Welcome to the ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast.
Speaker AI'm Kate Moore Youssef and I'm a wellbeing and lifestyle coach, EFT practitioner, mum to four kids, and passionate about helping more women to understand and accept their amazing ADHD brains.
Speaker AAfter speaking to many women just like me and probably you, I know there is a need for more health and lifestyle support for women newly diagnosed with adhd.
Speaker AIn these conversations, you'll learn from insightful guests, hear new findings, and discover powerful perspectives and lifestyle tools to enable you to live your most fulfilled, calm and purposeful life wherever you are on your ADHD journey.
Speaker AHere's today's episode.
Speaker AI'm here today with an amazing ADHD coach, creator and writer.
Speaker AHer name is Meredith Carder and Meredith holds a BS in Psychology and MBA.
Speaker AAnd as a true multi passionate adult with ADHD, Meredith has gained varied experience over the last 20 years working in employee training and development, as well as tackling several small businesses.
Speaker AMeredith prides herself in her ability to hold a supportive space for her clients and facilitate lasting connections in her community for ADHD adults.
Speaker AHummingbird Live and I know you've got a fantastic Instagram account as well.
Speaker AWell, called Hummingbird adhd.
Speaker AHer recent book is called It All Makes Sense now and seeks to both validate the challenges that exist with ADHD and provide empowering strategies for personal growth.
Speaker AI have the book and it does exactly that.
Speaker AIt's called It All Makes Sense Now.
Speaker AEmbrace your ADHD brain to live a creative and colorful life.
Speaker ASo thank you so much, Meredith, for joining me.
Speaker AI'm so excited to talk to you.
Speaker AWe've got a great conversation coming up.
Speaker AWelcome to the podcast.
Speaker BWell, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker ASo you have written this fantastic book and I'm so impressed because it kind of tackles lots of really interesting topics and concepts and really delves into the many unique ways that ADHD shows up.
Speaker ABut I'd love to just find out a little bit about your personal story.
Speaker AWhen did you realize that you had adhd and I guess, how did it manifest for you?
Speaker BWell, I realized I had ADHD very shortly after my daughter's ADHD diagnosis.
Speaker BActually, probably the signs were showing up during that process, filling out that diagnostic paperwork and doing the interviews.
Speaker BAll of a sudden I was realizing a lot of the things she was struggling with were things that I had struggled with my whole life.
Speaker BI didn't have a very wide lens of what ADHD looked like at the time.
Speaker BSo I did had to dig.
Speaker BI did have to dig a little Deeper to understand how some of those symptoms that show up for children, like hyperactivity, show up differently and in girls and women and how they were continuing to impact me.
Speaker BSo I really had dived into a lot of reading and learning after she was diagnosed.
Speaker BAnd that's when I started to really realize that it was me too.
Speaker AYeah, I think so many people, especially myself, can relate to all of that.
Speaker AHow long ago was that?
Speaker BGosh, time is hard.
Speaker BIt was before the pandemic.
Speaker BI want to say 2018, ish was when I started to self identify as ADHD.
Speaker BAnd then I got my official diagnosis around 2020, 2021.
Speaker BI definitely stayed in that exploration phase for a while.
Speaker BI asked myself a lot of questions, like, worth getting diagnosed.
Speaker BBut I did decide to, you know, pursue that official diagnosis a few years later.
Speaker AAnd then from what I'm gathering, you kind of pivoted what you were doing career wise and, yeah, I guess used all your experience in, I guess, how you were presenting in your career and then started helping people with adhd.
Speaker AIs that right?
Speaker BYeah, I actually had taken my first class in the coaching program I ended up completing, really just to understand ADHD better.
Speaker BI was having a really hard time connecting, connecting to a lot of books that were out there at the time.
Speaker BThis was before Instagram had really, you know, taken off.
Speaker BThis was pre pandemic.
Speaker BAnd I found a Intro to ADHD course through a coaching program that you can take kind of like standalone as a prerequisite.
Speaker BAnd I took that and that is when I really realized that ADHD coaching was even a thing.
Speaker BI hadn't even heard of it.
Speaker BAnd through that program, I started working with coaches on my own and saw the power in that modality and realized I had a lot of transferable skills in what I was doing in the corporate world.
Speaker BSo it made a lot of sense to move into something that I felt could really help a lot of people.
Speaker AAmazing.
Speaker AAnd you've.
Speaker AI mean, what you've created with your community and what you've done on your Instagram platform is incredible.
Speaker AAnd I can see how connected people are to.
Speaker ATo how you talk about ADHD and I guess how validating so many of the conversations that you're having online are, but also the tools and the strategies to help, and I can see this is now sort of naturally progressed into.
Speaker AInto the book.
Speaker AHow did you find, you know, writing the book?
Speaker AAnd guess how long did it take you?
Speaker BOh, gosh, it is a long and complicated story, but when I received my contract with my book and one of the first questions my editor asked me was how long do you want to write the book?
Speaker BAnd I said three months.
Speaker BAnd she thought that was absurd because typically people take six to eight months after signing a contract.
Speaker BBut I knew with my ADHD brain that I needed a deadline and if they told me six months, it would probably take me three months to get started.
Speaker BBut yeah, I wrote it in about three months.
Speaker BThat doesn't include all of the editing and all of the passes through that you do later on, you know, and for context, you know, I had a whole outline, a whole proposal already written, so I wasn't starting completely from scratch.
Speaker BBut.
Speaker BBut yeah, it was, that part went pretty quickly.
Speaker BI enjoyed it so much, but it was also so hard at the same time.
Speaker AYeah, yeah.
Speaker AI mean, I think what you're maybe highlighting is how our brains work so well under pressure and under deadline and that sort of almost like adrenaline cortisol fueled way.
Speaker ABecause I think you probably knew yourself better than the editors did that you were like, if you give me six months, I'm going to do in three months anyway, so I might as well do what I can do in those three months.
Speaker AAnd I get asked a lot, you know, by a lot of people like, oh my God, I'd love to write a book but I'm worried about my adhd.
Speaker AI'm worried that it's going to block me, I'm going to self sabotage, I'm not going to be able to transfer what I know is in my brain onto paper.
Speaker AAnd I wondered if you had those moments where it did feel really difficult because of your adhd.
Speaker BYeah, there were definitely days when the words just flew out of my brain and it felt really easy and I really enjoyed the creative process.
Speaker BBut then there were days where I felt like I had an outline, I had a topic I was going to talk about in a chapter and all of a sudden I was like, I feel like I know nothing about this.
Speaker BAnd I knew I knew things.
Speaker BBut yes, sometimes our ADHD really can feel paralyzing.
Speaker BI usually in those moments would.
Speaker BI gave myself a word count goal for each writing session.
Speaker BIt wasn't lot of words, but it was a doable amount.
Speaker BSo I told myself just, just get to that word count.
Speaker BYou're going to go back over it later.
Speaker BAnd oftentimes that gave me enough to work with that.
Speaker BWhen I could revisit it on a day that I felt a little more clear, it would come together a little bit better and I could revise it.
Speaker BI also at times would Instead of just typing things out, voice, note my thoughts and have that translated.
Speaker BAnd you know, there's a lot of cleanup involved when you do it that way.
Speaker BBut it did help on those times when was feeling like it just wasn't coming out in the written word.
Speaker BSo I definitely feel like if people have that desire to write, there's a lot of ways we can do that now.
Speaker BAnd there's a lot of ways we can accommodate our ADHD brain to make it possible.
Speaker AYeah, I think that's really powerful for people to hear that.
Speaker AIt doesn't have to look in this traditional way of just kind of like churning out, you know, words.
Speaker AAnd I do that a lot actually.
Speaker AI use like a voice transcription and I, yes, there is a bit of clearing up and you have to kind of, you know, go over it, but at least the contents of my brain are down and I can.
Speaker AThen I actually find that I'm sometimes more inspired because I use that as the foundations and then I can type more using, you know, using that base.
Speaker ABut it's just like, it's like getting started, isn't it?
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd sometimes it was easier to do it that way.
Speaker BIt was almost like a verbal processing was happening as I used that modality.
Speaker BSo, yeah, it's.
Speaker BI think the important part is before starting these types of projects, it's really important to understand how you work best and understand your brain and embrace the fact that it's going to look.
Speaker BYour process is going to look different than a neurotypical person's process might.
Speaker AYeah, I would say it's a really great book for someone who just wants to kind of have validation and more understanding of how their ADHD shows up and the different traits.
Speaker ASomething I wanted to talk about today, which we kind of discussed before that we think was a really interesting conversation.
Speaker AThat something I see a lot in myself in my community, I hear from people that listen to the podcast is that how their ADHD shows up is over, overcompensating, being overproductive, overworking, which leads to burnout and being this person that maybe has been fueled by perfectionism.
Speaker ASomeone who has known that there's something that's going on, or maybe they have had lots of criticism in the past and that has then given this, this impetus to constantly over deliver.
Speaker AAnd I wonder if you could speak a little bit about this.
Speaker ADo you think this is a female trait or do you think this is just a sort of a blanket ADHD trait?
Speaker AAnd how do you see this showing up in day to day life?
Speaker BI don't think it's just women that show up with that tendency.
Speaker BI think there's a lot of things that play into that tendency to over deliver, to overcompensate, to overwork.
Speaker BBut I do think we are socialized as women to mask more than men maybe.
Speaker BI think oftentimes we learn that early on we are, like you said, getting into that perfectionism as a coping mechanism at higher rates.
Speaker BBut I do think it can show up for anyone with adhd.
Speaker BI think that the masking comes into play.
Speaker BBut I also think there's other things because of our ADHD symptoms that contribute, like our tendency to be really interested in something.
Speaker BSo we start a new job and we're excited about it.
Speaker BIt's new, it's novel.
Speaker BSo we're working really hard and then we've come to have this reputation as someone that produces these incredible outcomes.
Speaker BSo we, we may be able to sustain that for a time and then that can't last forever, right?
Speaker BSo we have this reputation and we feel that we have to continue to be that person that showed up with so much productivity.
Speaker BAnd even in our own lives we notice those cycles, right?
Speaker BSo we one day might be able to work an eight hour day, you know, clean out a closet, go to all of our kids activities and we feel like Superwoman or Superman and then the next day we have to recover from that.
Speaker BI feel that people with ADHD have bigger swings in their productivity naturally.
Speaker BAnd so what can happen is when we have those productive days, we're expecting ourselves to operate that every single day after that because we know we can do it.
Speaker BSo we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to push through when we are exhausted and in need of recovery.
Speaker BAnd I think that also contributes to that overworking and over delivering.
Speaker AYeah, for sure.
Speaker AI think it's so relatable, isn't it?
Speaker AOf like seeing that but knowing it's not sustainable.
Speaker AAnd like you say, when you say we've got these swings, it's like it's our energy.
Speaker ABecause sometimes we don't even understand that one day we just wake up and we're just full of energy.
Speaker AWe feel like we can conquer the world and literally 24 hours later it's gone.
Speaker AIt's totally gone.
Speaker AThe motivation's gone, the interest is gone.
Speaker ACan you speak a little bit about that?
Speaker ALike what is that because of?
Speaker BI think that hyper focus comes into play there.
Speaker BIf we've had a day and we're very hyper focused on something.
Speaker BOftentimes when we're hyper focused, we are not drinking enough water, we're not eating enough.
Speaker BWe are pushing ourselves and kind of ignoring some of our biological needs a little bit.
Speaker BAnd our brain also just has like a huge metabolic demand.
Speaker BSo when we are zoned in on something, when we are using our brain at the level we're using it, when we're hyper focused, or even when we're using our body to get through a lot of things because we have a lot of energy, it's natural to need some recovery from that.
Speaker BSo I do think it's that that physical energy is different typically after periods of being hyper focused.
Speaker BAnd then if we have struggle to eat or drink, that's just compounding that as well.
Speaker BI also noticed that on days when I've been really, really hyper focused on something that my sleep often gets impacted.
Speaker BSo it's harder to turn our brain off when we've had those really active days.
Speaker BSo we may suffer the next day because we didn't get great sleep.
Speaker BSleep as well.
Speaker AYeah, it's like we operate in these extremes, isn't it?
Speaker AAnd then because we may have gone through life of not understanding this, and then there was like shame and judgment, so there's a lot more energy to then go into either trying to understand it or mask it or analyze it.
Speaker AEverything is involved around the energy.
Speaker AAnd like you say, if we've been doing this and we then have this extreme of I need to just numb out, you know.
Speaker ASo if you've gone from like hyper focus for 10 hours that day, we've done everything, we've been overproductive.
Speaker AWe then shame ourselves for then not being able to have a conversation, for just literally kind of being in this kind of meltdown zone of numbing out, not being able to eat, talk, move, shower.
Speaker AAnd I genuinely think that when we have this awareness and this understanding, we can be more intentional.
Speaker AWe're trying to bring in more moderation and exactly what you say, whether it's biological, whether it's, we have to be more intentional about like, let's drink some water, let's take a break, we need to eat, we need to stretch our legs or get some fresh air.
Speaker ABut when we don't have the awareness, it's really hard to put these practices into place because we think there's like a fundamental kind of personality flaw or something, you know, broken within us.
Speaker ABut I think that if we are able to give ourselves that self compassion and say, okay, now I understand my brain, I understand how my ADHD shows up, why I want to hyper focus, why I'm over producing why I'm overworking.
Speaker AWe can break it all down and slow down that ripple effect of everything almost descending into chaos and put those buffers in place.
Speaker AThis is how I've definitely helped myself and then help other people just creating those moments of awareness.
Speaker ATake a breather, notice.
Speaker AAnd then what have we got in our disposal?
Speaker ALike, what buffer can I put in place to prevent it almost like spiraling out of control again?
Speaker AIt's hard, isn't it, when we've got ADHD and we have passion and we have enthusiasm and we have excitement, especially when it's novelty and it's new and it's something that's really lighting us up.
Speaker AI mean, do you find now that you've been, obviously, you've been working with ADHD for so long, you're so entrenched and you've just written this book, do you still get derailed by and adhd?
Speaker BOh, of course, yes, absolutely.
Speaker BI would say I don't get.
Speaker BMy train doesn't go quite as far off the tracks anymore, but it definitely.
Speaker BThere are days where it's very, very hard still.
Speaker BI feel like ADHD evolves with time and whatever life phase you're in, you almost have to recalibrate and switch up your strategies and evaluate.
Speaker BBut my symptoms are absolutely still there.
Speaker BI definitely have not conquered life with adhd, but I will say I'm living my life completely differently than I was before I was diagnosed.
Speaker BA lot of what you just talked to around understanding my patterns and getting rid of that feeling of shame when I'm having a low day, it's kind of both, right?
Speaker BIt's taking the steps to prevent those low days from being so, so, so low.
Speaker BAnd it's taking the steps to build self compassion so that when I am having a day where I need more recovery, I'm not also having a script running through my brain about, you know, how I messed up and how I put myself in this position again and I should know better and all of those things that we could say to ourselves that make that, that low day feel even worse and I think harder to recover from.
Speaker BI have gotten better at truly being able to rest, to know my patterns, to recognize when hyper focus is a good thing and when it's starting to derail me a little bit.
Speaker BAnd I've put a lot in place to help with that.
Speaker BSo the symptoms are there, but I look at them differently and I accommodate myself better now than I ever did before.
Speaker BBefore.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AI mean, you mentioned rest and I know that many of us really struggle with rest.
Speaker AAnd we've had this very stereotypical way of what rest should look like and that is lying on a bed and trying to go to sleep.
Speaker AAnd when we have got these brains that don't stop moving and going and we go from, maybe from a very hyper focused, extreme stimulating place, we can't just then go and lie down on a bed for 20 minutes and try and close your eyes and rest.
Speaker AThat just doesn't work for most of us.
Speaker ASome people can, some people can literally just crash and fall asleep.
Speaker AWhat does your rest look like?
Speaker AAnd I guess maybe we can talk a little bit as to like what can ADHD rest look like when we have been in that place of over productivity and overworking and over delivering.
Speaker BYeah, I think rest really does need to be redefined for us.
Speaker BAnd I think it's different.
Speaker BWe might need different types of rest depending on where we're at.
Speaker BWe might need that physical rest in our body.
Speaker BWe might just be needing more sleep.
Speaker BAnd that's really important to honor when we can.
Speaker BBut I also think we need mental rest.
Speaker BSometimes we need to disengage from work, from the pressures of life.
Speaker BSometimes I think we need more active rest.
Speaker BLike we need to be out in nature walking or hiking or something like that.
Speaker BThat's my favorite way to unwind on a weekend is doing something that's active in nature.
Speaker BThat's when I feel like my mind actually calms down.
Speaker BAnd then we also need, you know, some of our rest time needs to be dedicated to learning and growth, especially if our job does not provide that for us.
Speaker BSo if we have a day to day that feels a little bit more mundane, that our job is kind of the same every day.
Speaker BAnd you know, it's, it's bringing home a paycheck, it's providing for us, but it's not really lighting our brain up.
Speaker BThen some of our rest should be learning something that's interesting to us to kind of give us that dopamine to have the motivation to do the rest of the things.
Speaker BSo we really do have to get to know ourselves and know what we find.
Speaker BRe energizing versus just defaulting to that narrow view of rest.
Speaker AYeah, I love that.
Speaker AI like to be able to give these suggestions because when people, you know, if they're just saying, well I've been told that rest is, you have to lie down and you shouldn't be moving and you should have your eyes closed and rest, you know, is, is sleeping.
Speaker ABut I agree with you.
Speaker AI'm the Same if someone said that to me, I would make me more anxious and I probably would not be any more rested than I would be if I was running around the house.
Speaker ABut if I go for a walk with my dog and I get outside, I can breathe, get rid of all the computer and the tech and everything, I feel much more re energized and rested as well.
Speaker AAnd emotionally I'm calmer, my body's calmer.
Speaker ALike everything is karma.
Speaker AAnd we not, we're not told this.
Speaker AAnd I think it's really important that when we're neurodivergent we can reframe these very sort of neurotypical ways that we've been told to do life.
Speaker ASo if we are wanting to, like you say, to learn and to grow, many of us find that learning with ADHD is, it feeds our curiosity, it feeds our creativity.
Speaker ABut someone else would say, oh my God, the thought of, you know, sitting and reading books and doing a course is just totally the opposite.
Speaker ABut I agree, like, if I can learn something different, that is not my day job, I feel more fulfilled and I feel content and it probably feeds into my emotional well being.
Speaker ASo it's trusting ourselves, isn't it?
Speaker AIt's trusting that even though we've been told one way to do life and to show up and, and that's what life should look like, it's okay for us to challenge and it's okay for us to query and to lean into what, to what works for us.
Speaker AAnd I think many of us have gone through life kind of intuitively knowing what is good for us, what does work for us, but society and our conditioning and old beliefs and all of that have kind of like dampened out.
Speaker AAnd that in itself is exhausting, isn't it?
Speaker ABecause not trust yourself this whole time to constantly be like, well, I feel this, but then someone's telling me that, and then we don't have this.
Speaker AWe, we don't know, we don't know what's right, we don't know what's wrong.
Speaker AAnd that's what I love about these late in life diagnoses, because it's this validation of actually maybe I did know better, maybe I did.
Speaker AIf I had listened to myself, if I hadn't, you know, gone down the route of whatever that was, like say university or college or the degree, and I actually did the thing that I really wanted to do, maybe, you know, life would have turned out differently, whatever that might be.
Speaker AWe can't change the past, but we can start putting things in place now.
Speaker AFor the present and for the future, where we can lean more into what feels good to us and hopefully change the path and the.
Speaker AAnd the journey for others behind us.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AAre you finding that a lot with, I guess, the people that you're working with, the people who are being diagnosed later on in life who are just getting these understandings?
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AI'd love to hear a little bit about what you're experiencing in your community.
Speaker BYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BI feel like that self trust that you spoke about is so, so critical.
Speaker BOftentimes I think people realize they have ADHD and they're looking for the life hacks.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BWant to hear what are these little tiny changes?
Speaker BAnd I love that life hacks, I mean, visual timers like those changed my life.
Speaker BThey can be really, really helpful for us.
Speaker BBut when I'm working with clients, I really do stress that getting to know yourself, understanding your brain, and then allowing yourself to do the things you know are right for you to operate differently and building the confidence and the trust that you can do things differently.
Speaker BBecause self trust is actually the number one thing.
Speaker BI think people that are diagnosed later in life or maybe they weren't given a lot of psychoeducation about ADHD when they were diagnosed.
Speaker BRebuilding the self trust is really, really important because we've been reading all the things, most of us have been trying very, very hard to figure out how to exist as a neurotypical person our whole lives.
Speaker BWe are usually people that have consumed a ton of self help.
Speaker BWe, we've tried a lot of things.
Speaker BIt's not for lack of trying.
Speaker BSo it's easy to see how our confidence gets eroded over time.
Speaker BAnd we have to rebuild that and be able to start there before any of those hacks are going to help us.
Speaker BAnd it's really, really important to, to spend the time on that piece if you want those lifelong changes, in my opinion.
Speaker AYeah, I think that's so crucial for people to know because I agree with you.
Speaker AThose hacks are great.
Speaker AYou know, those little tips, those reframes.
Speaker AThere's certain things that just make life easier.
Speaker ABut unless we are coming from like, deeply, intrinsically within us, where we can say, actually, I don't want to do life like that anymore, like, that's not working for me.
Speaker AAnd you can look back and there's evidence there of burnout, health issues, gut issues, autoimmune problems, mental health conditions that potentially, yes, we all, we do know now that ADHD is the root of many really debilitating, you know, health crises.
Speaker ABut I wonder if we are able to remove that shame and the self criticism and we can start replacing that with more of the self forgiveness and the self compassion.
Speaker AThat when we make life easier for us and we remove that judgment, so many things start falling into place a little bit more.
Speaker AYou know, especially if maybe we.
Speaker ALet's talk about careers.
Speaker AIf we've struggled in our career, we've struggled to find a place that we feel fulfilled, or we feel that we're kind of like hitting our purpose or our potential or whatever that is.
Speaker AI would say potential.
Speaker AAnd then we get the ADHD diagnosis and we can say, actually this is why working in an office environment hasn't worked for me.
Speaker AThis is why I come home and every night I have a migraine because of the artificial lighting or I can't get outside.
Speaker AAnd when we make those changes and we lean into, actually I work much better on my own at home, or I work better when I'm outside, then we see ourselves kind of almost blossom and bloom.
Speaker AAnd I would say my biggest hope that with all this awareness and everything you do and I do, is that we're getting diagnoses earlier on.
Speaker AWe're getting more people standing in like self empowerment and knowing how to advocate for themselves, ask for what they need.
Speaker ANo longer feeling that they can't ask for certain accommodations or they shouldn't work according to how their brain wants to work.
Speaker AAll these different things that we don't see this anymore.
Speaker AWe see people living up to their amazing potential.
Speaker ANothing upsets me more when I know I'm in front of someone who is clearly incredibly gifted and intelligent and passionate.
Speaker ABut because of the box that they found themselves in through, you know, lots of different variables, that they have kind of not had a very fulfilling life, it really upsets me.
Speaker ASo, yeah, I think this is just.
Speaker AI would love to say that I hope that we're on this journey of recovery.
Speaker AAnd yeah, I'm not sure.
Speaker AI'm not sure where I'm going with that.
Speaker ABut I just thought, I wonder what you.
Speaker AWhat you're seeing when you see someone that comes to you later on in life and there's a lot of pain and a lot of sadness and there's a lot of grief that I hope that we're the last generation that experiences that.
Speaker BYeah, I really hope we are too.
Speaker BAnd I.
Speaker BAnd I think that, you know, maybe not the very last, because I still talk to parents and still hear a lot of things, like, I don't really think I need to get them diagnosed.
Speaker BThey're doing fine and they really are not like you said, they, they can fit into the box, they can force themselves into the box, but they're not comfortable in that box and they're not comfortable in their box in the school environment.
Speaker BAnd they probably won't be if they choose the wrong environment for their career and their vocation.
Speaker BSo I think that we are getting so much closer.
Speaker BI have seen the difference in my own child with the shifts we made in parenting and our philosophy, and she is doing amazing.
Speaker BLike she is the kid that coaches love.
Speaker BShe's doing great.
Speaker BAnd her path might not look like the path that other parents might want their kids, you know, to follow.
Speaker BShe's.
Speaker BShe's got a lot of different interests.
Speaker BShe may or may not go to a four year college.
Speaker BI think she could if she wants to too.
Speaker BBut she also has a lot of entrepreneurial skills and desires and we're supporting that.
Speaker BAnd I think that when we understand what our brains need, the environments that we operate best in, when we can help our kids explore that and help these younger people that are diagnosed earlier see that from the very beginning, then there's a whole lot of confidence that is built that they are capable.
Speaker BIf we are diagnosed later in life and we've spent 30 years in a career that we one day realize, wow, maybe it could have been different somewhere else, then there's a lot of grief that we have to sort through as well.
Speaker BAnd that doesn't mean that we can't move forward in a different way and have the rest of our life be wonderful and fulfilling.
Speaker BBut.
Speaker BBut we can't take away those feelings sometimes of, wow, it could have been different.
Speaker BSo when we start younger, with that excellent exploration and understanding, I, I do think more young people will find themselves in the right environment or not find themselves, it won't be an accident.
Speaker BThey will put themselves in the right environment because they'll understand what they need better.
Speaker BAnd I think that that's why early diagnosis and information and advocacy is so important.
Speaker BBecause we need to help the people like you and me that were diagnosed later in life unwind a lot of that and move forward in a different way.
Speaker BBut we also need to educate all these PAR teachers and people that are supporting these young people with a diagnosis.
Speaker BBecause I work with a lot of clients that were diagnosed younger and a lot of times their experience isn't that different than ours.
Speaker BThey may have been told they had adhd, maybe given medication, maybe not, and continued to struggle, weren't really told what it really meant for them.
Speaker BIt was kind of looked at it through a very narrow lens, and they still find themselves as adults not really understanding what ADHD means for them.
Speaker BSo I do think that the information that is growing and like, like you said, the work that we're doing is making an impact.
Speaker BI really, I do have high hopes for the future and for the next upcoming generations.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AAnd I think what's really great is that a lot of people who are being diagnosed with ADHD are then wanting to advocate wherever they work.
Speaker AWe're seeing, you know, this huge surge in people wanting to train in ADHD coaching as well, which I think is amaz, because, you know, how wonderful would it be if there was an ADHD coach in every single school?
Speaker AHere we have SEN department, special education needs departments.
Speaker AThey, some of them are great, some of them aren't that great, but if we could have these departments where we're understanding neurodiversity so much better and how it shows up and how dyslexia and ADHD often go hand in hand and there's just this understanding.
Speaker AAnd like you say, the people who've been diagnosed early on in life, maybe 20 years ago, they didn't then have the coaching and the support and the cheerleading and the hand holding to get them to that potential.
Speaker AThey just kind of be like, here's your diagnosis, here's some medication.
Speaker AGood luck.
Speaker AWhereas now we know how powerful coaching can be, and I love that.
Speaker AOne of our traits with ADHD is definitely to make a difference.
Speaker AWe want to help.
Speaker AWe're empaths.
Speaker AI think it's a big, strong part of us is to advocate for people who maybe haven't got a stronger, stronger voice.
Speaker AAnd so I think that this, this surge in people training to be ADHD coaches, if they can, we can adopt them around wherever they are in different careers and schools and universities.
Speaker AWe've got this net of holding people and supporting them when they really do need it.
Speaker ABecause as great as a diagnosis is, and great medication, you know, medication can be so helpful.
Speaker ABut I think if we haven't got the coaching alongside, it's really hard to still navigate life with adhd.
Speaker AAnd, yeah, podcasts like mine and all your Instagram posts and everything are fantastic, but I think to have someone who just really gets it and really understands the nuances of ADHD and then can give guidance and support and help and motivation, like, helping them find that inner motivation to succeed is very powerful.
Speaker ADo you trainer the coaches?
Speaker ALike, what's your.
Speaker AI guess, what's your service?
Speaker AAnd people might be listening now and kind of go.
Speaker AHow could I work with you?
Speaker AWhat, what's, what services do you have available?
Speaker BI do a few things.
Speaker BI do mentor solopreneurs.
Speaker BA lot of those people are training to be coaches.
Speaker BNot always ADHD coaches, but sometimes people that are trying to figure out, okay, well, I have this new skill set, but I really don't know how to work day to day on my own as an ADHDer.
Speaker BSo I work with those types of clients one on one.
Speaker BI also have a community, it's called the Hummingbird Hive and that's open to anyone.
Speaker BAnd we do weekly kind of planning meetings where we get together, everybody kind of does their planning process.
Speaker BWe share intentions, we just add a little more intentionality to our everyday lives together as a group.
Speaker BAnd then there's also an educational component about that and Q&As and things like that as well.
Speaker BI love that offer because it's accessible in a way that's, it's a little bit lower priced than one on one coaching would be.
Speaker BI love one on one coaching.
Speaker BI do think people make just so much progress in that format, but I only have so much capacity to coach.
Speaker BLike you said, there's a lot of people training to be coaches right now, but I still think we are.
Speaker BWe have a huge need for more people in this field.
Speaker BSo being able to have an offer that accommodates more people is really important to me.
Speaker BSo those are my two main areas of focus.
Speaker BCurrently.
Speaker BI occasionally, because I have adhd, I like to do a lot of different things in my business and I don't fight that anymore.
Speaker BI don't just narrow down and put myself in a, in a spot where I'm only offering one thing.
Speaker BSo occasionally I will do a group program with different focus areas on different topics.
Speaker BSo those are things that kind of come up as I'm inspired to, to teach them.
Speaker AYeah, I love that I'm the same in the sense that I can go for months and months and not do a workshop or not put any offers out there.
Speaker AAnd then I kind of criticizing myself for that because I'm clearly my energy is going somewhere else on a different project or something going on in my life.
Speaker AAnd then when I get that energy back to do more offers, I go with that flow.
Speaker ANow I kind of work with the ebbs and the flows and the, and the cycles and not push myself to show up the same way every single month because I know that's when I start resenting things and it becomes something that I dread.
Speaker ASo it's just another example, isn't it, of if we can work with the flow of our energy and our adhd.
Speaker AAnd like you said earlier, when we are, you know, it shows up differently throughout our life and especially as women with our hormones and all of that, you know, that's a whole other conversation.
Speaker ABut we have to be aware of this and not fight it because the fighting takes so much energy.
Speaker AAnd when we now have the awareness of adhd, we can almost just like drop, drop the weapons and just surrender a little bit more.
Speaker ABut also with awareness as well, compassionate awareness.
Speaker ASo I love this conversation and I love what you're doing and I really, really recommend the book.
Speaker AI will put all the details in the show notes.
Speaker AThe book is called It All Makes Sense now, which clearly it does for so many of us.
Speaker AAnd I just want to thank you for, for all your insights and your work in this, in this community.
Speaker AMeredith, thank you so much.
Speaker BThank you as well.
Speaker AI really hope you enjoyed this week's episode.
Speaker AIf you did and it resonated with you, I would absolutely love it if you, you could share on your platforms or maybe leave a review and a rating wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Speaker AAnd please do check out my website, ADHD womenswellbeing.co.uk for lots of free resources and paid for workshops.
Speaker AI'm uploading new things all the time and I would absolutely love to see you there.
Speaker ATake care and see you for the next episode.
Speaker AIt.