Celebrating Our Unique Powers: Vanquisher of Chaos by Lisa Listwa
I am excited to have another Celebrating Our Unique Powers post today, especially since my power over words seems to have utterly failed me this week. I have many things started (posts, short stories, novels, poems) but can't seem to get anywhere with them. As I mentioned in a post last week, perhaps this is my time to lie fallow. But that doesn't mean I can't celebrate the rich words and amazing revelations of fellow writers. Lisa Listwa is a recent addition to my blogging family, brought to me--of course--by the incredible powers of Lizzi Rogers the People Gatherer. But, Lisa is also one I believe I was destined to meet. The tag line for her blog The Meaning of Me is
[caption id="attachment_8933" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Vanquisher of Chaos[/caption]
I have lived my entire life with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.
But until I was thirty-eight years old, I had no idea.
No one did.
I was firmly entrenched in my teaching career and my 30s when I started to wonder. I recognized myself in the files of my ADHD students, heard my own story when I spoke with their parents. I started to dig for more information. After reading dozens of articles and taking more than a few Internet self-evaluations, I knew I had adult ADD. But I wanted to know for sure.
I shared my suspicions with my family doctor and asked for a referral to someone in the field. Soon, I had a newly-minted official diagnosis. Delighted, I finally understood the how and why of my behaviors.
Left to my own devices, I might live in a land where chaos reigns. My world would be one of half-finished projects, not-started to-do lists, and towers of I’ll-do-that-laters. I would lose things, miss appointments, and veer off course with even the slightest distraction. I would travel the land surrounded by my own personal cloud of chaos, surrounding me just like Pig Pen’s cloud of dust.
But I am the Vanquisher of Chaos.
I have spent my entire life keeping the chaos of my ADHD at bay. I have found ways to manage my symptoms and compensate for particular habits and behaviors. I have developed coping strategies that help me carry on my day to day business. I have worked with counselors in recent years since my diagnosis, but I spent most of my life doing all this on my own and without medication.
My super power also has a turbo feature.
Besides managing my own ADHD, I keep the chaos at bay for our entire family. I have a husband and daughter who exhibit these same characteristics. I guide us through understanding ourselves and our personal symptoms. We work together to hone strategies for living and working well with one another and the rest of the world. Knowledge is a powerful sword.
I am the Vanquisher of Chaos.
Lisa is a wife, mother, and self-employed recovering high school English teacher. She works as a freelance writer, editor, and tutor.
Lisa lives with her husband, her daughter, and three Rotten Cats. She spends her time stacking the pile of books to read ever higher, wondering if she should have been a chef, and trying to figure out where she last left her damn cell phone.
Lisa writes about life and all its fascinations and banalities at her blog, the The Meaning of Me. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.
Learn more about her at:
The Meaning of Me
Facebook
Twitter
[caption id="attachment_8937" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Click here to join in the celebration.[/caption]
"Live Deliberately"
My newest life motto is "Life on my own terms." She and I think a lot alike in many ways, but she also has lessons to teach me as I discovered by reading her #1000Speak post "Step Into Someone Else's Skin." So without further ado, meet Lisa Listwa[caption id="attachment_8933" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Vanquisher of Chaos[/caption]
Vanquisher of Chaos
My life could easily be a complete disaster.I have lived my entire life with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.
But until I was thirty-eight years old, I had no idea.
No one did.
I was firmly entrenched in my teaching career and my 30s when I started to wonder. I recognized myself in the files of my ADHD students, heard my own story when I spoke with their parents. I started to dig for more information. After reading dozens of articles and taking more than a few Internet self-evaluations, I knew I had adult ADD. But I wanted to know for sure.
I shared my suspicions with my family doctor and asked for a referral to someone in the field. Soon, I had a newly-minted official diagnosis. Delighted, I finally understood the how and why of my behaviors.
Left to my own devices, I might live in a land where chaos reigns. My world would be one of half-finished projects, not-started to-do lists, and towers of I’ll-do-that-laters. I would lose things, miss appointments, and veer off course with even the slightest distraction. I would travel the land surrounded by my own personal cloud of chaos, surrounding me just like Pig Pen’s cloud of dust.
But I am the Vanquisher of Chaos.
I have spent my entire life keeping the chaos of my ADHD at bay. I have found ways to manage my symptoms and compensate for particular habits and behaviors. I have developed coping strategies that help me carry on my day to day business. I have worked with counselors in recent years since my diagnosis, but I spent most of my life doing all this on my own and without medication.
My super power also has a turbo feature.
Besides managing my own ADHD, I keep the chaos at bay for our entire family. I have a husband and daughter who exhibit these same characteristics. I guide us through understanding ourselves and our personal symptoms. We work together to hone strategies for living and working well with one another and the rest of the world. Knowledge is a powerful sword.
I am the Vanquisher of Chaos.
***
Lisa is a wife, mother, and self-employed recovering high school English teacher. She works as a freelance writer, editor, and tutor.
Lisa lives with her husband, her daughter, and three Rotten Cats. She spends her time stacking the pile of books to read ever higher, wondering if she should have been a chef, and trying to figure out where she last left her damn cell phone.
Lisa writes about life and all its fascinations and banalities at her blog, the The Meaning of Me. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.
Learn more about her at:
The Meaning of Me
***
[caption id="attachment_8937" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Click here to join in the celebration.[/caption]
Read more of the Celebrating Our Unique Powers series here, and consider joining in the fun.
***
Is Andra BetScrivener a vanquisher of chaos or the cause of it? Find out in P.O.W.ER.
[custom_buttons_shortcode]
