This episode is sponsored by CURE Hydration. All right, I’m going to be real with you. Drinking water is boring. My ADHD brain is like, wait, we have to do this again? Like every day, Multiple times. What in the world? And because I’m running from meetings to coaching calls to kid chaos, staying hydrated is not something I’m naturally good at. It’s not something I naturally think about. That’s why I’ve been obsessed with Cure hydration packs lately. CURE is a plant based hydrating electrolyte mix with no added sugar, only 25 calories, and it actually tastes good. The watermelon and berry pomegranate have been on repeat for me. I’m actually like really running low on those flavors, which is so sad. They’re refreshing without being too sweet or artificial. It feels like my water finally has a little bit of personality, which I enjoy. I really do. What I love most is that CURE uses a science backed formula that hydrates as effectively as an IV drip. So when I’m scrambling through my day forgetting my water again, CURE helps me to catch up fast. I throw a few packs in my bag and it makes drinking enough water simple. Which for my ADHD brain is basically a miracle. So staying hydrated isn’t just about water. You also need electrolytes. And that’s why I love Cure. It’s clean, tastes great, and it actually works. And bonus, CURE is FSA HSA approved. So you can use those funds to stay hydrated. The smart way for I have ADHD podcast listeners. You can get 20% off your first order@curehydration.com I have ADHD with the code I have ADHD. And if you get a post purchase survey, make sure to tell them that you heard about Cure right here on the podcast. It really does help to support the show. Don’t just drink more water, upgrade it with cure. Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree. Zoe, this thing weighs a ton. Drewski, live with your legs, man. Santa. Santa, did you get my letter? He’s talking to you britches. I’m not. 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Cancel finance agreement. 256 gigs $830 eligible for it in a new line $100 plus a month plan with auto to count 15 minutes or less per line. Visit t mobile.com. Welcome to the I have ADHD Podcast where it’s all about education, encouragement and coaching for adults with adhd. I’m your host Kristin Carter and I have adhd. Let’s chat about the frustrations, humor and challenges of adulting relationships with, working and achieving with this neurodevelopmental disorder. I’ll help you understand your unique brain, unlock your potential, and move from point A to point B. Hey, what’s up? This is Kristen Carter and you’re listening to the I have ADHD podcast, episode number 132. I am medicated, I am caffeinated, and I am ready to roll you guys. Hello, hello, hello. How are you? It is so good to be here with you today. I just lost the last week of my life being very, very, very sick. I was in bed for nine straight days. Nine days, you guys. I can’t believe how sick I was. You know how a few weeks ago I told you that I just wasn’t feeling well? I was stressed out, emotional. There were some things happening in my life that were giving me a lot of angst. And then I was also like PMSing all the things. Right. Well, my theory is that because of all of that emotional stress, my immune system like totally shut down. And then I was super susceptible to getting sickness. And boy, did I ever get sick. I got so sick. So it’s been a full 12 days. I am feeling much better. Better. I’m feeling so much better. Although my podcast editor, who I adore, is gonna have to cut out all of the like dry coughs that I have because you know when you are like done being sick but you still have that urge to cough and nothing happens, it’s just this annoying dry cough. Yeah, I’ve still got that. But I’m so happy to be back with you here today. Out of my bed, here with you. Albeit this episode might be a little bit late but at least it’s here, and I am ready to party, and today is going to be a party. I reached out to my Instagram followers and I was like, listen, I do not have a brain. I am so, so sick. I cannot be trusted to create a podcast episode for this week. So send me all of your funny ADHD stories and, oh, my gosh, this is gonna be so much fun. I thought it would be amazing to have, like, a lighthearted podcast where we just talk about all of the funny things, all of the quirky, funny things that we do because of our ADHD guys. And we’re gonna laugh and we’re gonna joke and we’re gonna commiserate. It’s gonna be a goodie. It’s gonna be a goodie. All of the ways that ADHD kind of bites us in the butt. And, you know, if we can’t laugh about it, how in the world are we gonna survive this life? How are we going to survive if we’re not going to be able to laugh about it? Now, in case this might be, like, the very first episode that you’ve ever pressed, play on. I do want you to know that I understand ADHD is serious. I understand that it is often debilitating and it’s not funny at all. I do know that my life is dedicated to helping adults with ADHD understand the disorder and take control of their lives. But also, these stories are amazing. You’re going to absolutely love this episode. So sit back, relax, don’t take yourself too seriously, and let’s have a great time. All right, this first one is from Megan Elizabeth. Here is what she says. One time I was running late for work, and I ran into my local Starbucks to grab some coffee. Important detail. This Starbucks is almost entirely made of glass. So as I was running in, someone shouted to me and pointed over my shoulder at my car. I turn around, and I see my little blue Honda fit slowly rolling toward the entirely glass building. Your girl had parked in neutral and forgot the handbrake. I ran over, hopped into my car, stopped it just in time. The entire Starbucks saw me, but I went in, got my coffee. A few people poked fun at me, but everybody was pretty nice about it. Okay, so she gets out of her car, she parks it in neutral, which is not parking it, right? I don’t know. You just like. We forget to forget to put it in park. It’s in neutral. The car runs towards the Starbucks. Luckily. Good job, Megan. Saving your car from disaster. Okay, this one is so good. This one is from Melissa Hoyt, Melissa says last Tuesday. This was very recent. Last Tuesday I was in the middle of a busy workday and I decided to scroll Instagram. The most precious little puppy face catches my eye. I pause, gaze at his sweet face. The urge takes over my entire heart. I text my friend who is selling the puppies, get in my car, drive 30 minutes to her house, take my soulmate home for us sleepover. It was all so beautiful. I got home and my 17 year old daughter was like, mom, what in the actual hell? Dad is going to kill you. Reality sinks in. All of the good feelings leave my body. I start to sweat, realizing what I had done. I get back in my car, take the puppy back to my friend. Luckily, I had the ability to laugh at the situation and give myself grace, knowing it was so ridiculous and part of my ADHD struggle and so amazing. Like, we’re just gonna buy puppies. Well, let’s go ahead and buy puppies on a whim, shall we? Shall we? Okay, this one is sent in by ADHD Lola. She says, so I was flirting with this guy at a pizza shop and having a slice in the store. I finished eating and then went next door to get my nails done. When I was ready to go home, I realized I didn’t have my keys. Long story short, I went back to the pizza spot place, asked the guy who was flirting with me if he could open up the locked garbage can. Lo and behold, after 15 minutes of digging through the garbage, my keys were there, nuzzled with my uneaten crust and empty root beer. Lesson learned. Don’t flirt and eat at the same time. That’s so good. Okay, this one is from Dawn. Dawn says I drove to work where I had free parking. I walked to my university, about a 30 minute walk because it was such a beautiful day. I bused home and forgot my truck at work. None of my co workers were even surprised anymore and I was undiagnosed at the time. Just leave my car at work. No problem. Just forget that I even have a car. All right, this one’s from Krista. She says I have so many, but accidentally shaving a strip into a top of a man’s hair is the winner. I very carefully and precisely did a fade. I had to use a 1.5-inch guard for the top. Forgot that I took the guard off for the shaved parts and went on for a little teeny touch up on a stray hair and boom. Shaved a patch right off the top. You can imagine the shock we both felt looking into the mirror. I was doing everything to hold back tears. Obviously his haircut was free and by some miracle he was okay with me shaving it all off. Oh my gosh. Oh man. I mean, I feel like we are just so well meaning we do not mean to cause trouble. We do not mean to mess up in these ways, but oh my goodness. Shaving a huge strip and the top of a man’s head. That’s big. That’s big. This one is so relatable to me. This. I will tell you my story when I am done reading Kelly’s Kelly says that time the bell rang between classes in middle school and I freaked out and thought it was actually the end of the day. I frantically packed up my backpack and was certain I’d missed the bus. A mortal sin in my house since the halls were so empty. As I ran down the lost hallway to the front of the school hoping it to make to the bus with visions of it pulling away and me chasing after it in traffic, my neighbor Mark stopped me and asked why I wasn’t in history class. As the wheels slowly began turning in my head, I realized what I had done and I sheepishly walked back with Mark to history class while mumbling some lame excuse and trying to regulate my heavy breathing. So good. That reminds me of the time when I was in college and I was going to go to my friend’s wedding. It was in Texas and I knew I had to get up really early the next day and you know how we are just so bad with time. Like we just are really not great with time. So I went to bed and I could not sleep. Could not sleep because I just was so afraid that I was going to miss my alarm and finally I fell asleep, woke up like what I to what I thought was my alarm, hopped in the shower, started getting ready and my mom comes in and she’s like kristin, what are you doing? I’m like getting ready. I have to go to the airport. And she’s like it is 1am I woke up and thought my alarm had gone off but it had not gone off and I jumped in the shower so afraid that I was going to miss my flight. I still had like five hours remaining in my night before I needed to hop in the shower but it was so convinced that I was gonna miss my flight and do something wrong because we suck at time. Anybody else? Oh my gosh. This time management was like a huge theme. Huge, huge. This one is amazing. Krista says I reported my car stolen when it was really just one floor above me in the Parking structure. The security guard even told me that he’d found it parked directly above where I thought I parked it, but I wouldn’t believe him. Side note here. Don’t we all do this? Like, this is another theme that I saw throughout your submissions is that we usually think we’re right. Like, people tried to correct us, and we’re like, no, you don’t understand. My car was stolen. The police came and immediately found my car right where the security guard had said that it was. My husband came because I was so stressed and I had my two little kids with me. As the officers were leaving, one of them backed into the security guard’s truck. Traumatic at the moment, but hilarious years later. Yes, we do this, right? Like, somebody corrects us, like, hey, why are you in the shower at 1am and I’m like, obviously, it is time for me to go to the airport. Like, our brains are so black and white and they’re so convinced that they’re right that we have a really hard time seeing beyond what we think is reality. It is shocking. This one is from mindfully ADHD motherhood. She says, once I was trying to leave work and I couldn’t find my keys anywhere. I lived about 30 minutes from my office, so I really was trying to avoid asking my husband to bring in a spare. I looked everywhere. My jacket, my purse, all the things. At this point, my entire office was helping me search. It was 45 minutes past my normal leave time. And they weren’t in someone else’s office. They weren’t in my front desk or in the bathrooms. Mind you, this was a small office, maybe eight people in total, but an office wide search ensued. Suddenly, I hear one of my colleagues laughing in the kitchen. She had found my keys. Guys, guess where they were. My keys were in the refrigerator inside one of the drawers. So good. How many of you have done that? Keys in the refrigerator, inside one of the drawers. Makes sense. Makes total sense. This is from Anna. She says we were planning our honeymoon to Japan for a month. Right before we took off to the airport, I suddenly realized that I did not change my name on my travel passport. Guys, doesn’t that give you, like, the most sinking feeling in your stomach? I’m sorry, I can’t stop giggling about it. Oh, my goodness. That is the nightmare. So I traveled with a lot of German certificates and was really lucky to get into Japan because one employee at the airport right where I lined up was able to read and translate my documents. It does usually seem to work out for us, doesn’t It. We are so, so, so lucky that it does usually seem to work out, but not always. Oh my gosh. Hilarious. This is a really interesting one. I wonder how you can relate to this. I wonder if you can relate to this. This one is from Camden. She says, I was not diagnosed until I was 36, but when I was about 13, one of my very conservative and introverted youth pastors was shyly telling us at church what we were doing for youth group that week. Please know I was very easygoing and obedient kid growing up. I wanted to help this poor woman. And in an attempt to hype up the energy of the youth group for this activity, I let out what I thought was going to be an enthusiastic oh yay. But it came out of my mouth more of like a sarcastic eye roll. Oh yay. I was shocked at myself. I felt like someone entirely different had taken over my vocal cords. Everyone whipped their head around to me with glaring eyes and I tried to backpedal and say how I was really excited and I’m not sure why my intonation did not match what my brain had meant to express. What the freak adhd? What was that? I still have no idea what happened, and things like this occur far more than I care to admit. That is so interesting. And I have experiences like this stored in my memory as well, where I totally thought that, like, my intonation, the tone of my voice was going to be communicating one thing and it communicated something entirely different. And there was like, no explanation for it other than, like, I don’t know why it came out of my mouth that way. I don’t know why. So good. So good. Here’s another one where she’s convinced she’s right. Mariana says I took a flight from Melbourne back home to Argentina, and on the return flight I went to the wrong airport because I forgot that we landed on a domestic flight. After 46 hours and four planes, I didn’t bother checking my return details. I ended up forking over another hundred dollars to the airport, calling the airline, and making the flight wait for me. Because why would I check when I was convinced I was right? Guys, this has come up so often. Why would I bother check when I know I’m right and then, yeah, we’re not right. All right, pet lovers, prepare to be incensed. Are you ready? This is from Holly. Holly says one time I was walking my dog and I walked to the grocery store and tied him outside. Then I did the shopping and came home. When I woke up early the next morning to take him out and get the kids ready for school. School. I was like, where the heck is the dog? As soon as I said the words to my husband, the dread filled my body that I had left him tied there in my PJs. I ran as fast as I could down the street to collect my poor little dog, still sitting there politely waiting for me to come get him. Oh, poor puppy. Thankfully, I did tie him outside the little entry area so he wasn’t too hot or cold. And I went just before 10pm and came for him just around 6am it could have been much worse. Oh my goodness. Poor puppy. I am so glad the puppy is okay, but like, oh my gosh, Hilarious. Okay. On the theme of forgetting things that we love, Yoli writes in and she says, so I’m on my way to pick up my mom from work, which is a pretty quick round trip. I’m talking to my best friend on the phone as I’m driving and I tell her, la la la, the baby is asleep. And then, omg, the baby is asleep alone at the house. I forgot my son. We laughed so hard. Thank God I had locked the door. I just leave my kid at home. Just forget about him. He’s out of sight, out of mind. He’s in his crib. He’s safe, but like, oh my goodness. Incredible. All right, this one’s from Rachel. This is good. She says, I was going to college in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, and I was late for class. So I quickly got out of my car, parked downtown Grand Rapids and went to class. I had several classes that day, so it was definitely a few hours away from my car. I started walking back to my car at the end of the day and realized in a panic that I didn’t have my keys. I’m praying and hoping that I had gotten lucky again and they just be somewhere that I had forgotten them. I get to my car and I say, thank goodness it’s not locked. I sit down in my seat and I realize my keys are in the ignition and the car is on. I’ve heard from a bunch of you who have left your car on for hours and hours. Hilarious. Okay, this one is sent in by ADHD homeschool mom. She says, I was on the way to a job interview and got pulled over. When I opened my glove compartment to get my registration and insurance, a literal flood of unpaid parking tickets fell out of the glove box like something out of a movie. I started babbling desperately to the cop. I was just thinking and talking about how I was moving and I was late to my job interview and blah, blah, blah, while I was rifling through these parking tickets and napkins and various random sheets of paper that I’d fallen onto my car floor. And I’m being completely honest here, the cop got so, so exhausted with my nonsense after watching me shuffle these papers around and not being allowed to even get a word in for like five minutes straight, that he put his hands up and said, you know what? You just have a good day, ma’. Am. And he walked back to his car. Listen, sometimes if you can’t find your things, just keep talking and shuffling papers around and you’ll get out of a ticket. There you go. Oh my goodness. This is reminding me. So she continues. Just as a side note here, during that time of my life, I also had my car towed so many times that a group of tow truck drivers literally pointed and laughed at me when they recognized my car driving past them one morning. Oh my goodness. Yes, I had my car towed several times when I was in college. I was always parking it in the wrong spot. I never had the patience to find the correct spot, and I always read the signs wrong. And it was towed more than once. Oh, gosh, that was awful. That feeling is just really terrible. So good. All right, here’s another really good one from McKenna. She says I missed a physics final my sophomore year of college. On our syllabus, it said the final was Wednesday at 10am in my planner, I wrote down that it was Wednesday at 10am but in my head, the whole week it was Wednesday at 5:30pm you guys, you know how we do this? Why? Why in the world? I do not understand. This has happened to me as well, where I know that I’ve written it down correctly. I know that I’m looking at it and it’s saying one thing, but my brain is telling me something completely different. So I was so confident that I knew what time it was, I didn’t even bother to check the syllabus or my planner a million times like I normally would to make sure I didn’t miss it. I Show up at 5pm to no one in the classroom. That’s when I knew I checked the syllabus. Sure enough, I’d missed the final by hours and I didn’t even know. Luckily, she was able to take it. She emailed the professor and he let her take it. When we think that we have the right time, we have got to double check that a bajillion times or we’re going to screw ourselves over, over and over and Over. This one is awful. I once went to work and had forgotten to take my Ritalin. I’d been on it for about six months. I popped two as per normal. An hour later, absolutely nothing. So I took another one. An hour later I still felt nothing. Casually waiting for the afternoon dose, questioning the meaning of life, Taking two again at the right time. And still I feel no different. I start to think I’m really broken and go through my desk door to realize I had taken four, five diarrhea tablets. I still maintain that the foil packaging was very similar. I was absolutely fine from the poo pills and my wife had a very good laugh. Lonnie, thank you so much for sending that one in. That was amazing. Oh my gosh, that is so funny. All right, get this. This is so good. Okay. I just, I feel so validated hearing all of your stories. This one is from Danielle. She says at the park, it was too soon after my baby was born and a friend congratulated me and asked me his name. I was holding him, I was looking at my new baby and I couldn’t remember. Like I really just couldn’t remember my baby’s name. So I pretended like I didn’t hear her. That is too good. Oh, I’m sorry, what did you say? What? What? What? I’m just gonna pretend like I don’t hear you so that I don’t have to answer the question because I don’t remember my baby’s name. Lots of submissions of people leaving their car running, which is amazing. A few years back, I went an entire summer, three whole months without paying our power bill. In my head, I had paid it every month. See, this is what I’m saying. Another sidebar here. This is what I’m saying. We think we do the things. It’s not like we are trying not to. Well, we think we do them. In my head, I thought I paid it. I paid it every month. I just thought we were finally doing really well at managing our monthly finances. Then we got a final notice saying our power was going to be shut off unless we paid our $800 bill. Oh my gosh, Ashley. Can you imagine getting an eight hundred dollar power bill? Crazy. All right, we’re gonna end with this one. This one is from Julie Darling. She says that time that I thought that I was winning because I arrived 10 minutes early to meet my son’s after school train. Woohoo. Except then I sat there wondering why he was so late, realizing he didn’t even have school that day. From one mom to another, Julie that is so relatable, you guys. I hope that you enjoyed these silly stories. I hope we can take just a second and laugh about how our ADHD manifests itself. How we often think we are right when we are not right, how we often will leave our keys in the ignition and the car on and the dog at the store and the kids at home and all the things. And by God’s grace, we are still healthy, we are still doing okay and we’re still hanging on. I hope that you feel encouraged today that you were able to laugh, that you had a great time and I will see you next week. Bye Bye. If you’re being treated for your adhd, but you still don’t feel like you’re reaching your potential, you’ve got to join Focused. It’s my monthly coaching membership where I teach you how to take tame your wild thoughts and create the life that you’ve always wanted. No matter what season of life you’re in or where you are in the world, Focused is for you. All materials and call recordings are stored in the site for you to access at your convenience. Go to ihaveadhd.com focused for all the info.
