In this world, staying focused is not always easy. This is particularly true for people with unique challenges. In my case, there are two factors that I struggle with almost daily: ADHD and physical pain. However, I firmly believe that dealing with these struggles is continuously making me into a stronger person.
Despite having many effective coping strategies, there are days when my thoughts are both screaming at me and moving at hyperspeed. On these days, it is hard for my mind to settle on one activity and/or idea. This is frustrating, especially when it comes to reading and/or writing. I find it hard to concentrate on printed words. Furthermore, I can’t form coherent sentences to match the images in my head. Music, and any other sort of background noise, can often help to slow down my thoughts. Dealing with ADHD has served to strengthen my mental organizational skills, as well as my level of determination. However, I have also learned that it is okay to slow down, and be lazy sometimes.
My body is in constant pain. However, the pain ranges from easily ignored to debilitating. The pain has to reach near debilitating before it affects my ability to focus on my daily activities. During these days, it is critical that I allow my body to rest as much as possible. For this reason, I feel that it is a blessing that I have the support of my family, so that I don’t need to work in order to survive. This support allows me to feel okay about having days in which I just take care of myself.
In this goal-oriented world, the ability to focus on accomplishing goals is sometimes linked to a person’s self-worth. Sadly, this often leads to people with unique challenges being undervalued. Whether these challenges are mental, physical, or a combination of both, they can teach the individual, and others, important lessons that can greatly improve their lives. May God bless all of my readers!