Hi Everyone,
It's Sunday night (May 7th) and the 2006 national Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA) conference has just finished. It's been an amazing time; I'm both happy and exhausted. Tomorrow I'll be on a big ole' jetplane flying home, wondering if the conference really happened at all.
But let me tell you, THANK YOU everyone!!! I cannot believe the warmth, support, and encouragement with which I was received. Again, I give my humble thanks. It was inspirational. It was motivational. And it gives me the energy and strength to carry on.
Onward to 2007.
I cannot wait to get this trip rolling. I am inspired to be a part of something much bigger than myself, an opportunity to help us all help ADDers everywhere. Nowhere is it truer than here, if we all work together, we can make an incredible difference.
I will do my best to keep everyone updated as to the progress of both my healing and the trip on the blog and I welcome all-takers for volunteers, support, donations (medical bills anyone???) or anything else. Heck, send positive thoughts my way, that works great too!!!
I'll try to get a new page on my blog going this week. It'll be a creative posting for ADDers. Send something in, a picture, a postcard, a drawing, heck, even a bowling ball, and we'll get you and your item up on the website! That'll keep things interesting, and keep people coming back. If we're flooded with creative ADDers out there, I'll even see if we can run some sort of a daily or weekly contest.
But no matter what you do, dare to dream and reach for the stars. Anything truly is possible if you put your mind to it, particularly for ADDers. Not only are we the dreamers of the world, but also the success stories. We just need to take our journeys one step at a time.
Thank you ADDA members! Thank you ADDA board! Thank you ADDA conference volunteers. Thank you everyone!!!!!!
What would you do if you KNEW
you couldn’t fail?
Would you climb a mountain? Learn how to fly? Start that business you’ve always dreamed of? Or go back to school? Would you ask out your fantasy date? Or try to make it big in Hollywood?
As ADDers, we're capable of so much more than we know or believe.
This summer, we will be traversing the country bringing a message of hope and inspiration to ADDers everywhere.
Our message:
- You CAN succeed with ADD
- You are NOT lazy, crazy, or stupid.
- You are NOT alone.
- We each have amazing gifts inside.
- Dare to dream and reach for the stars.
We are not what others think or tell us, and for ADDers, we have the talent, creativity, passion and hyperfocus to make the impossible, possible.
For this journey our ADD imagination makes the impossible possible:
- 4000 miles in 40 Days
- Zero mechanical assistance, Zero Rest
- Twenty College Talks
- 12 hours of skating day and night
- Desert Heat, Southern Humidity
- Storms, Twisters, and Downhills
Yet we WILL succeed
If we set our minds to it, there ARE no limits.
My challenge to everyone. Come support our adventure, help raise the awareness of a nation, and challenge yourself to reach for the stars.
This summer set your own personal goal!
- Change your life
- Take summer college classes
- Applying for that dream job
- Getting help for your ADD
- Seeking a better life for your family
- Making Peace and Asking Forgiveness
- Volunteer for our adventure
- Or plan your own adventure of a lifetime
With ADD we've all been told we can't succeed.
These messages weigh heavy on our psyche. But it's time to dispell your mythsand stop believing the garbage.
Look in the mirror.
Know you are loved.
Get out there and go for it!!!
Who you are today is not who were yesterday, or even five minutes ago.
Each day you have the chance to reinvent yourself.
We are ALL hear for a reason.
We all have the opportunity to help others, and to help ourselves.
Rip off that rear view mirror!!!
Focus on today and take it one day at a time.
- Believe in yourself.
- Look for solutions
- Build a routine.
- Exercise
- Change your diet and feed your brain.
- Pray, meditate, and take daily walks.
- Stop dwelling on the negative.
- Connect to the world around you.
- Become a part of a community.
- Find Your Talents
- Chase your passions.
- And live your dreams!!!
Now make it a great day!!!!!!!!
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Without them this message would not have been possible.
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MICHAEL'S LETTER
Dear Readers,
On August 6th, 2006, I will be skating across the nation on inline skates, according to the Guinness Book of World Records I’ll be the first person to skate from Los Angeles to New York City, and the first person to skate 4000 miles in 40 days. My world record attempt is not just for the fun of it, but to help those with Attention Deficit Disorder.
Inside each ADDer are tremendous gifts and the potential for greatness!!!
I wish to continue to raise awareness and offer advice and support to those with ADD, while spreading a positive message, to garner national support and address Congress on helping those with ADD, and raise money to help students get into and succeed in college with ADD.
ADD MEANS SUCCESS!!!
Last year I rode my bicycle 5000 miles across the country, solo, unsupported, in 40 days for Attention Deficit Disorder. Despite 50 flats, record cold and rain, two tornadoes, one crash, a bear, countless rattlesnakes, two cracked teeth, a fever, body-rash, and having both feet harpooned by bolts that shot through my shoes, I made it to D.C.
Without my ADD I would never achieve my goals. It is gift once understood. In ADD lies tremendous energy, creativity, talent, and often brilliance. Attention Deficit Disorder is a misnomer. It's Attention Inconsistency. When our brains latch onto an idea we can focus on it better than anyone else in the world. I'm counting on this to once again get me across the country!
After over 4900 miles, just 11 inches of rain and half a day to go!
If you have ADD, you are not alone. It is real. There is help. You can succeed!
I want people to understand the challenges are much greater than an inability to pay attention, and that it's not something made up, an urban myth, something everybody has, or something created by pharmaceutical companies just to push drugs. It's real, it's biological, it's genetic, and it's often completely misunderstood.
What we have can be a tremendous gift, once we learn how to use our ADD minds!
The response was from my last journey was tremendous, in addition to hundreds of letters, emails, and phone calls, I was able to spread the message through newspaper and TV interviews and made it on CNN and the CBS Early Morning Show.
You are not alone. There is help. You can succeed!
After last year’s trip I realized the work had just begun. I must continue my adventure to reach people, spread a message of hope, teach people how they can succeed with ADD, and let them know they are not alone.
ADDers are beautiful people with tremendous gifts, we just have to understand how to work with our minds and unlock our talents.
When I reached DC I thought my trip was over. But soon I realized I’d only just begun. All across the country I met people who were touched by those with ADD. Everyone had a mother, father, child, brother, sister, neighbor, co-worker, spouse, or friend with ADD. And everyone knew someone who was struggling to reach their potential.
The response was unanimous, “I know they can succeed, they know they can succeed, I know I can succeed, but HOW???” I met countless people who had given up hope or were ready to give up hope. There were parents who’d given up on their children, teachers who didn’t know what to do, and children who were struggling, floundering, or desperate to keep from falling into the abyss.
If we set our minds to something, we will accomplish our goals. And when the goal is big enough, such as giving students with ADD a second chance, it’s more than worth any sacrifice.
There are no limits in life.
ADD means INFINITE possibilities!!!
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Without them this message would not have been possible.
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