ADHD Awareness Week: Celebrating the Strengths of Those with ADHD

As part of ADHD Awareness Week I’m writing a daily series about what partners say they love about their spouse with ADHD.  These are collected from participants in my current couples class, from those at this site, and from my own experience.  I hope you’ll join the conversation, or at least spend some time this week showing appreciation for the things you enjoy.  (We spend too much time thinking about the things we don’t enjoy!)  So, here’s “love letter” #1…

What I love about my spouse is:

“My ADHD husband is: loving, polite, respectful, a brilliant engineer and just overall brilliant, creative, innovative, at times he has an amazingly high level of emotional intelligence, a devoted father and husband, loyal, great sense of humor, adorable person, loved by most people who know him, hardworking, fastidious, detail oriented, perfectionist, will do anything I ask of him eventually.”

“Quick wit, sense of humor, endless energy…”

“Her positive spirit and personal charm!”

I read these comments with a smile on my face.  Hmmm...”quick wit and endless energy”…”positive spirit”…”creative, innovative” and the one that makes me smile the most “will do anything I ask of him eventually”!

These spouses doubtless have their share of trouble in their relationships as they are taking my course and most who do that are looking to make things better.  Regardless, it is clear that some of the characteristics that they also love may be connected to their spouse’s ADHD and that is not a bad thing, but a good thing.  I know in my own relationship that my husband’s energy and hugely curious mind (read this as “loves to explore a lot, is often distracted by something else interesting…) is part of what makes him so special to me.

If you get a chance today, think of something you love about your ADHD partner and tell him or her what it is and why that makes them special.  You’ll make their day.