Living ADDventure

01/04/2026

It is OK to cry - Surviving a broken world.

It feels like the world has become too heavy to bear and we have no control over our future. Whether we like it or not the war in the middle east is affecting us all, regardless of our location, race, political affiliation or religious beliefs.

As neuro-divergents and/or those who have suffered trauma growing up, or as an adult, we become hyper-vigilant. We are visual thinkers and make movies in our heads about every possible scenario.

We lose perspective.

25/03/2026

The so-called mobile phone is actually a computer with a phone capability and other wickedly wonderful things that it can do.

For those of you who grew up during the second half of the last century – in other words, when a block-like instrument with a dial face and a headset was in your house – usually in the hallway and the only thing it could do was talk to someone else. It also had only one ring tone.

There were also no computers at that time. You either had to use slide rules or hugely expensive calculators that could solve all those complex mathematical problems, such as how much would you save if you paid an extra 50 Rand off on your house mortgage!

How to tame your phone using alarms

24/03/2026

If you have ADHD it's almost a given that you will experience sleep problems!

Let's do a sleep program together to see how it works - or doesn't work. It was given to me by a medical doctor - Dr Benji Ozynski who is a specialist in sleep and sleep disorders.

I have not done this program before. But I believe it will be a really good idea for as many of my readers to try this - after all, sleep is as unique as each of us are.

I met Dr Ozynski when he was my medic at the psychiatry clinic at the Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg recently

As sleep disorders are a constant problem of ADHD, I would like people to share with us and all our readers how effective this program is. You can share openly or anonymously if you want.

28/02/2026

Are you living your life with gusto?

https://web.facebook.com/share/p/1R2km5jeen/

This is Harry - Iris's companion for many years. This picture came up on my memories this morning.

Iris was my "little sister" - the last of 6 sisters.

Many will say she was taken far too young at the age of 56, ten years ago.

I miss her dreadfully but I know that she had always lived life at the twice the speed of most other people.

Harry was the perfect companion for her. He never stopped moving, he was crazy and extremely loveable.

One of my greatest memories of Harry was when he raced up to the 2nd floor of a building which happened to be an open top entertainment area. He was running so fast he flew off the other side as we watched in shock.

We raced downstairs expecting to find a heap of broken bones or worse.

Instead he looked bewildered for a minute, shook himself off and was 100% fine.

Iris's life may have been shorter than we would have liked but she was fearless, she gave her all to whatever she did.

She was a dedicated nurse and later became the Manager for Sports for the Disabled in South Africa and accompanied the paralympic teams around the world.

Her stories were heart breaking but inspirational.

I was privileged to attend some of the Sports for the Disabled functions. Their courage and sense of humour humbled me.

About 15 years before she died, she was involved in a car accident and became partially disabled but it didn't slow her down.

She changed direction and became an Events Manager.

How are you living your life?

Are you afraid to try something new?

Ok, you don't have to jump off a roof top, but perhaps it is time to try something different.

Yes, you may fail, but it might give you a new lease on life.

24/02/2026

What is ADHD Coaching?

Imagine you are a tennis player and you are regularly in the top 10 in the world but you just can’t crack that grand slam win. You decide to employ a former World Number 1 winner to be your Coach.

Your Coach says that your serve will improve dramatically if you change the way you toss the ball.

23/02/2026

WE ARE NOT LESSER BEINGS

Way back in the year 2000, I had just started the first of my ADHD support groups—there were rapidly more than one.

Towards the end of that year, we were invited to attend a long-standing ADHD support group based in Simonstown, South Africa, for their next meeting, as they had invited a medical doctor to speak.

The group I brought along exceeded the number attending from the host group. We were all pretty young, while they were elderly to ancient.

My group was still in the honeymoon period, filled with euphoria at finally having a diagnosis and label to explain why our lives were so fraught with difficulty. The hosts were all tuckered out by age and a lifetime of being in trouble due to their ADHD.

The doctor, short, rotund and owlish, strode confidently to the front of the stage and began her speech by saying, “ADHD is a curse!”

17/02/2026

ADHD is like a volcano and those who have the condition are ready to erupt spontaneously due to our hyperactivity, impulsivity and distraction which are the key characteristics of ADHD.

https://davepugheparry.com/adhd-made-plain/adhd-the-condition/the-adhd-volcano.html

16/02/2026

In Part Two of this article on sleep issues and ADHD I am going to break the very accurate Swedish Statistics on the subject. In Part One I looked the figures for sleep disturbances as one group.

Now I will break the figures down into 8 different categories and how uncommon they are compared top non-ADHD people.

Here are the figures from the highest to the lowest.

13/02/2026

I woke up on my knees next to my bed, clutching the sheet, with my poor wife staring at me in horror. I dream every night, and most nights I thrash around - never waking up in the same place where I went to sleep.

The last few years have not had as many terrors as the one described above, but it is like I live in many different worlds when my eyes shut out the conscious world.

Sleep problems and ADHD are life long, and cause more problems than are usually realised.

15/01/2026

Schools started the 2026 year yesterday. The excitement, the stress, the expenses is exhausting.
ADHD Moms who frequently battle to keep themselves organised dial up the pressure on themselves to be the perfect parent, partner and employee.

I sent out a newsletter to my subscribers yesterday "You can't do it all" .

I was the ultimate codependent ADHD helicopter parent and now I help other Moms find the balance between being a caring Mom and an exhausted doormat.

Read the newsletter and if you would like more information subscribe. Thank you.

https://patpugheparry.com/component/acym/archive/44-you-cant-do-it-all?

05/11/2025

At the numerous talks, workshops and conferences Dave and I have organised and presented, most questions centre around ADHD medication - in many minds ADHD = Ritalin.

I am a Coach. I provide you with the practical tools and support to help you become the person you were born to be.

I am not (and I am not required to be) a licensed medical professional nor a specialist on supplements or nutrition. These folk play a different role in your mental health journey.

Who can diagnose mental conditions like ADHD and Depression?

This is the personal website of Pat Pughe-Parry