Best "You are calm in a crisis"

[Anonymous]

During a team building event among supervisors, the most professional compliment that I really felt upon reciept.

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[Anonymous]

After I have caused car accidents, yes, plural, from being distracted, I am extremely calm during the chaotic mess that ensues. Making sure everyone is OK, and everything else that goes on during the aftermath of an accident.

P.S. I won’t tell you I am a truck driver by trade, for now… Looking to change career fields now that I finally got my Business Associate’s degree at the age of 43.

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[billd]

I wondered what caused that for me – I can step out of an accident, and look around and focus on something and just deal with it, no panic. Today, we’ve got a blizzard down here, and I lost control of my truck (3/4 ton pickup), tried REALLY hard to regain control, was all over the road, left, right, left, spinning this way, then that way, finally rollded off the side of the road into a ditch. I put it in park, got out, and proceeded to go to the highway and pick up all the stuff that had been tossed out onto the road, even trying to get folks to move over a bid so they’d not hit the wood and shovels and such on the road.

I was really pretty calm, didn’t get upset or anything……….. and it’s been that waay with every accident I’ve ever been in, even when I was busted up. So it’s the ADD that does that, eh?

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[Anonymous]

Wow, I’ve always had this cool in a real crisis thing but didn’t know it was connected to my ADD. I’ve only been in one car accident in my life. About a year and a half ago I was rear-ended at a red light by a teenage driver who had just gotten her license and didn’t noticed I had stopped. Out of habit I’ve always checked the rearview when I came to a stop, just to make sure the person behind me was slowing down and stopping. This time she clearly was not slowing down until the last few seconds, when I saw her finally notice my car and kind of freak out at the wheel. I didn’t want to run the red light and get T-boned by cross traffic so I just moved up a few feet, hoping it would be enough room for her to stop. It wasn’t, but moving up a little bit was enough to lessen the impact when she hit me. If I had panicked when I saw her truck coming at my little car I probably would have frozen where I was and got hit worse, or shot out into the intersection and gotten T-boned, both of which could have injured or killed my son and me. Instead we all walked away unharmed.

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[Anonymous]

I got this one recently. I’m back in school to pursue a medical degree (OMG! Run for the hills, patients! heh). The whole microbiology semester in lab, I was hyper-focused (I’m good at that) and methodical. The last possible day to get my experiments checked (typical) one other guy and I had the professor to ourselves.

The prof knocked off a few points because of a bone-head oversight of mine (I picked the wrong disease despite my accurate recorded results.. DER!) So I was like, “Ok, well the experiment started off in disaster, so this final grade is better than I was predicting. It’s a low A, but an A none-the-less..” (only ONE bone-head misread is a score for me).

He was in amazement, like, “You are the most calm person in situations other people freak out in. The whole semester you were just in your zone. Everyone else–just talking and messing around rushing through their work, then manic about their grades. But you were just head-down and calm and just carefully going through the experiments step-by-step.”

Best. Classroom. Compliment. Ever! And that he even NOTICED is a triumph for an inattentive subtype….. But then he slammed me for my incessant gum-chewing in the lab despite the rules. But all in all, it was a good day. HAHA.

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[Anonymous]

By the way, I had Stage III breast cancer about 5 years ago. When told, I was like, “Ok, what do we do next then?” I didn’t quite understand all the freaking out people were doing online, especially those with “better” and even “all clear” diagnoses.

My thought was, “Well, this is a visible, “legit” disease with actual treatments. I can do this. I’ve had cancer of the intangible attention span my whole life. But physical cancer? Doable!”

All the unsolvable emotional crap and chaotic disasters I’ve been in previously really prepped me mentally for cancer. I would not have predicted that.

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[Anonymous]

A few years ago, the office where I had just began to work two months earlier got invaded by some people that had just lost their jobs because we had refused the entreprise a loan. They were everywhere, manifesting their anger against us and demanding that the loan be granted so they could have their jobs back. I was the receptionnist. I was told the employees were hidden under their desks. My director send for me. When I got to him, I asked him what he wanted and he answered that he just thought I wanted out of ‘the line of fire’. I was very surprised about that! What? And why are you all acting so scared? Those people are ok! They only lost their job. They are not violent. They talk to me and all. I am not at all concerned. I then asked to go back to the reception, and they let me.

I really was not afraid at all. I’ve never been so efficient at my work than on that occasion. The crisis was over after one of the lawyers of the office came to talk to the manifestants. And a few days afterwards, my employer told me I got the job permanently. I was not told but figured it was because of that day.

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[Anonymous]

It is amazing isn’t it that we can “take control” and deal with crisis situations in a calm and focused manner if only we can manage to deal with everyday issues the same way? I am currently learning to approach school as an exploration into the unknown. I’m glad that I have medications that help me do so. Bravo Moka! Bravo!

K

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[Patte Rosebank]

I was an usherette at “Phantom of the Opera”, for its first two years in Toronto. One night, there was a gas leak in the area, so they couldn’t start the show on time. We were ordered not to even open the auditorium. The lobbies (not meant to hold 2000+ people) were packed with 2000+ people. After the first 15 minutes or so, common sense said the performance should be cancelled, and the tickets refunded or exchanged. But Garth Drabinsky would never do that, would he?

Instead, we held those people in the lobbies, for over an hour past curtain time. And we weren’t allowed to tell them what was going on, other than “technical difficulties”. Understandably, after the first 15 minutes, they were not happy. So I started telling them “horror stories” about onstage glitches we’d had, and about some of our more memorable encounters with patrons. I kept them laughing with those stories, and the time passed pretty quickly that way.

Then, around 9 p.m., the inside ushers were told to switch places with us lobby ushers, to give us a break. As soon as my inside usher switched places with me, the crowd surged towards her, so menacingly that she had to open the door to try to escape back inside. The angry crowd saw me, and instantly changed from menacing the other usherette, to urging me to come back out and tell them some more stories. So I did.

The show finally started at about 9:45 p.m. And I added that night’s “adventure” to my collection of theatrical “horror stories”.

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[billd]

Reminds me of my youngest son – story-telling seems to be an attribute of ADD. He tells some good stories (some of them true, too!)

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[ellamama]

What wonderful stories! Gosh, where should I begin?!

I’m wondering if the challenges with time management can be an advantage. Can we break-down time? Here’s a car crash story: Decades ago (I’d just turned 18), I was working as a volunteer in a very rural area in the Appalachain Mountains in Kentucky. Among my jobs, I delivered medical supplies to from the main hospital to outlying clinics and returned with labratory samples, etc. The area roads were mountanous, winding, poorly kept, undivided 2-lane highways upon which most traffic was coal trucks hauling freshly mined coal. I was driving a subcompact 2 door,

I was on my way back to the hospital when I came to a T-intersection. I slowed to make a left turn and just as I was into the turn, a fully loaded coal truck came around a blind curve into the intersection. It was one of those moments which occurred in a split second, but in my mind time spread out. I knew now matter what there’s be impact between my car and the truck. If either of us turned off the road avoid impact we’d either drive into the side of a mountain or off the road down off the mountainside. I knew as a smaller vehicle, I had all the advantage in so far as manoverability. If I didn’t turn at all, the most likely impact would involve my car going under the truck which I anticipated would result in decapitation to me and serious injuries to my 2 passengers.

I aimed for the trucks tires. A dramatic impact followed: crash then slience–except for the whine and grunt of the truck’s air brakes and down shifting to stop.

I assessed myself and my passengers. Aside from complete hysteria on the part of my passengers, we were all unhurt. I got out to assess the car: totalled. I trotted down the road to check in with the truck driver. He’d managed to stop a few 100 M down the road. He lept from his cab and ran into me and grabbed my shoulders, “How many got killed?!”

“What?”

“The crash! How many got killed?”

“None.” I shook my head with a growing sense of confusion.

“Where’s the driver?” The driver was clearly upset.

“You’re lookin’ at her.”

The truck driver’s face froze and he dropped to his knees, “PRAISE THE LORD!”

At this point–as the newly arrived Boston Yankee in Appalachia–I was wholly baffled. The truck driver then raised up and walked with me back to the car. All the way he explained how, although he’d not yet killed anybody with his truck, that all the coal truck drivers knew that the risk was high. He used his CB radio to alert the State Police, etc.

As various folks showed up on scene, I learned that these sorts of accidents were all too common in the region. Often, there were mortalities, nearly always serious inuuries. Nobody could ever recall anybody walking away–unscathed–from a similar incident. To add to my own shock, although I was wearing a seatbelt, neither passenger was (NOTE: Always make certain all your passengers are wearing a seatbelt!)

How it can take me an hour to figure out where to file one piece of paper in my office yet in a split second figure out how to avoid certain death is beyond me. While I hope Concerta can help with the filing, I hope it doesn’t mess with my ability to turn on a dime:-)

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[Anonymous]

Hunters VS Farmers. We are hunters, they are farmers. We are intended to have these traits, they insure survival at a primal level. 90% of humans had this predominant trait up to the time of the ice age, but those numbers have inversed since then less then 10% of us still show genetic markers for these traits. Ya we’re different and we like it that way. (Thom Hartman – The Edison Gene and the gift of the hunter child.)

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[Anonymous]

This is one of the few traits of ADHD I have been thankful for in my life. Being able to remain calm has made it possible for me to avoid several accidents. When something unexpected happens and I only have a second or two to respond I never panic and slam on the brakes, I calmly apply the brakes and, after quickly checking my mirror to see if I’m about to get hit from behind, I steer the car to the left or right if necessary.

My favorite “no panic” story is the one I call “My Cat the Candle.” My wife loves to burn candles for their aroma and the atmosphere they provide. One night we were sitting together on the couch watching TV when I saw my wife’s eyes grow huge and she started to babble nonsensically. I asked her what was wrong (calmly) but she just kept babbling nonsense and couldn’t get any words to come. Finally she pointed over my shoulder so I looked around. There I saw my long-haired Maine Coon cat calmly walking away, tail held high in the air on fire. I responded immediately by reaching out and snuffing the fire on the cat,s tail like you would snuff a candle wick.

Apparently he had been rubbing against the coffee table to pet himself and his tail, held high in the air as usual, dipped into the flame of the candle on the table. The cat hadn’t even realized he was on fire. He wasn’t startled until I snuffed out the fire on his tail. That caused him to run like the dickens and hide. All this happened in about five seconds. I don’t think my pulse went up a beat, whereas my wife was practically hyperventilating and couldn’t speak for a minute or two afterwords.

Ahhhhh, good times

WW

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[Bill]

Wrong_Writer – there’s nothing “wrong” with your writing. That’s a great story!

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[Anonymous]

Thanks Bill

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[Author]

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