AuDHD Flourishing

Sam Cooper is an AuDHD coach and generally awesome human. When we met in person, we bonded over having worn the wrong size shoes for years, which led to the title of this episode.Sam shares about building a small business, and the upsides and downsides of a coaching business in particular.Sensory needs and discovering support tools.They also have an incredibly compassionate approach to their own journey.Connect with Sam: Sam's websiteSam's Instagram @unconventionalmindsadhdResources:Like Your Brain community spaceTranscript DocEmail NewsletterNew course: Experimenting Your Way to an Extraordinary Life

Zann's artist business is one of the easiest things she's ever done. And it's not even her main passion! Her deeply relatable history includes ten years of feeling like failure soup. It didn't feel like progress or learning, just failure. But it ultimately led her to figure out what does NOT work. She shares amazing ideas and practical advice.... this will be a great one to listen to more than once!Connect with Zann: Paws by Zann websiteZann's blogYouTube art tutorials & BTSResources:Like Your Brain community spaceTranscript DocEmail NewsletterNew course: Experimenting Your Way to an Extraordinary Life

If you struggle to figure out what to focus on with bigger goals, you're not alone! Here's one approach I've come up with for my own annual goals in particular. And some thoughts on decision making, since that's part of it.Wish List for bday (or whenever)

I failed my first driving test! On a technicality! Ah, the frustrations of begging to exist in structures not built for us. Three quick stories about bureaucratic bullshit in a single week, and how it fits into my own big ball of yarn. It's okay that the stuff that's hard for us is probably never going to be fun or easy.We need support and RESOURCES that work for us! More on finding good resources in the episode... librarians are often a great place to start. Resources:Like Your Brain community spaceTranscript DocEmail NewsletterNew course: Experimenting Your Way to an Extraordinary Life

The autistic / AuDHD self-discovery journey can feel like finding out that you've been hammering screws this whole time. You never learned how to use the right tools. You may not have been given the right tools at all! A few thoughts on the grief inherent in the process, and how to equip your personal toolbox now that you know what's up.Resources:Like Your Brain community spaceTranscript DocEmail NewsletterNew course: Experimenting Your Way to an Extraordinary Life

Weeks and months are staples of scheduling systems. But they tend not to work well for me as units of time. My personal ideal is two days on, two days off, though that's impractical. Instead, I talk about the various workarounds I've found, including intentionally scheduling rest (and how if I don't have time for that, I need to decrease demands). If weeks don't work well for you, how can you find what does?Resources:Like Your Brain community spaceTranscript DocEmail NewsletterNew course: Experimenting Your Way to an Extraordinary Life

This episode is about both why it's so hard to get help as an AuDHDer,and some of the broad steps I see working for us.It can help to have a view of your "big ball of yarn" i.e. complex and interrelated problems or life areas.It can also help to start addressing your sensory needs, core needs, and just live your life while you take a break from big processing.Please take care and be gentle to yourself!Links mentioned:New course: Experimenting Your Way to an Extraordinary LifeYour Core Self Care Need episodeThe 4 steps I talked aboutCrisis Resources:USA-based anonymous crisis chatInternational crisis linesVarious types of crisis resources in about 10 countriesResources:Like Your Brain community spaceTranscript DocEmail Newsletter

What NOT to do in your AuDHD discovery process is just as important as knowing what to do! This episode interweaves nicely with last week's episode about what AuDHDers need.This is hardly an exhaustive list, but it covers many of the patterns I've seen and heard in the community.Links mentioned:InterGifted: What is Giftedness?Autistic Culture PodcastFree Office Hours call (p.s. being a free Patreon member is the best way to get updates/reminders about these calls)Crisis Resources:USA-based anonymous crisis chatInternational crisis linesVarious types of crisis resources in about 10 countriesResources:Like Your Brain community spaceTranscript DocEmail Newsletter

What do AuDHDers need (beyond the obvious needs all humans have)? And why do those needs matter?This episode covers some important ones:Being able to engage with our interests (in a particular way)Executive Function support, without trying to make the hardest things easy or enjoyableAutonomyTrue restThe narrow path of just enough stimulationProcessing timeTo be witnessed in just the right wayRecognition that our needs vary quite a bit day to dayComing to terms with disabilitySpace and time throughout our self-discovery journeySafe enough spaces to explore what it means to be ourselfLinks mentioned:Executive function test post if you want to ask Qs or share your experienceExecutive Skills Questionnaire Revised (ESQ-R)Unmasking Autism book (affiliate link)Crisis Resources:USA-based anonymous crisis chatInternational crisis linesVarious types of crisis resources in about 10 countriesResources:Like Your Brain community spaceTranscript DocEmail NewsletterLove Your Brain course