In the debut episode of NeuroSparkly, mental health counselors and sex therapists Dr. Misty and Michell discuss their motivation for starting a podcast focused on the intersection of neurodivergence and queer identities alongside topics relevant to polyamorous, non-monogamous, and kinky individuals. They emphasize their connections to neurodivergence, clarify the broad scope of the term, and express a desire to celebrate unique brain operations and experiences. The episode includes personal anecdotes, such as Dr. Misty's high school anxiety and societal pressure to conform in speech, highlighting the broader theme of embracing one's individuality. The hosts also encourage listener feedback and share their observations on the evolving nature of podcasts.
00:00 Welcome to NeuroSparkly: Introducing Our Focus
00:34 Exploring Neurodivergence and Queer Identities
03:33 Personal Anecdotes: The Struggle with 'Like'
08:17 Podcast Inspirations and Future Aspirations
Transcripts
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Oh, my God. I always say, like, so fucking much. It drives me nuts, and I can't stop. When I was in high school, we took this class. It was terrifying because I had such horrible social anxiety. And this is before I knew that I had any neurodivergence. And this class was horrifying. And the teacher was even more horrifying. Cause he was not like. Like, see, there's the likes. He was not a pleasant person in that he never smiled. He didn't show any kind of, like, emotion as far as, are you happy with me? Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong? Anything like that? So you were with social anxiety. You're constantly thinking that. And then somebody doesn't show any emotion, so you can't read anything. And so this person, too, because you're.
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Yeah. So then we had to create this half hour presentation, each student epi for the end of the class at the end of the school year, you had to do this half hour presentation standing up in front of the classroom and demonstrating something that you wanted to talk about for a half hour. And if you said the word like, you failed the project, it was horrendous. So some of the girls were going through the project, you know, because they had really worked hard all year, not saying, like, in this guy's class, but then they were teenage girls outside of the class, so they would say, like. So then they would. They were doing this presentation. I remember this one girl, she was doing this presentation standing up there and she was, like, shivering. Poor thing. She was so terrified. And she was trying to explain her stuff, but she was, like, so stilted in her language because she was, like, checking in her head with everything she said before it came out of her mouth. So she was like, today I'm going to present on so slow.
It was bad. It was terrifying.
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It annoys me about myself.
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It's funny, though. Every time that I say, like, every single time I say, like, I think of that teacher.
Ten points.
Yeah, it's been traumatizing. And that was, I mean, like, more than. More than 20 years ago. It was so funny. Now that I look back on it, though, it's. It was so ridiculous.
I think I would feel much more self conscious if I was doing this with my, like, romantic partner. I don't know why I would feel much more self. Maybe not with Jeff, though, because we're just goofy and I don't know. But we would make a podcast full of all kinds of jokes that no one else would understand except for us.
