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Spot the differences...


Can you tell the difference? Only 27 years .... My ADHD is not visible in the picture; it was there then, and it exists today.


The picture on the right was taken on the evening of my eldest brother's wedding, somewhere in the previous millennium... Be'er Sheva.


I was 17... life seemed simple.


A daughter to amazing parents and a sister to 7 equally amazing siblings.


Since then, a few things have happened... military service in Givati...


Diverse jobs...


Studies...


Marriage...


Three children...


Ups and downs...


Good times and challenging times...


Life experience, insights—what do I take from all of this for the road ahead?


Friendship, being a confidant (yes... I admit it about myself...), the ability to give generously, to wholeheartedly support. Self-love despite and because of my flaws. (Not perfect... what you see is what you get). Honesty and integrity. Sincerity.


The ability to embrace and accept others who are different.


The understanding that I, too, have days that are (to put it mildly) less than great... the knowledge that we are a family with ADHD.


And we live full, creative, happy, and fulfilling lives, along with the understanding that procrastination, distraction, and difficulty initiating are part of our daily routine...


My ability to be a nurturing, loving, lioness of a mother who also provides clear boundaries and a safe home for my children of all ages.


The ability to take a deep breath.


The ability to say that I, too, am sometimes dissatisfied.


The ability to ask for help.


The ability to offer help.


The ability to say no when things don’t work out (it took me time) and to live with it peacefully.


I take with me the ability to maintain a loving relationship over many years despite our ADHD.


I take with me the ability to look in the mirror outwardly and inwardly and say to myself out loud: You are good enough. Aim high, you’re allowed to. Take what life gives you. You are good enough just as you are. And then I slowly erase those sentences that were planted in my mind in my youth... "You have potential," "You’re not trying hard enough," "Lazy," "Lose weight" ... and more of those things that, as a good girl, I heard endlessly... I cleaned them out!


I erased them!


They’re not mine!


They’re theirs...


I am good enough for me.


And those who know me love me just as I am!


I am so many things.


And yes... also ADHD—it doesn’t define me... I manage it, not the other way around...


I am here to guide you to see your children exactly as they are! To learn to rediscover them with their strengths and weaknesses. And to be there for them. To teach them to manage themselves and what ADHD brings with it. We will teach them that ADHD is just one part of the whole, amazing person they are.


And we will teach them that they are loved. Just like that. Exactly as they are.


Ilana Cahana


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See you in the next post! 🌟



 
 
 

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