My pointless ramble

I read a lot of posts about how awful having ADD is. Oddly enough, I've never actually thought about it or felt that way. I've been trying to think about it and I don't think it's ever really held me back and I actually think it's the reason I do so well in school (weird, I know) but I mean aside from in middle school and high school when I was constantly yelled at or told to go stand in the hallway for talking too much I can't think of other negative experiences from it. Actually, one negative for sure is the fact that I get overwhelmed in restaurants and libraries and other situations like that because I can hear 5 conversations going on at once and bounce between them but can't tune them out so then I can't focus on the conversation between the person I am with and yeah... so that is negative! However, I think it's given me good qualities, too. I'm assuming it's the reason I am such an organized person and am very very **** about my organization. I will spend an hour just tabbing my text book before I open it to read because if it feels unorganized I can't actually focus enough to read because all I will think about is the complete lack of organization and then I feel overwhelmed or anxious. It drives me crazy until I figure out a system to fix it and then implement it. Once I do I can move on to the actual task and start the actual work I was supposed to do for class without a problem. I'm realizing though that the downside to this is it takes me 3x longer to do anything then my friends so even if my work is much higher quality I feel really stupid for taking so long to complete it. Part of it is that I get distracted super easily when trying to read for school. I can read three pages only to realize I was thinking about my nail polish and don't remember anything I read lol! Also, situations like when I tell stories to my friends it takes me forever to come full circle and get to the point of why I was telling them it because I will be talking and I always have to include the smallest most irrelevant details of the story and then it will remind me of something else that I wanted to tell them and somehow I wind up telling them 3 stories at once so that I don't forget any of them ultimately forgetting the whole reason I started the story! My friends never really seem to mind so it's not a big problem for me or anything. I'm sure I should probably work on it and I am trying to but I guess I just feel like it is what it is and I am who I am. No one in my life (that I can remember) has ever given me a reason to think or feel that ADD is some awful diagnosis that is ruining my life so in that regard, I think I am pretty lucky. I never really saw it as a huge problem in my life until college now. You guys are all special, not broken in the slightest. I guess I'm not even asking a question just slight making an observation. Maybe once you stop seeing it as a problem in your life, it will stop being one.

You are Exactly right. ADD has some drawbacks, for sure, especially before you know you have a condition which causes them. I can say that my "Left Turn" thinking IS the reason I'm successful as a programmer / analyst. I see patterns everywhere and when errors occur I want to know why, then correct the system allowing the errors. I love to think of ways to make things easier, especially boring tasks.

After my diagnosis and treatment started I feel that I really have some advantages because the ADD negative traits are significantly improved with the Adderall AND my "Left Turn" thinking skills are even better/focused/organized than they were before.

You made some good points in your, So Called, "Pointless Ramble"

While I would love to be a little more organized I wouldn't sell my ADD for the world. I doubt I would be creative without it.