When Criticism Is Abundant & Kind Words Are Scarce - 035

Living Beyond ADHD

Welcome to the thirty-fifth episode of Harness Your ADHD Power.

I’m so glad you could join me today. Throughout my 30+ years of working with adults with ADHD, Executive Function deficits, depression, anxiety, addictions, and many other co-occurring challenges, I’ve noticed a theme that bears talking about today. And that is the abundance of “symptoms” that often present themselves to us, and are basically saying, “Hey you! There are things you need to pay attention to and take care of here.” And, if we are fortunate enough to both hear and understand the messages of those “symptoms,” and actually take action to search out what the underlying issues are, and follow through on resolving them, we can put an end to a lot of the suffering that we live with. Difficulties and challenges are part of life; ongoing suffering involves your mind and is optional.

So you might be wondering what all of that has to do with the topics abundant criticism and scarcity of kind words. I’ll be getting there, so stay with me on this. I see this episode inter-connected with four others I’ve produced: “027-Figuring out where to start when so much needs your attention now, 001-It’s not your fault & you’re not off the hook either, 030-Ask Dr B – about Stories we tell ourselves, low self-esteem & self-sabotaging behaviors, and 004-What is your procrastination a symptom of?”

If you’re like so many of the adults I work with, you have a ton of issues that all need your attention now and you don’t even know where to start, let alone know how you are going to get them all done. And it hasn’t you're your fault up to this point, because you most likely haven’t been given the information you needed and the path to the learning and mastery of the missing skills, so you could take responsibility and make the necessary changes. And with so many years of failed attempts or failed outcomes, your self-esteem may be quite low, the stories you tell yourself are self-defeating and not empowering you at all and you fell into the trap years ago of short-term solutions or Band-Aids that have now become self-sabotaging behaviors because they were only intended as short-term solutions. And your procrastination “symptoms” are “messengers” telling you where to look for what the underlying issues are but if you don’t know that and have been working on trying to “fix” your procrastination around getting started, keeping going and actually finishing up, then you’ve been chasing after the wrong issues because those are just “symptoms.”

In this episode, I’m going to explore the many ways that criticism is abundant and kind words are scarce in the lives of adults with ADHD and other co-existing conditions. And a little hint: it has to do with your relationship with yourself.

Developing your Executive Function Skills and shifting your limiting beliefs is the fastest and most effective way to overcome ADHD limitations, find focus, gain confidence, and newfound freedom in your life!

My mission is to put an end to the worldwide needless suffering of adults with ADHD and those with under-developed Executive Function Skills - whether from ADHD, chronic depression or anxiety, trauma, addictions, or chronic illnesses. And, you don't need a formal diagnosis to know you need help developing these executive function skills in order to greatly reduce your suffering.

Episode Resources:

• Put yourself on the informational Waitlist for the ADDventures In Achievement Foundational Skills Program, so that you receive all the amazing emails we’ve written to both educate you about Executive Function skills as well as the details of the program; there is absolutely no obligation by being on the Waitlist. You’ll thank yourself for getting informed.

• Learn more about our newest program, Living Beyond ADHD 2.0 Training and Coaching Mini-Series.

• Free Video and e-Book - Many Mental Health Providers & ADHD
• 13 EF Skills
• Join the amazing Living Beyond ADHD Facebook Group & hang out with your peeps
• Follow me on Dr B Facebook Page and enjoy live videos and more
• Follow me on Instagram and enjoy relevant resources
• Download the transcript for this episode.

To Help The Show:

Subscribe at your favorite listening spot and my podcast player has social media links (icons) in the episode player so you can share episodes you love with others!

Please rate the show and leave a thoughtful review on iTunes so I know you're benefiting from the episodes. The greater the number of reviews, the higher the ranking, and the easier it will be for others to find the show; people who also need this information.

Let's put an end to the worldwide needless suffering together! We can do this!