Sophia Carlucci was a freshman in High School when I first met her… And she will tell you herself that she was as anxious as could be and on the hot mess express! Sophia and I connected very quickly because I understood her and how her brain worked better than even she did at the time.

Every morning Sophia was in my office begging me to help her because, for whatever reason, she was not able to complete all of her school work last night. This happened frequently, as it does for many people with ADHD & Anxiety.

I would help Sophia get some extra time on her assignments and we would work in overdrive to complete them. Even though we always felt like we were in crisis mode, I could tell that Sophia really was learning how to manage her ADHD, school was just not her thing.

I believe with my whole heart that those of us with ADHD will excel when we are given the chance to do what we love. The first time I noticed this in Sophia was when she started asking me about various ADHD posters I had hanging in my office. She would drill me with questions and follow that up by hyper-focusing on researching those topics…. After all, us ADHDer’s are best at focusing on everything but the task at hand. She would share with me everything she was learning and that’s when a little spark was lit and her passion for those like her grew!

Since becoming my VIP of Everything, Sophia has shown me yet again how true the statement above is! In High School, it was like pulling teeth to try and get her to complete one paragraph of a paper. Now, I ask her to write something for me and she knocks it out in a matter of minutes… and does a fantastic job!

I like to claim Sophia as my success story but Sophia had to put in the work and make the changes needed to succeed in High School. I was just there to wipe away the tears and throw celebrations! It’s funny… The other day, Sophia and I were working on a project for Focus Forward and this text chain was on her computer. Man has she come a LONG way!! I could not be more proud!

Check out her new blog: The Art of Accepting