The holiday season can be especially challenging for autistic people, making it hard to have the happy holiday experience others seem to expect. From Thanksgiving and through Christmas to New Year’s, there’s a nonstop stream of holiday events, sensory overload, and social expectations, creating an environment that can feel overwhelming and exhausting. With a fewContinueContinue reading “How to have happier holidays when you’re autistic”
Category Archives: neurodivergent life
How to have happier holidays when you have ADHD
The holiday season can be particularly challenging for those of us with ADHD, leading to less than happier holidays. The pressures and expectations of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year come at us from all directions, with seemingly no break once Halloween has passed. That’s two months of holiday hype, filled with pressure to do everythingContinueContinue reading “How to have happier holidays when you have ADHD”
Life lessons from cats on the futility of FOMO
FOMO, the fear of missing out, can lead us to do things we don’t really want to do. We don’t really want to do them, but we do them anyway because we fear what missing out might mean. If you want to skip the part about cats, click here to get to the common reasonsContinueContinue reading “Life lessons from cats on the futility of FOMO”
How to leverage authenticity and bring down internalised shame
Internalised shame around our neurodivergence often stems from societal expectations to conform to ‘normal’ standards, leading us to feel flawed, broken or inadequate. The tension forms when we’re exposed to ‘normalised’ ideas throughout our lives. These ideas come from other people and shape how we feel we ‘should’ behave, feel, emote, work, socialise, look, dress,ContinueContinue reading “How to leverage authenticity and bring down internalised shame”
Self-compassion secrets for neurodivergent people
Developing self-compassion can be particularly important for neurodivergent people, who may face unique challenges, such as misunderstanding from others, internalised stigma, or struggles with traditional standards of productivity or social behaviour. This can be really helpful if we’ve recently realised we’re neurodivergent, as later-life realisations can bring a tsunami of feelings and emotions. Self-compassion helpsContinueContinue reading “Self-compassion secrets for neurodivergent people”
How to identify emotions when you can’t find the words
Being able to identify emotions can be tricky, especially for neurodivergent people. It’s not that we don’t feel emotions—we do, often, and they can be really intense—but naming them can be a challenge. This difficulty isn’t limited to specific neurodivergent identities like autism, ADHD, AuDHD and dyslexia, neurotypical people can struggle with this too. However,ContinueContinue reading “How to identify emotions when you can’t find the words”
Is neuro-identity important when choosing neuro-affirming support?
Identity matters for all sorts of reasons. If we start with ourselves, knowing our identity is important because it provides clarity on who we are, our values, beliefs, strengths and weaknesses. This self-awareness shapes every aspect of our lives, including relationships, career, goals, and our sense of direction. The more you understand yourself, the betterContinueContinue reading “Is neuro-identity important when choosing neuro-affirming support?”
How to create your own personal user manual
A personal user manual is a bit like the instruction manual for your smart TV. The manual tells you how to operate the telly, how to get the best from its features, and what it needs in order to function at its best. It also tells you the things that are gonna lead to lessContinueContinue reading “How to create your own personal user manual”