Neurodivergent Narratives Podcast
67 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 69 ratingsSandra is the writer behind @nd.narratives that was @theadhdgoodlife on Instagram, a page where she shares her experiences and insights from her late in life ADHD diagnosis and Autistic self-diagnosis as a Black femme and transracial adoptee. This podcast explores the unique experiences of neurodivergent people (particularly those who've been historically excluded from mainstream neurodivergent narratives), often considering intersectionality and social justice lenses while sharing tools and strategies to promote self-knowledge, self-acceptance, radical responsibility and self-love. Living in a society that wasn't made for neurodivergent brains in mind isn't easy, especially depending on the overlapping oppressions you must navigate. Sandra looks at ways that neurodivergent people can access their own inner knowing and lean into their differences so that they can access their strengths, manage their challenges and thrive along the way.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
A Culture of Perfectionism
August 06, 2020 08:00 - 38 minutes - 26.2 MBThis week we start a series on the characteristics of white supremacy society and how it’s so harmful for our ADHD brains. We’ll be exploring this over the next little while because I think as we break down these expectations, we’ll start to see that not only was this world not made for us, it’s also damaging for us to try and find a way to make these work in our lives. Perfectionism is the first characteristic of this white supremacy culture I’m looking at. The focus is on doing things rig...
White Supremacy Culture 101 & ADHD
July 31, 2020 07:00 - 29 minutes - 20 MBThis episode is an intro to white supremacy culture. A very, very, light intro because as the weeks go on and into each characteristic I explore, I’ll learn more and unpack more of what the might be like for us ADHDers to manage these beliefs and ideas that have been programmed in us. This episode defines the term and talks a bit about some initial thoughts I have about how this culture impacts our ADHD. I begin to think about why learning how we are upholding the culture by believing and em...
Intersectionality 101 & ADHD
July 22, 2020 15:00 - 37 minutes - 26 MBThis week’s episode is a little different than others I’ve done, but I think it’s still a good one. It’s an introduction to intersectionality because I think that it’s important to understand when we’re talking about our unique experiences with ADHD. Quite often ADHD symptoms and presentations don’t consider the intersecting identities that determine what oppressions our ADHD brains must manage and how it affects us because of them. With ADHD being so impacted by the environment around us, h...
The Necessity for Self Compassion
July 15, 2020 10:00 - 34 minutes - 23.8 MBThis week is on self compassion and self kindness, something that I’ve realised is essential to our growth into becoming the people that we want to be, but we don’t really talk a lot about it. We do tend to talk a lot on how awful it feels to be criticised though, often because we’re ruminating on things and talking crap to ourselves the whole time. I’m learning that in order to try new things, speak up for ourselves and generally start living the way we need to, we have to start feeling c...
The Necessity for Self Compassion
July 15, 2020 10:00 - 34 minutes - 23.8 MBThis week is on self compassion and self kindness, something that I’ve realised is essential to our growth into becoming the people that we want to be, but we don’t really talk a lot about it. We do tend to talk a lot on how awful it feels to be criticised though, often because we’re ruminating on things and talking crap to ourselves the whole time. I’m learning that in order to try new things, speak up for ourselves and generally start living the way we need to, we have to start feeling c...
Thoughts on Difference & Acceptance
July 08, 2020 15:00 - 25 minutes - 17.8 MBI think this episode is might be especially helpful for the more recently diagnosed ADHDers (or maybe those folx who are just starting to do some work around their feeling about their ADHD or think they may have ADHD). This week I talk about our feelings about difference and how they can impact the ways we show up for ourselves in our lives. This is something that I’m getting to understand more about myself. We all have ideas about what it means to be different and we might say things like,...
The Need for Approval
July 01, 2020 12:00 - 36 minutes - 25 MBCriticism plays such a huge role in our lives and it impacts so much of how we see ourselves. We’ve been hearing how we mess up, are too much, or not enough for so long that oftentimes when we hear anything critical it automatically becomes something that we take on to mean something about ourselves and our worth. It’s no wonder that to avoid it we end up looking to other people in order to learn how to get approval at all costs. At least that way we have an idea of what it may take in order...
On Learning to Pause
June 23, 2020 11:00 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MBPausing is one of those things I didn’t realise was such a big deal until I was diagnosed and realised it was one of those things people knew what to do. Yes, I’ve experienced a lot of great stuff in the past because of my undiagnosed ADHD due to my impulsivity, but I’ve also messed up a fair bit too because of my inability to always pause. This has impacted all areas of my life and it’s not something that has been easy for me to develop (it’s still not). It feels like a skill I’ve had to le...
Changing What I Make Things Mean
June 16, 2020 12:00 - 29 minutes - 20.2 MBWe put meanings on everything, especially with our ADHD brains that go straight to avoiding and protecting ourselves when it comes to any criticisms. Our whole lives have been about being told all that we can’t do, or be. We’re sensitive creatures who typically tend to think we’re always wrong so to protect ourselves we try really hard to make sure we’re OK with people. But our sensitivity can make any comment mean either we were great or we weren’t. That’s a lot of power to give away to som...
Issues with Self Trust
June 09, 2020 12:00 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MBI think we grow up learning not to trust ourselves, ignoring what we feel is right for us because of all the ways we’re told by the people closest to us and the rest of society what we need to learn to change and correct. The criticism feels like so much and it’s so hard to navigate with our emotions, so we learn to stop listening to ourselves and do what others want in the hopes that they will befriend us, help show us that we can be better. We think that others may be able to guide us to b...
Observing Emotions
June 02, 2020 11:00 - 24 minutes - 16.6 MBI wasn’t one for sitting with emotions. My life tends to go so fast that this was a practice that I couldn’t see the benefit in. I was pretty wrong about that. Being able to listen to my emotions and see how they come up for me in my body has been life changing in many ways. Understanding what triggers me, while noting the feelings and reactions that come up, has given me a lot more power to choose how I want to respond. This has been a good first step for me in learning to listen to my body...
Divergent Mind: Book Review
May 26, 2020 10:00 - 20 minutes - 14.3 MBGIVEAWAY!!! Leave a 5 star review and comment on Apple Podcasts or Spotify for a chance to win a copy of the book ‘Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed for You’ For people with ADHD, Autistic folx and those with other sensory sensitivities, the sensory impact of Neurodivergent conditions can make our day to day lives even more challenging. Jenara Nerenberg’s new book ‘Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed for You’ looks at the experiences of neurodive...
Stories on Self Worth
May 19, 2020 15:00 - 28 minutes - 19.4 MBWe are raised to think of all the things we’re not. As ADHDers we hear 20000 more negative comments than our neurotypical peers as children (probably more if we’re farther from societal ideals). We grow up hiding symptoms, apologising for ourselves and enduring school and other systems that don’t work with our differences in mind (including our intersectional identities!). We grow up with a damaged sense of self and low self worth. If we’ve grown up with undiagnosed ADHD, we don’t know what’...
Making Gratitude Work
May 12, 2020 10:00 - 23 minutes - 16.2 MBI have always believed that if I could make a list of all the reasons why I was grateful, then I could just manifest all kinds of self love, money and other things I didn’t have in my life. Then eventually, they would show up in my life and I could truly live like I was grateful. But it's much bigger than that and when done properly and consistently, it really can make a difference. I can tell you, it’s definitely impacted mine. But it’s definitely a mindset that needs to be developed as con...
Making Gratitude Work
May 12, 2020 10:00 - 23 minutes - 16.2 MBI have always believed that if I could make a list of all the reasons why I was grateful, then I could just manifest all kinds of self love, money and other things I didn’t have in my life. Then eventually, they would show up in my life and I could truly live like I was grateful. But it's much bigger than that and when done properly and consistently, it really can make a difference. I can tell you, it’s definitely impacted mine. But it’s definitely a mindset that needs to be developed as con...
Unraveling the Narratives
May 05, 2020 17:00 - 27 minutes - 19.2 MBWhen you grow up with undiagnosed ADHD there are so many stories that impact how you feel about yourself, the way you show up in the world and the way your presentations are viewed by others. Just because I had an ADHD diagnosis, didn’t mean that those narratives stopped playing, or that I could really show up in the ways I wanted to in my life. I tried to look for others like me so I could learn their stories and see what they did in order to reach their potential, only I couldn’t find ma...
New Diagnosis & Still More Questions
May 05, 2020 07:00 - 30 minutes - 20.7 MBThe relief of knowing what is going on in your head after an ADHD (or perhaps any neurodivergent) diagnosis, is quickly overtaken by a journey, to know and understand who you are, and what still need to be unravelled, unlearned or accepted in order to create a life that truly works for you. A life where you can give yourself permission to be exactly as you are and feel comfortable in using what you need in order to thrive in it. This first episode explores the ways I’ve learned more about w...