh, and before anyone says "don't let stupid internet test diagnose you" and or "don't self diagnose", I'm not. I just find it helpful to look at myself from that perspective sometimes to understanding myself and help discover new tools for coping.

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