Embracing Intensity

My guest today was diagnosed with ADHD and twice-exceptionality later in life. We have connected through TikTok and are learning a lot from each other. He demonstrates kind accountability in his TikTok posts and shows authenticity in his longer YouTube posts that I greatly appreciate. Join us to hear his unique perspective. Sean Szolek-Van Valkenburgh grew up in Indiana surrounded by orchestral, classical, and contemporary music. His formal musical education began at age 7 when he started studying piano and performing in choral ensembles. As his musical education progressed, he noticed that he had the unusual gift of chromesthesia. Through TikTok, Sean avidly posts about being a professional musician and artist and connects with over 680,000 followers; he refers to them as “kings, queens, and monarchs.” He hopes to provide a safe, inclusive, and entertaining platform that prioritizes genuine content creation and critical thought. Show Highlights: What is chromesthesia? Multiple senses cross in the brain, mak

Our July Guest Call was on Intuitive Flow & Creativity with Kari Betton About Kari: Kari Betton is a coach and mentor for highly sensitive and twice-exceptional people, with a passion for helping them find their innate sense of intuitive flow. Too often, we can be focused on developing our mental health, physical health, intellect, etc, but including intuitive development in our personal development practice creates an easier foundation for all types of development within you to be congruent with each other. A personal intuitive wandering practice can have profound implications on achieving the results and designing the life that you desire. In this call, Kari will focus on how to attain clarity and enough space in your life to listen to the inner wisdom that you already have. In their spare time, Kari enjoys recording and producing their podcast Decolonizing Sexuality, vegan foodie adventures with friends, and painting galaxies. You can find out more about Kari and their work at: simplybybeing.com/ In th

I’m excited to introduce you to a speech therapist whose work is informed by the autistic community and her personal experience in identifying as twice-exceptional. Her heart and passion are to help give a voice to those who can’t speak for themselves. Join us! Mara McLoughlin has over ten years of professional experience working with autistic and other neurodivergent people and their families. She has been a student and teacher of yoga and mindfulness for over 25 years, knowing that building these skills can help build a better world. She is a certified provider of the PEERS program that exists for the educational and enrichment of relational skills. With both her bachelor’s and master's degrees in Communication Science and Disorders, she knows that communication is fun, difficult, and the key to life. To learn and gain confidence in the initial steps of founding friendships and self-regulation skills can help improve the lives of everyone. Show Highlights: Why Mara is intensely passionate about yoga and wo

A while back I had seen a lot of posts about the overlap and similarities between ADHD and Autism, and it got me thinking about some observations I’d made both personally and professionally testing neurodivergent kids over the years. I posted this tweet asking folks the following questions: Curious with the #Autism vs. #ADHD discussions recently, if you have one or both, what do you relate to more: Big Picture vs. Details Order vs. Chaos Think in Words vs. Pictures Acquired Knowledge vs. Novel Problem Solving Process Fast vs. Slow Elaboration Welcome More recently I posted the same questions with elaboration on TikTok and the responses were fascinating! I think my biggest takeaway from hearing personal accounts from so many neurodivergent folks is that even when there’s a consistent pattern that is statistically more likely in a specific area of neurodivergence, they are not hard and fast rules. 

I met today’s guest through the neurodivergent community on Twitter. Join us to learn more about his inspiring story. Joseph Gitau is a writer, singer, and blogger who has been diagnosed with ADHD and Bipolar I. With his childhood and youth being spent between his native Kenya and the US, he has a unique perspective about how neurodivergence is treated differently in both countries. Joseph uses his talents to promote mental health throughout his creative outlets. Show Highlights: Why Joseph is intensely passionate about mental health and the arts How Joseph’s personal brand of intensity includes music and twice-exceptionality How Joseph’s journey of discovery through school was difficult because he was an introvert How the Kenyan tradition of children being “not seen and not heard” was very difficult for Joseph as an ADHD music-lover who always wanted to sing and play music Joseph’s years in Kenya and the US, and how his ADHD and bipolar diagnosis came about How Joseph has to tone himself down--even today Ho

Today’s conversation is with a creative who has overcome obstacles to find her place in the world where she isn’t afraid to be seen and heard. She helps others connect and engage, no matter how they have been “othered” by society, and she has learned how to effectively use her superpowers. Join us to learn more about making the world a brighter place for us all. Jen Sujin Yoon is a creative consultant, storyteller, people-connector, and future-builder. We met on TikTok and immediately vibed with each other’s content. Jen is starting a new adventure as she launches The Dork Web Production Company. She lives in the Bushwick community of Brooklyn and loves this “cool hood” filled with passionate artists. Show Highlights: Why Jen is intensely passionate about connecting people and using The Dork Web as “a light corner of the web where people meet and are inspired to make the world a brighter place.” How Jen’s personal brand of intensity involved her awareness of how “it all comes together” in her characteristics

We had our first neurodivergent book club on Saturday, and one of the things we talked about was the complexity of labels. On the one hand, they serve as a tool to get information, support and connect with others, but it can also serve to separate us into "us and them" if we're not careful.  In this episode: Why I avoided using the terms gifted and twice exceptional for so long, and why it's helped to finally use them.  Just because we can get by without a label, doesn't mean it wouldn't be helpful.  Being in both parent and neurodivergent adult spaces, parents are hesitant to label kids with disabilities, but not giftedness, while adults wish they'd gotten disability diagnoses sooner and often dislike the gifted label.  Links: Embracing Intensity Community Free Workbook on Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity

Today’s show is all about taking a holistic approach to achieve balance and take back control of your life. Join us to learn more. Zarya Rubin is a physician and functional medicine health coach. She is a formerly stressed-out mom who now helps women in mid-life get to the root of their health issues and manage their stress to take back control of their lives. Show Highlights: What is stress? The relationship between stress, control, and our response to stressors The body’s primal response: fight, flight, or freeze Zarya explains her self-care graphic and gives factoids about stress How unmitigated stress often leads to burnout Personality traits that make you prone to burnout: being a workaholic, superhero, perfectionist, or lone ranger Common stressors in daily life are work, family, life events, health, finances, change/loss, and pandemic stress, which all of us have experienced in the last several months How stress CAN be a positive thing that motivates us to accomplish daily tasks How women can reduce s

The foundation of my work on my blog and podcast has been about intensity, and it's origins came from my work on excitability, also known as over excitability. Excitability is when you receive and respond the world more intensely than others.  In this episode: Excitability as a sign of high developmental potential The 5 areas of excitability Using your strengths Links: Free workbook on Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity! Embracing Intensity Community

Today’s show is with yet another intriguing person I met on TikTok. I’m especially interested in her experience with twice-exceptionality and the work she’s doing in TV. Shadi Petosky is an Emmy winner and Wendy’s Employee of the Month-winning TV showrunner. She co-created and showran the Emmy-winning Danger and Eggs for Amazon Prime Video, which was also a Critics Choice and GLAAD nomination. She executive produced Twelve Forever for Netflix and the upcoming live- action, gender-bending sci-fi series Forever Alone with Adaptive Studios. She most recently directed the live-action comedy pilot, Let’s Go Atsuko for Quibi, and her show, Pretty Cursed, is in development at Circle of Confusion TV. She was the animation supervisor for all 72 episodes of the hit show Yo Gabba Gabba. Show Highlights: Why Shadi is intensely passionate about making stuff like comics, art, games, designs, visual effects, and TV writing Why Shadi’s personal brand of intensity is “clownish with a Willy Wonka vibe” How Shadi grew up livin

I once again had other plans for this episode but I realized I've hit survival mode for the school year. Every year since 8th grade, I've had what I called Spring Fever when I'd crash at the end of the school year. I've come to realize that it's the fatigue that comes from over taxing my executive functioning skills for too long.  Add a pandemic, last minute taxes, aging hormones, unfavorable med change and adapting to my son's new schedule getting up earlier Mondays, and my brain's pretty much toast today! In this episode:  My creativity and new thought currently dried up Meds are like brain glasses Giving grace through the end of school I'm opening up some 1:1 spots for coaching and adult learning assessment  An exciting collaborating to revamp my website with more info on how that looks this summer! Threadless sale 15% off and just added all of Jays Workshop squirrel merch! Call recording for Breaking the Stress Cycle available in the Embracing Intensity Community Next call on Asyncronous Dev in Gifted Ad

Today’s guest had all the markers of traditional success, an Ivy League Education, letters after her name and a well paying career, but she realized she was miserable because she was not being authentic to herself. She broke out of the medical system to help people in a more holistic way. Join us! Dr. Zarya Rubin is a Harvard-educated physician and certified health and wellness coach who is passionate about helping people heal through functional medicine. She partners with her clients to get to the root cause of symptoms and create a roadmap to wellness. Show Highlights: Why Zarya considers herself a “multipotentialite” who is passionate about many interests and has engaged her entrepreneurial qualities in many varied careers How Zarya’s love of opera singing has fared during the time of COVID Zarya’s personal brand of intensity means that she has always been “a lot,” but seemed like a “garden variety normal intense person” during her time in NYC Why she is intense about political activism and her many passi

I've observed a lot of themes around integration and disintegration recently so I thought it would be a good time to do a quick overview of Kazmier's Dabrowski's theory of Positive Disintegration. You can find a more comprehensive overview on ep. 154: On Positive Disintegration with Chris Wells, and my Blog Post “Finding Treasure in Ruins.” Dabrowski believes that intensity/excitability is a sign of high developmental potential, and neuroses, which we might call neurodiversity, anxiety, existential depression etc., can be positive if they move us towards our higher selves.  In this episode: 3 factors of positive development Dynamisms are the inner and outer forces that drive our actions.   5 types of integration and disintegration Resources on integration 5 Types of overexcitability Thoughts on Integration Over identification and/or rejection of certain parts of our identity What is Dabrowski's Sweater? Getting your conflicting parts to communicate with each other.

Today’s show focuses on strategies for success. My guest combines her late-in-life diagnoses, training, and experience to help clients accomplish their goals. Maaya Hitomi is an ADHD coach and academic strategist who supports ADHD, autistic, and otherwise neurodivergent clients to build strategies for better coping. At Structured Success, Maaya’s own coaching and consultation practice, she builds upon her Master’s training in psychology, her experience as a coach, and her lived experience as a neurodivergent person. Being ADHD, autistic, and dyslexic herself, Maaya credits her academic and professional success to the coping strategies she learned along the way. Focused on collaboratively building individualized coping strategies to support her clients, Maaya helps them make the healthiest thing the easiest thing. Show Highlights: Why Maaya is intensely passionate about giving people tools to understand how their minds work as she teaches coping strategies and learns alongside them How her mom didn’t acknowle

I’m super thrilled to share the recording of Nneka Coxeff’s talk on Writing to Heal from this month’s guest community call! You can find the full discussion in the Embracing Intensity Community! The wRITE to Heal Project was developed by founder and editor-in-chief of BLP magazine, Nneka D. Coxeff. As a Master Life Coach and Empowerment Practitioner, she offers transformative writing classes, workshops and wellness retreats to gently guide clients through the raw emotions of grief caused by loss, tragedy and transition. About Nneka: Nneka D. Coxeff is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Black Lace + Pearls magazine, a creative and healing arts publication devoted to empowering women around the globe to live out their divine purpose. A by-product of BLP magazine is her wRITE to Heal Project where she hosts writing workshops and wellness retreats in order to guide guests through the emotions of grief caused by death, tragedy and trauma.  Through writing prompts, exercises and discussion, she assists guests in br

Have you ever felt like you were taking up too much space? My guest today shares how he moved from talking up space wherever he went to channeling his own unique powers to bring out the best in others. Join us! Landon Young is someone I met on TikTok, which is unique as a social media platform that allows people to connect across social groups that might not normally interact. Landon describes himself as a “regular guy” who enjoys what he does as a North American Digital Brand Manager at Nike. Show Highlights: Why Landon is intensely passionate about sneakers, storytelling, his dream job at Nike, playing guitar, and spending time with his wife and daughter How Landon’s personal brand of intensity includes empathy and passion as someone who is relentless and focused on the process Growing up, Landon was always labeled as gifted and was supported by his parents How Landon overcompensated for his issues with giftedness before medication helped him find balance How cultural factors affected Landon as he grew up

This week is a bit late and short again, but it's for a great reason! I hyper focused on a project the last two days that's ready to share as a collaborative effort! The 2E Hub! A place for gifted, creative and twice exceptional folks to share, learn and explore! Links: 2E Hub Free Workbook on Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity  

My guest today shares the keen awareness he’s developed of his ADHD diagnosis and how it impacts his life. Join us to hear the story of the good he’s doing in the world. Ross Watt hosts the International ADHD Party on Twitter and is one of the ADHD-Hub co-creators. He’s working hard to make a difference for kids and adults with ADHD. Show Highlights: Why Ross is intensely passionate about ADHD, writing poems, and encouraging others How Ross’ personal brand of intensity means being hyper-focused with a chip on his shoulder and always investigating things in deeper ways How Ross grew up being strong-willed, determined (especially when told he couldn’t do something), opinionated, and argumentative How Ross’ parents nicknamed him “Half-a-job,” which was a dig that led him to compare himself to others and find that he didn’t measure up How Ross’ adolescent years were a big contradiction How Ross has had to tone himself down and tune himself out when he knows he shouldn’t say something but feels like he will explo

This week I get to share the talk from our March guest call is on Honoring Your Sensitivity with Leah Walsh. You can find the full discussion and video in the Embracing Intensity Community! In Sanskrit there are 96 words for love. I seriously wish we had that many words in English for the word sensitivity! A word whose origins mean "capable of feeling and sensation," what does being sensitive mean in today's culture? Join us for this creative exploration of sensitivity, how sensitivity is a shared trait across neurodivergent experiences, and how curiosity and community can help in honoring your own sensitivity. About Leah: Leah Walsh (she/her) is motivated by one desire: to support conscious and creative people to uncover their unique potential and bring that light into the world. Leah sees every human as a beautiful and unique flower in life’s garden, but being your own flower can be hard work! It means cultivating a strong mind, deep roots, and a clear heart to allow your flower to grow, adapt, & bloom.

Today’s show focuses on support for highly sensitive and introverted leaders. Join us to learn more! Leah Walsh is a speaker and life coach who is motivated by the desire to support conscious and creative people in uncovering their potential and bringing their light into the world. Leah sees every human as a beautiful and unique flower in life’s garden, but she knows that being your own flower can be hard work. It means cultivating a strong mind, deep roots, and a clear heart to allow your flower to grow, adapt, and bloom. Leah’s work as a life coach supports people in these ways. Her signature coaching programs support highly sensitive, neuro-divergent, and introverted leaders to ground their confidence, cultivate deep-rooted belonging, and awaken their unique impact. Show Highlights: Why Leah is intensely passionate about staying grounded, exploring belonging, and speaking truth with honesty and love How Leah grew up in a very neurodivergent family where her parents were supportive of the differences in th