Let the Countdown Begin.

I woke up today feeling blah. It’s Saturday and normally I would be full of energy and stoked to not be working but today, instead, I’m trying to recover from what has been an exhausting week.

Most of us claim to have busy lives and many of us do but i often feel like people just don’t really get how much some of us juggle especially when we have neurodivergent children.

I work 5 days a week in a competitive, fast moving business. I love my job and the people I work with, thankfully because when life is full of surprises and things get tough you need a good job and work family to fall back on, especially the weeks when you feel like it’s coming from all directions.

One of the girls at work is in a similar situation to me. She has a child at home who also has ADHD and she too has noticed that lately he is becoming more of a handful before school and things that probably wouldn’t bother him as much are starting to get to him more.

The same can be said for Leni. Every morning this week I have felt like a ringmaster in a circus but unlike the well trained animals in most circuses my monkeys are doing everything they can to bring down the curtain.

Leni has been jumping from furniture, yelling, running around the house and just causing all sorts of chaos. The hour it takes for his meds to kick in of a morning can feel like eternity sometimes.

With 5 weeks until Christmas and only 4 until school finishes I am hanging by a mere thread. Quietly anticipating the peace that will come with no school routine over the summer break and a welcome opportunity for Leni to just centre himself and not spend all day masking.

Masking is very common in people with ADHD. They will often over compensate to make up for what they believe are their short comings. ADHDers are often told they are lazy, careless or unintelligent but they are actually struggling with executive brain dysfunction and trying to live up to the expectations of their teachers and peers who are telling them to try harder, work faster or to stop doing this or that.

This can lead to burn out which is often how Leni starts to feel around week 6 or 7 of a school term.

In the midst of dealing with his bouts of hyperactivity I still need to work and organise Christmas as well as end of year activities and get togethers.

I need to get through each day and be there for my family so please excuse me if I say no to things I normally wouldn’t say no to and forgive me if I crave more alone time than usual.

At the end of day I am only human and trying as hard as I can to keep myself afloat as the festive season draws near. So please be kind to those parents you see with long faces, the ones who sound snappy in the supermarket or quiet at the dinner table.

Those parents are just trying to make it to the end of another school year with all their ducks in a row and if their ducks are anything like mine they are definitely marching to their own drum.