A couple of weeks ago I participated in an event called Camp ADHD, where folks around the world shared talks and discussion on topics related to ADHD. I spoke about twice-exceptionality, specifically as it relates to ADHD, and the topic seemed to resonate with a lot of folks, so I decided ot share it on the podcast as well! 

In this episode:

• Why the topic of twice exceptionality is important to me. 
• Why it’s important to talk about twice exceptionality.
• Why it often goes overlooked.
• How to recognize when you might be both gifted and ADHD.
• Common themes from assessing 2E ADHD students.
• Strategies that might help if you fit this profile. 

Links:

Camp ADHD on YouTube

Embracing Intensity Community

Free Workbook on Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity

My guest today is twice exceptional and was recently diagnosed with ADHD. She’s super vocal about many things, including social justice, dressing up as Elsa for storytime, and showcasing her great style. Fortunately for me, she lives in my area, so I hope to meet her in person very soon!

Dusti Arab is an entrepreneur and writer who leads the reinvention co., a boutique marketing agency specializing in building platforms and courses for mission-driven women. Dusti is currently writing a book, Braver Than Before: A Roadmap for Investigating Big Life Changes.

Show Highlights:

• How Dusti is intensely passionate about--everything she believes in! She loves to make sure people have access to what they need, including music and art
• Her personal brand of intensity includes being opinionated, drawing the right people closer, and setting boundaries
• How Dusti’s late ADHD diagnosis and twice-exceptionality manifested themselves in her drive to be an overachiever
• Why Dusti’s company is called the reinvention co.
• How Dusti grew up in Oregon, in a very white, very backwoods family in which race issues weren’t acceptable to talk about
• How Dusti loved to escape into another person through musical theater
• How she looked for other role models other than her mother and even tried a conservative Baptist church that resulted in her atheistic views
• How her intensity was out of control in her erratic job history and string of unfinished business projects
• How she went through postpartum depression, which resulted in the most intensity in her life
• How Dusti uses her fire for good in working with people and firms who help women and minorities get elected, along with bridging gaps caused by systematic injustice
• How Dusti learned to manage herself through a productivity system
• How Dusti is busy finishing the first draft of her book
• Personal habits that help with her intensity are getting enough exercise and time-blocking
• Regarding advice, Dusti admits that she was told a lot of things over the years that weren’t true--and she realizes it now
• Books that were helpful for Dusti: The Awakening by Kate Chopin and Everything in its Place by Dan Charnas
• How Dusti works as an amplifier and connector to build a platform to help women spread their big ideas
• Dusti’s upcoming event on January 22

Resources:

Find out more about Dusti and her work:   The Reinvention

Course Mentioned on this Friday: Course Created Live

This week I wanted to take a moment to share about the upcoming plans I have for the year to help gifted, creative and outside the box thinkers connect and realize their potential. 

In this episode:

• Upcoming topics and speakers for the Embracing Intensity Community.
• Refreshing my website Adult Learning Assessment and Coaching information. 
• Creating lots of fun and hopefully useful content.

Links:

My first Comic!

Embracing Intensity Community

Patreon

Free Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity Workbook

Today’s show focuses on highly sensitive people. My guest loves helping HSPs uncover the layers of conditioning put on them by society and bloom in their uniqueness. Join us to learn more.

Julia R. Wild is a bestselling author, spiritual teacher, and trauma educator with a Master’s degree in psychology. She’s also a writing, creativity, and life coach. Her first self-help book for sensitives became an Amazon #1 bestseller, and she’s a TEDxMileHigh Blogger. Julia loves helping highly sensitive and empath children and women find their soulful, powerful voice. Part of her work also helps parents of highly sensitive children better relate to their kids. Julia enjoys disrupting conformity and subverting the dominant paradigms so people can express their unique, sovereign creativity and live extraordinary lives. She is a big believer in writing for healing and embracing the shadow as much as the light. She has two projects slated for publication soon, including her Master’s thesis on autism from a spiritual perspective.

Show Highlights:

• Why is Julia intensely passionate about her creativity, being an “old soul,” helping people find their voice, social justice, equality, and animals
• How Julia grew up in a household with extreme abuse and dysfunction in Manhattan but attended an all-girls private school
• How Julia’s personal brand of intensity involves being direct and blunt with a heightened sensory perception of sounds and smells
• Growing up, Julia’s intensity made everything more pressurized and challenging because of her toxic home and stuffy school
• How Julia’s cultural factors involved growing up in the rich environment of NYC, which gave her perspective and helped her be open-minded
• Why Julia has to water down what she says and writes
• How her intensity gets out of control with things she finds too stimulating
• How Julia uses her fire for good to help sensitives set boundaries and self-advocate
• Julia’s Master’s thesis, which gives a new, more balanced perspective to autism
• How Julia harnesses the power of her intensity with self-care, valuing her capacity for depth, and using her intensity in service to others
• Personal habits that help Julia are writing, channeling energy, and finding an appropriate use of humor
• The best advice Julia ever received:
  • From Maya Angelou: “When someone shows you who they are, pay attention the first time.”
  • From the Buddha: “Don’t believe anything because you heard it. Find out for yourself.”
  • “You’ve gotta risk it to get the biscuit.”
• Books that Julia recommends: Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander, Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, Citizen by Claudia Rankine, and The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron
• How Julia helps others use their fire by “unconditioning” people and undoing the layers of conditioning that have been put on them by society
• Parting words from Julia: “Honor your sensitivity. If you’re weird or different, stay weird or different. It’s healing to tell your story, so value it.”

Resources:

Find Julia and her work:  Julia Rose Wild