An interview with Paige Sharma, mother of 3.
The open letter she wrote, to an old elementary school classmate, is a touching piece that addresses depression, suicide, and how she found motivation.
A Mother With a Story
This episode, I interview Paige Sharma, a mother of three who caught my attention through an astounding open letter she wrote to a long-lost classmate.
She talks about her story of ADHD diagnosis, concerns over finding the right doctor to treat her and the difference between some of them, and many of the symptoms she experienced that lead her to seek aid and find more information.
The open letter she wrote, to an old elementary school classmate, is a touching piece that addresses depression, suicide, and how she found motivation.
About Paige
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A mother of three kids, age 18, 16, and 8, all of which have ADHD
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She usually calls ADHD “being shiny”, a term that seems to be common online and on Facebook.
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Studied geology at University of Washington for over five years and soon expects to be graduating.
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Diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, following her son’s diagnosis.
Concerns over finding the right doctor:
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How to know of the expertise of a mental health service professional, their specialty, experience, etc
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Paige tried one psychologist who seemed to only look at cursory information before making a decision
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She later found a great psychiatrist who specialized in adult ADHD, really seemed to understand her, and went through a battery of tests.
Her letter:
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Didn’t know how to reach out and help following being told about her third grade classmate’s mother’s suicide.
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Each time she became depressed and, sometimes, considered suicide, she thought of her classmate and how she would never want her children to feel the same way as that classmate did
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Surprised and comforted at the outpouring of support and responses from the community.
Favorite Books
“You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid, or Crazy?”
A thesaurus:
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She has a desire to find the best word, the right word, to the best of her ability
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Had a professor who drilled into her head that it was important to use the right words.
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She’ll mean one thing, but check the thesaurus to find different words that are more specific to her intended meaning.
Quotes
“Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.” – Albert Einstein
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” – Albert Einstein
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation:
we do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence,
but we rather have these because we have acted rightly;
‘these virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions’;
we are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit…”
– Will Durant (my sources tell me this quote was not Aristotle)
“You can make anything a habit, so you can do anything.”
– Paige
Random Question Round
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Do you remember the first CD you ever bought?
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What was the first big purchase you made as a child?
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Do you have a favorite piece of art?
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Would you rather see a concert or live theater?
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What’s your favorite thing to do at the zoo?
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What’s the square route of nine?
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How do you spell “paradoxically”?
Contacting Paige
– Via the ADHD reWired Facebook Community
– Email: [email protected]
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paigeology
