"Five minutes each week that might change your life."
When I was 15, I was diagnosed with ADHD and the doctors put me on medication. My grades went up. My room got clean. But my interests narrowed, my social life dampened. I became uninterested in most things in my life outside what work I was supposed to do.
One day, one of my teachers pulled me aside:
“It’s great that you’re getting an A in my class, Mark,” he said. “But you’re not the same—you’ve lost your sense of humor, your creativity, your funny and weird perspectives.”
I acknowledged that I somehow felt different. He then asked me a question I had never considered, “Good grades are nice, but are you sure this is worth it?”
That question sat with me all summer. And as I spent my summer that year blankly staring at my computer, not really knowing what I even enjoyed doing anymore, I made a decision.
The next school year, I got off the medication. My grades dropped. My room became a mess again. But I was back to my funny, creative, and often weird self.
I was happy again.
By the time I got to college, I decided that if I was going to live with this thing, I was just going to have to figure out a way to cope. I realized I could manage many of my symptoms with some combination of caffeine, diet, and meditation.
I developed protocols for myself, odd ways of studying that seemed to work for my brain, and listened to my body to work with it instead of against it.
One tool that really helped me focus
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Now, at 41, I look back and realize: ADHD has been my superpower all along. I get bored easily, so it forces me to be more creative than most people, even when doing simple tasks. Ideas feel old to me quicker than most, so it pushes me to research and understand the new thing.
I’ve become comfortable with risk, awkward social situations, looking ridiculous in public, not because I wanted to, but because my ADHD necessitated it.
The next time you think something is wrong with you, turn it around and ask, "What if this is actually the best thing about me?"
See you Monday,
Mark Manson
#1 New York Times Bestselling Author
My Website – My Books – My YouTube Channel – My Podcast – My Community
