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Hello, my friend. So today we've got a bonus episode. I have not done a bonus episode for a long time. I don't do them very often, which means when I do, it's because I've got something that I really actually want to talk to you about. So today I am going to share a lot of the behind the scenes of my life and my story with you. And I also want to tell you about adulting with adhd, my ADHD coaching program, because it's actually on sale right now, this week. But I don't just want to tell you what's in it, I want to tell you why it exists, because I think that that story really matters. And fair warning, heads up, my friends. I'm going to get really personal today. Pretty vulnerable, because if you know me, if you know me at all, you're probably going to expect it. Like, I do not do small talk, right? I am TMI and I'm here for it. So heads up, before we dive in, I've got one of the cats with me in our. In the office, we have two beautiful, fluffy cats, Rocky and Sugar. Now, Rocky is obsessed with me. He gives me headbutt cuddles all of the time, like I'm his favorite human. But Sugar chose me today. This cat normally stays away from me because the two cats hate each other, but he is with me in the office, and I could not shut him out because he almost never chooses me. And I've been chosen. Like, if you're a cat person, you know just how important this is, right? So anyway, if there's any funny noises, let's just attribute it to the cat today, okay? All right. So as many of you know, I got my own ADHD diagnosis at age 36. A bit later in life, like so many of us, okay. But that was not the beginning of my story. It was more like, let's say, the last part of the puzzle finally falling into into place. So, like many of us, I grew up with a lot happening, a shitload happening. I lost my brother when I was nine years old. And actually, two years ago, I discovered that he had been diagnosed with ADHD as a child, which in those days was pretty rare. So that's saying something about how pronounced it was. I have spent many hours thinking about how things could have been different for him if somebody had understood his brain, if somebody had understood him and ADHD, and if he had understood his brain and his ADHD. So I started skipping school around age 14. I actually left school early. I remember in the last Year of school. I only attended two full weeks of school that year because two separate friends dared me and paid me. They followed through. They paid me because they thought, oh, you can't stay at school for a full week and attend every single class. So I only did two full weeks, but I got the money. That was the only reason I always say to people I would never want to be a teenager again. Because if I'm really honest with you, those were the hardest years of my life. And I really feel for the teens today because social media wasn't really a thing quite yet when I was going through it. But for me it looked like a lot of self loathing, never feeling good enough, comparing myself to everyone, always wondering what was wrong with me and why I wasn't like everyone else. Like, I just constantly felt like this outsider. And that did follow me, to be honest, right through my twenties as well. In my late twenties I was working in the travel industry. So I had managed, I don't know how to get myself a pretty good job. And I was running a very successful travel agencies. And if you work in the travel industry, hello, dopamine, you know, like travel is one of the most dopamine fulfilling things that there is. Love it. But it was long days, long hours, a lot of stress, a lot of pressure. But on the outside, everything in my life looked pretty good. You know, people saw, oh, she's just bought a house by herself, she's got this really great career, she's, you know, on track to do really well and she's traveling all over the world and you know, that's what people saw on the outside. But on the inside, I felt awful. I was anxious all of the time. I was miserable. I, I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror. Like it was horrific. I quit my job, how impulsive. And bought a one way ticket to London. I had this one friend living in London, she was so happy, like ridiculous. So I was convinced, well, happiness must be in London. She knows something I don't. So I quit my job, flew all the way to London, get there, and I fucking hate it, all right? I'm dead honest, I hate it. I went from, you know, living in my little two bedroom house with my cat and I had a backyard and, you know, grass and green trees and fresh air to living in this tiny shoebox flat. There were five people, three bedrooms. And I remember we had an ensuite in the, in the room that we had. When I say ensuite, that's a piss take because you would Stand in this thing. It was smaller than a single wardrobe. When you stood in there, you would be touching the toilet, the, the little, what is it, like, vanity bowl, the sink and the shower all at the same time, because you basically had to have the door open to be able to get dressed. It was such a small space. But at that time, it was August, mid to late August in London. It was cold, dark, rainy, wet, gray. I think they'd skipped summer that year completely. And I just did not like it. You know, I'd grown up in the country with a lot of space, a lot of mountains and the ocean and all of this, and probably didn't this through too well, did I? So what did I do? I numbed my pain. I numbed my pain by drinking a lot of alcohol. My. My thing at that time was cider, and I would eat all of the London sweets and chocolates that, you know, I could get my hands on. Oh, I need to try that. Haven't tried that. But basically I was just trying to numb my pain with all of that. And then at about age 28, I went to the doctor and I was asking for weight loss pills. I was convinced, you know, if I can just lose this weight, I'll finally feel happy. And the doctor, you know, I wasn't really looking for anything profound, right? I literally just wanted weight loss pills. But she looked at me and said, I think you need life coaching sessions. And she prescribed me life coaching sessions instead. Now I remember being pissed. Like, I was pissed. I thought that that sounded ridiculous. I had no idea. This is like so many years ago. Nobody knew what a life coach was. It's like, what the hell even is that anyway? But I had nothing to lose. So I went along. I went along to the sessions. That was the first time in my life that someone helped me to understand why I was doing the things I was doing, not just, you know, what to do differently. I knew what I needed to do, but I didn't understand why I couldn't make myself do it right and why I felt the way I felt inside, like the underneath of it. And something genuinely shifted. So that coaching changed my life. And the funny thing is, I never went back to get the weight loss pills. I lost the weight myself. I started to make friends, and I went from hating London to genuinely loving it. And I remember feeling the happiest I had ever felt before in my life, like I'd never experienced genuine happiness before. And then finally I'm on the other side of the world in this place that I Hated feeling happy. If you had told me that was possible, I would have laughed at you. So, of course, in true ADHD fashion, what happened? I became obsessed with coaching. I was like, everybody needs this. Why don't we know about this? Why is this not taught in schools, Right? Especially when it comes to understanding your brain. So the following year, I flew to California and I trained to become a coach. Then fast forward a bunch of years. At age 36, I got my ADHD diagnosis. And like so many of us, right? For the second time in my life, everything clicked. Like everything finally made sense. All of it. The school struggles, the intensity, the emotions that always felt so much bigger than everyone else's. The years of trying to fit into systems that just weren't built or designed for me, for my brain, why I'd always felt different. Suddenly, all of that made sense. Like, so much sense. And here's what I noticed. That diagnosis was validating, but it didn't come with a manual. I remember leaving the psychiatrist's office with two pieces of paper. One was all of the warning and side effects of the medication, which was like a really big, scary list of shit. And then the other one was just a tiny bit of information about adhd. And it was, you know, the sort of stuff that I already had a general idea of. Nobody sat me down and said, hey, here's how your brain actually works. Here's what to do about the emotional stuff. Here's why you might experience your emotions differently. Here's how to stop burning out. Here's how to build a life that actually works for the brain that you have. So I had to find all of that myself, right? Over years, the hard way. Trial and error, my friend. And I kept thinking, why isn't there, like, one place that has all of that in it? Why is there not some. Some place we can go to something that we're given or. Or we have access to that helps us to understand our brain and work with our brain, right? In a format that works for ADHD is place with support. So that's why built, right? That's. That's a real quick version of why and how I came to create the Adulting with ADHD program. Okay, so let me tell you a little bit about what's inside. Inside Adulting with ADHD. There are 10 courses and workshops. So this is things like understanding your ADHD at a real level, okay? Not the fluff or the pop psychology, but actual science made human and practical, okay? Emotional regulation. I'm talking. There is an entire course on how to regulate your emotions. Because that one is massive for us late diagnosed adults and it is not talked about enough. We have got workshops on burnout, on how to overcome and prevent ADHD burnout. We've got workshops on procrastination, on rsd, rejection, sensitivity, dysfunction, euphoria, on dopamine because that's such a key element when it comes to working with ADHD brains. We've got an entire course on how to coach yourself. Because self coaching is one of the most life changing skills. Now if I'm being really honest, I think that the emotional regulation course alone is worth the price of entry. And this is the one that I am most proud of. Because learning how to regulate yourself, how to calm yourself down and not always, you know, react in these big ways that you genuine, generally regret later. I truly believe that that is one of the most important and most life changing skills for adults with adhd. And you may have heard me say before, I think this should be taught in schools. But there is a whole course that I have created for us in there, okay? And then there's monthly group coaching with me, right? You can come live or you can watch the replay. It's every second Tuesday of the month. You can submit questions in advance if you can't. There. Okay. We also have workbooks. There are loads of ADHD friendly workbooks. Heaps of bonus resources like honestly, if I was to list everything, we would be here all day. Okay? This whole thing is built for ADHD brains, right? Buy an ADHD brain for ADHD brains. Which means there is no right or wrong way to use this. Okay? There's no falling behind, there is no pressure. You dip in and out as you need something, you need something, you in and get it right. It waits for you when life gets busy. And that's not by accident, that is by design, right? There is no right way to use this program, no wrong way to use it. So right practical shit. Let me get to it. Until this Saturday, Saturday the 23rd of May, adulting with ADHD is only 388 New Zealand dollars. Okay? So if you're an American, it's roughly like 200 or 230 US. That is half the normal price. It's normally 777 New Zealand. One payment, no subscription. Okay? One time payment, no subscription. Access all the way through until the end of 2026. Okay? So you get access right through to the end of this year. Just the other day actually I got a dm like a private message from somebody who's inside the program inside adulting with ADHD and saying that she was just obsessed with it, Right? She's so obsessed with this place and she's so grateful to have a safe space with other people just like her. And when she said that, like, she feels safe here, I might have cried. Yeah, I probably did. Let's be honest. So the link is navigating adultadhd.com awa. I will put it in the show notes. My friend, again, that sale closes Midnight this Saturday, 23rd May. If this is your time, I would genuinely love to see you in there and support you in there. Right. This community is full of my absolute favorite humans, and I think that you are going to feel right at home now if it's not your time. Totally. Okay. No guilt, no pressure, Right? I am still here. I am still here. I will be here for you every single week on this podcast, showing up to support you. Okay? All right, my friend, I really hope to see you inside adulting with adhd. Huge, huge love. Take care. I'll speak to you soon.