Today’s guest is someone I met through The Gifted Homeschooler Forum for which we both write. Through her experiences and those of her children, she’s become a champion for parents of “quirky children who don’t fit the mold.”

Kathleen Humble is an ADHD mom in Melbourne, Australia. She writes at Yellow Readis about gifted and twice-exceptional homeschooling. Her book, Gifted Myths, is available at The Gifted Homeschooler Forum Press. She’s been published in Victorian Writer, The Mighty, and Otherways magazine, and she was the recipient of the 2018 Writers Victoria Write-Ability Fellowship. In between writing and homeschooling her kids, Kathleen loves reading, sewing, and big cups of tea.

Show Highlights:

• As a long-time homeschooling mom of two twice-exceptional children, Kathleen is intensely passionate about helping parents with quirky children who don’t fit into the mold
• As a twice-exceptional person with ADHD, Kathleen can focus intensely on something to the point of not remembering to do anything else
• Growing up, she had trouble controlling her passions, but her intensity turned inward as she resorted to reading
• Being small and good at things made Kathleen an easy target for bullies in school
• One of the cultural factors that affected her intensity was learning that in Australia, standing out from others is not a great thing that’s not appreciated
• How intensity became an asset for Kathleen through performance and writing
• How Kathleen toned down and tuned out her intensity in high school when she deliberately stopped learning
• How Kathleen observed in school the behaviors that invited bullying
• Why Kathleen has to work against her intensity all the time
• How Kathleen learned to do “the pause,” a technique to physically break the intensity
• How Kathleen loves helping others, answering questions, exploring things, and empowering others
• How Kathleen harnesses the power of her intensity through “the pause,” medication, and therapy
• Kathleen’s system of “touch once” to keep track of tasks and remember names
• The best advice Kathleen ever received: “I’m OK. It’s going to be OK. Being you is OK. Being intense is OK.”
• Books that Kathleen recommends: Foundation by Isaac Asimov and NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman
• How Kathleen helps others use their fire for good by writing on her blog and people find the information they need

Resources:

Find Kathleen: Yellow Readis

Facebook: Yellow Readis

Twitter: @Yellow Readis

Pinterest: Yellow Readis

Gifted Myths by Kathleen Humble

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

NeuroTribes by Stever Silberman

Last week someone on Twitter tagged me in a post asking if I was familiar with the concept of over-excitability. It made me realize that many who follow my work around twice-exceptionality aren’t familiar with my early work which is founded on the concept of excitability. Excitability is the foundation of my work on the Embracing Intensity Podcast and Community.

Five years ago, I asked my community to help me come up with things that many of us had in common being highly excitable. I made an animated post on Buzzfeed, but I thought it was a good time to revisit the origins of my blog, and I finally figured out how to add GIFs to my own blog so I decided to revisit this post with animation on the blog, and share it here on the Podcast!

Highlights:

• 25 things only a highly excitable person would understand.
• Why Excitability can be your greatest power.
• How you can harness the power of your excitability. 

Links:

25 Things Only a Highly Excitable Person Would Understand (Animated)

Free Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity Workbook

Join the Embracing Intensity Community

Today’s show is a different one. I’m interviewing a 12-year-old with ADHD who is easily distracted. He hopes you will be, too.

It’s an extra special privilege to interview my son, Z. Jay Baxter, who just released an activity book for his 12th birthday. It’s called The Notebook of Mass Distraction: Boredom Busters for Busy Brains. He has also started a YouTube channel and would love for you to follow him there.

Show Highlights:

• Why Jay is intensely passionate about his time with friends
• Why chaos and destruction are Jay’s personal brand of intensity
• How Jay tends to get hyper-focused on something he’s interested in
• Why Jay needed to hide in his jacket during recess at school during a particularly rough time
• How Jay’s intensity got out of control in a situation at school three years ago
• How Jay uses his fire for good in hyper-focusing on one goal
• How medications and friends help Jay harness the power of his intensity for good
• How piano music and Harry Potter help Jay sleep
• Good advice that Jay has received: “Just because you hear something doesn’t mean it’s true.”
• Books recommended by Jay: the Warriors series by Erin Hunter and the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
• Jay’s Notebook of Mass Distraction and the responses he’s received to it (there will be more!)
• Final words from Jay: “Remember, we all need a bit of validation in our lives. Don’t compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to you.”

Resources:

Jay's Workshop Of Wonder

 Find Jay’s Workshop of Wonder on YouTube!

When we get caught up in our own thoughts, it can interfere with our ability to see things clearly. This week on Embracing Intensity I talk about types of thoughts that disrupt our objective observations.

In this episode: 

• Thoughts are how we make sense of the world around us.
• Judgements, labels and expectations reinforce our existing view. 
• Blame and all or nothing thinking places emphasis on being right or wrong. 

Links:

Embracing Intensity Community

Embracing Intensity Store

Support Embracing Intensity on Patreon

Aurora Remember on YouTube

Jay's Workshop of Wonder on YouTube