The fear of failure is something no one really likes. Many of us may prefer to avoid it as much as possible. However, it is still a part of life. At some point, we will fail at something. We may fail a test, a recipe, or something entirely.
However, for those who have ADHD/ADD, it’s different. Because our brain is wired differently, we face a whole different set of challenges and difficulties, and with that, comes more failure than others with non-ADHD/ADD. Or at least, different kinds of failures. As much as we may not like it, it’s something that we’ve grown accustom to and does seem to kind of come with the territory.
We have to work so much harder than others. And our expectations that we set for ourselves are to accomplish the same as our non-ADHD/ADD colleagues, friends, classmates, and such. However, we can sometimes forget that our brains work differently and we can necessarily achieve the same kind of work in the same amount of time as others. We may have to put in a little extra work and effort, and work a few extra hours to get similar results. And even then, sometimes, we aren’t able to achieve that much. We may not always be able to plan a task well enough, or we may miss a detail, or may miss a deadline or appointment. So. When we don’t accomplish everything on our to-do list, or miss an important meeting, we have a sense of guilt and the feeling of failure makes an appearance.
We don’t do any of this on purpose. We don’t intentionally set out to fail or not accomplish the tasks on our to-do lists. Due to our many difficulties, failures seems to stare us in the face more than we would like. We face it quite a bit, and try to avoid it as much as we can. We will do so, whenever possible. Unfortunately it will sometimes catch up with us.
As you can imagine, this constant failure will affect our self-esteem. We begin to feel as though we aren’t good enough, that we’re not smart, or whatever else we may be feeling, due to all these failures. It does get discouraging. More than many of us can really say. And yet, we still get back up and keep on going. We find the courage to keep on going and keep on moving forward.
So for those with ADHD/ADD, just remember this: you can do it. It might take more work, time, effort, and planning, but you can achieve your goals. Find a system that works for you and helps you accomplish the things on your to-do list. Whether it’s at work or at home. Just stay positive and keep on moving forward.
