17. Two Tools for Negative Self-Talk

Are you carrying an old wound like me, where you feel like your needs are an inconvenience to others, even though all of the evidence you have suggests otherwise? And even though maybe you know its objectively "a good thing" to communicate your needs & your feelings, you're also kind of like... BUT WHY? Why why why? Why would I do this? Why not just deal with it myself? Aren't my feelings my own responsibility??? What's the point of sharing what your needs and your feelings are when you can theoretically regulate your own emotions??... #lonewolf. If you're reading this and feeling like, "Hi, that's totally me," this episode is for you. Sharing stories & experiences in this ep to highlight the journey from, "I should be able to deal with this on my own" to, "I want to loop you in about how I'm feeling, because I trust you."

In this episode I talk about neuroplasticity frameworks for feeling proud & celebrating ourselves when we have a disconnect between the cognitive experience of—"Yeah, I would like to feel proud of myself about this"—and the deeper, embodied, somatic and emotional experience of feeling proud of ourselves. Also, in this one, I sing you a little song ☺️🎶

"Your brain will do it when it's ready to do it," is a profound truth for me. BUT, sometimes, we can't always wait! Sometimes we have hard deadlines and rigid timelines. So, what do we do then??? The mindset that I talk about today dives into a more active approach that still allows for the intuition and subconscious-level processing that many ADHD + AuDHD brains *need* when it comes to doing the things we want to do.

WHAT IF IT'S ACTUALLY MEANT TO BE EASY??? In this episode we dive into resource states and neuroplasticity frameworks for creative problem solving when we're experiencing executive dysfunction!

In this episode I explore with the pod's first guest, Peter Harrison about autism assessments, masking & unmasking, and what it feels like to mask (and how to approach unmasking!). 

Okay, cool, let's normalize shit weeks, yes... But what do we do when every week feels like a shit week? How do we know what requires radical self-acceptance, and what requires radical change? In this episode I talk about the circumstances in which it might actually be a good thing for someone blow up their whole life.

New Year's got you feeling down? Me too, friend. Me too. If you're not feeling very "woo" or sparkly and shiny at the start of 2024, this message of comfort is for you.

In this episode I talk about uncommonly talked about hyperfixations!! It's not all sunshines and rainbows and crochet amigurumi on this ship! We dive into the experience of hyperfixating on PEOPLE, body-focused and medical hyperfixations, and a "perfectionism" hyperfixation on shiny things in our environment. I also mention how ADHD meds affected my experience of many of these—listen in! **CW: I talk about cancer in this episode**

Editor's note: Hobbies aren't meant to stress you out *without your own enthusiastic consent*. Like, skydiving? Probably stressful. But if it's what you signed up for, because you LOVE IT, because it's worth it to you—then hell yeah. I'm rooting for you. Rock on. But if we're talking about... crochet? Journaling? Scrapbooking??? Learning how to roller-skate again? A different perspective can be helpful.

I hope you remember to have fun <3 

Intimacy is important for human relationships—and it's *also* important for the things we want to do!! These are a reflection of the human relationship with have with ourselves. So, how do we build intimacy, and why should we?? Listen to learn more!