F o u r t h  L l o y d  P r o d u c t i o n s  

Billy's Never-ending Battle

Creating A Wonderful Life
With Imagination And Purpose

William G. Brett

ISBN # 978-0-971-78069-9
221 pages

$17.95 + shipping 

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In this lively autobiography, Billy Brett offers a captivating look at his battle with ADHD as his friend and foe. Using sweeping details to recall the people and events that helped to shape his imagination and dreams, including his hero, Superman, Brett shows how he moved past a “black cloud” that supported his hyperactivity and threatened his self-worth and sense of success to become the police officer he felt he was meant to be.As a policeman, however, Brett finds that his nemesis, the “black cloud,” has pursued him,helping to turn minor self-doubts into major setbacks of self-confidence. Overrun by doubtand despair, even to the point of focusing on the idea of being hit while riding his motorcycle,he is indeed run over! Brett uses his accident to learn that he has always had a treatable disorder called ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder), and he begins to understandhow he has been projecting the failures he has experienced in life. With the “black cloud” now under his control, Brett turns self-doubt into self-power, hyper focus into easy resourcefulness, a channel surfing mind without remote control into clear intent, and a fear offailure into imaginative success. He begins to see what a wonderful life he has as cop, husband,and father.This funny, candid, and fast-paced book is an invaluable empowering resource for thosewishing to understand ADHD with its challenges and struggles, its joyful freedom and creative expression.

 

In the following chapter excerpt Billy talks about the sensation of flying in dreams and his obsession with Superman.

"In descriptions that I’ve heard, no one talks about the actual sensation of being in the air. Their descriptions are usually vague recollections of “floating in the air”. Whether due to excessive emotional stress or just my overly abundant imagination, every time I wake up from a flying dream, I can remember every detail! My dreams are also in color, and because of my infatuation with the Man of Steel, whenever I fly in my dreams I’m always dressed in the primary red and blue!

The actual sensation of taking to the air without mechanical assistance is a feeling I can hardly describe! The slight pull of gravity as I accelerate upward, the wind passing around me. To change direction, I simply arch my back, tilt my head and reach out with one of my hands toward the direction I want to go. It is as simple as that! The dream usually begins with me standing on the ground in street clothes. At some point I find myself still standing there, but my feet are no longer touching the ground! In those moments when the laws of gravity do not apply to me, I am overcome with the most amazing sense of invulnerability, and skyward I soar! There were times, however, that even in mid-flight I feel a sense of doubt as to what I am experiencing. As though my logical conscious mind is telling me, “This is not possible! Humans cannot fly without mechanical assistance!” I then immediately start losing altitude, then fall outright. Amazingly, I don’t wake up right away. I can vividly recall the sensation of “my cape” enveloping my torso as I plummet toward earth. When I see this happening I always regain my “powers”and rocket back into the air! I have yet to hit the ground in one of these dreams.

Okay, enough already. What’s this obsession with Superman? I have to admit, it is a little unusual. I can’t explain it. As a kid I guess it was just the “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound” thing. But as I grew up and developed my own sense of right and wrong through my own life experiences, I begin to wonder what the world would be like if such a man existed. Although he’s just a fictional comic book superhero, his ideals have made him an American icon! Even with seemingly limitless physical powers, in every story those powers are used to help humanity and never for personal gain! Further, no matter how evil the villain might be, he is never killed by Superman. “Fighting the never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way!” However corny, I’ve always felt this statement to be very profound. Superman’s defiance of gravity also kept me drawn to him as an ideal. Maybe I wanted to soar above the black cloud that kept dogging my life."