If there was a little red pill that would instantly eliminate your ADHD – permanent and irreversible – would you take it?

That was the question posed on an online forum of ADD coaches recently and it caused quite a stir. The group was split about 50-50 on whether they would take it or not. Some excerpts:

“Absolutely not! My ADD – good and bad – makes me who I am. … not to mention the creativity, sense of humor, sensitivity…”

“I would not take it. While my ADD make some tasks challenging, my ADD makes me an animated teacher that keeps my audience engaged. It also allows me to go with the flow and handle things most people get upset about.”

“I would have to say ‘yes, I would take the pill.’ While I am able to do some things well due to the hyperfocus etc, there are more struggles that make life challenging.”

“I would not take the pill because I have learned to use my ADD to my advantage.”

“Yes, if I was sure I would not lose key abilities and personality traits that I enjoy with the brain I have.”

So I started thinking (always dangerous – a pure place of distractibility for me!) about what I would do. And I’d have to decline the pill because I have no idea what life is like without ADD.

Sure, I might be more organized and arrive on time everywhere. But I kinda like being a little wacky and offbeat. I like my childlike wonder at the world. I like being open to new ideas, new projects, new attitudes.

I especially like my ability to see a completely different perspective on life. I solve problems in (probably inefficient but) crafty and creative ways. I am fully engaged in life, plugged in, if you will.

And you bet I could reel off a dozen “problems” that ADD causes. It’s funny, because after years of therapy and self help books and angst about ‘fixing myself,’ I have finally realized that I don’t need fixing.

My coaching training taught me how to ‘reframe’ my approach to almost everything that I once butted heads with as negative. It’s so much easier to simply accept, embrace and love what’s in front of me (or in my brain) instead of fighting with it.

The bad news is: there is no little red pill that will banish your ADD-ish tendencies. And the good news is that there is no little red pill…

But the question remains: if there was a little red pill, would you take it?