((sarahsweets)), you sure have been challenged with this child. It's really not that she is stupid either, she has proven she "can" excel. It sounds like the main challenge is that she has both ADHD and bipolar, that in itself is a lot of restlessness in the mind.

Her moving around doesn't mean she is unhappy, it means she is unhappy being in one place too long. Usually these kind of minds do best in jobs where they travel more and get to move around from place to place more. My older brother has ADHD and he finally found that he did best with traveling sales jobs and he is constantly hoping on planes and literally moving around to see different clients. My older brother was always a challenge, had a mind of his own and would run away, was quite the adventuresome type.

Now, your daughter has had eight jobs? She gets along with people, her real problem is she gets bored, then begins looking for another job. HOWEVER, if she had a job in sales where she could visit all these places, move around to these different places where she sold them something or was some kind of supplier, she would not get so bored. Are you getting the picture here?

Running away isn't always actually running away, instead it's changing location, needing to explore, getting bored with one place routines. We tend to TRY to get people to conform to get locked into a routine or we consider them bad, yet, not all people are set up to excel and do what we think is normal for all children and young adults.

Take Robin Williams for example, he was high energy, he needed a lot of stimulation and while he would settle in one place for a bit, his desire was to move around and be busy and busy he was most of his life. These individuals "can" get into drugs, everyone knows Robin Williams used drugs and loved cocaine because often those with ADHD like drugs that are stimulants like cocaine and speed. What makes most feel like they are winding and speeding, instead often calms the ADHD down. I don't know what medication she is on, but often welbutrin helps.

Often the true challenges show up in the late teens like you have described taking place with your daughter. These children can be challenges to the best of mothers, so you can't be blaming yourself. I am sure she does love you too, but she has that restlessness in her that even SHE doesn't understand. It's really better for her if she finds something that WORKS for how she is designed to be, a busy in motion person. Hey you know, even women end up being truck drivers, not because they want to drive a truck but because they like the feeling of moving from place to place. Hey, some people joined the circus in the old days, why? Because they liked the moving around. My grandfather on my father's side was that type, he up and left and went out west, he was in a circus for a while and even drove the wellsfargo stage coach, he flew planes in both world wars, the key was "motion and moving around".

Not everyone is set up to go to work every day at the same place, it's simply not how they are set up to be. So I think it would be helpful for your daughter to learn about herself, what makes her happy and to find something she can do where she moves around and can make a living at the same time. Same thing with these fishermen, they need to get in their boats and just go, and they love that lifestyle.

It's SO IMPORTANT to understand how someone's brain is set up, some brains are the kind that are able to sit and think, while other brains need to move around. We have to understand that in our human history, human beings were actually designed and thrived, even have been genetically set up to gravitate to all different kinds of things. Hey, I would not want to go out and deal with all that weather out there on some fishing boat, not my thing, but for some they can't imagine any other kind of life, that doesn't make them bad now does it?

Something to really consider about your daughter. Something you can sit and explore together even. Better than fighting and getting all emotional about what could be HER true normal that she needs to find the right nich for. Just my two cents from reading through what you have shared of your very challenging you lady that you love and she does love you too.