Patience, Planning, Persistence Pays

The career counselor is working wonders. I met with her the other day (just before a phone interview!), and I told her that I've been told that I have ADHD.

To this day there's been a lot of fan fare before I talk to people about the attention deficit, even to those adults who have ADHD, too.

I decided to "come out" at the onset with the career counselor, since I figure she'll find it odd that after nearly six months of unemployment, I still struggle to write a single cover letter, or remember to follow up on leads and calls.

Interest hits and then wanes when it comes to potential careers. For a brief minute today I flirted with the idea of becoming a genetics counselor, and then I thought, what are you thinking, Jane? Are you nuts?

The career counselor reads me to a T. After doing a mock job interview, she said I needed to listen more carefully to the question being asked. Twice I seemed to misunderstand the question and give a vague, totally different answer.

I also wasn't specific enough, she said. I needed to give an answer and back it up with examples. Despite the shaken self-confidence, I scored fairly high during the role-playing, but, as the career counselor said, I have to take a step back, write down the question, and take notes during the actual interview.

The father and stepmother meanwhile call the career counselor a little angel. "Well, I am paying her $160 an hour," I reminded them.

"Yeah, well, look at the Buddhaman," replied the father. "He took advantage of you and didn't do a damn thing." The father is right. The former shrink not only took my money but also took a nap during our therapy sessions.

So despite some uncertainty and the heavy task of reacquainting myself to networking and job seeking, I feel empowered. If I can be happy and make a living with ADHD, without a full-time employer—creating my own destiny, really—then I will never again fear being fired or have my fate in someone else's hands.