Hi there.
Things have been awfully quiet around here, haven’t they? Which is funny, since long before makeup, before entrepreneurship, before any career attempts I have ever made, there has always, always been writing.
You know who stops me every time though? Perfectionism. That voice that tells me I shouldn’t say something until I know for sure that it is the right thing to say, the right way to say it. That, every time I have an idea that I would like to share, screams at me that the format of the website is a disaster and you can’t just start publishing your business blog on a half created mess of a platform but you don’t have time to put into figuring that out because you need to be doing income producing activities because you have a family to support now and you took a crazy huge risk as a single mom choosing not to return to a soul-sucking office job after mat leave but instead to work a brand new home-based business with no business background so you could stay home with your baby who you love more than life itself and you’d better not fail him. And then, generally, I collapse into a shame-fuelled Netflix hole.
So today I am deciding to just be here with you. To be real with you, and let you share this journey, wherever it leads. Here are a few key things I do know. I have some pretty deeply rooted limiting beliefs that I am still only getting a handle on unravelling. There are parts of my brain that contribute to my struggle, perhaps more than some, certainly less than others. Those parts have labels like adult ADD, anxiety, and depression. I have an impressive array of unhelpful coping mechanisms that have become mixed up in this process.
There are other things I am learning though. I am stronger than I have ever fully allowed myself to realize. I may be almost 39 which can feel like a ridiculous age to just be figuring so much of this life stuff out – including love, career, money, purpose – basically everything adult-related. But I am also not even 40 yet and have a fabulous amount of potential still left and now is certainly not the time to admit defeat.
So today I’m choosing to dust myself off again and keep going, and I promise, we will go together.
Reading your post I feel like you were talking about me when I was younger. Hi I’m Melodie and I’m 55 living with undiagnosed and untreated adult ADHD. I’ve had it as far back at I can remember but back in the day (when I was a kid (say 10 yrs. old) ADHD was not heard of. Then as we got older it was thought that only kids suffered with ADHD. By then we were Young adults so we missed out then as well. Our generation kinda got left behind and we add silently suffered in the backups until here recently. Anyway, the past four years I’ve been here I’ve noticed the symptoms are more magnified and get stronger every month it seems. If almost unbearable now and when the tornado of hyper mode hits, I’m really hurting just riding it out.
Long story short, the sliding scale clinic I go to claims they don’t have funding available for testing and treatment of ADHD. They even told me rarely do adults get it. Well almost died my life bc I’ve researched like crazy and I know ALL there is to know about ADHD in adult women. So they either aren’t well educated there or else they just don’t care and it’s an excuse. Probably both, smh. 🙄
I’m going to comment on your blog at I hope you will on mine and let me know how you like the site and the content❤️I will do the same. I appreciate you! https://rawthoughtsfromchelle.wordpress.com
Good luck 💚
Hi Melodie! Thank you for reaching out. I agree, there is still a huge lack of awareness (even among mental health providers!) about adult ADHD, and the different ways that ADHD manifests in women. I am sorry that you are one of the many of us who have slipped through the cracks, but good for you doing the research and figuring it out yourself! I truly believe that things are changing for the better, and a lot of it is fuelled by women just like us who are talking to one another and sharing information.
Sending lots of love! You are doing awesome!
💜Lisa