Self-Esteem and ADHD
Posted on March 11, 2012 by Dan Weigold, One of Thousands of ADD ADHD Coaches on Noomii.
The message has been load and clear, "you're not good enough". People noticed that you weren't like others and you lived that story.
A teacher reminds you that you didn’t do your work and asks why you are always late in getting your assignments turned in and they adds, “why can’t you be like everyone else”. Year after year it is the same message, “you aren’t like everyone else.”
Your parents said you were lazy and asked you to just do the work and you tried but you couldn’t get it done. You had to read the book more than once to get the material to start to sink in. It was hard to focus on the words and the meaning. It was hard to answer the questions because you’d have to go back and read the chapter again and again. It was tiring and it wasn’t fun.
The grades started to slip, from “A’s” to “B’s” and then to “C’s” and “D’s” and that just reinforced that message that something was wrong.
It is the story of growing up with ADHD, it is a story of you’re not quite good enough. That story starts to ring true over time and the belief that you aren’t good enough becomes more truth than fiction.
It doesn’t have to be that way. The truth is that you are good enough and it takes work and time to turn around the tide of negative messages to produce positive messaging in the brain. You can do it, you are capable and you are good enough.
What did you hear when you were growing up? What did you experience when you were growing up? How has that impacted you today?
