Episode Summary: ADHD for Smart Ass Women with Tracy Otsuka

EP. 322: Loud, Intuitive & Learning to Regulate with Chelsea Kunz

Release Date: March 5, 2025
Host: Tracy Otsuka
Guest: Chelsea Kunz (aka Karen Disapproves)

Episode Overview

In this engaging episode, Tracy Otsuka is joined by actor, comedy creator, and “hot mess mom” influencer Chelsea Kunz—better known online as Karen Disapproves. Together, they dive into Chelsea’s colorful journey with ADHD, touching on her chaotic childhood as the youngest of ten, her evolution from class clown to intuitive creative, and her ongoing quest for nervous system regulation. Chelsea’s story challenges stereotypes about ADHD women and highlights the importance of self-acceptance, humor, and finding alignment with one’s purpose.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Getting to Know Chelsea Kunz

• Chelsea’s Background: Actor, comedy influencer (“hot mess mom”), self-development and spirituality junkie, host of the “Soul Slumber Party” podcast.
• Family Life: Grew up as the youngest of ten siblings in Utah, now a mother of three.
• Humor as Healing: Comedy and creativity as core elements of her ADHD experience.

The Diagnosis Journey

• Childhood Clues

  • Early signs: restlessness, constant fidgeting, drawing on desks, getting bored easily in class ([04:47]).
  • Classic family story: “By the end of the movie, the lights come up. I had a masterpiece. The whole desk was just like this masterpiece. It was colorful, cool shapes, beautiful. … My teacher saw it and was pissed.” — Chelsea ([05:09])

• Realization in Adulthood

  • Always joked about being “so ADHD,” but others took it seriously before she did.
  • Diagnosis officially came in her 30s, triggered by postpartum irritability and overwhelm—not academic struggles.

• Motherhood and ADHD

  • Having kids amplified the challenges: “My brain became very chaotic because my environment became very chaotic. … I became extremely dysregulated.” — Chelsea ([08:58])
  • Irritability and emotional regulation issues led her to pursue an official diagnosis.

• Nervous System Regulation

  • Discovery that managing her ADHD is about regulating her nervous system, not just organization or medication: “Nervous system’s been huge for me ... that was like, once again, it’s like the bell goes off when you hear something. You’re like, oh, holy crap. Like, that’s the thing I need to be focusing on.” — Chelsea ([23:57])

Education, Intelligence, and Self-Perception

• School Years

  • Struggled with “textbook work,” thrived in hands-on, creative settings.
  • “Test taking in college … I would be the last one, like, done with the test. … My brain would drift off somewhere.” — Chelsea ([15:03])
  • Supportive mother reinforced her strengths in the arts, which helped buffer negative self-perceptions.

• Feeling Different

  • Chaotic, unconventional upbringing made Chelsea feel different from peers, but there was little judgment at home: “We were already the chaotic family. … We didn’t care. We had a blast growing up.” — Chelsea ([16:50])

Family Dynamics

• Big Family Culture
  • Ten siblings created an environment of constant competition, affection, and chaos. “I really looked to my siblings for direction a lot. I always had built-in best friends.” — Chelsea ([19:56])
  • Large, close-knit family still gathers regularly, though Chelsea now prefers smaller groups to support her nervous system.

Creativity, Identity & Social Media

• Birth of Karen Disapproves

  • Comedy sketches and raw honesty about motherhood provided creative outlet and community.
  • “There was a little bit of an identity crisis, like, oh my god, now I’m at home all the time ... I needed an outlet for myself. I needed a creative outlet.” — Chelsea ([30:24])
  • Advice to new moms: Keep a personal creative or professional project alive to maintain identity.

• Navigating Creative Impulses

  • ADHD creates a flood of ideas; learning to channel them is key.
  • “When we don’t have a system, we can get totally paralyzed because there’s just so many ideas.” — Tracy ([37:07])
  • Chelsea filters ideas by intuitive “bells”: “Does it keep coming back? Is it tied to purpose?” ([41:28])

• Boundaries with Social Media

  • Recognizes phones as a major source of dysregulation: “If I get sucked into social media and, like, the constant scrolling, that immediately leads to me being more irritable and more, like, agitated with people…” — Chelsea ([46:09])
  • Practical solution: No social media before noon; strict boundaries on phone use.

Intuition, Self-Trust, and Evolving Purpose

• Intuitive Decision-Making
  • “When I’m in a place of regulation, it might not make sense to anybody else, but I’m still able to … make bold moves.” — Chelsea ([38:53])
  • Ideas that persist (“harass” her until she acts) are the ones worth pursuing.
• Self-Doubt and Recovery
  • Struggles with follow-through have, at times, eroded her self-confidence.
  • “You can start losing trust and belief in yourself because you can go, man, I tried that idea and it didn’t work.” — Chelsea ([44:19])
  • Regaining confidence comes from manageable steps, nervous system health, and self-compassion.

Favorite ADHD Workarounds

• Top Strategies
  • Avoiding early day phone/social media use ([46:09])
  • Exercise for dopamine and creative flow ([47:14])
  • Morning routines for structure
  • Positive self-talk: “The number one thing I think people with ADHD need to realize is how powerful their thoughts are … If you can set yourself up to just have more positive thoughts, you’ll have a lot more control” — Chelsea ([47:46])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If you don’t know who you are, if you don’t know what you value, if you don’t know your passions and the neighborhood that your purpose lives in, well, who cares if you’re on the highest tree if you’re in the wrong forest, right?”
  — Tracy ([03:38])

• “I was just used to raw-dogging life, you know … I was just used to, you know, setting goals and being like, oh God, okay, I’m just gonna do … I’m wake up and do this every morning.”
  — Chelsea ([08:34])

• “Now I can go back and look through my history and go, oh, you just were not aware of this and you didn’t know how to handle this. And I think that alone has given me more confidence to take on things that I know that I can handle and … tie it back to purpose.”
  — Chelsea ([22:19])

• “Creative brains are idea factories … But when we don’t have a system, we can get totally paralyzed because there’s just so many ideas.”
  — Tracy ([37:07])

• “Regulating my nervous system so I can even hear, like, what my intuition is telling me, because … when I’m in constant chaos or dysregulated, I’m not making decisions that are really aligned with myself.”
  — Chelsea ([37:37])

• “I have a rule right now where I don’t get on before noon, and that is incredibly helpful to me.”
  — Chelsea ([46:11])

• “The number one thing I think people with ADHD need to realize is how powerful their thoughts are, because we can have powerful thoughts and they can go negative or they can go positive.”
  — Chelsea ([47:47])

Timestamps for Major Segments

• ADHD Diagnosis Story: [04:36]–[10:09]
• Childhood & School Challenges: [11:11]–[16:46]
• Feeling Different & Emotional Regulation: [16:46]–[19:14]
• Growing Up in a Big Family: [19:14]–[21:53]
• Post-diagnosis Changes: [21:53]–[24:06]
• Creativity, Motherhood & Social Media: [28:21]–[37:07]
• Organizing Creative Ideas & Intuition: [37:07]–[44:41]
• Favorite Workarounds & Daily Habits: [46:09]–[48:04]
• Where to Find Chelsea: [48:04]–[48:38]

Where to Find Chelsea Kunz

• Instagram/TikTok: @karen.disapproves
• Podcast: Soul Slumber Party
• Other Socials: Soul Slumber Party on all major platforms

Tone & Style

Upbeat, honest, and funny. Both Tracy and Chelsea embrace vulnerability, celebrate ADHD as a source of creativity, and challenge listeners to find self-acceptance, resilience, and personal alignment.

Final Takeaway

Chelsea’s story is an empowering testament to embracing one's unique neurodivergent wiring, using humor and intuition as compasses, and prioritizing nervous system health for genuine well-being. Her journey is ultimately about giving oneself grace—and, as she and Tracy remind us, focusing on building a life (and career) that feeds your soul and purpose.