October is here.
Your kids are somehow already in costume. Candy will soon be everywhere. It’s also “Breast Cancer Awareness” month and ALSO also “ADHD Awareness” month.
I know a bit about the latter.
I’ve struggled with ADHD my entire life. It has been present with me in both times of triumph and times of great disappointment. When younger, I often thought that I might have some form of it, but it was only a few years ago that I was clinically diagnosed. Once I became aware that there was way more to ADHD than the label, I found people and new habits that have helped me greatly when I’m struggling.
The more I learn about my own ADHD the more I want to share what I’ve learned, share my story of struggling with it with others so that they might find help or understanding sooner than I did. In 2020 I turned what I’ve learned about my ADHD into an interactive keynote speech. I talk about finding personal success while dealing with the meanest person in the world, yourself. When anxious, depressed, or feeling stuck it’s very easy for our brains to tell us we’re stupid, a failure, or that we’re hopeless. Would you ever let another person talk to you like that? If we can have self-loathing thoughts we can have self-loving ones as well. This week I’ll be in Indiana and Pennsylvania talking to high school and college students about all this and more.
So as we start ADHD awareness month and all the October fun begins to happen simultaneously (which is so very ADHD of you October) I urge you to be extra kind to yourself and those around you. If your kid wants to change costumes 3 times, let em. If your partner or spouse wants to change the plans last minute, go with the flow. Keep in the back of your mind how fortunate you already are, and in addition to candy, give out some extra hugs and compliments to your friends and family. Bonus points if you compliment a stranger. You just might make someone’s day!
One last thing that would mean a lot to me: If you have a dog, please please please put them in a Halloween costume and take embarrassing pictures of them. Please? And if you don’t want to, then don’t beat yourself up about that either! But do know that, on this one specifically, I’m quietly judging you from a distance. 👀
Happy October!
Xo
-Max
