When one receives an ADHD diagnosis, it is often hard to focus on the positives. With more and more children being diagnosed with ADHD every day, parents are being bombarded with a host of worries.
What does this mean for their future?
How will it affect their relationships with their family and friends?
What will it mean for their mental health?
How do we become positive?
These are all reasonable questions, but one thing is extremely important – we can’t let the worries take us over. We need to flip the script. Let’s take those worries and make them positive! Let’s learn to embrace the positives of ADHD.
What does this mean for their future?
The future can be full of successes. Channeling their energy into passion projects and businesses, star athletes and famous people with ADHD are frequently celebrated by the media.
“Most children and adults with ADHD work twice as hard as their neurotypical peers to the impossible.”(ADDitude). Encouragement of positive thinking and a growth mindset will provide an ADHD person with a “sky's the limit” attitude. This gives them a vision of a future full of possibilities.
How will it affect their relationships with their family and friends?
Relationships for people with ADHD can be full of compassion, empathy, and acceptance. They can often be hyper aware of people's feelings and situations. That combined with their endless energy allows them to help everyone around them.
What will it mean for their mental health?
Everyone struggles with mental health, but finding ways to keep it positive can go a long way. Having a sense of humor, looking at the bright side and having a zeal for life are traits that people with ADHD have. Teaching the class clown how to control their impulsive jokes is key, allowing their humor to make us laugh. Sharing in their excitement and zeal over everything they see and do provides a sense of self worth. Building their confidence more than scolding them, will help them shine bright in all they do.
How do we become positive?
Positive self love is key to embracing ADHD. Encouragement builds self worth and confidence. We all need a little positive help at times. Some quick tips:
Catch your child being good
Accentuate the positive by catching your child being good. We often find ourselves catching our children doing something harmful or negative. As adults, we often do the same thing. Realize when you have a win. A good day. It’s not just another day. It’s a good day.
Practice being positive
Being positive is a state of mind. The brain is designed to help us survive, but sometimes that works to our disadvantage. If something goes awry in your life, your brain will often jump to a worst case scenario – and end of the world mode. If we repeat that over and over again, it becomes an ingrained habit.
We all know that’s not true as we’re here reading this article and the world hasn’t ended. The sky has not fallen. But what if, when we receive bad news or have a bad day, that we no longer think it’s the end of the world? We are then able to rewire the negative brain. We are able to see past the negative thoughts of doom, and know we will walk through turmoil and survive happily. Practicing that will rewire your brain and become a healthy ingrained habit.
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