ADHD and The Big Picture
Welcome to Recovery and the ADHD Advantage. I'm Ellen Archer, a Mind-Body coach and your guide to a more neuro-brilliant life in recovery.
I'm a Mind-Body recovery coach and woman in long-term recovery from substance use disorder, narcissistic abuse, and chronic pain. When I was diagnosed with ADHD, it was liberating.
I'm not surprised that more people in recovery are being diagnosed with ADHD. I want to share the mind-body skills and perspective that I've found incredibly helpful.
In my book, Stay Sober and Save the World the Cave Woman Way, I write about a woman who develops a letter-writing relationship with a Cave Woman in her journal, based on my own experience.
I discovered the Cave Woman by asking myself, "If I could ask anyone anything and they'd reply, who would it be?" I chose Cave Woman because I believe our ancient ancestors understood far more about human life than we do. They existed in healthy communities and collaborated to hunt large animals like mastodons, a task that took more than one person.
Every night, they would gather around a fire, sharing stories and learning about their history and how to live well through storytelling. They danced and drummed, expressing all their emotions, laughing and crying, to process their day, heal, and overcome difficulties.
That dialogue with the Cave Woman required the use of both my right and left brain (what I now call being more Whole-Brained), something that turned out to be very helpful for ADHD. Being whole-brained helps quell anxiety and allows us to choose how and what we focus on more freely. Writing is just one way to be more whole-brained, and we'll go over more ideas later.
The ADHD brain makes less dopamine, and that can make life feel crunchy. Each Dear Cave Woman letter felt like an accomplishment, and accomplishment or finishing a task helps my brain produce more dopamine.
We'll cover this and more in recovering with ADHD that goes beyond the traditional, often contradictory advice such as "Focus more AND don't get so involved with one project." We can apply the brilliance of ADHD—the neuro-brilliance that I sometimes call ADHD—that our ancient ancestors found so useful for the wellbeing of their communities.
If you're suffering, it's most likely from the misconceptions in modern culture about ADHD, not ADHD itself.
My work aims to help rectify some of those misunderstandings and gaps and help us navigate life more artfully.
Before recovery, my life felt like a battered box of delicate crystal glasses that could shatter at any moment. After learning what I teach in this course, it was like repacking those delicate crystal glasses in a new sturdy box with strong tape and each glass wrapped in spongy packing material and luminous bubble wrap.
These new boxes and packing materials are made of things like fun and restoration, full-on enjoyment, feeling at home in our bodies, unburdening ourselves of outdated patterns and responsibilities, and feeling our emotions as a healing practice (can you imagine!). Safe practices that open AND protect our hearts, minds, and bodies to prime our creativity, intuition, and rebuild a trusting relationship with our inner wisdom.