Maybe I am just being crabby because I feel like I am about to loose my job. I was doing some internet searches on ADD in the workplace and they all give suggestions on what we can do to make life easier. Not only in the workplace but also at home. My question is why should we have to change our habbits to make life easier? I find that the way that I do things works fine for me and why should I have to change because it is wrong? Excuse my rambling but what do you guys think, should we change the way we do things because it is not how the rest of the world works?

Sorry to go and spoil the party but that's kind of logic applies to everyone, regardless of neurological profile.

should we change the way we do things because it is not how the rest of the world works?
I prefer to think of it as changing to find something that works FOR ME. If it's what the rest of the world does, nifty. If it isn't, but it works for me, then screw the rest of the world.

Effie,

We have a disorder. That means there is something wrong with our brains. Further, it means that we must take measures to compensate for our broken brains.

I know it sucks but we have the problem. We are the ones that need to compensate, not the rest of "normal" mankind.

I agree with Procrire that a certain amount of acceptance is in inorder. I'm aym what I'm aym as speedo and popeye say. But if I want to make a living and pay off my humongous mortgage, I am the one that needs to compensate cause the bank won't.

I know it sucks. But what is, is.

Bob

Maybe I am just being crabby because I feel like I am about to loose my job. I was doing some internet searches on ADD in the workplace and they all give suggestions on what we can do to make life easier. Not only in the workplace but also at home. My question is why should we have to change our habbits to make life easier? I find that the way that I do things works fine for me and why should I have to change because it is wrong? Excuse my rambling but what do you guys think, should we change the way we do things because it is not how the rest of the world works?If the way you're doing things is working fine for you and the only reason you would change would be to conform just for the sake of it I agree; why the need for change?

On the other hand it seems like there's some kind of clash between your way to do things and what's expected at your workplace so somehow it doesn't all work out fine. Though I can still agree with the notion "Why should I have to change".

What kind of changes are you thinking about? Are they "There's just one way to do x right, everybody do x like this!" kind of changes or are they "Making workplace (or other) expectations and ADHD work together" kind of changes?

I read some kind of study guide my bf had the other night. It was very annoying because they only suggested one way to do things and stressed the importance of doing things that exact way.

Maybe the advice in those sites you read just weren't for you! I don't like all advice on how to cope with ADHD I read.

Did you read "Women with Attention Deficit Disorder" by Sari Solden? If not I can really recommend it. She writes about changes, but ADHD friendly changes. There's a chapter about ADHD and work, where she , for example, brings up the importance of having a job that's stimulating enough and that lets you use your strengths and where the areas you're weak in don't matter.

Maybe I am just being crabby because I feel like I am about to loose my job. I was doing some internet searches on ADD in the workplace and they all give suggestions on what we can do to make life easier. Not only in the workplace but also at home. My question is why should we have to change our habbits to make life easier? I find that the way that I do things works fine for me and why should I have to change because it is wrong? Excuse my rambling but what do you guys think, should we change the way we do things because it is not how the rest of the world works?

It all depends on who you are trying to make life easier for - trying to make life easier for yourself or trying to make life easier for everyone else around you.

Trying to make life easier for yourself is kind of a no-brainer (yes, please!) with really 2 choices - change yourself to fit your environment or change your environment to fit yourself. For instance, if you have a job that you struggle at, you can either try to figure out what causes you the struggle and try to change those things about yourself so that you struggle less or try instead to find a job that better suits your abilities. Sometimes only one of those choices is possible and sometimes you can use a combination of both. The key is finding the things that you have control over and concentrating on those. The same goes for issues at home.

Trying to make life easier for those around you is by nature the more difficult of the two. For me, it can also be dangerous because I have a tendancy to try to "people-please" everyone, which when it runs rampant drives me to try to make everyone else happy at the expense of my own happiness. And the only person that I can truly make happy anyway is myself. If others think that I need to change to make things easier for them, then that is their issue. They have the same choice to accept me for who and what I am that I do. It does all boil down to acceptance. But to really be accepting of others, you need to accept yourself first.

I don't think that my ADD makes me broken or better or worse than others. It just makes me different.

I guess my feeling is that if what I do doesn't alienate me from the rest of the world, doesn't threaten my ability to support myself and family. and doesn't create major turmoil in my life around me, most likely if it truly benefits me, I won't change it........ :eyebrow:

Like I said, I guess I am just being crabby. I think about all of the things that people will ADD have to go through and it is just not fair sometimes. I know that we have a chemical inbalance but that is not our fault and we have to suffer from it. I know that the world gives us some acceptions but is it really enough and what else can they do? Take jobs for example, look at the many people out there with ADD that get fired from jobs because they cant focus or they dont pay good enough attention to details. I take medication and I still struggle with focusing sometimes, I feel like I do everything that I can on my part but it is still not good enough, I still have to change. I dont know how it works now but when I was in school the only special thing that I got for my ADD was extra time on tests. I am not complaining because that time did help but isnt there anything else that they can do for us?

I am sorry if I am rambling and dont make any sense, I guess I have a thought in my head and it is just hard to explain what I am thinking.

Effie, i think i understand kinda what you mean. And i do agree with you in some ways. Of course everyones life is different, but i do think that we are often expected to train ourselves to appear like we don't have AD/HD and to me that is unacceptable. In personal relationships i won't appologise for it anymore. Some of my ADD characteristics are tied in with who i am and how i identify, and i don't plan on torturing myself to change them simply so that other people don't have to recognise that i'm different. I got to a VERY bad point through trying to do this, and i don't plan on going there again.
Work is a bit different and somewhat of a minefield, that i can't give advice on because i really am not in a position to advise! lol
Chin up hun, don't let anyone make you feel like you are worth any less simply because you're not like them.