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Real Talk with Tina and Ann
Tina and Ann met as journalists covering a capital murder trial, 15 years ago. Tina has been a tv and radio personality and has three children. Ann has a master's in counseling and has worked in the jail system, was a director of a battered woman's shelter/rape crisis center, worked as an assistant director at a school for children with autism, worked with abused kids and is currently raising her three children who have autism. She also is autistic and was told would not graduate high school, but as you can see, she has accomplished so much more. The duo share their stories of overcoming and interview people who are making it, despite what has happened. This is more than just two moms sharing their lives. This is two women who have overcome some of life's hardest obstacles. Join us every Wednesday as we go through life's journey together. There is purpose in the pain and hope in the journey.
Real Talk with Tina and Ann
ADHD in Women with Dr. Jennifer Dall: Diagnosed at 53
What happens when a neurodivergent specialist discovers she's been living with undiagnosed ADHD for over five decades? Dr. Jennifer Dall takes us through her extraordinary journey from confusion to clarity after receiving her ADHD diagnosis at age 53.
Despite her doctorate in educational psychology and 25 years as an educator, Dr. Dall's ADHD remained hidden beneath societal misconceptions and outdated diagnostic approaches that failed to recognize how ADHD manifests differently in women. She candidly reveals the emotional toll of being gaslit by healthcare providers who saw only her achievements while missing her internal struggles.
This conversation shatters stereotypes about what ADHD "should" look like, especially in accomplished women. Dr. Dall unpacks invisible symptoms that society misinterprets as character flaws—time blindness that makes you perpetually early or late, proprioception issues that have you constantly bumping into doorways, and rejection sensitivity that turns minor comments into deep wounds.
You'll discover practical, holistic approaches that work with your neurodivergent brain rather than fighting against it. From the Pomodoro technique and body doubling to three-day project sprints, Dr. Dall shares the strategies that helped her reclaim her life. She explores how grief and trauma compound ADHD challenges, drawing from her personal experience after losing her husband to suicide three years ago.
For anyone questioning whether they might have ADHD—particularly women who've been dismissed with depression or anxiety diagnoses—Dr. Dall offers validation and a roadmap forward. Whether pursuing formal diagnosis or embracing self-discovery, she emphasizes that understanding your unique brain wiring is the first step toward authentic living.
Connect with Dr. Jennifer Dall at ADHDholistically.com and grab her free guide featuring quick, practical hacks for thriving with ADHD. If this conversation resonates with you or someone you love, share it and join a growing community redefining what it means to live successfully with neurodivergence.
Welcome to Real Talk with Tina and Anne. I am Anne. Today we're diving into the beautiful chaos of ADHD, resilience and the power of self-discovery with someone who truly understands the journey. Our guest is Dr Jennifer Dahl, founder of ADHD Holistically. She's a grief-informed neurodivergence specialist with over 25 years of experience as an educator, adhd coach, yoga instructor and grief educator. Dr Jennifer brings a deeply personal, compassionate and holistic approach to helping neurodivergent individuals not just survive but truly thrive. She helps women reframe their ADHD narratives and unlock their full potential. Her work also extends to therapists, life coaches and HR professionals, offering comprehensive training to better support neurodivergent clients and employees. And I cannot tell you how needed this is. Get ready for real tools, honest insights and a conversation that might just shift how you see yourself or someone you love. Thank you so much for being here today, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me. I'm so excited about talking with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have to tell you, as someone with autism and ADHD, I very much am looking forward to this conversation. You were diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 53 and have developed quite the practical holistic tool belt. It says, for one thing, so much about who you are that you developed your own way of coping throughout your life, but it must have been so frustrating for you to have a reason for what was going on for you for so long. There are so many people that have walked this journey. We all want validation and a diagnosis so we know how to treat what is going on with us. Talk about that emotional toll. You went through living with undiagnosed or misdiagnosed ADHD for so long.
Speaker 2:Well, you're exactly right. It has been very emotional and I know so many people, so many women, understand this. Being in the age group I'm at, even with being in education and being a social education teacher and having a doctorate in educational psychology, there's just so much information that nobody had and nobody knew, and so it has been really hard. I, in my journey, I have begun to suspect things just because I have this knowledge and this experience. Some of my suspecting came from my students. I taught high school a lot. I really liked high school. When I first started. Most of my kids were boys.
Speaker 2:Gradually we'd get more and more girls and I would look at some of those girls who came in with an ADHD diagnosis and I'd be like huh girls who came in with an ADHD diagnosis and I'd be like huh, that's really interesting. And so I think about it. But I would ask people I knew in education or whatever, people who knew things about ADHD do you think? Or I think? And they'd say, oh no, you can't. Possibly you have done all of these things. You, you know they. Even people within it still think of ADHD as like this eight-year-old boy who's bouncing all over the place, right, right, and so, oh no, you can't possibly, and I would learn more and I would see more things that I would do or about me. I was like huh, and I'd ask somebody, and sometimes I didn't want to ask because maybe I didn't really want to know, but it was just a long time of that, and so then, kind of, I guess, being gaslit even by myself, by people who cared about me, by doctors, by therapists, college, and I know you just recently had a show about like empty nest and oh yeah, your kids living, and that one really really spoke to me. But it was hard and I went to my healthcare providers and it was okay, you're depressed. Here's some antidepressants which I am now. She's in law school now I am now trying to go off of and if anyone who's been on those knows, it is a very, very difficult thing to do so. But back to that, when I went in, there was never any look at. Could it be these other things? It was just here. Here's a medication, take this, go on.
Speaker 2:Like I say, like with many people, it's just this ongoing process of learning things. You know, we all came to the pandemic and we all slowed down and quieted down and started getting more information and just the number of times where just little little checks kept going off until it was. We need to talk about this. I think part of it also is when I was young. You know, in overtime there's just not been a lot of research and knowledge about women and girls. So much has been focused on boys, so much has been focused on the type of ADHD that is very impulsive outward as opposed to other kinds, especially with many girls, where you're quiet or you're inside. It doesn't mean my mind's not impulsive, it doesn't mean my mind is not going all over the place, but more information has come about. I started hearing more, I started really internalizing it and looking at what was going on with my students and then I started advocating and pushing for myself.
Speaker 2:And there's still people who they may not believe me. It's still. They just don't have the information, and that's true. And one of the reasons I also like working with professionals is I also deal with grief. My husband died suddenly just over three years ago from suicide and I have a really great therapist who knows trauma, who knows all of that. But there's also been many times when I've been teaching her and she knows that and she appreciates that and so understanding that there are people that you come across who don't understand what ADHD is, the connection between ADHD or autism or any of these things and other things depression and grief, and how often people women may be diagnosed with depression or anxiety instead of ADHD or autism, when it could be both, or it could be both, and those whole roads of not then finding solutions that really work for you. I know I just really went down a rabbit hole there.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, you touched on something, I think, because you know we wouldn't treat cancer with heart disease protocol. So why do you think it's so hard for women to get diagnosed? How can clinicians do better, I think, for?
Speaker 2:one thing they don't have a lot of knowledge. Clinicians do better, I think. For one thing, they don't have a lot of knowledge. Clinicians, teachers, the world out there, whether you yourself may or may not have ADHD or you have a child that has ADHD, but there's just not a lot of knowledge.
Speaker 2:With any kind of research there's a lag. The research happens and then it has to be verified and then published or go out. So there's this huge lag and I think people just don't know and they don't know what they don't know, which happens a lot. Right, you know, I've heard in middle school the frightening small portion of their time that is spent on things like this, as well as other health conditions, especially with menopause, things like that. So I think it's just not out there and until it starts to impact you or someone you know or someone really comes forward and tells you about it, I think it's probably just not even on their minds, to be honest, you know, before I or you know other people that I know have gone into health professionals to be diagnosed and they're going to be making that decision whether we have ADHD or not.
Speaker 1:They have us either sit in the lobby or at home before we get there, filling out pages and pages of questions and it's like describe yourself from one to five or extremely to not at all questions.
Speaker 1:And you know, I found myself trying hard not to really read too much into them, because just answering the question is difficult, because sometimes it depends on the day, depends on the scenario, depends on if I had enough sleep that night. You know, not everything is black and white and when you go in there, oftentimes, and if you do something that you don't even know that you did, they're like oh no, you don't have it, I just saw you do this, so there's no way you could have it. And you know it can be so frustrating in the hands of some being in the hands of somebody else that is making huge decision about our life. Can you speak on this at all? Because you know, I think this is a huge reason why so many of us are not diagnosed. Should there be separate forms for like men and women. I mean what needs to be different?
Speaker 2:I think the whole process needs to be looked at.
Speaker 2:Like you said, you can go in and you can fill out this form and, depending on so many things that day, yeah, you fill out differently. And so, thinking about that, you may, before you even go in and you can fill out this form and, depending on so many things that day, yeah, you fill out differently. And so, thinking about that, you may, before you even go in there, think about other times when, whether it was just a simple personality quiz or something, or at work, you were given something and you went through that same process. That's very hard. I think a lot of it, not just boys and girls, but also getting into the different types of ADHD and the different ages.
Speaker 2:Some of the assessment tools seem like they're really geared towards children. I'll give an example. I have a really good friend who has ADHD. She's also wondering, she has autism. So she went through the process, through one of the companies that will assess you, and she put me down as someone for them to reach out to and they sent me a survey and, having been in education, I've seen these surveys for kids and it seemed like so many of the things that they asked about her I felt weren't appropriate. And I told her this. I said I don't know what your results are going to say, because I see you as this person, as this woman who's in her 50s, who's successful, who's done these things, who's masked, who has education, who knows all these things. She knows she's supposed to shower and she then will. You know, the pandemic may have changed all of our relationships with that a little bit, but it's like when you're looking at whether or not a kid does something or makes eye contact, she knows she's supposed to make eye contact. She knows she's supposed to make eye contact. She knows she's supposed to do these things.
Speaker 2:And so that assessment, and then also back to the ADHD. You know they want to know. Well, what did your teacher say? I was in school in the 70s and 80s, you know either said I needed to talk more or I needed to stop passing notes and talking to my friends all the time. You know you need to study for calculus and not just the classes you like. You know they wouldn't. Even if I knew where those records were, I don't know that they're going to be that helpful for a large number of people.
Speaker 2:And so that whole process, like you said filling out those forms, getting the information, maybe getting relatives or people you knew to remember and be honest about it. These are all really big factors. So, yes, back to male, female, but also I would say, age group, because trying to diagnose people who are a little bit older versus teenagers and kids, especially given the way our world is so different, our lives were different I think it needs to be a much more holistic approach, and I know that then some people just don't want to go through it. You know there's a lot of gatekeeping, there can be long lists to get assessed, it can cost money, it can be scary, and you can go through all this and still be told, like you said no, you have a doctorate, you know you have your own business, you can't possibly have this.
Speaker 1:So then, where are you left? How about? Women are naturally high achievers. We work really hard, we are pleasers. You know we go around being everybody's person that we have to do things for. You know, whether it's our kids or our parents or whatever our partner, you know we're just that person and we can multitask. I mean, that's what we do. So you know that in itself can appear like well, you can do all of these things. What's going on on the inside, though?
Speaker 2:You know the self-talk, the stories, the exhaustion. I mean, can we be honest that doing that at that level is exhausting?
Speaker 1:It really is. How about can you get to sleep at night because you can't turn your brain off after you've done all of these things? How about you can't find anything that you just put someplace, because that's me? And how come there't find anything that you just put someplace because that's me?
Speaker 2:And how come? There's the things that you do and the things that you don't do, based on interest and all of that and other people not understanding Like, why haven't you? You know you have boxes of stuff to donate in the car why haven't you taken them in? Don't you see them? I see them, but then I forget. And you know, and some people you know partners, friends, bosses sometimes they don't understand and they take it in a different way and then the story should tell yourself about that right, well, maybe having more questions about masking on those, because I think that we're pretty much talking about masking here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so if they had a whole section on masking, that would be great, because I think more people would be diagnosed.
Speaker 2:And perhaps you know different kinds of scenarios like do you do something like this? Has anyone ever said that you do this? Do you ever find yourself doing this? Different kinds of things where you're masking, you know, right, even explaining how you go about certain things. One thing that people say to me that irritates me is oh, just do it, it's so easy. And yeah, whatever we're talking about is so easy. The laundry is not hard, but it takes many more steps than someone who just does do it knows. So even like we ask questions about masks and questions about if you had to do this, how would you do it? And listening to, is it I would just do it or is it? Oh, okay. And then there's all these steps that you realize you have to do and backtracking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Somebody just said to me something that was just so simple. Well, why don't you just do that? And I said, well, that just adds a whole nother layer to my morning. You know, and it's true.
Speaker 2:And as back to as women you're expected to. You're supposed to write all of these things and yeah, and some of the things I've learned to do and I understand it's a little bit of a privilege, but especially since I've been empty nest and single is ordering from some meal kits, sometimes having my groceries delivered. If I do that, then at least I'm eating.
Speaker 1:Right, it does make it simpler, it does. So what happens when we walk away and we get that? No, what should we do?
Speaker 2:I would first of all take a deep breath, think about it. Maybe they've given you reasons why no, and think about it, and perhaps whether it's a therapist who actually knows things, or a friend or somebody in your life that you could then sit down with and talk it through, because, in a way, it's this person's opinion. It is not like a COVID test where you are positive, or a pregnancy test where you are or you are not. Okay, maybe you don't have ADHD, but these are still things that are going on, that are impacting your life, and so the most important thing, I think, is then seeing that and working with that and and finding ways to make your life better, not not to be able to be more productive we don't need to be more productive, we need to rest.
Speaker 2:But okay, whether this doctor says yes or no that I have ADHD, these are the things that made me think I did and this is how they're impacting my life and like, one by one, what is something I can do?
Speaker 2:Is my boss saying something? So this is impacting my work? Is this impacting my relationships? Is this impacting my ability to, you know, eat healthy or whatever is important to me? And so believing yourself you could go to another doctor you know in a second and then also decide how much that piece of paper means to you really. Because whether you're self-diagnosed or you're diagnosed, if you see these things in your life and you see that they're struggles, then let's work on finding ways to make a little bit better, whether it's the low-hanging fruit or whether it's more like this is really impacting my job and I might get fired and I need a job. And doing that Because if you get into this where, well, I have to have the diagnosis and the doctor said no, well, in all kinds of health issues, we all know stories of people who were told something that was then not true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, second opinions are really good and I really don't like sometimes the feeling that they have. The diagnostic person has feeling like they are over God, over us, in a way where I'm making this decision about you and, nope, you don't have it.
Speaker 2:Agreed Because, whether we're talking about ADHD characteristics or some physical health characteristic, in a trait you know, a cough losing weight whatever these are actually happening to you, it's your story. It's your existence Right.
Speaker 1:You know yourself better than anybody. You know yourself.
Speaker 2:So let's try to find some support from somebody who believes you and supports you.
Speaker 1:Yes, Did you feel differently after you were diagnosed officially when you were 53? Did it change your perspective about yourself?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I felt a little more validated in a way.
Speaker 2:But also then I think and you may have gone through this, I think with a lot of people there's kind of a grieving period, a loss period, wondering, wow, what if we had known this five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago? You know what would my life and what would this decision have been? I mentioned that I'm titrating off an antidepressant that is very, very challenging to come off of, like what if that hadn't happened? That's a solid thing right now in my mind, but that's not what happened. So this is the path I'm on and this, I know, allows me to help people and talk to people and understand other people who go through this. It felt a little validated, but if they had been like no, I think that it would have hurt and still I would hope that I would then say but I still see this and I still know this, and I think it's a little bit easier now. I think there's more of a discussion about you don't have to be, you can self-diagnose If you see this is what's going on, own it and do something about it. I also know that a lot of women, a lot of adults, find out when their kids end up being assessed somebody at school.
Speaker 2:I've heard that yes Is there an hereditary component and they're like oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right, because they just didn't diagnose very much back then. I was like that as a kid.
Speaker 2:What's the problem? Oh right, Well, this is the problem.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean, it wasn't even a thing. I mean, when I was growing up, there were there was not very many people who had autism or ADHD. We just didn't even talk about those things.
Speaker 2:So we didn't talk about it, it wasn't labeled. Often it was marked off as, like a personality thing. You're just lazy, you're argumentative, you're disagreeable. Right, you're just lazy, you're argumentative, you're disagreeable.
Speaker 1:Right, you're the bouncy kid in the class or whatever. Yeah, you don't pay attention, right. Right, we did touch on masking, so can you define what masking is for people that might not understand and just kind of?
Speaker 2:maybe say what it looks like in women and just kind of maybe say what it looks like in women. Okay, so masking is like, well, basically putting on a mask and so it's pretending it's being something you're not. People with ADHD and autism I think are really good at, especially women who have learned to do this. I can see what you want out of me and I can put that face on. So it's almost like putting on a different face. It's talking a certain way, acting a certain way, covering up things. So with certain people is one look.
Speaker 2:And then maybe when you have a friend who has ADHD or autism or is just very open and you're a totally different person because you can relax the mask off and you're actually yourself.
Speaker 2:And so masking is hiding your distraction or hiding your disorganization, or hiding and not asking for help or telling people, because you feel like that gives you safety, because it's not safe to put it out there in the world and that is tiring and it's not really an effective. I mean, we do it, it's a strategy we learned. But maybe think about somebody who, if you think you mask somebody, a situation where you kind of think you're masking and a situation where you are a person you know you don't have to mask with and then sit there and think about that Like, wow, which do I prefer? Which is actually better, and kind of not get mad at yourself, but just like realize what's been going on and how you've been trained to mask. So, just like you're wearing a mask for illness or anybody's wearing a mask for any reason Halloween, you wear a mask and you're a different person in a way.
Speaker 1:Right, it's a performance. Yes, In a way I mean when I go in A performance guessing what I think you want.
Speaker 2:It's not. I'm an actor and I'm playing Othello and this is the role it's. I don't know you, so I'm guessing what I think you want and I'm giving that or like in school. You know, this is what you have, this is school me.
Speaker 1:Right, and that's when, lots of times, when you get home, you just let it all out and you really are exhausted.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then you might not know why and you might get down on yourself. All I did is go to an event for an hour, but it was a bunch of people. I don't know. I tend to be shy, but I had to be a certain way. It was before I talked to a few people and you could just pass out or stare at the TV or whatever you do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, before I have to go to an event like that, I oftentimes will go early. I'll look around, I'll see who I have to. You know what my expectations are, where I'm going to be sitting and that kind of thing. And it really does help me prepare because you know I am scared to death. Really on the inside I might appear like I'm not, but you know these type of situations, like with you on Zoom, and that you know those are a lot easier because you know we're not together and that kind of thing, but you put me in a situation where I'm not comfortable. I'm going to act completely different.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that completely different for me could be not saying a peep, just shrinking up, shutting down, shutting down, or if I then connect with you, that oversharing, nonstop talking. I don't know if you find that when you click with me, who's like that? I've done that. Yeah, and not a lot of room in between, unless it's a very I don't want to say scriptured, but structured kind of setting. Right, you are here for a thing, like if I go and I volunteer at something and this is a specific thing I'm ushering at this theater, I know the rules, but if somebody has a call out for we need volunteers to come to this thing and you don't know what you're doing, it can feel very unsettling, it can be very hard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have a lot of scripts in my head as I go into situations and I know, like this is what I'm going to say, and then I'm good. And then if it goes beyond that, I'm like, oh shoot, what do I say beyond that?
Speaker 2:I'm like oh shoot, what do I say? Yeah, yeah. So random small talk is hard.
Speaker 1:It is very much so, because it goes outside of the script. Yeah, yeah, you know, with women and understanding and being able to spot ADHD, there are a lot of invisible and misunderstood symptoms. Could you talk about some of those?
Speaker 2:Sure. So it's going to vary. Like everything, it varies with the person, where they are, what they've learned, how they do. I would say and I talk about this with kids and with adults it can be that you're really really good at some things and some things it's not that you're not good at them, you just don't do them. And so it can show up with people not understanding. When you're into something, you totally go all out, you deep dive, you hyper focus on it. But when I ask you to do something else that you don't want to, it's like you physically can't do it. But when I ask you to do something else that you don't want to, it's like you physically can't do it. It's not that you're being stubborn or defiant, it's just there you go. There's like this, you physically can't do it, and people who don't understand that don't understand that they take it all kinds of ways.
Speaker 2:There's the saying that people with ADHD are also always late, and and some of them are, but I was always really early and it's not like some people are early because they don't want to be late. I'm early or I'm late, but if I'm early it's because I can't I know I can't adequately figure out the amount of time to get there, even with, like a maps program, okay, it's 30 minutes, okay, and then I need to park Okay, 40,. But then I'm probably getting there an hour and a half early, cause I just there's. This time. That time is different and I've been trained to. Yeah, so you know it's.
Speaker 2:It can be like you're always really early and you cover that, you mask. Oh, I always have a book or I have a podcast or, depending where it is, I go for a walk or I get a coffee. You know, like I planned this, like no, this was my plan, but it wasn't really a plan, it was just a mask to cover that up, right, yes, you know. Oh, I know. Oh, I have to be there at eight. Okay, no problem. And then all of a sudden it's five to eight, and it's not that I didn't value or anything. So then I go back to. I'm much more okay, I'm leaving very early, not because I'm one of those people that has to be early, but because time is just a little iffy, you are describing my life.
Speaker 1:I mean, you hit it Just the other day. I had to be somewhere and I like over and over again, and I was talking with somebody okay, well, we have to be somewhere here at this time and it takes us 30 minutes to get there, so then I have to do this and that takes me about 20 minutes, and so then, and, and then, like an hour later, I had to do it again because I couldn't remember you know really what I had just said.
Speaker 2:And, like you know, another joke or meme is like oh, if you make an appointment at three o'clock, your day's gone, like you can't do anything, yes, before that. And how do you explain that? Oh, my god, I'll go to work till 12, I'll take lunch and then I'll like.
Speaker 2:But but this if we need preparation time and we need recovery time, recovery time is really important too and I've learned that I still struggle with it because I think I shouldn't, but even like taking a trip or anything like that, I really need to block out a couple of days afterwards. But then I told myself about that, like, why are you on vacation? You don't need to come back, you haven't been doing things. Those are some things. A lot of it has to do with time and organization and emotional reaction. Um, emotional like uh, rejection, sensitivity, just getting really upset about something that other people think isn't that important. At least for me, and I know a lot of other people like it is this deep wound and other people don't see that or understand that. You know you're being too sensitive and so to the extent that you can like sit with it, journal through it or write with it and then get to the other side of it, it's better. But emotional regulation can be hard.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah, you're hitting every single one.
Speaker 2:Personally one of my best friends, the one I was talking about with ADHD and the autism. You know I have learned and this has taken me a really long time to say the texts are like RSD is real. Are you mad at me? And she'll say no, but a lot of people you can't say that to, so I'll be like why, what?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can be oversensitive too at times. You know I know who I can't ask that and I know who I can. And you know I do have one particular friend and she has autism too, and we'll go back and forth. Oh, I haven't heard from you in a week. Are you mad at me? You know that kind of thing. Or I messaged you and you didn't you didn't text me back.
Speaker 2:What's wrong? You know that kind of thing, but I try to not do that to people. I know I can't do that too. Yeah, and there's, there's just so many things and and I think one of the interesting things is, you know, reading those surveys or listening to people, or you know, whether on social media or whatever, and the little ones where they talk about one little trait that they didn't realize. And then, if you realize because I mean I continue to learn things you know, like walking into things, you know the proprioception, the body in space thing.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, you have that too, you do. Oh my gosh, mine is so bad.
Speaker 2:Because I haven't run a lot lately but I used to run like I could run a marathon and maybe get a blister. But I can't walk through a doorway or past a table without smacking into it, oh my gosh. Oh, it totally is. It's a proprioception, an area in space. I had trouble with stairs.
Speaker 1:If you have trouble with stairs, and that was one of the things I always hated to ask somebody, because I was afraid something like more like, do I have a tumor? You know those ways you go? Yeah Well, my spatial is off everywhere I go, especially if I walk into a very open space, I can actually feel like I have to hold on to something.
Speaker 2:That's ADHD. You may be afraid to say to a doctor because they're not going to believe you or you're dying Right.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, that is so. Not that I'm glad that you have that, but I'm glad to find somebody else that truly gets that, because I have that all the time and I also knock over everything. Um, and there could be. It could be a huge room, but I'm gonna walk into that table oh, I'm gonna spell it.
Speaker 2:There was an apple store in town that had glass. I don't know if they were glass or plastic, whatever, but they were clear, see-through stairs to the second story. Yeah, it dizzy like, like almost sick to my stomach, gosh, trying to walk up or stairs I had when I worked in an office and like, usually stairs are like this, but like this part was open. So there was stairs, stairs, stair, but it was open. Yes, oh, I hated that staircase.
Speaker 1:I can't do things like that either, and my mom, my mom never let me pour anything, because I always spilled everything. So all my spatial, no depth perception, you know all that kind of stuff, yeah, very, very off. I mean, you are speaking my language? Oh my gosh, this is so interesting to me. You are speaking my language? Oh my gosh, this is so interesting to me. So you know, though, you've become successful in spite of all of this. What was your career path like? I mean, what kind of things?
Speaker 2:did you encounter along the way? So I ended up in teaching and I was teaching and I was teaching mostly like special ed and general ed and English. That fit me, I think, in lots of ways, because there's so much structure Like we don't like structure. Don't tell me what to do, but I also have to have structure. Teaching in a high school. You have bells, you have calendars, you have and that's one of the things since I left I have really really struggled with is time. I have some structures in place that work really well, so it allowed some of that.
Speaker 2:When I then moved into more of an administrative role, it was not good because the rules, all of that was just not good for me.
Speaker 2:And so realization, especially with the pandemic, I wanted to be able to go out.
Speaker 2:The rules, all of that was just not good for me. And so realization, especially with the pandemic, I wanted to be able to go out and help other people and talk to other people and also realize the things that have happened to me, how they impacted, and I always feel good when I listen to a podcast or I read something and I hear somebody talking and they're talking to me. That can make such a difference in that day, like oh, here's somebody who responds, I'm not alone. I know there's a lot of people with ADHD who are entrepreneurs, but it's also hard that out there bit you know. But I just feel like at this point in my life, at this stage of my life, just wanting to make contact with people and connect with people and just help somebody in some way, because that's what means so much to me, when I hear something from somebody, or just you know talking to you and you validate what I've said yes, you know, yes. And if anybody listening is like, yes, these two women they're talking about this.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, you know, one of the things that you touched was about time, and if all of a sudden I have time, I am lost, like I don't know what to do. Something accountable do? It is structured, if it's planned, if I I mean when I wake up I have boom, boom, boom, boom. I am good.
Speaker 2:But all of a sudden, if I've got time, it's like I don't know what to do, Even though I have like 10 things to do.
Speaker 1:I go from thing to thing to thing and it wasn't structured for me, so I'm really not getting anything done because it's just not structured.
Speaker 2:When I just say outside of the classroom, like there was a meeting and then it was canceled, right, other people would be, oh great, I have an hour. And I would feel like, oh my gosh, no what. I'm in an office space, I go to a co-working place because, yes, I could be at home, yeah, but I'm not doing work, so I have to get up and go to someplace else and train my brain. Okay, I'm working here. My calendar and journal museum that I call it. You know, always buying a new one. This one's going to do, and I finally let go of some of the guilt about that. And if I buy a calendar and I use it for three months and then I get bored with it and I find another one, who cares? You know there's a lot of guilt in the ADHD world about buying these and then you don't use them or you don't use them for very long. Okay, I used for three months. It kept my life together, yeah, oh, here's another pretty one who cares.
Speaker 1:You know the ADHD brain is so interesting to me. Can?
Speaker 2:you share some of your go-to strategies that help calm the chaos that's going on in our brains. So things that really help me are sometimes just shutting down, letting myself just go somewhere quiet Okay, with my dog or outside. I live somewhere where it's easy to go outside a lot of the time. Just kind of getting outside can really help. Some of the things that really help me to get things done that I really rely on are the Pomodoro method and body doubling. Okay, what's that? Okay, which one? Both of them, yeah, okay. So Pomodoro, it's this idea that you work for a certain amount of time and then you take a break, and the traditional is like 25 minutes, and there's apps where you just set a timer. Okay, so I work for 25 minutes and then I take a break, and I'll probably do that like twice, and then the third time I take a longer break. Okay, really try to make myself get up, go to the bathroom, drink some water, get something to eat, move away, and so I find it helpful in many ways. It can be okay.
Speaker 2:I'm working on this project and I'm going to break it down into these little chunks. It can be. I don't want to do this thing and it's going to take me more than 10 minutes, but I will spend all day staring at it. So I'm going to do it in one combo and if I get done early, I've got extra time. Um, I may find you have a lot of unread emails. Yes, I'm like, yeah, I'm just going to spend 25 minutes. I'm not going to go through all of them. I'm going to spend 25 minutes and I'm going to go through emails and I'm done. There's a reverse Pomodoro where you really, really don't want to do it and so I say, for 25 minutes I'm going to go do what I want and then for five minutes I'm just going to do this thing. And then sometimes you find you can do more and, if you like, I looked at emails for five minutes. Okay, that's it. I find it really helpful for me and I know there's other people and you can vary the time. Maybe you're really into something. It's longer, maybe I'm just doing 10 minute chunks. My brain is somewhere else. 10 minutes break, 10 minutes a break.
Speaker 2:Body double is like co-working it's working with somebody else but you're doing different things. So it's kind of like with little kids um, parallel play where, and, and it's really great on zoom. That's one of the good things about Zoom is we can meet and it works good with Pomodoro, and I have bills to pay and you have I don't know a party to plan, I don't know a chapter to write, whatever. And we take a minute and we say hey, and this is what I'm going to do, and you tell me what you want to do, and then for 25 minutes we don't talk to each other, we go on mute and we do our little thing.
Speaker 2:Our brains see that each other's working and we do it, and then we take a little break and you can do it in person. You could do it on zoom. You can even just go to a. In a way, if you go to a coffee shop and you're able to, you know, funnel out the background noise it's there too is then okay, your brain is like, oh, it's time to work, okay, and so then that's why I like mixing it in with the Pomodoro, so it's like 25 minutes and then, okay, I can watch people or I can get on my phone and set the timer.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, because we would lose track of time. For sure, yes.
Speaker 2:Yes. So those are some ways and you can use them at home, you can use them at work. You know, finally, I'm going to go take a walk for 25 minutes. I'm just 25 minutes. I'm just going to take a walk, or whatever it is you want to do. Those are some things that I find really helpful.
Speaker 1:You touch on how long coaching programs can be overwhelming, but sometimes it's that quick win that builds momentum. Can you break down small changes that make a big difference in a client or in yourself?
Speaker 2:I think that sometimes we have a tendency to make really big projects, really grand ideas, and so if we can start narrowing them down into one thing, one task, one little goal for the next hour, the next week, whatever, then it's easier to get that done and not get lost in all the other details that you're trying to do Okay, that's helpful. Breaking things down and getting out of this big picture thing is, I think, helpful. So the way I've learned to manage my time is, as I mentioned that it was hard since I had stopped teaching and being in an office is I do what I call a three-day sprint. So each week, what's my little goal? And I spend three days, usually Monday, tuesday, wednesday, working on that and I figure out with everything else how much time do I actually have those days? And then I throw in a CEO I call it CEO adult. The last. Then I throw in a CEO I call it CEO adult day because I hate that and then a relax and evaluate day. And so it's.
Speaker 2:If I'm working on, this is good, something I'm creating, okay, and it takes practice, right, figuring out how long something takes. But one of the things it's not to be hard on yourself If I say, okay, I'm going to write a chapter, say Monday, tuesday, wednesday. I have four hours each day, my focus, my sprint, I'm doing a sprint, I'm writing this chapter. Now things may come up and I'm not going to be hard on myself, or I may get two chapters written, but at the end of the week I can look back and say, okay, yeah, okay, but then the dog got sick Tuesday and I lost some time, but that's okay.
Speaker 2:So then next week, this Because telling, because ADHD, you can have this tendency to say I'm going to do it all now. I'm going to do this every day for the next month, and for me this is a life. So really learning to break it down, yeah, that's one way that I have found. I had based it on something I'd heard about where some people were doing like three weeks sprint and then one week off, and I'm like that that is not going to happen. Three days, you know I can do something for three days.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're talking, I think, about executive functioning and you know I have these really grand ideas, but to be able to execute them, it's two different things, and you know even just getting from A to B sometimes is big yeah, so I want to make a company that just comes up with ideas, like sometimes I'll throw them on social media. Here's a great idea. I'm not doing it. Somebody thinks it's free, it's yours.
Speaker 1:I come up with ideas all the time. It even happens in my kitchen because, like I'll watch really great recipes and I'm like I can do this, and I mean you could. The execution isn't the same.
Speaker 2:No. And then if you bought the groceries, then they all go bad, yes, no.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, this is crazy.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's like I wish the me that signed up for this or went shopping or agreed to do this is the me that's here today, because they're two different people.
Speaker 1:Right, oh my gosh, yes, okay. Another thing that you say is how do you manage ADHD from the inside out? So what does that mean to you?
Speaker 2:moving away from experts we talked about.
Speaker 2:You go to the doctor and then they say no, you don't have it.
Speaker 2:I've mentioned a few things that are not ADHD medicines, but depression medicines and outside things, whereas for me and it's hard, I don't have all the answers, but it's eating, remembering to eat and drink water and move my and breathe and be nice to myself, be social, have connections, doing these things inside and accepting that my ADHD brain works different. But this is a lifetime of unlearning and learning and trying. Another word I've been using a lot lately is experiments instead of goals or things like that. I'm going to do this as an experiment. I'm going to try to go to a new independent bookstore once a week to see what that's like, and this is an experiment, and so it takes some of the pressure off. Not getting mad at myself if it's an experiment I guess it didn't work but the more we can kind of move away from outside people to not that they don't have information and sources and all kinds of things, but also getting into yourself and relying on yourself and really being there for yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that that's really, really important, because we put ourselves on the back burner lots of times. We're one of the last ones that we think of. You know, I went to your website and you were all about holistic and I started jotting down the foods and different things like that that you were having on your website. You know, I would like to know more about this the foods versus medication. Do you think the foods we eat make a difference in our ability to focus?
Speaker 2:I mean, I think they do. I mean, I noticed for myself for so many things it depends how you're eating. You know I'm vegetarian, but you don't have to be. But when I'm remembering to eat, when I'm being more mindful of my choices, it helps. Something I've started doing is deciding that, you know we can play all these diet games, all these. I should be eating this. I need 17 servings of vegetables a day.
Speaker 2:But what I've decided, and I'm mostly keeping to it, is I'm eating three what I call meals a day, and for me, a meal is a protein, a carb, some fat and some fruit or vegetable, and it can be a huge. It can be like a little if I'm not hungry, like it's an easy way to get and this is just me in my mind to get. Oh okay, I did eat three. You know, maybe it was yogurt and granola and berries and whatever, or maybe it was actually. You know your little food groups, but I feel like that has given me a little freedom and I'm much more likely to do that instead of these rules that at other times I might put on, you know.
Speaker 1:I just think that so many times the go-to is medicine. Yes, and I don't know. I have three littles with autism and ADHD and they're on a lot of medications and I would love to get them off. And you know food dyes and different things like that. I mean, I know that a lot of the things that we ingest contribute to our inability to do to change some of these behaviors. Some of these things, this focus.
Speaker 2:And just to be healthy. Yeah, I think that there's probably times when medication is appropriate. There may be there may be not Shortages of medication. I think that there's probably times when medication is appropriate there may be there may be shortages of medication. Was it a couple years ago now? Yeah, okay, maybe you need that. Maybe you need glasses. Don't take my glasses from me, it's not going to be good when I'm driving. But also, what are other things? Do you find that when you get exercise, when you do these things or stay away from alcohol or sugar or red dye, you feel better? And that's so much individual and it can be hard to get information because so many doctors are just here. Take this.
Speaker 1:Right, and sometimes it's after a very brief visit. It's just like okay.
Speaker 2:And I think there's not enough discussion about what else it does to you, you know, while you're taking it. Or I know we're not talking about like antidepressants right now, but what going off, the process of going off, what it does to you is not for the weak at heart. What it does to you is not for the weak at heart. Yeah, and I don't think they talk about that and with everything okay. So there's good and there's bad, and maybe this medicine does the good, does override the bad.
Speaker 1:Right Now. I mean, let's talk about grief and traumas. You know these things are inevitable and you touched on it regarding your husband and I am so sorry that that happened. You know you are a grief-informed neurodivergence specialist. Can you talk more about how these things in our life affect women with ADHD? Sure.
Speaker 2:So we know that with ADHD we could be more emotional. We have emotional regulation, cognitive functioning, the executive functioning all of those are a challenge. And then, when you really look at it, with grief and loss and anything from death, losing your job, maybe how you feel about what's going on in the world or something that's happened in your community, if you separate those out, those also impact how you feel emotionally and how you assess things. And you know things like grief, brain is, you know, not remembering things Right, all of that, and so you push it together and everything kind of gets so much more. You know, explaining to my therapist and explaining to other people that, well, I have trouble remembering things because of the ADHD. Now I have all this other stuff and I have even more trouble remembering things.
Speaker 2:Adhd means managing life takes this much out of me. But oh, now there's a death or any kind of big thing. Whether you've lost your job, whatever, there are external things going on. Right, you have to find a new job or you have to make arrangements or you have to do this. So you've got all of those things you have to do and you've got all of life things that you have to do, and the ADHD makes that hard and the grief makes that hard. And so giving yourself more support and finding people who can just give you grace and be like, yeah, that's a lot, because back to, as women, I should have this, I should have this. And then the mask gets even bigger. Right, it falls apart.
Speaker 1:Right, it does. Yeah, and we try really hard to hold it together.
Speaker 2:But it's yeah and we try really hard to hold it together. But it's yeah and, like I mentioned briefly, like even finding out you have ADHD or autism can be bring on grief. This is a huge life view change. That's not the word I'm looking for, but you know like something has dramatically changed now, just like I would imagine if you get a cancer diagnosis. Just like I would imagine if you get a cancer diagnosis or something is happening in your town, you know you've lost your job. These are big, life-altering things that impact you and you have the ADHD that impacts you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that we internalize things pretty deeply and we get stuck. It's hard to move on sometimes I know that I make myself move on. My dad died when I was 11. And you know, our life just picked up and moved on the next day. You know, not that we were in the grief, but I'm just saying you know, my mom was a really good example of okay, now I got to get a job, now I got to do this. We just got to keep going, and I think that that really helped me realize in the middle of grief or whatever, you know, there is a minute to sit in it or whatever we need to do. But we also need to figure it out. We have to figure it out, it out, we have to figure it out. But I've always been this person with autism and ADHD, where I'm hurting a lot more than I'm showing, and I think that we can help ourselves by finding ways to let that out.
Speaker 2:You know you said we deal with it. We could feel it in the moment, but then we need to move on. But, like you probably know, it's not gone, it's still there.
Speaker 1:But like you probably know it's not gone, it's still there. There's obvious reasons, anniversaries, things like that.
Speaker 2:There's just I don't know what happened today, but need to be understood and that hits me where I live. So can you unpack that statement, your life events, and you don't need to be fixed and made neurotypical or a robot or an unborn person? Yeah, I feel best when I feel like somebody sees me and they're like, yeah, either whether they've been through that or something like that or nothing, but they have some empathy and they're like, okay, I see that that's hard, not. Oh, why aren't you over it yet? Oh, just do it. Oh, why don't you just go get on some beds? Do you have a therapist? You know, like those are all magical things that are going to fix it like that.
Speaker 2:So I don't know that I need to be fixed. I would like to work with me better and I would like people to work with me better and I would like to work with me better and I would like people to work with me better and I would like to work with other people better and have more compassion, for which, if you said I mean, we're all going through something, I'd not. You're alive right now without feeling grief about something in your life and so just, I see you because it's me. I don't want you to tell me what to do, unless I'm asking. You know Right.
Speaker 1:See me Right. Yeah, that's really good advice. So what advice do you have for workplaces?
Speaker 2:educators or even families who want to better support someone with ADHD. One of the things I've been saying lately is just education, learn, read books or articles or listen to podcasts. Just get some general information, open your mind and get some general information and then also be open to talking to that person. Because, just like cancer hits or the flu hits people differently, adhd autism it hits you differently at different points in your life. So talk to me, tell me what's going on with you, what's hard on you. I read that some people with ADHD have time, have trouble with emotion, emotional regulation. Talk to me about that and so be open and talk to them. And what do you struggle with and what makes that easier? You know, I've talked to, I think, if you have kids and you're struggling, or even within your relationship, maybe re-looking at the chores or the jobs or at work, the requirements. So these are the things that need to be done. And right now you're doing A, b and C and I'm doing D, e and F.
Speaker 2:I had to stop for a minute but maybe like we switched, like I really hate A but I would do F. I'm like, okay, you know we can do that. Is there something at work. Do you just need a quieter space? Do you need instructions? Do you need to be reminded to bring a notebook so that when somebody's telling you some things to do, you can write them down, because otherwise, just like names, they're in and it's out and listening and you know, for doctors, for everybody, you probably really don't know that much about it. And also asking, like, what do you want me to know? Oh, anne, what would you like me to know about you and your autism and how that's going right now? What would you like me to know?
Speaker 1:And so I think things like that and just learning more, you know, if it's even a small organization or workplace environment, I guess you could put it out there. You know, I was just thinking of this while you were talking because our conversation has really helped me even understand myself better and be validated. So just you know, hey, is there other people out there that are neurodivergent and maybe we can all come together, people that are typical and neurodivergent, and be able to sit and talk together within the workplace, maybe just you know, one hour, and get to know each other and see how we can help you and how you can help us and you know, maybe something like that, and just really be open.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've worked with people. They have come to me they have not come through their employer, but who have been struggling with things at work and we've worked through what is your boss saying and what are you saying and how is this a struggle and what can you do. But also some workplaces. May I know they hire executive coaches for people they may be interested in. Oh yeah, you've either told me you have ADHD or this seems to be a thing, and we're willing to invest a little bit of money in having some coaching sessions to help them figure out better ways to be successful, given the way you are.
Speaker 1:Right what you need. You know, as some I've wondered this for having autism and ADHD and everybody's different maybe in how they're going to handle this. But I was just curious do you go into a job interview letting them know, or do you slay the interview because you practiced and practiced, like I often do, going into something like that and then slay the initial job requirement and then slowly let them know?
Speaker 2:So that's going to be a personal decision. I think it's going to have to do probably with where you are, the place you're at, how much they're following IDEA and you know some of the laws. I mean it can go both ways. You could bring it up in ways less of saying I mean you can say you have ADHD, that's perfectly fine, and then be able to talk about it. These are the things that I do well, but that's a hard one. That really is, and I think that's really individualized and I wouldn't want to tell somebody just what to do. I know some of that then would probably go through HR If you're really asking for accommodations.
Speaker 2:Another way is really considering what you need and where you work well and making sure in that interview and asking questions. That would give you then answers that say yes, this is the kind of place that operates in this way and I might be successful here, or no. I walk around and everyone's in this open area and it's really noisy and I know that's just not going to work. That's good. You know kind of that self-inquiry like what do I do well, what do I need help with and what are questions I could ask and little spidey senses I could come up with to see if, hmm, is this really the fit, instead of because what you're talking about and I do it too is putting on that mask, going into the interview presenting how you think they want you to be and then having to show up like that versus this is who I am and I want a job that fits that. Now, that means you have to be able to be picky with a job and those sorts of things.
Speaker 1:You know you had a really good point in that. It's also an interview for yourself with them and knowing if this is a good fit right.
Speaker 2:I want to make you like me or friend. I want to make you like me without Wait do I like you?
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I mean that's. That's an interesting point, because I'm always so busy trying to impress, to get them to like me, that you know it's interesting to go into it, looking around and saying, does this fit who I am? Yeah, what would you say to a woman that might be listening right now who's undiagnosed overwhelmed? Maybe she's gone to places and she's getting that? No, I mean, but she's sitting there saying you know what, maybe this is me, like you did when you started relating with your students. You know, what do you say to somebody who is listening right now?
Speaker 2:I'd say believe in yourself. I would say start doing some looking and figuring out what you do well and keep working on that, figuring out things that you need some help with. Think about right now does having this diagnosis really matter to me right now? Because you can say right now I'm not ready to do it, to fight for this, and you can open your mind and do it later. But kind of figuring out what you're hoping to get out of it, how important that piece of paper, that official diagnosis, is for you. And in the meantime, or instead, what are ways you can start learning and doing some things? Maybe just coaching, maybe listening to other people, maybe reading some books or listening to some podcasts and just getting some information, maybe tabling it for a little while.
Speaker 2:Or what's one thing you struggle with, what's really hard right now that you think is related to the ADHD, and how can you get some help to work on that, either flat out asking someone to do something for you, if going grocery shopping is overwhelming and too much hiring, or finding or trading with somebody else to do it, or learning a skill, or learning more about yourself and what really works for you, because people will say my sister has ADHD and she does this. Well, that doesn't necessarily work for you. You can try it, but it might not. So if you're really having trouble getting through to doctors and deciding how important that is for you, you offer a lot of services too.
Speaker 1:That is for you. You offer a lot of services too, and you have a free guide for people with ADHD who are ready to reclaim their life. You have on your website. Can you talk about what's inside and how it can help?
Speaker 2:Sure. So one of the first things is some 30 quick and easy hacks and it just spells out some things that you could do that you know sometimes when we're overwhelmed we have a hard time thinking about it. You know whether it's taking five minutes to just do a task, whether it's deleting five emails that are just in your way, but breaking things down into something small that you can do and feel some success, a lot of it can be just these really little, small, subtle shifts that you can make in your thinking, or taking five minutes to do something that, if you allow yourself it, can build success. We're not going to take on everything and change everything over and over, and we don't even need to change a lot of it. Maybe we need to change how we look at it a little bit, what we do, how we relate to people about it.
Speaker 1:It really can be about those small wins. I really think, because we can get overwhelmed with big. That's how I operate. What can I do today? And I try actually not to even look further than that, because then it just gets too big.
Speaker 2:I get it. I plan out the whole rest of the year of all this stuff and that's kind of its own activity. Is just planning. Following through is a different story.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about your upcoming book, if you can. I mean, you do have an upcoming book. What inspired you to write this book and what can readers expect?
Speaker 2:So the book that I'm working on that is about ADHD holistic hacks for women with ADHD and looking at women in ADHD ways that you can manage it, ways that you can work on it with yourself you can expect being able to walk through some steps, learn more about yourself and really kind of go into yourself and figuring out what your goals are, your needs are, hearing about how some other women have done it, getting some, basically, support and community in doing that. I also have a card deck I've created that's something that you can carry with you. So a book is bigger, something small and has some little scenarios and just real quick wins that you can use. I love that. Yes, so that's going to be on the website and the big book is a great thing. It's a big project, but I'm also looking at that and like smaller things, realizing that, at least for me. I know Bookshelf have big ADHD books and I read some of it. Here's something smaller on a struggle you're having right now. You know.
Speaker 1:I like the social stories aspect of it too, because you know I'll even go to a store and I'll be in the checkout. You know, and I'll have the scenario through my head, what I'm supposed to do, how I'm supposed to act, what I'm supposed to say. So I mean, those kinds of social stories are really important to be successful.
Speaker 2:So the card deck is. Here's the little social story, a little bit about what's going on, so you understand. And then here here's a couple of real quick things you could do right now. You know you're at work and you thought you did this project right and your boss is now upset with you. So, adhd-wise, this is what's going on, and here's a couple of things. Here's something now upset with you. So, adhd wise, this is what's going on and here's a couple of things. Here's something now I can do.
Speaker 1:Right, and you're holding on to it. I mean, you can visually see it, so you can just go ahead and do exactly what it says. I think that's perfect. Yeah, there's room for everything. So can you talk about the other services that you offer, because you speak and some other?
Speaker 2:things Coaching and I'm moving much more towards shorter blocks. Again, like I talked about working on specific goals, specific this is what I really want to work on, and then we can continue. We want to keep working on it. I find that that helps because you've either picked something very important, like my boss is saying this or my partner is saying this, or some little thing that you want to change and you're seeing success in doing that. So I like to do coaching with that.
Speaker 2:I'm going to start offering and I haven't figured out the logistics. But, like I was talking about, the three, three day sprint for me is so powerful, figuring different ways to offer that, to support people in that. Okay, I also do some consulting, trying to figure out. I can do some teaching for HR, doctors, therapists, that kind of stuff going in, and here is some up-to-date information and how to use it with your patients. If you're a therapist, what do you need to know about the ADHD brain, the female ADHD brain, to go with what? You've got this great knowledge here, but there's a little hole, so let's see if we can fill it like that.
Speaker 1:You really offer so much. How can people get a hold of you? What's your website?
Speaker 2:It's ADHDholisticallycom. I'm also on Instagram and threads and I'm starting up I'm not sure when this is coming out but on Substack, really being able to write and just share, share, share, share little subtle things. So you can reach out to me on the website, dm me on those platforms. There's an email link on the website and if there's something that you need you know, let's talk. You know, one of the things with ADHD is I like to have all these different ideas and I'm finding this is allowing me to do different creative projects that are creative for me. Maybe you want something presented at your meeting or anything that you have like that, and also starting to go out then with the card deck and the little books to bookshops and just little community things, because I like little community talking.
Speaker 1:I like those kind of events. You know, connection is really hard for people like us, and so that's really great to have these kind of things, because we meet so many different people that we wouldn't have met any other way and like we wouldn't have met, and I think that that's so important. And having conversations and getting to know other people that are neurodivergent and things like that, I mean it really builds a community. I think this is so important. I agree we don't have to do it alone.
Speaker 2:No, no, not at all, and we have been.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we really do think that we have to, especially women. So I love that you've built this because you really are building a community. So I love that you've built this because you really are building a community. Now, just for fun this is the last question, but what's one? Because you know what ADHD and autism, any kind of neurodivergence, can also be a positive. You know, I love who I am and I really wouldn't change me. But what superpower would you say that you have, that you wouldn't trade for anything?
Speaker 2:My creative brain, the way that when I get off on something I can just come up with so many ideas. And then if I'm with somebody who is accepting of that, you know it's fun just getting in there, exploring, coming up with all the ideas. Like I said, I want to have a business where I just give people ideas.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, there's a lot going on up here. There's a lot going on up there there really is, and so that's so interesting because it does come out in a lot of creative ways, and if we can tap into that, I mean that is so important. And, you know, sometimes just doing things like this and somebody can ask a question, and that is the landing place that I needed for me to execute. The next spot, you know so that's really important too is just being able to have that conversation and it really can lead you to the next point in the map. Yeah, completely Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Dr Jennifer. Thank you so much for joining us and sharing your insight and your story, your proof that it's never too late to understand your brain and unlock your life. Remember, there is always purpose in the pain and hope in the journey. Here. We always turn pain into purpose, and that's exactly what we did today. Go to Dr Jennifer's website and share this with anyone who might need her guidance. Grab her free guide. Check out ADHD holistically and remember there is no normal, only what works for you. Take care of you, take care of your brain and, as usual, we will see you next time.
