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 AWelcome back to another episode of the ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast.
Speaker AAnd today I have Holly Long Moses.
Speaker ANow, she has supported over the last 27 years hundreds of neurodivergent children, teens and adults to live happier and more peaceful lives.
Speaker AAnd Holly is passionate about collaborating with her clients and their family members in key areas such as executive functioning, identifying and communicating thoughts, feelings and needs, social interaction, anxiety, depression, depression, emotional regulation, school success, independent skills and self advocacy, and lots more.
Speaker AShe works in Raleigh, North Carolina, where neurodivergent individuals can be supported with her individual therapy, testing and parenting intensives.
Speaker AAnd all her support really does include so much of this neurodiversity guidance and help and support.
Speaker AShe's also the host of the very popular podcast, the Autism and ADHD Podcast, which provides practical neuroaffirming approaches to start using today.
Speaker AI'm delighted to have you here, Holly.
Speaker AThank you so much.
Speaker AI know it's pretty early for you now in the morning, but I'm really delighted to have you here so we can hopefully help the listeners.
Speaker BYes, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker ASo, Holly, tell me a little bit.
Speaker AYou've obviously been working in this space for, I think it said, 26 years.
Speaker AIs that with neurodivergent people or is that evolved from maybe understanding yourself?
Speaker AI know you've got a neurodivergent family as well.
Speaker AAnd yeah, how has your story evolved into helping in this niche now?
Speaker BIt's actually been working with neurodivergent people for that long.
Speaker BAnd of course, I mean, I'm 50 now, so I've been nerdivergent the whole time.
Speaker BSo that's happened, that kind of lived Experience.
Speaker BExperience.
Speaker BI was already working in the space prior to adopting our kids who are also neurodivergent.
Speaker BSo that was interesting because I thought, oh, I got this.
Speaker BYou know, this is what I do For a living.
Speaker BI'm the perfect person to be their mom.
Speaker BBut thinking about being a parent and being a parent are two very different things.
Speaker BAnd parenting kids with, you know, neurodivergence and kids that are neurotypical are also two very different things.
Speaker BSo I'm glad we're talking about it today.
Speaker AYeah, no, absolutely.
Speaker AI mean, do you mind me asking about how old your kids were when you adopted them?
Speaker AAnd I guess, did you know they're neurodivergent?
Speaker AOr was that.
Speaker AWere they much younger at the time?
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BOur oldest son came into foster care almost when he was 4.
Speaker BSo it was, like, two weeks before his fourth birthday, and we were finally able to adopt him at 6.
Speaker BAnd it was clear in, I don't know, half of a second of seeing him for the first time that he had very severe ADHD right from the start.
Speaker BWe got to see that.
Speaker BAnd then our youngest son, we got to have kind of this baby experience, which was cool, too.
Speaker BAnd we were able to adopt him when he was one.
Speaker BWow.
Speaker ASo inspiring.
Speaker AAnd, you know, I know that it comes with all sorts of wonderful, miraculous moments, but also lots of challenges, you know, whether they've been adopted or you've given birth yourself.
Speaker AI mean, understanding our neurodivergent kids, as well as navigating it for ourselves, is a whole.
Speaker AIs a whole new situation.
Speaker AAnd so many people that listen to this podcast are late diagnosed women who perhaps came through this route of understanding who they are because of their children.
Speaker AIt was the sort of the children that gave them the key to unlock themselves, going to get that assessment.
Speaker AMaybe it was picked up at school, maybe it was picked up in therapy.
Speaker AWho knows?
Speaker AAnd then we are starting to be able to look at ourselves, but no one gives us this guidebook.
Speaker ANo one gives us the map.
Speaker AIt's literally, I always say this to people.
Speaker AIt's just we uncover something.
Speaker AWe have to figure it out.
Speaker AWe may get a little bit of support.
Speaker AI know my podcast, and probably your podcast, has been very helpful for people, but.
Speaker ABut when we're on the ground on those days where there's emotional dysregulation, there's meltdowns, there's pda, there's all sorts of things going on.
Speaker AIt's really hard, as someone who is neurodivergent themselves, to then parent in that situation as well.
Speaker ADo you work with people in how to help themselves, like, in those moments where there's just so many emotions flying around?
Speaker BI do.
Speaker BAnd again, parenting this way is not the same.
Speaker BAnd so I Feel like everyone needs to hear that because oftentimes our, even our nerdivergence, we know that as women is minimized.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BLike our experience is minimized and our kids experience is also minimized.
Speaker BAnd we have to always remember that.
Speaker BOf course, when I was an undergraduate, my honors thesis was in parenting stress of parents of neurodivergent kids and parents of ADHD kids.
Speaker BTheir stress levels are much higher than parents of neurotypical kids.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BSo the stress is higher.
Speaker BAnd then we have to look at, like, what that is.
Speaker BAnd not only that, there are all these pressures.
Speaker BKate, what I was thinking of when you were talking about it was this conversation I had to have with my youngest son's teacher years back.
Speaker BAnd he was written up, whatever that means, for being late to school again.
Speaker BAnd so I had to go in there and say, you can give me the slip because I have time blindness and he's rarely going to be here on time because of me.
Speaker BSo we don't want to punish him.
Speaker BSo I think it's standing back and looking and not blaming ourselves like we usually do, like we've been taught in society, like, it's your fault.
Speaker BYou should be right.
Speaker BThe should be that come up.
Speaker BYou should be able to do this.
Speaker BYou should be able to stay calm all the time and help your kids when they're falling apart.
Speaker BIs we're also humans, and I don't think we tell ourselves that enough, that just being is hard sometimes in a world that doesn't fit you.
Speaker BSo anytime I'm talking about child regulation and parent regulation, I always like to step back and get the picture, identify the shoulds, get some emotional space from the situation, which allows you to get more of a view of what's actually happening and then think about what your own body is doing.
Speaker BBecause a lot of times our kids don't understand that all this is coming up.
Speaker BThey just know it's uncomfortable and they want it to stop or they're confused and they're not getting information they need, whatever that is.
Speaker BBut people with ADHD do struggle with emotional regulation, and that's also in ourselves.
Speaker BWe just happen to not have meltdowns like they do out in public as much.
Speaker AYeah, I mean, you say that in not in public, but you know, when you talk about parental stress, if we look through the history of so many people's families and so many people relate to the chaos and the dysfunction and the rages and the shouting, and obviously there was no awareness at all of what was going on, you would just know that Your, one of your parents had a short fuse, or one of your parents had a bad temper, or, or one of your parents drank alcohol every evening, just regulate and calm themselves.
Speaker AOr we just know how perhaps it showed up now through this new lens of awareness.
Speaker AAnd many of us are trying to like, heal from that generational trauma of being parented by parents who had no idea about their neurodivergence.
Speaker AI do always say this in the podcast.
Speaker AI do think that our generation, you know, whether you want to say sort of from 40s to maybe 60s, are part of that generation, of understanding this for the first time, being able to look back in our childhood and see how it showed up and hopefully break those cycles and change the dynamics of the family moving forwards.
Speaker AAnd there is a lot of pressure, maybe I'm going to speak for myself here, that I feel there's a huge amount of pressure with what I know, what I talk about, what I speak about on the podcast, what I talk about in my workshops and in all of that, and how I am on the ground with my own kids.
Speaker AAnd sometimes I feel like such a hypocrite because sometimes it is so hard to be that regulated parent, especially when your kid is winding you up or having that meltdown in the worst moment, or when you're hungry, hot, tired, hormonal, dysregulated.
Speaker AMaybe you're having a sensory overload, maybe there's overwhelm there.
Speaker AAnd we feel this pressure as adults that we have to hold that space, don't we, for the child?
Speaker AI mean, I'll give you an example.
Speaker AYesterday I went new school shoe shopping with my youngest daughter who's 10.
Speaker AAnd we went through all these different shoes because every shoe felt weird.
Speaker ALike she's very sensory orientated.
Speaker AAnd one rubbed her, one felt too big, one didn't fit her, you know, and we finally found the right shoe, but she thought it was ugly.
Speaker AAnd I said to her, we have to.
Speaker AI was like, already done with the shoe shopping.
Speaker AI was like, I'm in a shop for 10 minutes, I'm done.
Speaker AWe're in the shop for about 45 minutes until we find the right shoe for her.
Speaker AThank God.
Speaker AWe had this very patient shop assistant.
Speaker AWe bought, I bought the shoes, even though she didn't like them, but they were the only ones that fitted her.
Speaker AAnd then there was an explosion afterwards.
Speaker AI hate the shoes.
Speaker AI'm not wearing the shoes.
Speaker AYou made me buy the shoes.
Speaker AAnd I could feel in my body, I was hungry, I was thirsty, I had enough, but I had to hold that space for her.
Speaker AAnd my.
Speaker AThe reason for all of this is to say that with all the knowledge and all the awareness, it can still be really hard.
Speaker AAnd that's okay.
Speaker BWell, you just brought up so many good points that we can unpack.
Speaker BBut I do love that.
Speaker BI love the idea of visualizing this stacking of blocks, right?
Speaker BSome of them are awkward, some of them are heavier than others, and they do just stack.
Speaker BAnd I think for neurodivergent women, we're so used to pushing through constantly that we don't even notice those things.
Speaker BAnd that's what's so beautiful about the awareness that's coming out now.
Speaker BLike the autism ADHD podcast.
Speaker BYour podcast is.
Speaker BWe can actually talk about these things a lot of time for the first time in our lives, like, learn.
Speaker BNo wonder why this is so hard.
Speaker BIt's maybe not true, what we learned when we were younger.
Speaker BWe have to re parent ourselves in a lot of ways.
Speaker BYou know, when I think about, like, I'm bad, I'm lazy, I don't try hard enough.
Speaker BWhy can't I be like other, other kids?
Speaker BWhy can't I remember everything?
Speaker BIf my head wasn't attached to my body, I would lose it.
Speaker BI mean, just constant, constant hearing that.
Speaker BAnd a lot of us did growing up, right?
Speaker BWe were told we weren't good enough.
Speaker BLike, why can't we be like other kids?
Speaker BAnd that sinks in and it starts to build your foundation of yourself.
Speaker BAnd so as we step back, we realize what a massive impact that's had on our mental health.
Speaker BOf course it would.
Speaker BWhen you don't think you're good enough and now you're parenting a kid that is struggling, and then we don't feel like we're good enough parents either.
Speaker BYou mentioned earlier, like a hypocrite.
Speaker BAnd I'll make jokes, I'll be like, oh, I'm a poser, right?
Speaker BI just became dysregulated all over the place.
Speaker BAs an adult, we're allowed to still have those feelings because the thing is, we are now almost understanding it and giving ourselves permission to not be okay, to not be fine, to not have the mask on constantly because we're going to get in trouble, we're going to be told we're bad or not enough.
Speaker BSo I think that I'm not good enough or I'm not doing enough.
Speaker BStory sort of carries us through our roles.
Speaker BYou know, it may start as, as children and now as parents.
Speaker BAm I giving them enough support?
Speaker BWhat if they don't have all the, therapies they need.
Speaker BWhat if they don't have all the tutoring they need?
Speaker BWhat if they get kicked out?
Speaker BWhat it, you know, all of these things.
Speaker BAnd then we hear advice, you should do this and should do this and should do this and then it just, just feeds.
Speaker BThat should be story that we have too that visual with the blocks.
Speaker BI love that you said that because I have a guide that shows that stacking and if you stack up blocks and name them and become more self aware and model that for your child then that's a beautiful gift to not only yourself but to them as well.
Speaker BNot saying, well, I'm upset because you, you know, we're not blaming them like you said, I'm feeling really tired.
Speaker BI'm noticing that I'm starting to get irritated more quickly than maybe I want to.
Speaker BAnd it's not about you, it's about these blocks that I've got that are stacking that I'm just noticing right now, you know, and they're getting heavier.
Speaker BAnd when you put a visual like that you can see that your child probably has a similar blocks stacked up too.
Speaker BThey just don't know how to name them and communicate that because it just comes up so quickly for them and it, it feels like it came out of nowhere but really it's not.
Speaker AYeah, 100%.
Speaker AI mean I, I knew that I was hungry and thirsty and I knew that I'd had enough of being in this shop.
Speaker AThere was lots of people, there was music, there was just a lot going on.
Speaker AI guess I'm sort of self aware enough now through so much of the work that I've done I, that I could literally I could name those blocks.
Speaker AAnd I was thinking if I'm feeling like this, I'm waiting for this to come out.
Speaker AAnd she held it together until we left the shop.
Speaker AThen we were going to go and have some lunch together and the meltdown happened in the cafe and it was, I was like, right, just hold it together until she has some water.
Speaker AHold it together.
Speaker AI'm going to give her some protein.
Speaker AI was like putting the chicken in her mouth.
Speaker AJust eat the chicken and then we'll have the conversation.
Speaker AAnd I had to really be that parent.
Speaker AI had to step into that sort of adult role.
Speaker ABut when you talk about re parenting that's so fascinating because so many of us have to do that because we may have had that parent that would have gone crazy with us and shouted at us and stormed off and you're not having anything to eat.
Speaker AI'm taking you Home, like, made it, you know, so much worse.
Speaker AYeah, you're punished, you're rude, you're this.
Speaker AAnd it goes into all of that criticism.
Speaker AAnd I know that this, the shame come.
Speaker AYou know, the blame comes, the shame, the guilt.
Speaker AI know what happens.
Speaker AAnd so I. I do think that's so much for us as the parents, that is that reparenting.
Speaker AAnd I'd love to be able to speak about that a little bit more, because when we reparent ourselves, it's almost like we're kind of wiping the slate clean a little bit.
Speaker ASo we can parent how we want, not how we think we should be parenting.
Speaker ADo you help people to learn how to repair in themselves or just do you have to go through a process of that in therapy?
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BAnd I do, and that's a very exciting thing.
Speaker BAnd it brings up a lot of emotions for us because many of us, especially, I think ADHD women, we have, have that thick mask on.
Speaker BAnd when you go underneath of it, you can see so much more sometimes, Kate, what I'll do is use even a starter sentence.
Speaker BA short starter sentence can be so incredibly powerful If.
Speaker BIf I hear a mom say, I should be getting, you know, more for them, and I'll say, I should be because, and just wait.
Speaker BAnd it's.
Speaker BIt's beautiful what the becauses fill in.
Speaker BOf course, that's just an example.
Speaker BAnother thing is starting a sentence with I am.
Speaker BAnd what is the first thing that comes in?
Speaker BA lot of times it's stupid, not good, lazy.
Speaker BAll these things that were underneath the whole time are now there, and then we replace that.
Speaker ASo if we're feeling, I'm not good enough, I'm not doing enough, I am parenting wrong, I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker ADo we then say, right, how do I notice what is going on in the self talk, the self criticism?
Speaker AAnd then we learn to replace that with more compassionate words or more sort of like growth mindset.
Speaker AWords of, I'm learning, I'm working, I'm doing the best that I can with what I've got right now?
Speaker AI'm doing the best that I can with the support that I have right now.
Speaker AWould you say that's a start to acknowledging that life can be really hard, but we're also trying to.
Speaker ATo see through a new lens, I guess.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BAnd I think you're right.
Speaker BThe first thing is to notice and to understand how big.
Speaker BI know I've said this a few times, but it's no wonder, no wonder you're saying These things to yourself.
Speaker BThis is what happened to you.
Speaker BYou didn't have what you needed.
Speaker BYou were told you were wrong.
Speaker BYou learned that you were broken before you even realized it.
Speaker BYou already had that thought of I'm not good enough, and that became your story.
Speaker BAnd now you're just not a good enough parent either.
Speaker BAnd when we step back and think about what did you need?
Speaker BWhat would you say to you when you think about your little self, how would you interact?
Speaker BWhat would you say now?
Speaker BWhat did you need to hear?
Speaker BAnd I think connecting all of those pieces, you can really learn about yourself and understand and recognize when the should be and when the what ifs, when all the anxiety comes up, where did that come from?
Speaker BInstead of putting it on yourself, how maybe your parents put on you, so then it's almost not getting rid of it because you can't.
Speaker BYou can't run away from your thoughts.
Speaker BYou can't run away from your brain.
Speaker BYou can't decide, I'm just not going to think that anymore.
Speaker BThat doesn't work.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BSo we think about the thought, maybe I should be, or I'm not good enough, mom, or whatever that story is, and think of it almost as a tangible thing, like an object.
Speaker BOkay, so we're going to name it.
Speaker BSometimes I even write down the story on a piece of paper, and it can go from covering your face, taking up all the room, to laying that piece of paper on your lap like you notice it.
Speaker BYou see the words.
Speaker BIt's not that you can erase them, but you're not going to run from them anymore.
Speaker BYou don't have to cover it up.
Speaker BWe're going to acknowledge it for what it is.
Speaker BIt depends on how you look at it and how you hold it.
Speaker BAnd then when you give that room, then you can bring in the other things.
Speaker BYou can notice those things.
Speaker BYou can take care of yourself.
Speaker BYou can regulate even better.
Speaker BYou can help your child regulate even better.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AAnd I think it's also modeling.
Speaker AIsn't it modeling that we're not here for perfect and we're here for learning and trying and there's going to be errors and there's going to be failures and there's going to be things that we have to grow from and lessons and all of that.
Speaker AAnd something that's helped me reframe, say, how I was parented.
Speaker AAnd I do believe that my parents did the best that they could with what they knew and how they were sort of brought up in the world as well.
Speaker AAnd that's.
Speaker AThere's a Lot of compassion and forgiveness there.
Speaker ABut what they've also gifted me through maybe parenting me in a way that I don't want to parent my children is using those moments where I felt not supported, not listened to, not cared for, or whatever that was during those times, and using that as like an ammunition to kind of parent in the way that I want to.
Speaker AAnd I'm not doing anything perfectly, but I use those pockets, those moments, those memories, and go, right, I can either carry that on and just carry that on, you know, with no awareness and just parent how my parents did, or I can use that and say, right that moment, I remember feeling hurt, I remember feeling not listened to.
Speaker AHow can I change that moment for my own children?
Speaker AChildren and.
Speaker AAnd use it?
Speaker AAnd so sometimes I'm actually really grateful for the awareness of their parenting that's given me.
Speaker ASo I can then change things.
Speaker AAnd I guess hopefully my kids will look at me and go, right, that's not how I want to parent my kids.
Speaker AAnd we learn because we can't change the past.
Speaker ABut it is helpful to not get stuck, isn't it, in that mindset of, like, being a victim and wanting to change the past.
Speaker AAnd they did this to me, and they did that, and it should have been like this and saying, right, I'm going to make this decision, this choice now that I have more, I have better language, I have new awareness, I have new understanding.
Speaker AAnd it might not be done perfectly, but at least I can use what I went through for hopefully a better experience for my own kids.
Speaker BRight?
Speaker BI agree with that.
Speaker BAs painful as it was, like you said, because it was growing up and not getting what you need, you know how bad that hurts when that comes up for me?
Speaker BI notice it because that self awareness we've had to work on, right?
Speaker BI notice it and I give it space, right?
Speaker BIf I need to complain about it for a minute, I'll give myself a minute.
Speaker BYou know, that's okay, too.
Speaker BAnd I think we have to acknowledge that those are real, those are big.
Speaker BThose were your developmental years where your self was formed.
Speaker BAnd we're essentially working on healing from those things.
Speaker BAnd like you said, we don't want our kids to grow up and say, I should be.
Speaker BI'm not good enough.
Speaker BI never do anything right.
Speaker BI'm always in trouble.
Speaker BWe don't want that for them because we know how that feels.
Speaker ASo interesting.
Speaker AI love all of that.
Speaker AAnd yes, I agree with you.
Speaker ATo give ourselves that space to kind of.
Speaker AFor the validation and the acknowledgement of, yes, it Wasn't easy and how it can still infiltrate into our life as, you know, as, as women in their 40s and 50s.
Speaker AI always think, and again, this is coming from like a parent and nothing else is.
Speaker AHow do I still give them that grit and that resilience without over parenting or over.
Speaker AYou don't want to soften it too much for them.
Speaker ASo they do have that resilience because unfortunately we do live in this mostly neurotypical world where they are going to come across people, situations, moments where no one really cares if they've got ADHD or autism, you know, mostly.
Speaker AAnd you want them to be able to advocate for themselves and you want them to be able to get through that situation without being too limited.
Speaker AWhat would you say about that?
Speaker APerhaps I've not phrased it as politically correct as possible, but I'm trying to think of a way that I want my kids to feel that they have the resilience to get through certain things if I'm not around there to advocate for them.
Speaker BSo when it comes to grit and resilience, that's another modeling opportunity for us because there are those daily things there.
Speaker BThere's stuff going on in the bus.
Speaker BWhat, are you gonna have a meltdown again?
Speaker BWhy have adhd?
Speaker BWell, we, we do too, but we don't act like you or you don't look autistic.
Speaker BYou should be able to do this.
Speaker BYou know, all these things that our experience is minimized are our kids are going through these things as well that we can model that we can be there as someone who cares and listens and show shows, problem solving and how to collaborate and how to be self aware and how to self advocate.
Speaker BAnd I love showing those things there.
Speaker BI have a lot of health issues and I often have to self advocate.
Speaker BThat my kids see too, is okay, I'm not going to remember to check my blood because I'm on a blood thinner every so and so days and then change the scheduling of the medication all the time.
Speaker BSo I need you, the nurse to email me and call me on those days we go to the veterinarian.
Speaker BWell, you have to do this on this day.
Speaker BAnd then.
Speaker BOkay, I need you to write that down or I need you to type it and print it.
Speaker BSo it's these, these things that we can come together if we go and meet the principal.
Speaker BBelieve me, I've been in the principal's office many, many times as a kid and as a parent where we come in together and our kids can see us advocate for them, but also collaborate with other people.
Speaker BAnd that's just a great way to model.
Speaker AYeah, 100%.
Speaker AAnd I think I always wish for my kids that they feel, you know, whatever they do in the world and whatever they do in their life, that they feel that they have got that confidence to.
Speaker ATo self advocate, ask for what they need, feel empowered to step into, you know, however they want to show up in the world and not feel that, and not feel that I have to be around for them.
Speaker AThat's like my biggest fear is that they rely on me.
Speaker AAnd it's.
Speaker AI want them to be independent, obviously.
Speaker AI want to nurture them and love them and care for them and all of that, but I want them to feel that they can look after themselves and they can.
Speaker BAnd Kate, that's a value.
Speaker BI can see that's a passion for you.
Speaker BRight?
Speaker BYou want that for them.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BI also feel like it's a beautiful opportunity when you model that self advocacy to then start stepping back.
Speaker BOkay, this is our plan.
Speaker BThis is how we're going to approach it.
Speaker BWhich part do you want?
Speaker BAnd so then we start fading that back.
Speaker BBut we can do it in a way where we're not yanking, you know, that from under their feet, kind of like we had to deal with.
Speaker BBut it's this beautiful strategic part.
Speaker BI went to a meeting with one of my clients where she requested the meeting with the principal and wanted me to be there.
Speaker BI'm like, go, girl.
Speaker BWe're doing this.
Speaker BWe're gonna have a plan.
Speaker BWe wrote it down, bullet points, everything before the meeting.
Speaker AThat's amazing.
Speaker AHow old was she?
Speaker BOh, my goodness.
Speaker B10.
Speaker AOh, that's amazing.
Speaker ASo that's my daughter's age, and I love that that she had that confidence to do that.
Speaker AAnd she.
Speaker BShe felt empowered for a bit, but.
Speaker BBut how beautiful is that?
Speaker BBecause our kids don't have to be in the same position we were.
Speaker BSo be the parent you needed when you were young, but also know that you're going to make mistakes because you're human.
Speaker BAnd that's important to show them that they can too, because you are a safe person for them.
Speaker BYou can make mistakes and they can.
Speaker BThat doesn't mean you're bad.
Speaker BIt means you're a human being.
Speaker BSo now what do we do to help ourselves get through this mistake?
Speaker BAnd what does this look like for us?
Speaker AYeah, that's so beautiful.
Speaker AThere's so many of us doing this, working out for ourselves right now, like navigating our own self advocacy, understanding what our adhd, autism has meant to us throughout our lives, how it's shown up, what we want to change.
Speaker ABut we are also navigating this for our kids as well.
Speaker AAnd many of them are going through maybe academic difficulties.
Speaker AThings are changing maybe from school to university, and it just feels like a lot.
Speaker AWe're holding a lot.
Speaker ASo I love what you said at the beginning of the conversation of naming.
Speaker ANaming why we feel overwhelmed.
Speaker ALike, so many people come to me and just say, I'm so overwhelmed, they can't even understand where the overwhelms come from.
Speaker ABut it is.
Speaker AIt's naming it, isn't it?
Speaker AIt's just essential, the chunking it down that so many of our, you know, many of us with ADHD need.
Speaker BWe say that, but we need it, too.
Speaker BWhen you say, because I'm overwhelmed, because.
Speaker BOh, because I didn't get the house cleaned.
Speaker BOkay, so what happens if you don't get the house clean?
Speaker BWell, then I'll feel bad.
Speaker BAnd I'll feel bad because I'm not doing what I should.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BSo there's.
Speaker BThat should.
Speaker BAnd there's always.
Speaker BThere's always things underneath.
Speaker BAnd if we see those and take a step back, it's beautiful.
Speaker BAnd many of us, and me, in a lot of ways, Kate, are going through this journey for the first time creating boundaries with people.
Speaker BYou don't have to show up all the time when you're a negative drain.
Speaker BAs ADHD women, we don't.
Speaker BWe get drained so much faster than other people, yet we're telling ourselves we're supposed to be doing this and that and we should be doing more when we have nothing to give.
Speaker BAnd that's okay.
Speaker BTo model that for a child, be like, you know, I just need to sit here because my battery is on zero, so I just need a minute.
Speaker BAnd they need to see that.
Speaker BThat's okay, too.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker A100.
Speaker AI always say it's.
Speaker AThe modeling is if I can just pull back from plans or go and have a rest or say we're getting a takeaway tonight because I've been really busy all day, and I just don't have anything left.
Speaker ALike, they can see where many of us may have been parented again by women or parents that have pushed through and have just lived.
Speaker ALived in this constant cycle of burnout.
Speaker AAnd that burnout was just normalized.
Speaker AIt was just normalized.
Speaker BWell, not just normalized, but praised.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BIf you push through, then that's good.
Speaker AYeah, but then that is.
Speaker AThat's just deemed as normal.
Speaker ASo if you're not in that state, there's something wrong.
Speaker AYou're not doing enough.
Speaker AWhy aren't you doing more?
Speaker AYou know, and it is, it's breaking it down.
Speaker ALike it's okay to rest and decompress and pull back and have boundaries, but no one's told us that.
Speaker AAnd again, I think this, this generation is the first generation that are using these words and vocalizing this externally, whereas.
Speaker BWe'Ve never had a lovely psychologist that I know, Hayden, and he talks a lot about permission slips.
Speaker BAnd I love that, like looking on, you know, putting a post it note.
Speaker BI give myself permission to.
Speaker BBecause we are allowed.
Speaker BEven if we were younger, you know, we're.
Speaker BWe didn't know it.
Speaker BWe weren't allowed then, but we're allowed now.
Speaker BYou're allowed to say, I'm tired.
Speaker BYou're allowed to say that I have four things to do, but I have only the energy to do one.
Speaker BWhich one am I going to prioritize?
Speaker BThat's not being lazy.
Speaker BThat's being a lovely problem solver and showing your child that that's okay, that they do that too.
Speaker BThat their value isn't just about producing constantly.
Speaker AYeah, producing or showing up or putting your own needs last and pushing through, you know, because you want to please people or you don't want to let people down, or you don't want people to think badly about you.
Speaker AAnd, and again, it's.
Speaker AWhen you go back to that modeling, it's articulating it.
Speaker AI've got a 14 year old daughter and I'm constantly saying to her, why are you doing that?
Speaker AAre you doing that just because you don't want people to not like you?
Speaker AAre you doing that because you think that it's.
Speaker AYou'll be a bad friend if you don't do that.
Speaker AAnd yeah, I can kind of see that I'm annoying her by saying it, but I can also see that there's something going on and she's kind of like, oh, so I have permission.
Speaker ALike, it's okay.
Speaker AI'm not a bad person for saying no to my friend.
Speaker AI love all of this.
Speaker AI love what you do.
Speaker AHolly, tell people about how they can find you and I guess about your podcast as well and what you talk about in your podcast.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker BThank you.
Speaker BSo the Autism ADHD podcast is this beautiful place where parents and professionals, therapists, coaches, educators can show up and hear amazing information, real strategies, real ways of showing up and supporting the mental health of ADHD and autistic kids.
Speaker BIt's been an honor to host this podcast.
Speaker BSo I hope all of you listening want to come on over because I think you'll like it.
Speaker BI hope that you'll like it then.
Speaker BAlso, I have my private practice in Raleigh, North Carolina, where we do mental health therapy and also evaluations and our specialty is neurodiversity.
Speaker BSo we typically see kids and a lot of things can fall under neur diversity, but we often see kids that would have a diagnosis of autism or ADHD because anxiety and depression occurs so much more with for them.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BAnd adults as well.
Speaker BThey've been carrying this all their lives on the side of the podcast and the private practice.
Speaker BI also do continuing education for mental health therapists.
Speaker BI also do coaching and we have parenting master classes and free resources.
Speaker BAll kinds of goodness for you.
Speaker ABrilliant.
Speaker AWell, I'll make sure that all the details are on the show.
Speaker ANotes I can see very typical adhd.
Speaker AYou have so much to give and so much passion and lots of hands and arms, whatever the word is in the fire.
Speaker AI think what I can't.
Speaker AI always say the wrong word, the wrong saying, but you know what I mean.
Speaker ALots of, I know lots of plates spinning.
Speaker BI would say lots with marbles on them.
Speaker AExactly.
Speaker AAnd I understand completely.
Speaker ABut I think when we work in this area, our enthusiasm is, it's there to see.
Speaker AAnd we, we do want to help and we see how many different people need this information.
Speaker AYou know, like you say, it's the educators, it's the mental health professionals, it's the parents, it's the kids themselves so they can self advocate.
Speaker AAnd I think, you know, we can't talk about this enough.
Speaker ASo I'm delighted I'm going to be on your podcast or I will have been on it by the time this comes out.
Speaker ASo I'm happy that we're sharing each other's platforms and directing each other to all these different new resources.
Speaker AAnd I just want to thank you, Holly, as well for your time and all the insights you've given us today.
Speaker AIt's been a real pleasure.
Speaker BIt's been great to be here.
Speaker BThanks.
Speaker AIf this episode has been helpful for you and you're looking for more tools and more guidance, my brand new book, the ADHD Women's well Being Toolkit is out now.
Speaker AYou can find it wherever you buy your books from.
Speaker AYou can also check out the audiobook if you do prefer to listen to me.
Speaker AI have narrated it all myself.
Speaker AThank you so much for being here and I will see you for the next episode.