Podcast Summary: Adult ADHD Tips – Leaning Life in Your Favor with Actress Ginger Gonzaga

Podcast: Adult ADHD ADD Tips and Support
Host: Michael Joseph Ferguson
Guest: Ginger Gonzaga – Actress, Writer, Comedian, Director, Musician
Date: October 29, 2025

Overview

This lively episode features a candid and insightful conversation between Michael Joseph Ferguson and multitalented artist Ginger Gonzaga, exploring how adults with ADHD (especially creative “hunter types”) can embrace their unique wiring to thrive. Ginger shares her journey in the entertainment industry, the importance of leaning life in your favor by playing to your strengths, developing resiliency, self-care, and how she’s learned to see her ADHD traits as assets rather than liabilities.

Whether you're in the arts, self-employed, or just seeking holistic strategies for adult ADHD, Ginger’s firsthand stories and practical tips are both relatable and inspiring.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Turning Perceived “Craziness” Into a Strength

• Acting as Her Authentic Self:
  Ginger describes how she learned to unapologetically bring her “wild card” nature into auditions and on set, reframing behaviors often labeled as “crazy” as creative strengths. She asserts that embracing her ADHD-fueled spontaneity and giving directors lots of comedic, off-the-cuff options ultimately benefits productions.

• Establishing Expectations:
  By setting the precedent early in auditions or jobs, she conditions collaborators to expect her unconventional approach—leading to professional freedom and trust.

  “If I just come out the gate as a wild card... I’m doing it the Ginger way and you’re either going to hire me or you’re not.”
  — Ginger Gonzaga, 10:21

  “People see it as a strength. And in my profession, the more you know what you’re doing, the easier it is for the director.”
  — Ginger Gonzaga, 11:01

2. Comedy & Improv as ADHD Training Grounds

• Improv’s Rewards for Impulsivity:
  Training at Groundlings and Second City strengthened Ginger’s confidence, rewarding her ADHD-style, fast-thinking, and impulsive expression.

• Stand-Up’s Lessons on Rejection & Resilience:
  Regular failure in stand-up made her less self-blaming and helped frame rejection as a routine part of creative life, not a personal flaw.

  “Improv in particular forces you—it rewards you for literally being impulsive, for saying exactly what’s on your head in that moment.”
  — Ginger Gonzaga, 14:53

  “Sometimes the exact same set will be loved at one place and hated somewhere else... It’s not necessarily you.”
  — Ginger Gonzaga, 15:53

3. ADHD, Rejection Sensitivity, and Resilience

• Navigating Constant Rejection:
  Ginger compartmentalizes rejection; she’s more focused on doing work she’s proud of than others’ judgments.

• Finding Purpose:
  The deep need to create—rather than simply wanting to—is what fuels her ongoing engagement, even when the industry is difficult.

• Knowing When to Step Away:
  Not all struggles are “worth it”; strong resistance or harm may mean the path isn’t aligned with your purpose.

  “Knowing that it’s my purpose... helps me get back [up]. Especially now when our industry is getting really weird.”
  — Ginger Gonzaga, 19:58

  “If you really don’t want to be resilient in something, it may not be your purpose.”
  — Ginger Gonzaga, 20:08

4. Personal ADHD Management & Self-Care

• Late Diagnosis Struggles:
  Ginger, like many women, was diagnosed at 35; much of her earlier life felt like “just raw-dogging life” without tools or understanding.

• Toxic Relationships and Brain Speed:
  Fast, nonlinear ADHD thought patterns can make people with ADHD vulnerable to manipulative relationships, as they “problem-solve” for dopamine/serotonin hits.

• Tools & Hacks:

  • Listmaking & Planners: Advocates giant poster boards, visual tools, sticky notes, and planners to manage memory and motivation.
  • Capturing Ideas: Records poetry, ideas, and unfinished work knowing that they’ll have future value (e.g., lyrics from old poems repurposed in films).
  • Physical Cues: Notes to self (“if I just...”) and visual reminders keep her grounded and protect against self-abandonment.
  • Coaching & Tracking Progress: Regular check-ins (including with Michael) provide accountability, structure, and reminders of completed accomplishments.

  “Not knowing was the biggest struggle... You’re just raw-dogging life.”
  — Ginger Gonzaga, 23:05

  “I never stop having ideas... You’re like, how do I finish some of these things?”
  — Ginger Gonzaga, 26:19

5. Navigating Creativity and Multiple Talents

• Focusing the ‘Firehose’:
  Chooses priority projects based on purpose, bucket-list dreams, potential to uplift others, and reclaiming lost aspects of herself.

• Nothing Wasted:
  Free-flowing creativity means everything she creates (poems, paintings, etc.) will eventually find a use.

  “If I work in a relatively free-flowing way... Almost everything that I’ve made can eventually be used.”
  — Ginger Gonzaga, 30:18

6. Rituals for Staying Connected and Grounded

• Recognizing Disconnection:
  Having experienced childhood trauma and masking, Ginger is now attuned to her energy and uses routines, self-talk, and permission to reconnect to her “inner little kid.”

• Chore-Linked Self-Care:
  Builds hacks where mental exhaustion equals time to do a “mindless” productive activity, like cleaning.

• Decision-Making Aids:
  Carries/writes cards with mantras/rules (e.g., “If I say ‘I’ll just’... it’s the wrong decision”).

  “I used to say my house at times looks like a self-help crime scene because I’m just posting things all over the place.”
  — Ginger Gonzaga, 36:59

7. The Power of Community and Support

• ADHD “Tribe” Discovery:
  After diagnosis, she noticed her closest friends were also undiagnosed ADHDers—mutually supportive, exchanging tips, and normalized by each other's quirks.

• Artist Friends as Emotional Lifeline:
  Shares voice notes, compassion, non-judgment, and persistence with other artists who inherently understand vulnerability and out-of-the-box thinking.

  “Once you find out you’re ADHD, you realize everyone you’ve kept in your life... is ADHD also.”
  — Ginger Gonzaga, 42:35

8. Media Landscape & Survival Strategies

• Industry Flux & Uncertainty:
  Post-COVID, streaming, and AI have upended entertainment—no one has clear answers on how to navigate this instability.

• DIY Mindset:
  Ginger advocates for focusing on what matters, creating work without waiting for studio approval, and not being married to industry “rules.”

  “There will be so much AI nonsense-created creativity... maybe there will eventually be a premium on real stuff.”
  — Ginger Gonzaga, 47:32

9. Squirrels, Instagram, and Finding Joy

• Personal Joys:
  Ginger shares the light-hearted story of her backyard squirrel hotel (including “boundary issues” and weather problems), exemplifying her sense of fun and resourcefulness.
• Authenticity Online:
  Encourages listeners to find her on Instagram (@gingerthejester) for more creative, silly, and heartfelt content.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Authenticity:
  “If I just come out the gate as a wild card... I’m doing it the Ginger way and you’re either going to hire me or you’re not.”
  (Ginger Gonzaga, 10:21)

• On ADHD as Superpower:
  “By giving myself permission to unapologetically be myself, maybe at the risk of being called crazy, is actually what allows me to do what I’m allowed to do—which is have a very, very free-throwing brain. Which is where ADHD is a superpower.”
  (Ginger Gonzaga, 12:16)

• On Purpose and Resilience:
  “I always think in the arts, there’s a difference between wanting to do something and needing to do something. And I need to do all of the art that I think of or that I do. So there’s no retiring for me.”
  (Ginger Gonzaga, 18:56)

• On Support Networks:
  “Once you find out you’re ADHD, you realize everyone you’ve kept in your life for the past 10 years is ADHD also.”
  (Ginger Gonzaga, 42:36)

• On Survival in a Changing Industry:
  “Just keep making the things that are important to you, but try to find a way that you don’t have to ask for permission for it.”
  (Ginger Gonzaga, 49:08)

• On Rituals & Self-Help:
  “My house at times looks like a self-help crime scene because I’m just posting things all over the place.”
  (Ginger Gonzaga, 36:59)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Leaning Into “Crazy” as Power [08:51–12:24]
• The Groundlings, Improv, Stand-Up, and ADHD [14:18–16:29]
• Rejection, Purpose, and Resilience [17:28–22:05]
• Late Diagnosis, Vulnerability to Toxic Relationships [23:05–27:26]
• Managing the Idea Firehose [27:26–31:44]
• Creative Rituals and Repurposing Work [31:44–36:08]
• Self-Care, Planners, and Decision Hacks [36:08–40:15]
• Support Systems and ADHD Friendship [42:14–45:44]
• Navigating a Turbulent Media/Entertainment Landscape [46:17–49:20]
• Squirrels and Instagram Joy [49:20–51:13]

Final Thoughts

This episode is a masterclass in turning neurodiverse challenges into advantages, from finding community to trusting your creative instincts. Ginger Gonzaga’s honesty, playfulness, and practical strategies—grounded in her life experience—make this essential listening for any adult ADHD-er, artist, or out-of-the-box thinker.

Check out Ginger on Instagram (@gingerthejester) and her award-winning short film “Mermaid.”
For support, resources, and group coaching, visit drummerandthegreatmountain.com