Comments on: On Being a Late Bloomer

By: Dwight

Dwight — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 03:09:32 +0000

Had a couple of questions concerning this:

I was diagnosed with ADD in 2nd grade, was a Ritalin 80s kid, sometime in high school I stopped taking the medication since I excelled in school.

But my 20s sound much like your own, in that I never found a niche or a good job. I did well in school, ended up earning several masters degrees and now have found my niche and yet have not found a way to parlay this into a job that can allow me to enter adulthood at the age of 35.

So I had the experience of watching my peers enter the middle class, develop families, settle down, while I lived the life of a graduate student with perpetual poverty, some worthwhile moments (my own personal religious quest was largely satisfied with my time in school and campus ministry work)

In some ways I wouldn’t trade that away. But I also had a lot of wasted years, an almost debilitating (couldn’t get anything done) depression which made me take an excessive amount of time on a master’s thesis. I ended up dropping out of grad school after finishing the thesis.

The last number of years have been keen in getting my life into order. I was accepted into seminary (looking to serve in the denomination I’ve worked with for the last 6 years), have taught a number of college courses, worked with others in developing a successful progressive ministry.

And yet still hoping that this change of direction will secure the kind of employment that combines my political and social concerns with a stable form of financial existence. But I’m not there yet. Still working on it.

I never really thought of ADD being something that lasted over a life, beyond childhood and yet I’ve had the experience of lacking direction, getting burried in life. Some of this time was marked by depression (I imagine poverty, not moving ahead, etc.) added to this

But I never thought of ADD as being very relevant until your posts. And as someone who spent many years in the foster care system, I admit I get almost Tom Cruise -ish when I think of things like medication, being part of the mental health system.

So my question was..how does ADD plug into your experience and what sort of actions did you take to change direction?

By: Marissa

Marissa — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:55:06 +0000

I know what you mean about “losing your twenties”, mine weren’t lost exactly but I feel like I spent half of them running in place. Working for the same people, having the same fights, starting and stopping too many projects and personally spending all my energy taking care of my son and not doing anything for myself. But now I’m on the other side of it, and if I had done the law school thing back then I wouldn’t have had the confidence to speak up in class, or do moot court competitions or had my writing carry me through some tough courses.

You have a unique voice that more people need to hear, keeping looking for the right venue. The most important thing is that you “bloom”, no matter how late.

By: JoAnne

JoAnne — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:32:38 +0000

I am a Mom of an adhd boy who is 18 and has been treated with meds since age 7. Just because he has been treatd does not mean that he has not been altered by this lifetime of frenzy. medicine has only kept him sane at certain times as it only works for certain lentgth of time. It is certainly not an easy life living with adhd. but when you find your niche it seems the adders excell at what ever it is. I am very proud of my son for enduring all that goes with the
life of an Add’er. I know his life has not been easy and for a Mom to watch their child live with the hardships that go along with it, it can be devestating but finding what is truly important and excelling in your place is life is a real moment of truth where you have found youreself. let go of the past and look forward to your future. and be proud at whatever it is you beleive in and the truths that complete YOU.