Where should I begin?

In January, I was thinking about 2021.  For me, the yearly calendar is a handy framework to consider longer term life-decisions and projects.  I’ve never had luck with new year’s resolutions.  There’s little surprise there, because leaving something that important up to luck won’t do it.  Especially not with adult ADHD!

I know from personal experience that my shiny new better life won’t just show up.  To get what I want, I need to plan.  Then I need to follow the plan. So far, so good, because things are looking up!

 

Shiny new beginnings – Me!  A Certified ADHD Life Coach!

New beginnings, by their very nature, can provide ADHDers with motivation and initiation.  New beginnings are shiny!  Exciting!  Exhilarating!  There’s so much to do, to think about!  Sure, also a little scary, but that can be part of the shiny, and definitely part of the dopamine.  I noticed long ago that we don’t stay in the same place, or the same job, all our lives, as our grandparents and parents did.  Now we live our lives in chapters, like books.  We might start anew when something isn’t working, or has become stale, or we want to remake ourselves.  Maybe a new job or a new home, or end or begin a relationship.  Way back in my early 20s, after my relationship with a boyfriend went south, I decided it was time to go to college.  (That one turned out to be a really good and timely choice.  Contrast that with the times I just went for the haircut and color!)

Most recently, after more than 3 years of being stuck in indecision, procrastination, and overwhelm, in fall 2019 I finally took the plunge and registered as a student at the International ADHD Coach Training Center, to learn from Laurie Dupar how to be a Life Coach for those of us with ADHD.  It was the best decision I made in 10 years!  No one knew that 2020 would bring a deadly global pandemic, racial reckoning, civil unrest, anger, and almost daily fear.  But I had an anchor that kept me grounded to a schedule, a structure for moving forward, while I looked forward to my exciting and fulfilling new career.  While I was studying at the iACTCenter, I also took two intensive group courses with Coach Linda Walker, Focus to Freedom, and Planning to Succeed.  Linda works with “Creative Genius” entrepreneurs to help us learn how our ADHD affects us, how to achieve better focus, and to manage our ADHD better.  Now, as I build my own new ADHD Life Coaching business, I am very excited about my future!

My question for YOU is:  What do you want for yourself, your family and loved ones, by the end of 2021?  Do you want a new skill, a new degree, a new job, a new business or company?  Do you want to learn a new language?  Do you want to become active in your community, your schools, your place of worship?  To join a sports team or choir?  Bicycle across your state or country?  I believe it’s vitally important for our mental health to proactively begin looking forward again.  Be sure to leave me a comment about what positive thing YOU are doing in 2021 to get your better new shiny life!

What do you want by the end of 2021?

*           a new skill, a certificate or degree

*           a new job or your own business

*           to learn or relearn another language

*           become active in your community, your schools, your place of worship

*           run for local, state, or national office

*           join a sports team, begin a new exercise routine

*           bicycle across your city, state or country

*           join a choir or begin playing an instrument

*           learn to climb mountains or fly an airplane

*           create new art, paint, sculpt, knit, crochet, weave, stitch, whittle, weld

*           Begin working with a Certified ADHD Life Coach to i.d. and get a handle on the things holding you back.  (I added this one to the list because that’s what I do.  Contact me today to learn more about how ADHD Life Coaching can help you!)

“Well, just holy wow! Am I finally changing something??”  I typed that with such deep sarcasm, back on Sept. 22, 2020, when I had first started this new website.  I tried and tried to make edits to the starter-text that was already included in the pre-packaged theme – and just couldn’t get it to work!  Finally, eureka!  I was able to add the holy-wow comment!  I saved it, and went to get food, as it was clear I was starting to get grumpy. In order to protect my pride in the fact that I’ve stubbornly insisted on creating my own website, even though it’s been difficult enough that it took me several months, I must admit that I intentionally left the title on this first post in the blog.  Most content management systems with a built-in blog provide a demo first blog entry that says “Hello world!”  It’s intended that we delete and write something more cool, more slick, more professional.   Geek that I am, however, I find it funny that it’s still done this way, so I’m leaving it.  One of my core values is maintaining my own authenticity in all that I do, so I frankly don’t worry much about being professional at all times.  Especially not here!  So that’s my story about the silly blog entry.  Until next time, let your authentic self shine through in all things! ~ Rita