MY LIFE WITH ADULT ADHD

My life with adult (and childhood) ADD/ADHD.

I was diagnosed in my 60's. I first took medicine for it then, and was blown away. I never knew my mind was that capable.

I reveled in the feelings for a while. It was an unbelievable experience to hang onto a thought for longer than a few seconds (except when writing, as now). I was in awe of my newfound ability to actually look at a row of books and pick out individual titles and think about them.

And, aside, part of being able to hang on to a thought while writing, is being able to go back, read what I have said, and be able to "pick up" the train of thought. Also, the predictive nature of typing especially... my fingers and brain have already agreed on the next thoughts and words.

Anyway, after a while, I retired. The medicine was not good for my blood pressure, and, I wanted to let my creative brain play anyway.

I miss the meds sometimes.

Last night, for example, I read the same paragraph twice... simply because at the end of it, although I remembered the premise, I had forgotten the words. So, this morning, I went back and read it again... except... halfway through, I decided to write this... starting with some nebulous idea about having read the paragraph 2 1/2 times...

Wonder what it says...

Guess I'll go back and read it again. I really liked it... I think.

Wonder what I intended to say when I started this....

Guess I'll have to go back and read what I wrote to find out... if I said whatever it was I meant to say... whatever that was...

Oh well. Welcome to my world.

• Donovan Baldwin