Why I started this blog: ADD Life, Analog man in a digital world or as they often say, "Hunter in a farm society"

I'm starting this because I"ve always wanted to be a writer but just been too lazy to actually sit down and start something. Perhaps one day this will become a World Famous blog and I"ll be a minor internet celebrity or it may be become something that I lose interest in and eventually it goes the way of the Buffalo or however you spell the name of those cattle.

As much as anything I want to start a journal about my battles with mental illness. NAMI runs a campaign to beat back stigma. I hope you'll follow this and realize that not everyone or even most people who deal with mental illness are crazy people who bounce around in a padded hospital room wearing a straight jacket. We're real people function in society and it may surprise you to learn who has dealt with it. It is estimated that nearly 1 in 4 Americans have had a point in their lives where they've had to wrestle with mental illness. Some people are obvious to everyone but themselves, others quite the opposite. I feel fortunate to live in a time where US society has grown more open minded to these issues. It is more accepted and understood by the public than it has been in years past. Still we have a long way to go, and it isn't easy. Mental illness is not easily understood by anyone even and especially many of us who fight it everyday.

My own story is simple yet complex. I've been diagnosed with Adult ADD and looking back on my own life, have come to understand that I've always had it and its helped me make sense of the path I've followed and why its gone the way its gone. Its a long story and I'll take it on soon. But for the time being I want to focus on the present. ADD is my not only my greatest weakness, it is also my greatest asset. It holds me back yet also thrusts me to high achievement that I would not have earned otherwise. When I'm good I'm really good and few can hold a candle to me, but when I'm bad it can sometimes be frustrating.

There's a lot to it, but the long and short is that contrary to what the name may suggest, people with ADD tend to hyper focus. When we're locked in on a goal, we go at it with an obsessive passion that cannot be matched. We've been known to go days without eating or sleeping while we work away at our labor of love. We become passionate about it because we vest so much into achieving the goal it becomes a part of us. We'll conquer the objective and in such a way that few will be able to match it to the level quality we've just achieved.

Well I'm already very much past my bedtime so its time to pinch this off. I promise to elaborate on things in more detail soon. Next time I write, I'll walk you through my journey and history with mental illness. Until then know, you are NOT alone, someone out there is someone who can identify with what you are going through regardless of whether you are suffering from mental illness or are close with someone who does. NAMI can help get you pointed in the right direction in either situation. Their site is listed in my links.