24: Collaboration: Mental Note & Struggle Care

Today’s episode is a conversation in which Ellie Pike, host of the Mental Note podcast (this episode first aired on 2/27/23), and I discuss my adult ADHD diagnosis and the workarounds I’ve learned to get things done and function in my life. Join us!

Show Highlights:

• KC’s background as a messy person whose life changed dramatically when her two children were born
• How KC had to learn how to keep a functional home in a totally new phase of life
• How an ADHD diagnosis as a young mother made sense of her whole life
• Why KC’s ADHD diagnosis was “missed” during childhood and youth because she didn’t “fit the mold”
• Why ADHD is NOT simply the inability to pay attention
• How success in school changed for KC during college when most of the work was to be done outside of class
• How ADHD affects what is going on in the brain, regardless of external behavior that may appear normal
• What KC has put in place to help her finish necessary tasks, even when they don’t interest her
• The difference between motivation and task initiation–and why we treat them differently
• How ADHD medication changed everything for KC
• Why late-diagnosed adults with ADHD usually hit some kind of barrier, event, or transition that brings everything to a crisis point
• The connection between KC’s depressive episodes and isolation, under-stimulation, and boredom
• KC’s advice for listeners about creating systems that work WITH your brain: “Do a little, and do it as a person that deserves to function.”
• Why KC’s message is that “care tasks are morally neutral” and have nothing to do with someone being a worthwhile human being

 Resources:

Connect with Ellie Pike and find out more about the Eating Recovery Center and Mood and Anxiety Center: www.mentalnotepodcast.com  

Connect with KC: TikTok, Instagram, and Website 

Get KC’s book, How to Keep House While Drowning

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