Losing my mind.

One common problem that adults have when struggling with ADD is forgetting items such as your keys and books. This is a major problem for me and has always been a problem stemming from my childhood. I would often receive something like money and then hide this item from my sisters. It was common that I would lose this item and be unable to find it sometimes for years. After a deep cleaning I would find money hidden in several locations. This forgetfulness can be stressful at times. There has been times where I have also allowed people to borrow items from me and then would forget that I have loaned out these items and later would look for them but not remembering that I had loaned them out. Have you ever lost your keys or an important document? Most of you will say yes, this happens to me on a daily basis. It is not uncommon that an adult with ADD will lose something at home or at work at any given time. The stress with losing stuff at work especially when you are working with clients. At times I feel like I am losing my mind. Putting items up in places where I feel that they belong but later not being able to locate these items. Organization is a must for adults with ADD. For example, at my office I have a place to put items needing to be dealt with that day, a to be filed pile, a system for organizing my charts, and a pile for discharged charts. By having this organization system in place I often find myself being able to find items at any given time. This is a major coping skill for people living with ADD. By straying away from my system it can only take one day for it all to fall apart. Living with ADD is difficult at times but it can be manageable if the individual has learned the correct coping techniques. Some of the common coping techniques can be organization of documents and items, list, goal planning, and finding a quite and peaceful location to do your work. With not having these coping techniques high stress levels will be common place. In closing this is off subject but it is related to stress. I found out Tuesday night the my uncle has stage two cancer and will be having surgery with in the next month. He does not live here any more but he is the only uncle that I have ever had that has been a positive role model in my life. This issue has caused a great deal of stress for me mainly because I will not have the time with work and school to go and see him before the surgery. The accumulating stress can cause a problem with anxiety witch is another symptom of ADD and was discussed in a previous blog.