It’s been a minute since I’ve been here. Life is taking me in multiple directions and to be completely honest, I’ve been struggling.
So much has happened over the last few weeks. There’s been joy, heartache, victories, COVID, setbacks, and even major milestones. Objectively speaking, life in my house of autism is going well.
We had our first battle with COVID since the pandemic began. Elliott, Emmett, and I all experienced mild, allergy-like symptoms for a week or so. Elliott is the only one to actually tested positive for COVID, and Gavin was the only one who didn’t appear to be affected. Thankfully, we’re all out of quarantine. Elliott missed the last two weeks of the school year because he kept testing positive but everything worked out, and most importantly, we’re all healthy.
Emmett just graduated middle school and received his final martial arts promotion. He’s come so far and I could not be prouder. I shared some videos on my IG account. You can find them here.
In other news, I’ve been officially diagnosed with ADHD. I have some mixed emotions about that but overall, I learned something about myself, and that’s a good thing in my book. I feel better in the sense that I have a better understanding of what’s going on in my noggin. Knowledge is power and now I can get the help I need to function more efficiently. I’m pretty stoked about that.
I really struggle with focus. It’s not impossible but it’s harder for me than it should be. I’m not impulsive or hyperactive. You know what, I recorded a video explaining everything.
I do feel better about everything since I recorded this. I’m looking forward to life with ADHD properly managed.
I was sitting here thinking about my life and as frustrated as I can get with myself, the reality is, that I’ve done pretty well over the years. I’m raising three amazing kids and I’m doing it alone. They’re great kids and that means I’m doing something right. I’ve built this platform and business while dealing with all these challenges, both internal and external. To be honest, I feel pretty accomplished that I am where I am today. It’s not perfect and growing a business can be messy at times but despite my struggles with ADHD, I’ve succeeded where many other people fail. I’ll put that in the win column.
I’m excited to see how much better I can do when I’m able to focus without as much effort.
As I’m wrapping my head around these things, I’m accepting who I am and moving forward. It’s honestly not a bad thing. It’s just taking a minute to get my footing, so to speak.
I’m still working on the house. I’m still excited to start this new project I’ve been hired to work on. I’m doing more and more consulting lately. I’m just getting started on another project that’s related to promoting equity in education. You’ll see those things pop up in the near future. Life is honestly good.
The kids are out of school for the summer. I’m navigating the whole teenage social life thing with my kids and that’s a bit overwhelming at times. On the other hand, it’s awesome to see them building their own social lives.
Lastly, I’ve had to make some difficult parenting-related decisions recently in order to ensure the best interests of my kids. Being a parent isn’t easy and the responsibilities are many. I take those responsibilities very seriously and will do whatever is needed to make sure my kids are happy, and emotionally/physically healthy.
When I started writing this post, I was feeling a bit weighed down, but as I’m closing this up, I feel lighter. ☺
Glad to hear that everyone is alright. And glad you finally found one of the answers you have been seeking. When I worked as a counselor in a group home, one of my co workers had ADHD. He was also a college student, a psych major and he was a very good counselor. I enjoyed working with him. He became very good at his job in helping a lot of our residents in the group home where I worked before my retirement.Congrats to Emmett on obtaining his new martial arts rank. My son took Tai Chi classes with two wonderful instructors that included him into their regular class and treated him as they did everyone else. It worked wonders for his self esteem. So congratulations to Emmett!
Good that things seem to be going in a positive direction. You know, Rob, I wasn’t diagnosed as autistic until 5 years ago, when I was 58. Turns out that knowing I’m autistic explains a lot of things. At first it was a shock but now? It’s okay. I had already changed the way I related to the world in a way that better worked for me. It would’ve been nice to know sooner, but it doesn’t really change a lot now.
Knowing you have ADHD just means there is a reason your brain works the way it does. And then it is easier to manage those things, plus with health interventions. (Mental health stuff is STILL health stuff.) And you are young enough to benefit from the knowledge.