I Have ADHD Podcast

Latest Episodes:

238 A Beginner’s Guide to ADHD, Part 2: ADHD is (NOT) a Gift Nov 21, 2023

Show notes

Is ADHD a superpower? Is it not a superpower? We’ll talk about that today, in our “Getting Back to Basics” series, part 2.
If you’ve been around here a while, you know that my position is – NO! ADHD is not a superpower. It’s not a gift. It’s not awesome!
When people say ADHD is a gift or a superpower, they point to traits like creativity, hyperfocus, and inventiveness.
So sure, Simon Sinek, if you’re a rich, white, super smart, privileged man, you can look at some of the qualities that you have and say – “ADHD is an amazing quality of my life.”
But here’s the thing: If you’re a student struggling in school with very few resources, without the privilege of a diagnosis, treatment, or support, who’s being made fun of or rejected by their peers, then – NO, ADHD is not a gift.
Labeling ADHD as a superpower invalidates people who are struggling with this neurodevelopmental disorder. It can even lead to victim-blaming: “If ADHD is awesome, then I’m the problem.”
In my opinion, this is not the right way to address ADHD. It’s actually quite the opposite.
I worked for a decade with students and their parents. I, myself, am a parent to two children with ADHD. I’ve found out, time and again, that telling children the truth, validating their struggles, and giving them coping skills is a better way to go.
Saying ADHD is awesome invalidates your true experience and reality. Instead, understand ADHD challenges and understand how to cope and reach out for help and support.
It's so important for us to live in the reality of what ADHD is and how it affects us.
As you navigate your ADHD journey, I want you to know that YOU are amazing, not ADHD. YOU are the gift, not ADHD. Your personality, your goodness, and your generosity are all gifts. Don’t let ADHD take the credit for your badassery!
If you want help better understanding the role ADHD plays in your life, I invite you to check out my group coaching program FOCUSED. Come join our incredible community of like-minded people who are learning to thrive with their diagnosis instead of just surviving.
Come hang out with me on Instagram HERE.
AG1 by Athletic Greens

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237 Going Back to the ADHD Basics (A Refresher on Adult ADHD) Nov 14, 2023

Show notes

Hello, my friend. I’m so glad that you’re here and that you’re taking steps to live your best life while you’re on this ADHD journey. Today, we’re going back to the basics of ADHD — because sometimes the noise can cause us to forget what’s *actually* going on inside these beautiful brains of ours. 🧠
Those of us who were diagnosed with ADHD as adults often try to mask our symptoms and hide them from the outside world because we are so used to experiencing rejection as children. If we don’t get the support we need, it can be easy to let these symptoms debilitate us and hinder our progress in life.
If you feel you have ADHD, I’m here to encourage you to talk to a clinician. Have a convo with someone who knows about the disorder and can help you navigate your symptoms. You can also visit my website for a full list of ADHD symptoms.
Come hang out with me on Instagram HERE.

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236 FOCUSED Member Chat: How Does Generational Trauma Impact Us? Nov 07, 2023

Show notes

When it comes to the way we function as adults, our family history plays a much larger role than many of us think. In this podcast episode, I’m talking with FOCUSED member CJ about generational trauma and its impact on adult ADHDers.
Growing up, CJ's parents emotionally neglected her as they were dealing with their own emotional immaturity and symptoms of ADHD. Meanwhile, CJ was struggling with undiagnosed ADHD which caused her to act out without anyone to turn to.
When she received an official ADHD diagnosis at 51 years old, CJ started to research the symptoms and realized her family was heavily affected by ADHD. This realization helped her start to make sense of some of the generational trauma she experienced as a child and teen.
It also helped to explain her impulsive, risk-taking behavior growing up. CJ was always unaware of her actions, lacked self-awareness, and never understood why people reacted to her the way they did.
As an adult, she carried some of this emotional dysregulation with her. Fortunately, through therapy and life coaching, she was able to work through some of her own trauma to prevent handing it down to her daughter.
If you’ve experienced generational trauma that you know has impacted your life, I highly recommend you seek out a trauma-informed therapist or coach to help you. You might want to check out my group coaching program, FOCUSED, which is a safe space where you can join others like you who are recognizing the effects of their history and beginning to thrive as an adult with ADHD.
Come hang out with me on Instagram HERE.

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235 The ADHDers Guide to Being Proactive (Even With a Reactive Brain) Oct 31, 2023

Show notes

Fair warning: this episode brings the heat. This is a topic I’ve felt compelled to discuss a lot lately, and I’m not holding back.
As adults with ADHD, our brains are reactive. This means that when there’s a stimulus (aka phone notification, a child calling for you, etc.), our brains are naturally triggered to react. We lack impulse control, so our instinct is to respond immediately.
Someone who's proactive, on the other hand, will slow down first. They’ll take a breath and decide when it’s in their best interest to react. They don’t act out of impulse, and they aren’t constantly putting out fires or managing other people’s issues at their own expense.
So, how do you morph into someone proactive as an ADHDer? First, you have to take care of your most basic needs. Be sure you’re medicating, staying hydrating, getting into nature, and moving your body in a way that feels good to you.
Secondly, you MUST decide what you want and be willing to fight for it. You cannot create or control a situation if you don’t know what you want. Give yourself the space and time to find out what you want. And remember: to live the life you want, you can’t keep pleasing other people.
In this episode, I’m breaking down everything I wish I’d known years ago about being a proactive human, including why it’s important to stop saying yes to everyone else’s request so I can start living in reactive mode.
If you want a safe space together where you can feel seen and heard as you go through this work, I invite you to check out FOCUSED, my group coaching program for adults with ADHD. Inside FOCUSED, I can take care of you and support you as we work through this together.
Come hang out with me on Instagram HERE.
AG1 by Athletic Greens

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234 The Unexpected Link Between Trauma & Your Messy Home Oct 24, 2023

Show notes

When I discovered Stacy Scott while scrolling through Instagram, I immediately knew I had to get her on the podcast. Stacy is an internationally known decluttering expert, feng shui practitioner, and occupational therapist with three wildly successful decluttering workshops. Unlike a lot of other organization and decluttering coaches, Stacy focuses on recognizing how trauma impacts your ability to clean so you can make your space your own.
As someone who grew up in an energetically chaotic environment, it took me years to realize the way this affected my interaction with my own space. It was really difficult for me to learn how to keep a home that felt good to me (read: not a perfectly organized home) — I felt like I was failing my family. A huge part of getting past this was unpacking my own trauma story and healing.
Unfortunately, this is something I hear from my clients all the time. “I don’t understand why they can keep a clean house and I can’t.” It feels like failure, but I promise you, it’s not.
In this podcast episode, Stacy talks about how her own trauma held her back. After spending years in denial, she decided to do the work herself. Through the process, she discovered that her past trauma would pop up in her mind as she thought about her possessions. Once she became aware of her triggers, she used her own methods to move through them.
For Stacy, the modality of inner child healing helps her clients identify what might be coming up for them through this work. They’ll often discover that their possessions represent past trauma in their lives, and, really, “It’s not really about the stuff. It’s about what the stuff means to you.”
For those of you with ADHD, trauma-informed decluttering can feel overwhelming. Know that you don’t have to clean up everything at once. Take it one step at a time. Throw away one possession at a time. It’s not too late to take back your space and your life.
To learn more about working with Stacy, you can find her on:

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube *coming soon*

Her website

If you’re doing the work to declutter your home and find you need some support to do your best work as someone with ADHD, I encourage you to check out my group coaching program FOCUSED. Inside this program, you’ll be able to get ADHD-specific coaching alongside an amazing and encouraging community.
Come hang out with me on Instagram HERE!

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233 One Year Sober: A Mom's Perspective on Weed and ADHD with Natalie Chien Oct 17, 2023

Show notes

We have a unique episode this week, covering a topic I’ve honestly never known how to approach here: cannabis use for adults with ADHD. First things first, you need to know that this episode will be only one perspective on a subject I’d never pretend to be an expert in.
Joining me is a very special guest, Natalie Chien, @Natalie.C.ADHD who is not only a member of my group coaching program FOCUSED, but she’s also completed my ADHD coaching program! Natalie was formerly addicted to recreational marijuana and is now celebrating one year of sobriety after smoking for almost two decades.
Like many everyday marijuana users, Natalie started smoking with friends at a young age, but by the time she reached college, she had developed a serious dependency and failed to learn real and beneficial coping mechanisms to deal with things like stress and family issues.
On top of that, Natalie had an underlying suspicion that she had ADHD, but it went undiagnosed and largely untreated until her thirties. Today she can look back and recognize that the marijuana numbed her of any and all real feelings, and emotional regulation was never even on her radar until she joined FOCUSED. She missed out on significant life experiences and self-development by being tied down to a plant with temporary benefits.
The biggest message both Natalie and I want to leave our listeners with in this episode is that those of us with ADHD are more susceptible to substance use and addiction. When our ADHD is left undiagnosed, unmedicated, or untreated, we will inevitably find some way or something to help us feel better. For Natalie, starting therapy, ADHD medication and joining FOCUSED opened her up mentally and physically to start making serious life changes and motivated her to step away from cannabis use entirely.
See below for an insightful article on ADHD and cannabis as well as where you can connect with Natalie. For those of you who have never tried ADHD coaching before, I invite you to come join us in FOCUSED.
Resources:
ADHD and Marijuana; What's the Attraction?
Come hang out with me on Instagram HERE!

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232 Your Brain's Not Broken with Dr. Tamara Rosier Oct 10, 2023

Show notes

Tamara Rosier, Ph.D., has joined me for a discussion on my absolute favorite sections of her book, Your Brain’s Not Broken. Tamara is a fellow ADHD coach and the founder of the ADHD Center of West Michigan.
We waste no time at all diving into her personal journey to an ADHD diagnosis at 40 years young and what living day-to-day with this neurodivergent disorder has looked like throughout her life. You’ll notice a common theme in being her authentic self while simultaneously working through how to connect with and be sensitive to the neurotypical community.
I highly encourage all of my listeners to check out Your Brain’s Not Broken, whether in a physical book or audiobook format, because Tamara has such a unique way of changing readers’ perceptions and bringing clarity to concepts that are difficult for ADHDers, like emotional regulation and setting boundaries.
In this episode, we cover a wide range of topics in her book, such as masking, vulnerability, convergent vs. divergent thinking and the individual houses (or psyches) we all have to protect and maintain for a healthy mind.
It’s a beautiful and super satisfying conversation on so many aspects of living life with ADHD that I could have kept talking to Tamara for hours! So settle in and consider having a book discussion with other friends and loved ones who might benefit from this content.
You can learn more about the book and Tamara at TamaraRosier.com.
Come hang out with me on Instagram HERE!

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231 Acquiring ADHD Medication: Why Is This Process SO DANG HARD?! Oct 03, 2023

Show notes

I’m going to be very honest. This episode is a dedicated “b**** fest” on how hard it is to get the medication prescribed for ADHD. If any of you adults out there have been through this, sometimes it’s therapeutic just to let out all the frustration and feel seen and heard and commiserated with, and that’s what this episode is for.
You all should know by now that I take ADHD medication, but you may not know that I have two kiddos who take medication for ADHD as well. We each are unique and need different things to help us function at our best, and thankfully we have had access to insurance and medical professionals to diagnose us and prescribe appropriate medication. But even with all this support, I have encountered more obstacles with getting one of our prescriptions filled than anyone should ever have to endure in a lifetime!
Unfortunately, I’m not the only one. In this episode, I discuss the various obstacles keeping many of us from receiving ADHD medication and how there seems to be nothing but finger-pointing and petty excuses offered instead of real solutions to solve these issues. I encourage you to read some of the articles I mention, listed below, use tools like GoodRX to get coupons when possible, and communicate early and often with your doctor and pharmacy. At this point in time, no one else is going to advocate for your needs more than you can. It may put all of our impaired executive functions to the test, but darn it, we’ve struggled for far too long to not get the support we need and deserve.
While it in no way can take the place of medication and adequate trauma-informed therapy, I want you to know that my group coaching program FOCUSED can be another source of support for those of you looking for additional tools to address your ADHD. We see you, we hear you and we validate you.
Resources:

NPR, “Adderall shortage forces some people to scramble, ration or go without”

NewYorkMag.com, “Where's the urgency on the Adderall shortage?”

FDA.gov, “FDA approves multiple generics of ADHD and BED treatment”

Come hang out with me on Instagram HERE!
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230 Racial Identity, Trauma, and ADHD with Annahid Dashtgard Sep 26, 2023

Show notes

My colleague and friend, Annahid Dashtgard, really elevates the podcast this week with a specialized look at racialization within the mental health space. I love that we’re able to broach this topic together as Annahid is so well-versed in creating safe places for people to have hard conversations.
Annahid is the CEO and Co-Founder of Anima Leadership, a consulting firm that helps organizations with everything EDI from diversity basics to advanced belonging.
Annahid has a special and unique perspective as an immigrant who’s been on the receiving end of racism throughout her life and also as someone with ADHD, having only recently been diagnosed in her 40s.
Listeners can expect to learn a lot about the overlap of racial identity, trauma, and ADHD that many communities experience with very little understanding from medical and therapeutic professionals. The truth is, many racialized groups are largely underserved, underrepresented, and underdiagnosed. It’s not always intentional, but it is happening.
I especially appreciate Annahid sharing her thoughts on how clinicians can do better to support these communities, understanding the stigma of mental health among racialized groups, and how the average white person can open themselves up to learning and honoring others without fear of making mistakes.
To glean more brilliant insights from Annahid, check out her two books:

Breaking the Ocean: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Reconciliation

Bones of Belonging

No matter your racial identity, I want to encourage any listeners struggling with accepting or living with their ADHD to check out my group coaching program FOCUSED. I think you’ll find that we are open, honest, and honoring as we all work hard to overcome our neurodivergent struggles and unlock our unlimited potential.
Come hang out with me on Instagram HERE.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

229 ADHD at 74: It's Never Too Late with ADHDer & FOCUSED Member Ellen Sep 19, 2023

Show notes

Most of Ellen's life was spent feeling like a whirling dervish without direction. Everything was a struggle, from school to maintaining a job to arriving anywhere on time.
She learned how to use her big, bold personality to fake it and make it through, even though she regularly battled feelings of inadequacy, shame, and judgment.
Life, as it often does, hit Ellen hard with challenges through her young adulthood, and she found herself battling depression for decades. In hindsight, she now wonders if much of that heaviness came from being neurodivergent, misunderstood, and undiagnosed.
Ellen’s story is so inspirational to me because it’s a testament that it’s never too late to get an ADHD diagnosis and seek help understanding yourself better. Age and past failures will only limit you if you let them.
Surround yourself with a diverse community that will cheer you on, validate your feelings, and support you in the good times and the bad. If you’re looking for a group like this, I encourage you to come join FOCUSED.
Come hang out with me on Instagram HERE.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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