Ready For The Roadmap to Finally Thrive WITH Your ADHD?
✨ PRE-ORDER MY NEW BOOK, THE ADHD WOMEN'S WELLBEING TOOLKIT HERE! ✨
Today’s episode is about something very special: the launch of my new book, The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit! Whether you’re newly diagnosed or have been navigating ADHD for years, this book is designed to support you in understanding your ADHD and, more importantly, in building a life that feels calmer, more fulfilling, and aligned with your unique needs.
I didn’t just want to write another book about ADHD. I wanted to create a COMPASSIONATE yet practical resource filled with tools, insights, and strategies to help you feel seen, validated, and supported in your journey. ADHD affects so many areas of life, and this toolkit is here to help you navigate those challenges with more confidence and ease.
Joining me for this conversation is fellow podcaster Hannah Hickinbotham, host of The Full of Beans Podcast, who understands the neurodivergent experience firsthand. We’ll discuss the purpose behind this book, why it’s such an essential resource for women with ADHD, and how pre-orders play a massive role in making it widely available.
Get ready for an engaging discussion that highlights the journey of writing this book and the hope it brings to many.
We dive deep into:
✨ The importance of understanding ADHD in women and the unique challenges they face throughout different hormonal stages of life.
✨ How The ADHD Women’s Wellbeing Toolkit is designed to support women at any point in their ADHD journey, providing practical advice and tools to help them navigate life with more ease.
✨ How to use the book as a resource to gain holistic, actionable guidance, offering strategies to cultivate joy, fulfilment, wellbeing and calmness while managing the everyday realities of ADHD.
✨ How the book serves as a valuable resource not only for individuals with ADHD but also for their loved ones, helping to foster better compassion, validation, understanding and support within families.
Timestamps
🕒 01:00: Introducing the ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit
🕒 10:18: Navigating ADHD as a journey of understanding and acceptance
🕒 19:20: The process of writing with ADHD
🕒 23:32: Navigating the challenges of writing and ADHD such as hyperfocus, imposter syndrome and more!
🕒 28:25: Finding support and accessibility in ADHD
🕒 38:31: The journey to understanding ADHD
📖 Pre-order The ADHD Women’s Wellbeing Toolkit now and be part of this journey with me HERE!
Links & Resources:
❗If you love the podcast but want more ADHD support, get a sneak peek of my brand new book, The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit and pre-order it here!❗
🌸 Join me for a series of breakthrough ADHD Wellbeing Workshops and step into more understanding, self-advocacy, self-empowerment and self-acceptance to swap burnout and overwhelm for balance and ease this spring 🌸
Find all of Kate's popular online workshops and free resources here
Follow the podcast on Instagram
Kate Moryoussef is a women's ADHD lifestyle and wellbeing coach and EFT practitioner who helps overwhelmed and unfulfilled newly diagnosed ADHD women find more calm, balance, hope, health, compassion, creativity and clarity.
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
Welcome to the ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast.
Speaker A:I'm Kate Moore Youssef and I'm a wellbeing and lifestyle coach, EFT practitioner, mum to four kids and passionate about helping more women to understand and accept their amazing ADHD brains.
Speaker A:After speaking to many women just like me and probably you, I know there is a need for more health and lifestyle support for women newly diagnosed with adhd.
Speaker A:In these conversations, you'll learn from insightful guests, hear new findings, and discover powerful perspectives and lifestyle tools to enable you to live your most fulfilled, calm and purposeful life wherever you are on your ADHD journey.
Speaker A:Here's today's episode.
Speaker A:Hi everyone.
Speaker A:Welcome back to another episode of the ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast.
Speaker A:And today the tables have turned.
Speaker A:This is very strange and I am being interviewed on my podcast.
Speaker A:You may have listened to Monday's episode where I basically told you that I've written a book and I gave you a little bit of a background on writing a book with ADHD and what the book's about.
Speaker A:The book is called the ADHD Women's well Being Toolkit.
Speaker A:And yeah, I wrote a book with ADHD for people with ADHD and I have to say it's a miracle.
Speaker A:It's out there, there, but it's and I am actually now really, really proud.
Speaker A:It's out for pre sale now so it's going to be in shops in July, July 3.
Speaker A:But the link which I'll put in the show notes is now available.
Speaker A:You're able to pre order it and hopefully it'll land on your doorstep on the 3rd of July.
Speaker A:So today I have an interviewer on my podcast but we thought instead of me just warbling on, we thought we'd get some someone from another podcast to come in and ask me lots of questions.
Speaker A:Hopefully be able to get all the information out there for you.
Speaker A:So I'm so happy to welcome Hannah Higginbotham here from the Full of Beans podcast and it is the Eating Disorder Awareness podcast.
Speaker A:It's an amazing podcast and Hannah herself, it's also neurodivergent and so really gets this topic.
Speaker A:She's helped me a lot over the past few months.
Speaker A:She's an amazing social media marketing copywiz and I'm so happy to have Hannah on my team and she's been helping hopefully get lots of great information out there through my socials.
Speaker A:So yeah, Hannah, welcome to my podcast as the guest interviewer.
Speaker B:Thank you very much.
Speaker B:I must say I feel a bit starstruck right now, being on the podcast, obviously, like, you know, I am an avid listener and do your content for you, but actually being on the podcast is, yeah, it's very much an honor.
Speaker B:So thank you for having me.
Speaker A:Well, thank you being here because I think it's really important to be able to not just promote the book, talk about the book, but just to really talk about why the book is so needed and also to be able to get the information out there for so many people who are potentially waiting for assessment, diagnosis, can't access services.
Speaker A:And that is, you know, the reason why I wanted to write this book.
Speaker A:So I'm going to hand the reins over to you, Hannah, and sit here and actually not have to look at my notes or think of what I'm going to say next.
Speaker A:Just hopefully be able to have a nice conversation.
Speaker B:So I wanted to ask you, because you mentioned in the podcast that you released, the solo podcast that you did about supporting people at different stages of their journey.
Speaker B:So I wanted to ask from your perspective in a bit more detail, I guess, how you kind of envisage your book supporting people at the different stages and what they might be in terms of their ADHD journey.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think, listen, I get people contact me every week who are only just understanding how ADHD is played in their life.
Speaker A:You know, how they've seen it throughout the decades and different parts of their life where it may fluctuated or maybe sort of less obvious, often in line with hormones and different stress points in their life.
Speaker A:And this book really is for people who are beginning their deep understanding of adhd.
Speaker A:So this isn't a book where you're going to learn exactly what ADHD is.
Speaker A:I know there's so many books now in the market, where there's memoirs, there's what is adhd?
Speaker A:I'm not a doctor, I'm not a scientist, but what I do think I am now is an expert on the lived experience of how ADHD manifests in women later on in life.
Speaker A:That's who I serve, that's who the podcast speaks to.
Speaker A:And I really don't want people to think, oh, I've got to have a diagnosis to be able to read this book.
Speaker A:This book is for anyone who just wants to start that very gentle journey towards making their life feel easier, healthier, better, calmer, whatever that is that you're looking for.
Speaker A:And that is what I've really addressed in the book throughout the different chapters.
Speaker A:It's not just health and well being, it's not just the holistic side or Understanding sleep or understanding hormones.
Speaker A:This is about cultivating more joy, more fulfillment, more connection, more calm, all of that with the awareness of your adhd.
Speaker A:So not kind of trying to get rid of it, not trying to sort of suppress it or push it away.
Speaker A:Almost kind of like welcome it in, accept it for who it is, understand how it shows up.
Speaker A:And then with these different tweaks and changes, very sustainable, very small.
Speaker A:But we can use those to hopefully kind of find more positivity and more hope as we get older.
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:And I think it's so important, isn't it?
Speaker B:Because when you maybe do start to think about, oh, adhd, is that something I have?
Speaker B:I'm not too sure.
Speaker B:I think having a resource like this to read and to understand a bit more.
Speaker B:And I guess with that in mind, you obviously said, like, some people, they might just be starting their journey.
Speaker B:For people that are potentially curious about whether they have ADHD or not, how do you envisage the book supporting them?
Speaker A:Yeah, I think, Listen, when I first got my diagnosis coming up to sort of five years ago now, no one was really talking about ADHD in women.
Speaker A:And so when I was diagnosed, I knew that from my interest in more of the lifestyle, you know, the health and wellbeing side.
Speaker A:I didn't just want the medication.
Speaker A:Yes, medication is incredibly helpful, but I wanted, like, you know, the book's called A Toolkit.
Speaker A:I wanted a toolkit, but I needed a roadmap as to how.
Speaker A:How to change certain parts of my life so I could feel better every morning and parent better and have relationships and career and all these different things where I just constantly felt like I was coming to sort of, you know, blocks in my life because I didn't know it was adhd, you know, from a hormonal perspective as well.
Speaker A:So this book can be for anyone who's just curious or maybe you've got a child who's been recently diagnosed and now you're starting to understand how that neurodivergence plays out in your life and has played out, and you can perhaps see that through, you know, different family members and generations and being able to open the book, the different chapters, and be like, you know what, I'm just going to open it up in the middle today and just glean a bit of advice on, you know, how to calm my nervous system or how I can start working with my cycles and start understanding how my ADHD presents itself in different parts of my cycle.
Speaker A:So, yes, if you want to read it in a very linear way, but you Know from my brain perspective, linear doesn't quite work.
Speaker A:So I've created this book so you can read it in the bath, open up in a chapter, have it in your bedside table, keep it in your bag, you know, if you commute to work every day and you're able to just open it up and you're just looking for a little bit of guidance, you know, nothing overwhelming.
Speaker A:Of every time I opened the chapter and reread it, I was like, how can I make this less overwhelming?
Speaker A:How can I make the content feel approachable and in a way that anyone can start at any time?
Speaker A:And it's not too much for anyone because I know what it's like when we've got a brain like ours and a nervous system like ours.
Speaker A:It's all or nothing thinking, where if we're not doing everything, there's just no point doing anything at all.
Speaker A:And I really wanted to speak to people who are in that really challenging part in their life where things are feeling too much and so overwhelming and difficult and exhausting.
Speaker A:And that's just life as it is.
Speaker A:It's just so fast paced.
Speaker A:We've just got things being thrown at us and being bombarded by information and content and sometimes it just feels too much.
Speaker A:So I really hope that this book provides what I keep kind of referring to is like gentle guidance, like just a gentle tweak, a gentle nudge, without it feeling like you have to overhaul your whole life because that many of us can't do.
Speaker B:I think that's really interesting what you said there, because I know in my experience when I first got diagnosed with adhd, firstly, I had no idea.
Speaker B:It wasn't until two of my closest friends got diagnosed and I was like, we're really similar.
Speaker B:Like, and they seem to be like getting support for it and it seems to be really helping them, which is why I went for my diagnosis.
Speaker B:But then when I got diagnosed, it was all of a sudden like, oh my God, like, I know I have adhd.
Speaker B:But then also when I went online and looked at ADHD and the support and stuff, it felt so overwhelming.
Speaker B:There were so many people giving out great advice and it was kind of almost that all or nothing thinking of, well, now I know I've got adhd, I need to do everything I possibly can to manage it.
Speaker B:And I guess I was wondering from your perspective, especially because you have ADHD as well, there's so many different aspects of adhd, it impacts every single part of your life.
Speaker B:How did you then formulate the kind of chapters that you wanted to write about and write them.
Speaker B:Like, I don't know.
Speaker B:I feel like if I did this, I'd be writing forever.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, that is the beauty of having an editor.
Speaker A:I just wish that editor lived with me for the rest of my life.
Speaker A:Can kind of, like, refine my thoughts.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:There's so much to say.
Speaker A:I'm going to just, like, reflect on what you said at the beginning.
Speaker A:When I was diagnosed, I went straight to Facebook because really, the resources weren't there.
Speaker A:That's why I started the podcast, because I needed.
Speaker A:I wanted this information.
Speaker A:I thought, right, no one's providing it right now, so I'm going to speak to the people that I want to speak to, because I felt that I wanted solutions when I was diagnosed.
Speaker A:How do I do this?
Speaker A:Like, hacks, tips, quick solutions.
Speaker A:I just wanted to fix my adhd.
Speaker A:Like, that was literally it.
Speaker A:And I remember speaking to a friend of mine who was diagnosed about a year before me, and the reason how she knew I was diagnosed is because I'd posted in a Facebook forum.
Speaker A:And I've been reading all these Facebook posts, and it was really difficult to read.
Speaker A:It was very, I would say, like, lower energy, and there was a lot of despondency and sadness and negativity.
Speaker A:And that's not me as a person.
Speaker A:Like, I'm no ADHD or not.
Speaker A:I'm very resourceful.
Speaker A:I like to sort of try and find positivity and strengths, and there's always a way, like, that's kind of my personality.
Speaker A:So we have to remember that we've all got different personalities alongside our adhd.
Speaker A:So I need to find ADHD solutions that fitted my personality, and I couldn't quite find that.
Speaker A:So going back to my friend, she saw me post on a Facebook group, and she sent me a message and said, listen, I get where you are.
Speaker A:I've been there.
Speaker A:And I can see what you're trying to do, and I can see you're trying to fix your ADHD really quickly, and you just want to, like, dive in.
Speaker A:And her advice, you know, stuck with me for forever.
Speaker A:And it was just allow yourself to process it.
Speaker A:Allow yourself to really sit with the grief and sit with the sadness and sit with the.
Speaker A:All the emotions that it brings up, which I didn't really want to do.
Speaker A:I just wanted to kind of write, like, be productive, move forward, find solutions.
Speaker A:And actually, I did have to sit with that grief and process and recognize how it showed up in many, many different capacities in my life without anyone knowing it, without me.
Speaker A:Knowing it without the support and all the what ifs that we hear, you know, the what ifs, like, if I'd known, I could have got done better at university, I could have maybe done something else with my career.
Speaker A:I may not have been so overwhelmed with.
Speaker A:In certain situations, maybe relationships would have been easier, all of that.
Speaker A:But once I'd kind of processed that and I'd recognize and it took a while, I was like, right, I'm now ready.
Speaker A:I'm ready to move forwards and find ways.
Speaker A:And I'm tell you this now, I'm still on that journey five years later.
Speaker A:There's still days where that ADHD knocks me over the head and I go flying backwards.
Speaker A:And I think I know nothing.
Speaker A:So when I was writing the book, I've probably written three books in one book, and thankfully my editor has shaved off, like, thousands and thousands of words.
Speaker A:So maybe There's a book 2 somewhere, but who knows?
Speaker A:I mean, it's very.
Speaker A:There's just a lot of stuff I wanted to say, but I didn't want to overwhelm people with too much.
Speaker A:And it's not a memoir.
Speaker A:Yes, there's moments where I'm talking about my experiences, but it's essentially I just keep going back to, like, how can this be?
Speaker A:Like, can this signpost people?
Speaker A:How can this be a roadmap?
Speaker A:How can I sort of shine some light in the darkness?
Speaker A:How can I pick out certain things for people who can find ways that feel authentic to them, or, like, even take something that I'm saying and say, right, that kind of works for me, but actually, if I just put my own twist on it, that would really work.
Speaker A:So go for it.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:There is, like I say, it's just.
Speaker A:It's there as a toolkit.
Speaker A:And then take what you want, make it your own, and hopefully something might.
Speaker A:Might work for you.
Speaker B:I really like that.
Speaker B:And I think that's something that sometimes feel is missed in that, yes, you and I, let's say, for example, we both have adhd, but our experiences can still be completely different.
Speaker B:And, you know, even if it was somebody that was the same age as you, still their experience or the things that help them can be so different.
Speaker B:And I really like how you've said that about the book.
Speaker B:And, you know, it's.
Speaker B:I guess it's almost like a platform for people.
Speaker B:You're giving people that boost to then take what they want and what they need from it.
Speaker B:So you mentioned at the start, in terms of, like, doing the podcast as well, I wanted to Ask you how you feel the book complements the podcast because I personally find podcast.
Speaker B:Well, find podcasting so much easier than writing.
Speaker B:I, you know, sometimes I struggle to get my words out.
Speaker B:So sometimes I will literally do, like, an audio file, transcribe it, and then write out what I.
Speaker B:What I'm thinking.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, I totally resonate with that as well.
Speaker A:And sometimes I'm on a walk and I suddenly think, okay, I need to download that, because that is an email or that, you know, a social media post.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:I kind of learned how to work with that and not feel shame.
Speaker A:I remember randomly listening to Holly Willoughby on a podcast, and she's dyslexic, and she had.
Speaker A:She's written a book, and apparently she dictated the whole book.
Speaker A:She didn't write it.
Speaker A:And I was like, so you can do that.
Speaker A:That's the thing.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:Like, you still write a book and it's okay.
Speaker A:So then I realized, okay, so if this day is where.
Speaker A:And again, this is like me being more aware of my cycle, where the way I process things differently, where I might be a lot more verbal, like, I'd be able to really get my words out, be really articulate.
Speaker A:But then there's other days where I, you know, I had writer's block, and I would just be like, how have I.
Speaker A:This is like, huge imposter syndrome.
Speaker A:I can't even write a paragraph.
Speaker A:So I kind of worked with that and recognized, thank goodness we've got tools now.
Speaker A:We've got ways, you know, transcription, and we've got voice noting and all things like that, where I can utilize my brain in different ways in, you know, to work with me.
Speaker A:And I had to keep having these words with myself and say, just because you've dictated some of this chapter doesn't mean that you've not written it.
Speaker A:Because we're told, and this is all part of ADHD and finding out later on in life that we've been told that something's good, something's bad, something's acceptable, something's unacceptable, and it's all societal norms and conditioning.
Speaker A:And, you know, now with technology and so many things accessible to us and, you know, the growth of AI and all the things that.
Speaker A:That brings people who were considered to have sort of learning difficulties or differences are now able to.
Speaker A:We've got.
Speaker A:We've.
Speaker A:We're opening up.
Speaker A:So I never thought I would be able to have a brain that would be able to write a book.
Speaker A:And don't get me wrong, it was not easy.
Speaker A:It was hard.
Speaker A:I had Guidance from editors.
Speaker A:I had an amazing, amazing woman who I think I mentioned in on Monday's podcast called Linda, who basically helped me structure my words so I would download, you know, all my words.
Speaker A:I'd have days where I could write for five hours and I'd sit there and have like the worst neck pain.
Speaker A:And I probably, like, didn't drink enough and probably only went to the toilet once or something.
Speaker A:I would know that I had to get it all out then because maybe for three days nothing would come.
Speaker A:And then she took what I wrote.
Speaker A:And the publisher very cleverly has structured this book in a way that is broken down because we really wanted to make it accessible for neurodivergent brains.
Speaker A:However, as a neurodivergent person writing it, there's lots of components to it, and my brain was like, oh, I don't know which bit that goes in.
Speaker A:So she helped.
Speaker A:But if you go with a publisher and you're lucky enough to work with a publisher, you're then, I guess part of this, this kind of machine, this engine that really does help and support you and gives you that guidance.
Speaker A:And I know everyone's experiences are very different, but I had a really good experience with dk, who I was totally honest, and I was literally would lay out my adhd, you know, skeletons and all, and I would be like, if you or want to work with me, I need you to know that I'm a bloody nightmare in so many different capacities and you're just gonna have to help me.
Speaker A:But they were great.
Speaker A:I guess it's just for people to know that we think that, I guess certain things look in one way and we, we put ourselves in a box saying, I can't do that.
Speaker A:You know, if someone says, I'm, there's no way I can run a business, there's no way I can be a parent, there's no way I can do whatever.
Speaker A:But if we enable ourselves or we allow ourselves to work with our strengths and be really honest about where we do need that support, where we do need that extra bit of scaffolding, then it can work.
Speaker A:We just have to have a bit of transparency and honesty and a lot of self awareness as to how that shows up in our life as well.
Speaker B:I think that what you've just described there in the sort of journey that you've been on with your book and writing your book is almost.
Speaker B:It really reflects like an ADHD diagnosis journey in terms of when you first get diagnosed and when you first start writing a book, you have all these ideas like, oh, my God, there's so much going on.
Speaker B:And then you kind of want to get it all out, you want to sort it all, but it's then actually realizing, okay, how can I get other people on board to help with this?
Speaker B:Like, what can I do in terms of my family structure or my friends or other people within the neurodivergent community?
Speaker B:Like, how can I get them to help me?
Speaker B:And also, you know, for me to be able to play to my strengths.
Speaker B:So I think that's a really, really, like, lovely reflection.
Speaker B:And I just wanted to ask you, have you found that writing the book has almost enhanced your ADHD journey in terms of finding out more about yourself, your strengths, your challenges, and then, you know, moving further in on your journey?
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, I've never written a book before, but it definitely.
Speaker A:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker A:In.
Speaker A:In good ways and not so easy ways either.
Speaker A:Like how I always knew I loved writing, and I always knew that I could express myself in my writing.
Speaker A:But when you're writing a book, it's all consuming, and I have for sure, overworking tendencies, burnout tendencies.
Speaker A:And I can really, over overwork, I would say, is the word really, if I'm being completely honest.
Speaker A:And I really have to be able to sort of.
Speaker A:And when you're writing a book, obviously you're on a deadline.
Speaker A:There's pressure, there's delivery dates.
Speaker A:It can feel.
Speaker A:I felt a bit consumed by it the whole time.
Speaker A:Like when I was relaxing, when I was out at the weekend, anytime I had a free time to write, the procrastination would kick in.
Speaker A:Or when I'd thought I'd been productive, there was a part of my brain going, you need to do more.
Speaker A:You need to do more.
Speaker A:Like, you've not done enough.
Speaker A:You've not done enough.
Speaker A:So there would be times at the weekend where I'd say to my husband, let me go into my office, because working from home, it's very easy.
Speaker A:It's like a bit of a drug.
Speaker A:You can sort of just.
Speaker A:I'm just going to go on my laptop for an hour.
Speaker A:I would literally put my laptop in my office, shut my office door and like, be like, we need to leave the house.
Speaker A:We need to get out the house.
Speaker A:Because otherwise, if I'm in the house, I will just go and do a little bit of work here and there.
Speaker A:So there was that tendency to do that.
Speaker A:So there was moments of burnout, for sure.
Speaker A:But what I'm.
Speaker A:I really am a believer that we're here to learn lessons, and the book reflected Back.
Speaker A:It was quite a good mirror.
Speaker A:To me, that was reflecting back to the challenges of my audience and who I'm speaking to, because I am my audience, I am my listeners.
Speaker A:And I kind of thought, well, if I'm finding something really hard right now and I'm really finding a challenging, I know that this is what other people are going through.
Speaker A:It really wasn't an easy journey.
Speaker A:And there were these lots of mirror smashing in my face, moments where I thought my ADHD was more in control.
Speaker A:And then there was moments where I thought, oh, my God, yeah, I'm still learning on the job massively here.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I don't know how other authors find it, but it was definitely a really big learning curve for me.
Speaker B:I feel like even if you're neurotypical, I feel like writing a book is still.
Speaker B:I mean, it's absolutely.
Speaker B:It's not like it's an easy achievement.
Speaker B:It's an absolutely fantastic achievement.
Speaker B:So it's, I imagine, a challenge for anybody.
Speaker B:But we all have our own unique challenges and strengths as well.
Speaker B:And something I wanted to ask because you just spoke kind of to it there in terms of when you were writing the book, you know, you'd say to your husband, oh, you know, we need to go out, I need to get out.
Speaker B:And I find the podcast so useful when you talk about something, if I really resonate with it, I'm like, oh, my God, I'm going to send this to my mum or I'm going to send this to my partner to be like, I can't vocalize this, or I can't put it as eloquently as it is in this podcast.
Speaker B:Please listen so that you can understand my perspective.
Speaker B:Do you think the book will have a similar role in that, in terms of, like, people able to share the book with loved ones if the like chapter really resonates with them or the.
Speaker A:Whole book really resonates with them.
Speaker A:Yeah, I love that you said that because that was a really big kind of value of mine with the book.
Speaker A:Was it to be validation where I was listening and I can hear what people.
Speaker A:The struggles that people going through and to allow the book to validate that.
Speaker A:So there's many parts in the book where it is like, I get it, I know what you mean.
Speaker A:And, like, state it as it is, whatever that is that, you know, feeling disconnected, feeling overwhelmed, anxious, agitated, irritable, overworking, like, all these different things stated potentially how you might feel it in your body and your emotions and your actions, all of that.
Speaker A:But then I hope Give sort of like actionable tools and guidance and little, you know, practices, whether it's a breath work practice, whether it's just a journaling prompt or whether it's just some gentle guidance to accept that it's okay to be like this.
Speaker A:And a reminder, like lots of reminders that it's okay.
Speaker A:Like I really hope it comes across as very non judgmental that you're in a safe space and that like, you know, go back to that where you can share that book with a loved one or I mean a hope of mine.
Speaker A:And I think I say it in the introduction is buy this for your partner or buy this for a loved one or a parent or whoever, you know, a sibling so they can understand and they can help you as well.
Speaker A:So this isn't just about helping yourself.
Speaker A:This is like you say, this is me.
Speaker A:Give the book to that loved one and just say this is how you can help support me in different capacities.
Speaker A:When it is really hard to articulate that ourselves for sure, sure.
Speaker A:Especially when we're dysregulated, it's really hard to be able to then state how we're feeling and what's, you know, with rsd, I talk about RSD in the book.
Speaker A:There's a whole chapter dedicated to it that when it's hard for us to explain that we can give them and say, right, read this, this chapter and this is how potentially you can help me and you know, you can guide me when I'm in that pit of RSD and I'm finding it really hard to get out.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think that's a really good point.
Speaker B:And one thing I wanted to say when you were talking about at the start in terms of this being a book for people that are, you know, navigating their journey maybe at the start, like I think this is for throughout because so often I will be absolutely smashing life.
Speaker B:Like I've got ADHD down.
Speaker B:I'm feeling so good, I'm like, yeah, what?
Speaker B:What adhd?
Speaker B:Like I'm doing great.
Speaker B:And then all of a sudden it hits me in the face and I'm like, oh my God, was not expecting affecting you.
Speaker B:And I think that's when for me anyway, it's been like my partner or, you know, my parents or my friends are kind of like, what's going on?
Speaker B:Like I thought we had, I thought you had this sorted.
Speaker B:I thought you had this all handled.
Speaker B:And I think actually being able to have your book as a resource to then say, oh, actually like now I, I need to kind of go Back to my notes almost of what happened when I was first diagnosed in terms of how did I navigate that before?
Speaker B:You know, have things kind of slipped a bit?
Speaker B:Am I doing too much, what have you?
Speaker B:And then also finding that compassion for yourself and compassion from others.
Speaker B:Because sometimes when, you know, my mum might say to me, oh, I thought that you had that sorted.
Speaker B:I thought you were doing okay.
Speaker B:And I'm like, okay, yes, but currently it's not sorted.
Speaker B:So I think it's one of those books as well that you so nicely said.
Speaker B:You can keep coming back to, you know, you can have it out as a reminder of almost, you know, when you need me, I'm here to go back to and tap back into those chapters.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:And I know how difficult it is right now for people to access coaching, therapy, the support, your waiting lists.
Speaker A:Access to work at the moment is very difficult to gain.
Speaker A:And I feel like we're sort of in this bit of an inflection point of ADHD is now a lot more topical.
Speaker A:People are talking about it, yes.
Speaker A:There's still the negative sort of, you know, taboos and the stigmas or everyone's got adhd and there was just a trend and all things like that.
Speaker A:But we're getting to this point now where it's a lot more talked about.
Speaker A:But to be able to look after yourself well with adhd, it does take a certain amount of privilege.
Speaker A:And I think it's important that stated because, you know, private diagnoses, the medication, ongoing coaching and therapy, if it's not done through, you know, funding or grants or access to work, it's a privilege to feel well.
Speaker A:And unfortunately, it shouldn't be like that.
Speaker A:It's a privilege to access, you know, healthcare, private health care, you know, even hormonal care at the moment, you know, we really don't know enough.
Speaker A:The GPS aren't don't know enough about women's health and neurodivergence.
Speaker A:So we are having to, you know, go and speak to more private providers.
Speaker A:So I really wanted the book, you know, for however much it is.
Speaker A:It's 14.99.
Speaker A:I think I want the book to be able to be a really accessible way for people to gain that support and feel like they're getting maybe some coaching from me or feel like they are being understood or validated or they're able like, you know, go back to opening up again to a chapter of just where you need a favorite thing of mine with a book like this.
Speaker A:And again, it's my sort of more Spiritual side is when you're feeling really stuck or really overwhelmed or just like you don't know which way to turn and, and you really don't even know what to ask for.
Speaker A:Sometimes I just open the book where it's meant to be and just give me the advice and the support that I need right now.
Speaker A:And it always works.
Speaker A:Like, without a doubt, it always, always works.
Speaker A:You know, some people say, or they go to a bookshop and the book literally just kind of like falls off the shelf.
Speaker A:The book that they need.
Speaker A:I really hope my book falls off the shelf for many, many people.
Speaker A:So that is what I would use the book for.
Speaker A:Just keep coming back to it.
Speaker A:And because like you say, there's different moments in our lives where we think we're smashing it, it could be because hormonally things are feeling, you know, stabilized.
Speaker A:You know, we have these big fluctuations, these extreme fluctuations through the month.
Speaker A:And then as women, not only are they in the month, we have them throughout life.
Speaker A:Our ADHD may be absolutely fine one day and then the next day we are right down on the floor in the pits and just be like, whoa, what has just happened?
Speaker A:And sometimes we can't.
Speaker A:With our executive functioning and the way we are prone to more negative bias, we're prone to more negative thinking because of the, the dmn, the default mode network in our brain likes to pick out the more negative parts of our life that sometimes it's really hard to see the wood through the trees.
Speaker A:And I, I kept that in mind when I was reading the book.
Speaker A:I was like, what would I need?
Speaker A:What would I need right now when I'm at the lowest point in my cycle?
Speaker A:There's rsd, they've got dysregulation, I'm overwhelmed, I'm burnt out.
Speaker A:Like, what would I need to hear?
Speaker A:And that's what I kept coming back to in the book.
Speaker A:And then throughout the book, I kind of come to a point where it's like, right, how do we find joy, how do we find fulfillment, more creativity, more connection?
Speaker A:And it kind of be a bit more of a global way of looking at life where, yes, we can drink more water, yes, we can get more time outside in nature, but if we're not fulfilled in our social groups, if we're not fulfilled with our relationships or career wise, for sure our ADHD will always come back.
Speaker A:And it is something that I've noticed a lot of that.
Speaker A:The people who are doing better in life, I'm not going to say, you know, well, all the time, but People who have more better days than harder days are finally being authentic with who they hang out with, with.
Speaker A:They're finally being authentic with how they want to work and in the career that they want to work in, they are better with that.
Speaker A:They're putting stronger boundaries, instilling boundaries, removing themselves from more toxic situations and people and recognizing the importance of cultivating that more inner joy.
Speaker A:What feels good to them from an internal perspective and not externally, not having to people please not doing things because of the people think they should.
Speaker A:And that is what we also touch on in the book is that is a lot of that.
Speaker A:It's a lot of internal work.
Speaker A:And that's because I love self development and I've done, you know, a lot of coaching work outside of the ADHD space where if we don't look inwards and if we don't do that inner work, then it will always reflect back in our external environment as well.
Speaker A:So, yeah, it's internal work first, I would say, and then we can make those lifestyle tweaks and holistic changes or we can do it together.
Speaker A:But we have to recognize that without the self compassion, the self reflection, the time, you know, to process emotions and ground ourselves, it's going to be harder to make those changes.
Speaker B:I think I always like to think of it is that if it feels like everything's going okay and then all of a sudden things don't feel quite okay, that's a really good moment to pause and reflect and be like, ah, like things do feel a bit out at the moment.
Speaker B:Maybe this is a sign that I need to slow down, I need to kind of check in with my friends.
Speaker B:I need to do something, get off this treadmill that I keep putting myself on.
Speaker B:So I think, and that would then implementing your book into that is such a nice time to be like, okay, things feel a bit off, off.
Speaker B:I need to take a break now.
Speaker B:Let's have a look back at the book and let's have a look at where I can then implement things to help me so that, you know, I can start to feel like I'm calming down a bit.
Speaker A:Oh my God.
Speaker A:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker A:And honestly, you cannot put a price on pausing and breathing and reflecting.
Speaker A:I've actually got in the book a breath work method, which is awareness, pause, breathe and then respond.
Speaker A:And I've sort of broken it down.
Speaker A:And where we cultivate the awareness, we pause, we just give ourselves a bit of a break.
Speaker A:We just remove ourselves from the situation, whatever that is, people, the environment, stimuli.
Speaker A:We have to remember about our sensory differences as well.
Speaker A:So anything like that can, you know, feel very heightened to us.
Speaker A:We breathe, honestly, the breathing for ADHD is genuinely life changing.
Speaker A:Just to learn how to breathe and calm our nervous system, regulate ourselves, ground ourselves in the moment and then we choose to respond to the situation.
Speaker A:But we can't respond from a place of reactivity, we can't respond from a place of dysregulation.
Speaker A:So that for me was the way I changed things in my life for sure, because I was operating from reactivity.
Speaker A:And it can come back.
Speaker A:Reactivity is like fear, overwhelm, exhaustion, burnout, all of that.
Speaker A:So we have to kind of be like, I don't want to respond from a place of there, that's reaction.
Speaker A:Can we respond from a place of calm, presentness, groundedness and regulation and better things come from that for sure.
Speaker B:Absolutely, yeah.
Speaker B:Well, I'm so excited for you and for everybody that is going to be able to get their hands on this book because I think, you know, you so have so many listeners that are in love with the podcast, so having access to this is going to be fantastic.
Speaker B:So just to finish us off, I just wanted to ask you, how can people get access to the book?
Speaker B:When's it out?
Speaker B:Is there anything they can do to help promote the book?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:So I mean, I would just definitely say that from what I know now about the publishing industry, that the pre orders really, really matter.
Speaker A:And I didn't know any of this before and I never really understood why authors would be like, pre order my book.
Speaker A:The reason why is because the pre orders dictate how many books bookshops order.
Speaker A:And for me, the biggest thing is to get this book onto shelves so people can go into their local shop and see the book and be like, oh, I need that, or my daughter needs that, or my sister, my mum, my partner.
Speaker A:And it be something that could be gifted.
Speaker A:It can be something that can really help change lives, save lives.
Speaker A:So for me, yes, it would be lovely to have lots of pre orders from a sort of an ego perspective.
Speaker A:But ideally for me, the biggest dream is to see this book really accessible, really able for people to go onto their local high street or go and buy it from, you know, online, whatever that is, and know that it's available and help can be delivered that very day or the very next day.
Speaker A:So yeah, pre orders really, really make a difference.
Speaker A:You can go to the Show Notes, there'll be a link there, go to my website, there's going to be loads of details.
Speaker A:ADHD womenswellbeing.co.uk and if you send me like a screenshot, the pre order, you're going to get quite a few little bonuses, you're going to get free resources, free workshops.
Speaker A:I'm really going to make it worth your while to pre order this book.
Speaker A:So if you do that, you send it to me and there'll be a whole form on the, on the website.
Speaker A:I promise you, you're going to get lots of actionable things while you're waiting for the book.
Speaker A:And like I say, you know, sometimes with ADHD we forget that we do things.
Speaker A:I forget all sorts of things.
Speaker A:I've ordered something and then a week later it arrives.
Speaker A:I'm like, oh, this is so exciting.
Speaker A:So pre order the book and then in July you're going to get it and it's going to be a really lovely little gift that's going to land on your doorstep.
Speaker A:And I really hope that this book is going to help you.
Speaker A:It's going to help, you know, lots of people.
Speaker A:And the biggest thing for me is that it's going to cause a ripple effect of more co regulation in households, more understanding, more compassion, more kindness, more harmony in families.
Speaker A:Because when we have harmony in families, only good things happen from there.
Speaker A:And we, we've had a lot of discomfort, disease, you know, dysregulation, all of that.
Speaker A:And actually now the time is to sort of step into more peace, inner peace, I would say, and more love and kindness and hope.
Speaker A:And I really hope that the book brings that to many people.
Speaker B:Amazing.
Speaker A:Thank you so much, Hannah, for this and I've just loved this conversation and I hope that my enthusiasm comes out that people can really see that.
Speaker A:Yes, obviously I want to promote the book and talk about the book, but you can tell that there is, you know, a deep excitement for this book to come out.
Speaker A:So thank you so much, Hannah.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker B:Honestly, it's such a privilege and I'm equally as excited.
Speaker B:I mean, I have obviously had the luxury of being able to read the book and yeah, it's just such a fantastic resource for people.
Speaker B:So, yeah, I'm really proud of you as well.
Speaker A:So I'm really excited to be able to share with you a exclusive snippet of the audio version of the book, just so you can get a bit of a flavour of what's to come.
Speaker A:So in this short excerpt, you'll hear a little bit of about the beginning of your journey to understanding and how that feels for us and what we're going to do with that.
Speaker A:Here it is beginning a journey of understanding.
Speaker A:As things stand, the study of ADHD in females still lacks significant scientific and medical evidence in comparison to its study in males, while medical professionals focus their research on how ADHD coexists with autism, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia.
Speaker A:A lot of what I know and share in this book comes from playing detective through my various roles as the host of the ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast, an accredited emotional freedom technique, EFT practitioner and health and wellbeing coach.
Speaker A:Through the podcast I'm able to speak to hundreds of leading experts and thought leaders in the field of ADHD who share their knowledge with our listeners, a strong community of women who are self diagnosed or formally diagnosed with adhd.
Speaker A:If today's episode has been helpful for you and you're looking for even further support, my brand new book is now available for pre order.
Speaker A:The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit is going to be in shops on 3rd July, but is now available to order from anywhere you get your books from.
Speaker A:I really hope this book book is going to be the ultimate resource for anyone who loves the podcast and wants a deeper dive into all these kind of conversations.
Speaker A:Head to my website adhdwomenswellbeing.co uk and you'll find all the information on the book there.
