Tag Archives | school

My Personal ADHD Challenges – FYI

Living with Some Degree of Transparency and Lots of Compassion

Stop the ADHD Madness

Stop the ADHD Madness

There are life qualifications and there are academic qualifications leading to my choice of  professional ADHD Coaching. I choose to put some of my personal stories out here since my recovery from them are part of the reason I decided to coach people with ADHD. You don’t have to wait as long as I did to get the right ADHD support.

You can thrive with ADHD!

During my almost 60 years of living with ADHD I have:

  • struggled academically; but I am presently enrolled in a master’s program in counseling with a 3.56 GPA
  • impulsively moved out of state looking for love (in my twenties);
  • impulsively changed careers;
  • impulsively spoken out of turn (otherwise known as interruption)
  • been estranged from family
  • fixed things with words and love; with screw drivers and hammers; with needle and thread; and with compassion.
  • been the class dreamer…’if only Maureen would pay more attention to her studies…’
  • applied and been accepted in three master’s programs. I left architecture when I realized I was being trained for a life of late nights and ridiculous deadlines. I became a magazine editor instead.
  • irritated the heck out of people with my hyperactivity…leg shaking, finger tapping, leg crossing and uncrossing, etc.
  • been married and divorced due to challenges with relationships and ADHD
  • successfully raised two children with severe plus-sized ADHD. My daughter now teaches at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is happily married. My son is finishing his B.A. in music technology and film composition and has an AA from Landmark College. He has already composed a score for his first feature film!
  • lost many friends but gained the wisdom of how to choose the ones that stick around through thick and thin.
  • I show up as a woman swimming in a sea of family addictions. There is not one addiction I haven’t heard about or more importantly, known someone or been related to someone seeking treatment or someone who should seek treatment. Try me!
  • been fired. I have also known great personal success in my professional history.
  • been bullied.
  • designed clothes, words, jewelry, portraits, home interiors, gardens, businesses and more, all with love and compassion
  • created solutions
  • been physically assaulted. More than once.
  • been encouraged to seek more education because I was seen as underemployed.
  • invented, created, composed, written, edited, and drawn.
  • not believed in myself.
  • lost God and found God over and over. My belief is there is a special place in the universe for people with ADHD. I have particular personal knowledge of Catholicism, Episcopalianism, and Buddhism.
  • had great financial comfort and less than that, too.

In addition, I have family experience with Holocaust survivors.

If any of the above sounds familiar, I may be the ADHD coach for you.

You too, can move past and through these challenges and maintain personal integrity.

Call me at 404-713-0488 and let’s stop the madness.

Maureen Nolan

Your Attention Coach

404-713-0488

Continue Reading

Napping Impacts Attention

Nap to Improve Business Relationships

Napping for Business Attention

Napping for Business Attention

Remember when George Costanza in ‘Seinfeld’ had a bed built under his desk at work? It seems he wasn’t off the mark at all! Reported by Behavioral Health Care Journal this week, napping is now encouraged at the office for an increase in sociability. Finally, I can nap and quote a study that shows it’s not only good for people in the South American countries, but for everyone. Today on Oprah, Dr. Oz supported the need for 7-9 hours of sleep per night – it’s even supposed to help reduce weight! Now that’s something to pay attention to.

At the SLEEP 2009 conference in Seattle last week, researchers from the University of California – Berkeley revealed results of a study that ‘showed naps with rapid eye movement sleep refresh the brain’s perception of positive emotions.’ It seems study participants taking a 60 to 90 minute nap mid-day with REM sleep were much more receptive to happy facial expressions than those who didn’t. In fact, participants without a nap had an increased reaction to negative emotions. Have you ever been called cranky because you reacted to the way someone looked at you after 3 p.m.?

Once again we learn that we knew all we needed to know in kindergarten – a nap a day keeps you alert to pay attention.

BHC Journal interviewed two of the principal investigators of the study who were at the conference: Dr. Matt Walker, Professor of Psychology and Director of the University of California – Berkeley Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory, and senior research scientist Ninad Gujar.

http://www.bhcjournal.com/default.aspx?articleId=29692&tabid=252

Continue Reading