Summary

Amy's journey continues as she navigates the complexities of meal planning while managing her newly diagnosed ADHD. This episode delves into the importance of establishing a functional kitchen and creating routines that ease the burden of daily tasks. Lacey and Sarah explore how small changes, like moving the garbage can closer or using visual prompts for food organization, can lead to significant improvements in Amy's life. As they discuss the emotional connections tied to food and cooking, Amy reflects on her grandmother's legacy and the love infused in cherished recipes. Join us for a heartfelt conversation filled with practical solutions, laughter, and a reminder that everyone's journey is uniquely their own.

Full Show Notes

Navigating the labyrinth of daily life can be particularly challenging for those diagnosed with ADHD, as Amy discovers in her ongoing journey towards healthier eating habits and a more organized home. This episode delves into Amy's evolution through her ADHD diagnosis, shedding light on the complexities of meal planning and the importance of mindfulness in managing daily tasks. With Sarah as her guide, Amy learns that creating a supportive environment—such as moving her garbage can closer to the door—can significantly diminish overwhelm and foster a more functional space. As the conversation unfolds, listeners gain insight into the delicate balance between compassion and accountability, emphasizing that everyone's journey is unique. The duo discusses the significance of small victories, such as Amy's ability to maintain a cleaner kitchen and her innovative approach to meal preparation using visual aids like magnets that list her available food items. This episode is a heartwarming exploration of personal growth and the power of adaptability in the face of life's challenges, encouraging listeners to embrace their own paths to self-discovery and functional living.

Takeaways:

• Amy's journey illustrates the importance of understanding one's unique relationship with food and ADHD.
• Creating a supportive environment can significantly enhance meal planning and food preparation routines.
• Visual aids like magnets on the fridge can help individuals remember what food is available.
• Incorporating mindfulness into the daily routine can alleviate the stress of meal planning.
• Being flexible and adaptable in strategies can lead to better outcomes for individuals with ADHD.
• Collaboration with friends or coworkers can provide reminders and support for healthy eating habits.

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Welcome to no Shame in the Home Game, the podcast that cares how your home feels, not looks.

I'm Lacey, your co host, who's recording in a bed today, which feels nice here with my lovely co host, Sarah, who's normal and recording in an office.

Hello, Sarah.

Hi, Lacey.

That's one of the beauties of the work that we do, and that's the whole reason we started doing it, was because we're moms.

We gotta be flexible.

You've got chronic illness.

You gotta be super flexible.

And the fact that technology is allowing us to come to you from Lacy's bedroom, pretty freak fantastic.

Well, we're not in my bedroom.

I have my sleeping bed and I have a working bed because I'm chronically ill and we have the space for it.

So this is my working bed.

Oh, everyone should have a working bed.

That should be a new phrase.

Totally agree.

I have these clients who got new beds and they're remote controlled.

I don't know how else to say it.

So you can raise the head and the feet independently.

There's so many options.

And I'm just like, yeah, that's the dream right there.

Absolutely.

You know how passionate I am about beds.

We gotta land a big bed sponsor, man.

That is our manifestation goal.

2025 is the bed sponsor.

I'm manifesting this.

If we could get the bed of our dreams, we could both do the podcast from our working beds.

Absolutely.

So anyone out there listening, if you want to give us that remote controlled bed, we will proudly broadcast.

Broadcast like we're an old time radio.

Well, I'm excited for today's episode because we're continuing Amy's story and her next episode.

I love that these episodes I get to just be a listener with you all.

So we're going to be jumping into Amy Part 2.

What do you have to say about that, Sarah?

This whole arc with Amy was great for me because I got to go back to being a student.

I love it.

It's a voyage of discovery and I got to see things with new eyes.

And again, so much thanks to Amy for being willing to be vulnerable and share all of this.

Please make sure to stick around with two and then three, because it really has a lot of great information.

And I do want to point out that this is actually rather.

I don't know if I've just been hearing about it a lot, but rather common for women to be diagnosed with ADHD later in life because it looks different.

I think there are a lot of people out there who can probably relate to this experience and figuring out life with that new piece of information.

Yes, absolutely.

And that's one of the things that I got to learn was I kind of zoomed past what that means to be diagnosed as an adult with ADHD and how to best help her.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So everyone's got something to learn.

Let's jump into Amy part two and hear her progress.

Welcome, Amy, Episode two of your journey of food.

So for the audience listening, we met Amy in episode one, and we talked about your goal was really to be eating on a more routine basis.

What I discovered through our conversation was it wasn't as simple as having food on hand.

It's never simple with me, but actually.

It'S really good because it goes to the heart of the work that I do with every client is it's an investigation, and it's an.

Sometimes leads you to places you didn't expect.

So it really.

We had the in of the food, and then it blossomed into all the supporting elements that weren't obvious at first.

Yes.

So for the audience, this one was a little bit of a cheat because Amy lives close to me.

Don't give away all the secret.

I know.

I feel like I want to be honest.

I know I couldn't not come to your apartment because we.

We talked about having a solid foundation.

Yes.

Right before you go to the grocery store, it's like you kind of need to know what you need, and then once you get at home, having a place to put it, having a place to prepare it.

So there's a lot of supporting elements in this cast of getting food in your mouth.

So we started with, let's just make sure your kitchen is in a right foundation, which you told me it was not.

And so I was like, all right, let's get it there.

So I came, and we did a jumpstart on getting it back as close to square one as we could get.

And what I saw and you can tell the audience what your perception was, once we got the ball rolling, it felt like you just were like, yeah, okay, let's keep going.

How did you feel about that process?

Yeah, I mean, it was exactly what I needed.

I'm learning more about myself even through this process of realizing how many steps and tasks are related to having ADHD and being newly introduced to that.

There's so many little things.

It's not as simple as eating, but, yeah, just.

Just having someone there to be, like, support on the moment is a huge thing that I didn't realize could be helpful.

So, yeah, now it's back to square one.

I don't feel overwhelmed with it, and it's easier to maintain.

It was definitely the step.

I needed that foundation to get to my goal that I still am working on.

And that's the thing with all the work that I do is I try to explain to people we're trying to institute a new plan while at the same time dealing with what happened when there wasn't a plan.

So there really is two branches to moving forward.

And.

Yes.

So I helped you jumpstart just getting things reset, and I felt like there was a lot of discoveries in there.

Like you said, you're new to this ADHD diagnosis.

This is a whole new world for you.

So we're dealing with a lot of elements as simple as what's your routine for getting.

I forget which word does it have to be trash or garbage?

Garbage.

We learned Amy cannot call it trash.

She needs to call it garbage.

And because the garbage is not centrally located to your apartment, coming up with a solution of just making sure that garbage gets out of your house in a routine manner.

So how has that been going, getting the garbage?

We talked about emptying it and then getting it to the door so when you go to work, it's ready to go.

Yeah, it's been a much better process for me.

Just simply even moving the garbage can from, like, the corner of my kitchen to the entry point of my kitchen, that I have to walk by it more often is a tremendous help.

And then for the first week of the new routine, you know, I went every day in the morning and brought my garbage when I left for my office so that it was I could get used to.

And, you know, I even realized during that one week of doing it every day that I don't have a ton of garbage.

It was a good start, too, because while I didn't have a ton, I still wanted to get in the habit.

So I emptied out my cupboards of expired things, and it just fell into place.

I didn't have planned on doing that because I was getting into a routine that was able to do that as well.

So now in the more at night part of my nightly routine, any trash I have laying around that didn't make it into the garbage can, and then in the morning when I'm almost out the door, I know that everything is in there.

And I've set myself saying if the bag's at least half full, to take it out.

If I was to do it every day.

And even if it was a little bit, my brain is, oh, my God, I'm going to have to invest in garbage bags now.

That's the worst case scenario that I could do that.

I go into the my kitchen in the morning.

My cats is where they eat.

I keep my medicine in there.

So I have to go like in there to get a drink, to take my medicines.

It's just more visible.

It's back to zero.

I don't have buildup and I have a good game plan.

I freaked out at first and I'm like, I don't want to do this every day.

But I found my happy point perfect.

And yes, I talked about doing it every night just to start that habit routine.

And then that's just a starting point.

And you adjust as needed and you quickly did that.

And like you said, the simpleness of moving the trash can closer, the routine of just everything that you have to do every day, the non fun stuff, making it as easy as possible so that you are not using any extra brain power, it's just flowing, right?

And that's what part of getting it back to square one was, just having it flow easier.

And I like to, because of the way your apartment's set up now, you can sit on your couch, you can see your kitchen and it's not stressing you out.

Yes, the state was in.

It's right in my line of view from where I sit.

And it would be like if I was behind and overwhelmed, but I'd look up and see it and I was just like, oh.

And it made everything feel negative because I just saw how it was.

And when you struggle like that with simple tasks, it's already frustrating.

And then again, this, the whole point of no shame in the home game is to just open up your door to realize everyone's got something they're dealing with.

Whether or not that shame is behind keeping your kitchen organized so that it's functional.

And we're never talking about magazine shoots here, but just keeping it functional or your stresses around keeping your bathroom stocked with toilet paper like everybody's got some pain point.

And so realizing that we all have something and then you've got this uphill battle of figuring out how your brain works with adhd.

The more we can, again, like I said, just remove all of that stress, then your brain has a little bit more juice to focus on solutions instead of just dealing with the shame and the frustration.

So we did all of that to get you to this point of solution.

And again, I just want to give you all the bonus stars in the world that you went through and threw out.

The expired food all on your own.

It was like, off to the races.

You're like, well, that's because I had to be productive.

I'm like, this badge is only like a fourth of full.

I got.

I'm like, there's the other thing.

If I could.

I'm like, I might as well while I'm doing this.

That was great.

And then the other thing we discovered, which I think is so essential about knowing yourself and finding the little tiny kink in the rope that is holding things up, is you discovered you do not like washing your dishes because you don't like the way your hands feel when they're wet with soap.

And I've known that, but I never really thought about it a lot.

Yeah.

And it's just weird.

Cause I shower, I wash my pants, I do all sorts of things.

But for some reason, just the combination of all those elements.

You know, I usually have a pair of gloves, and I think I had gotten a fool in them.

And I had this other pair that didn't work well.

So I was avoiding it.

Cause I hadn't gotten gloves.

I never really thought about that whole process through life.

But that's what I love about my work.

It's being that private investigator.

It's a riddle, and there's a solution.

The missing piece was gloves.

And we also talked about.

Because if anyone listening needs some solutions, too.

You don't want to do your dishes every day.

You want to be in there on top of everything.

Like, some people wash every spoon as it comes through.

Right.

Not your Emma, which is fine.

So we did talk about some solutions, which is to have a tub and you can put your dishes in there.

And dawn has this great new product that you can just spray on dishes if you're going to let them sit so that stuff doesn't get dried on and harder.

So if it's in the dirty bin of dishes and you can keep the stuff sprayed, then that leaves your sink open.

Because there was also sort of a production line backup.

Like, once your sink was full, there was no place to put stuff.

It's just keeping the surfaces open for the process.

Everything has a flow now in your kitchen, you can receive food, you can prepare food, you can do your dishes, you can get the trash out.

Your kitchen is breathing and functioning.

And then we started getting a little bit more into the solution part of food.

You're not a morning person.

You leave for work in the morning.

You just want to walk out the door, have the food with you.

And one of you came up with A solution all on your own, which I thought was genius.

Do you want to share the card idea that you found?

Oh, yeah.

So I happened to be one of the nights at home scrolling on Facebook and I happened to be in a neurodiversity group and someone had posted a picture of and wrote about how they have a lot of their food go bad because they don't know what's in their fridge.

And they were talking about how they made these cards.

They used magnet paper, but they printed out like pictures of like milk, fruit, like anything they might have in their fridge.

And that way they could have it on the outside of their fridge.

So at a quick glance they knew what was in there and they had a system.

I think it was on the top of the fridge.

It meant it was fresh and had it organized so they knew if something had been in there a long time.

And I liked the idea that got me thinking and evolving it to how it might help me and said I would love to know.

Things go in my fridge and I forget about them.

And I like the idea of the visual on the outside.

But I went even further into thinking I can cook the things by meal ideas or right now I'm sticking to pretty much just prepared, easy to grab stuff.

I can put like foods together so I can look at my magnets and be like, oh, these three things, I'm hungry.

Instead of just looking at the raw ingredients and being like I don't know what I eat, I can.

Without even opening the fridge, I know I have this.

I could do this.

I just got all my pictures ready.

I'm about to print my card.

But I even in doing this process realized that another help for me since I do go to an office to work is I will have a bin or two in my fridge that's empty right now.

But what I can do is put food in there that I know I can bring to work.

And then I'm going to put those magnets on the back of my door so that when I leave in the morning I can be like, yep, that's what I thought of again.

Just something simple so I'm not sitting there thinking as I'm trying to leave and I don't want to think just, oh, I already like pre thought this and I put it in a bin and that's what I thought I'd bring for lunch today.

And it will remind me, oh, this is in the fridge, ready.

Just take it out of the bin.

So that's my goal.

And I thought I'm in the Middle of implementing it right now.

And I think I'm even going to put pictures on my cupboards, too.

Foods that are in there, just so I get know what's in there.

And probably as we progress to even be able to group things in the cupboards by what they pair with.

And even as much as I might even have bins in there, being like, this is a recipe, these are ingredients for this.

So one of the goals I am working towards that I'm pretty sure is going to help me visualize and think ahead and almost plan without writing it down, because I know that's not going.

To work for me.

I'm going to get annoyed at that.

I love that as soon as we removed the stress of your kitchen, you were the one who came up with this.

You are going, oh, that looks like something that feels good to my brain.

And again, like, everyone's brain is so different.

And I do want to remind you too.

And for everyone listening is, it's okay to try a solution and it not work the way you thought.

And that's just learning more.

So even if you try the cards and it's not exactly right, like you're learning, you're getting closer again, it's that riddle, like, you're still getting closer to what works.

And it's one of those things with the ADHD brain out of sight, out of mind.

If it's behind the cabinet door, if it's behind the refrigerator door.

And I love that you even went a step farther to, you're going to put the magnets on the door so you know what to take to work.

That's all you.

I am laughing, though, because I got excited with your idea and I went one step farther and I said, oh, what if you printed out times for the different meals of the day and snacks and you immediately knew that was not a Don't tell me.

This reminds me of Lacy.

It's don't tell me when to eat what?

And that's what made me laugh.

I'm like, I can't.

I know in the craziness of my thinking that if I say this is at 6:00 and I don't get to it till 6:05, like in my brain that's already weight and that's just all wrong.

It can't be a time because that's a hard time.

But I.

I went through a period of time and I've gotten better at this.

I wouldn't leave a location like a friend's house and left it with like 0, 15 30, 45.

You know, at the 15 minute mark, people might.

They can't leave your house at 8 or 7, but anyways.

But yeah, it worked.

When, when you said that, I was just instantly, I'm like, no, that's not gonna work for me.

Know yourself, know what works for you.

And I love that you were very vocal because I was like, okay, we don't even have to entertain that, which is awesome.

And you've already had a couple wins and you laughed.

But what I heard the report was it took you till noon to eat half a bagel.

Right.

And it took you all day to eat a cup of soup, but that was more food intake than you'd usually done prior on a work day.

Yes.

So that's a win.

Yeah, I know I keep chuckling, but it is a win.

Like you said, a lot of days I just don't eat anything.

And it's just because it's a weird focus shift.

If I'm in the middle of doing something, even if my stomach was crumbly, I might not stop because it's just one more thing that my energy is on this and I don't want to make the train go to a different track.

Next thing I know, I'm going home and I'm like, oh, I didn't eat anything.

And yeah, even though I sat on my desk at 9 and I think by 2 o'clock I finished the entire bagel, but I did it.

And yeah, you're right, we have to count our wins.

Our wins are our fuel to get to the next one.

We just interviewed a food nutritionist, Shannon Woodcock, and she talked about how clients often want to go from A to Z.

And she said, no, let's get from A to B and then hang out there and then let's get to B to C.

As much as we have that vision, just think of a road trip like when you have that vision of your destination.

Also keep in mind the next rest stop, the shorter accomplishment to get to the long goal.

And you were talking about the recipes and the pairing.

Let's get that foundation down of knowing what's in your cabinets, of also connecting that to when you go to the grocery store.

So I guess let's problem solve that.

I.

I haven't even got that.

That thought came because it piggybacked off of what I was doing.

And I can tell you I had that thought.

I'm like, that'd be cool.

But I knew it wasn't time for that yet, and so I did.

But that was good.

Because normally I would probably still stress about thinking about that already, but I'm like, okay, that's a great point.

In the future.

So I get that far.

When I'm ready, I know that's there for me.

Yeah.

And it's just about right sizing those goals.

Run that 5k before you run that 10k.

If this worked well, then we can go to that next step.

I did think when it's days to go to the grocery store, because I'm imagining you're going to go after work usually I'm wondering if you could take pictures with your phone of your cabinet and your fridge, the magnets, and that way you know what you already have at home.

Or did you have another thought of how to integrate going to the grocery store with what you already have on hand?

I haven't thought too much.

I did think of that it would be easy just to take a picture.

But right now, just because I do get so overwhelmed and even just figuring out what to eat to make that choice, if there's too many decisions, it's just skip it.

Right now I'm only buying food for three days at a time.

Cause that way I know things aren't going bad and I don't feel wasteful and I don't have to focus too far ahead.

And if I want to get to a point where I can think, oh, I want to make this meal this week and it will probably have leftovers and that will feed me for two, three days.

And yeah, that's what I'm thinking of.

Either.

I'm thinking pictures would be the taking a picture of what my magnets are.

Because if I just.

It's funny, being a technology person, I'm very against using my phone for certain things.

And I don't know why, but make grocery lists and all that stuff is one thing I've tried.

And on my phone, it just irritates me for some reason.

I've tried eight different apps where you just can do all this stuff.

And I'm like, no, I'm envisioning that.

I think that's going to be the easiest way.

But until I get into it too, I'm not sure if that is going to be the best solution.

But you just try things, see what works, what doesn't work.

This is a whole voyage of discovery.

And the goal of having the kitchen functioning, having the food, knowing what you have, getting it to work.

So the next hiccup was when your alarms go off for food to remind you you're turning your alarms off.

But like you said, shifting your attention is tough.

So I'm curious, since we've last talked, are you still turning the alarms off?

Are you hitting snooze?

Are you finding more successes with actually taking a bite of something?

How's that going?

It's going.

It hasn't gone too far.

I think again, it's just depends on what's going on for me with everything else.

There's been days where I've done well and I brought something to eat or had an idea of what I was going to eat and whether or not my alarm went off or not.

I sat and made time to eat it.

And then there's days where the alarm goes off, I didn't snooze.

I end up turning it off.

And I.

And again, I don't even really realize it until it's when I get home and sit down that I'm like, yeah, I didn't eat.

I remember my alarm going off every two hours to drink water or eat this.

And I thought I didn't, but nope.

And again, that's.

That seemed to be days where I'm more involved into a project I'm working on for my business.

And I'm still trying to again, figure that out.

Cause it is good to take breaks, but sometimes if I am focused, I just have to keep riding that train, even if it is a five hour session of focus.

But I'm curious.

And again, this is where everyone's different.

So you're focused, you're lasered in on a project, you got that momentum going.

You don't want to break it.

But I'm just wondering if you had trail mix or a granola bar or an apple sitting in arm's lengths.

Can you just be like eating the apple while you're working?

Can.

And I'm trying to do that right now.

Even on my desk, I have a breakfast bar and something else.

And even in my drawer I have like trail mix and stuff.

And I've been trying to put it in eyesight.

Okay.

That's what I'm working on.

Yeah, because I was thinking you were talking about like the fridge and the bin, and I'm like, you have to get up, you have to change locations.

You have to walk over there and then walk back and then that really breaks up the momentum.

This is for comedic relief, but it's also possibly a solution.

You know, you see like big sporting events and people have construction hats on, and then there's a cup and then there's a straw.

Wouldn't that be great if we could pour, like, soup or a smoothie, and you could just sip on the straw while you're working.

I should just hire a butler who can just put the food in front of me and I can just bite it so I don't even have to make my.

Would that work if somebody literally just put food, like, in front of your face?

Probably.

It's just crazy to think, like, those little tiny steps, really, that a lot of people take for granted can throw a person off.

As simple as turning 90 degrees to one side to open a drawer and pick something from the five options.

It's just.

It can make you feel definitely crazy, but it will.

It's a thing how everyone's brain has that thing and knowing how it's working against you and trying to not let it.

And that brings us back to the whole premise of the show.

Everyone's different.

And you are absolutely right that for you, those little steps of turning 90 degrees to somebody else, it's not that big of a deal.

You just do it and you're like, no.

That derails my whole day of working on this project.

And it's you coming to understand how your brain works.

You've got a lot of moving parts.

That's the other thing.

It's like that whole expression of building the plane while you're flying it.

You're figuring out what this diagnosis means.

You're changing your medications.

I know it's a wild ride with the medications I take, but it's.

Some days you're feeling this, some days you're feeling differently.

You're still trying to tweak that.

So there's also just an element of the pieces beyond your control that either might fall into place later, or that's just the pieces that we work around.

And there's always a solution.

You just have to find it.

I really want to research those hats.

A soup hat or a smoothie hat.

We could go into a side business here, Sarah.

We can put the joyful support movement or no shame in the home game on the merch on the mercy.

Only thing is, I would have to pay one of your co workers to put the hat on your head, stick the straw in your mouth.

I'd be willing to wear it all day.

Like, I'll put it on when I leave the house.

Also, I was just picturing a.

You know how there's service monkeys.

If we see you as service monkey, to, like, open, unpeel the granola bar and can clap and be like, put this in your mouth, Amy.

That's a Great idea.

I would go for a service monkey for sure.

I know you've got your four cats.

No, they're not helpful in that area.

Yeah.

Yes.

I want you to recognize how much work you've done to get to where you are.

You recognize the problem.

You're open to solutions.

You let me into your apartment.

You've been open about sharing this with what's going on.

First of all, just recognize how far you've come, and you're doing it for yourself.

Like giving gifts to ourselves.

It's amazing.

And you're doing that, and I want you to honor that and do realize you've had wins.

Whatever.

Your A to B step is eating a bagel until two.

Like, that's a win.

Your brain is not like your neighbor's brain.

Celebrate you navigating your own brain.

It's going to keep getting easier.

Just like with your trash.

You figured out moving it from the corner just a little bit closer to the front door.

We're going to find those little tiny things for you.

That is not quite the soup hat, but just in between soup hat and arm's length, like, we're gonna find that next little solution.

I am wondering, the alarm that goes off for your phone, for food.

I'm wondering if your brain has gotten desensitized to it.

Could you change up the chime or the sound?

I could be.

Yeah.

I just.

As you said that, I'm like, yeah, I think it might be a little too routine because it does go off every two hours.

And maybe you could enroll your people that are in your office.

Hey, let's pick a song together.

And if you all hear this and you're walking by, will you throw an apple at my face?

Like, will you hold it right here so I can just eat it on your hands?

I mean, it's all.

I don't know.

Yeah, yeah.

Use your resources.

You go to this office because you do want a place to work.

Like, you don't actually have to be, but you want to be around people.

You want to be in this office.

So utilize that camaraderie.

And then that person's gonna feel like, oh, I get to help Amy by reminding her to eat.

That'll make them feel good.

Totally.

I know you don't like asking for help.

No.

What I know.

And you are not alone.

A lot of people have that, too.

But the crazy thing is, is when you ask for help and people help you, it makes them feel good, too.

So you're giving that person a gift.

And if your office was closer to me, I would throw apples at you every time I walked by.

But your office is not that close to me.

I guess it's time to move offices.

Is there a co worker you could enroll to have this conversation with?

There's not a lot of people here, but I know their habits.

Even if it.

One of the girls, she chuckles.

She calls it like old lady lunch because she'll get hungry and eat her lunch at 10 o'clock.

We always just joke about it because that's just her and that's fine.

But even if that's still breakfast time for me being like, okay, when she eating, I'm gonna eat.

It doesn't matter what the label of breakfast.

It doesn't matter what I eat.

I don't typically stick to what breakfast doesn't have to be.

What you think breakfast, it's just food.

Like putting food.

Could you.

Could you ask her, hey, when you have old lady lunch, can you tap me on the shoulder and prompt me?

I could probably be like, hey, hey, time for old lady lunch and all this.

No, it's just time to eat.

Not necessarily.

Like, it doesn't have to be breakfast or a snack.

Like it doesn't have to have a label.

It's just food time.

It's just food time.

Not breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack.

We are just trying.

Our goal A to B is just to get food in your mouth.

And I think incorporating that social aspect of others in your office is a tool that you could tap into and see.

And again, if it works, great.

If it doesn't work, we've got more information.

Do you have any questions for me before we wrap up?

Not that I.

That I know of.

At this very second, I feel like.

We have a plan.

You're going to print off your pictures and get them ready.

They're almost ready.

And I laugh because I've even fought as far as I'm going to laminate them and I've got my magnets to stick on them so they're nice and perfect.

But I chuckled because I was like, what do I do if I buy 2 milks?

I'm not printing out 2 cards, but I'm afraid, okay, they're laminated.

I can take a dry erase marker and write it two on it.

It was just funny that I've even had this thought in my brain of being like, I am not printing two things of milk or three.

What if there was a day?

I'm like, no, there cannot be multiples of a card.

But I can definitely still let myself nuts.

There is More than one in my fridge.

You've got the cards.

You've already figured out if you have the 2 milks problem, you're going to talk to your coworker about prompting you for old lady lunch.

Also possibly changing up the ding or the song on your phone when your alarm goes off.

Just keep counting those wins and then you're going to keep up with the keeping your kitchen working.

The one thing I did want to ask about and create a little bit of a game plan is having when you get the magnets up and you get them on your fridge and you're getting used to that, making sure that there's a check in to make sure that things are reflective of what's the magnets versus what's in the fridge.

Like cleaning it out.

Just making sure that your kitchen keeps functioning the way it needs to.

Maybe having Sunday at 2 is when I make sure all the dishes are done, the trash is ready to go and checking that the magnets are matching the contents.

So keeping that in mind.

Yeah, definitely some sort of to just keep on top of it, keep myself in check and seeing what works best.

And did you get the gloves to wash your dishes?

Yes, I did and I was way excited because they were on clearance sale.

So I got by.

Not only do they get my gloves, they only cost me $1.29.

That is fuel.

Because every time you come out you're.

Like it was at 229.

I'm like my burden.

And your dishes are staying mainly.

Yeah, they're much better.

And we did talk about because one of the things, not just people with adhd, but everyone, it's pairing it with something that makes so if I think.

It'S going to be more than like 10 minutes.

And when I first caught up on my deck lot of dishes, I just took my iPad and put it in a spot where I could see it and I put on a show that I've already seen because I just needed it to be like a distraction.

I didn't want to focus on like a new show I hadn't seen.

Just wash the dishes until the show's over and if you are overwhelmed at that point, just step away and I can come back.

Especially when I had things to catch up on that is better to have that in the background to just have something else going on that.

Absolutely.

It just makes a difference.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So pairing those activities with something that's going to make it a little bit more enjoyable or at least neutral.

And I love that you already said if it Gets overwhelming.

Walk away.

Absolutely.

I call it marathon or relay.

You can do it all in one go or you can do it for 10 minutes.

Walk away, come back.

Because if you get overwhelmed, then it shuts down.

So just take the breaks, find out what works for you, but just make sure that your kitchen keeps flowing and functioning so that you can bring the food in and prepare it and eat it.

I feel like we're seeing some light.

Do you feel a little bit more open to possibilities?

I do.

Getting back to square one was my biggest part.

And it wasn't that I didn't want to be there.

It just I couldn't make it happen with the way I function and just give that out to the universe and not having shame that I can't keep up on my dishes because my thought process is different.

It's a big thing just to be okay with having someone who's, let's just do it, let's just do this.

And not that I need someone to come in and do it for me, but just having someone present there with you to be like, oh, yeah, you do this.

And again, just even taking out the decision making process, which sounds crazy that you might not realize having to make this decision before, do I do the dishes first or take the trash out first?

Even that can be set people off into a, oh, my God, I have two things to do.

I can't think.

And it really can paralyze sometimes with a decision as simple as that.

So even having someone be like, do this and then do that, and I'm.

Like, perfect, and you're not alone.

So much of my work is me saying, here's point A, do this, then do this.

Because I can see it.

Oftentimes people, they just need that framework.

So you're not alone.

A lot of people, and I even sometimes get tangled up when it's too close to home.

I sometimes need people to tell me too.

That's very much human nature.

But I am so happy for you.

You seem so much lighter about all of this.

And just keep remembering that anything that doesn't work, it's just more information.

It's not a failure.

And we're getting you one step at a time, closer to your goal 100%.

I figure I'm still, even at this age, still running my Amy user manual for myself.

So it's just a new chapter in there.

Absolutely.

That's what it is.

And I love that you framed it that way.

That's beautiful.

Thank you so much, Amy.

We look forward to episode three where we can Hear how things have gone?

Yes, definitely.

Stay tuned.

And we're back.

Maybe I do secretly want to work for a radio station.

I mean, I just treat this as if we are.

That was Amy, episode two.

This could be of benefit to so many people, whether or not you think you might have ADHD or you do or you know somebody, even if you don't have neurodiversity in your life.

Meal planning consumes so much of our brain and our time and our energy.

That's one of the things I see so often on social media.

I'm tired of cooking food.

I don't know what to cook.

I don't want to go to the grocery store.

So I think this is a highly relatable topic.

You too?

And I think it's often a.

A little.

I don't want to say forgotten topic because there are people talking about it.

I don't think people always recognize how much the meal planning goes into home management and affects other parts of home management and all the interconnectedness of it.

I think it's a big deal.

I'll just say that it's a whole thing.

It is.

Yeah.

It's a whole thing because it is the foundation, right?

Food.

It's one of the.

What is it?

Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Is that Maslow Hasbro.

Hasbro.

Not Hasbro, but Maslow.

Yeah.

Hierarchy of needs.

So very foundationally important.

And again, thank you to Amy for sharing her inner workings.

Tis the season to be thankful.

FA la la la la.

Lacey.

Oh, my gosh.

Gosh.

I'm on part.

I loved that.

Lacey, what are you thankful for today?

I'm going to be thankful for decorations because we are big holiday Christmas people.

I grew up with that.

So did Jo.

Like, my parents always went all out so many different ways.

And it just makes me so happy.

And it makes me so happy in a genuine way.

I am not a gal who decorates for aesthetics.

I decorate for joy.

And so like, to me, that is multicolored lights, ideally twinkling glitter in as many places as possible without being annoying.

Maybe just a little too much.

And I just love it so much.

And I.

There are so many little things.

Like we.

We have an entryway that has stair.

A staircase going up the stairs.

And it's a very dark part of our house because there's really no light coming into that space.

And we put a garland on the short banister part there.

And just that light in that room brings me so much joy.

I told Joan, do we just keep this up all year?

Round, because having the light in there makes me so happy.

I am grateful.

I am thankful for that, and I'm thankful for the way we've done it this year.

It's been very gradual.

It's been as we can.

Like the Christmas tree got put up a week and a half ago, but we just finished putting ornaments on it yesterday.

It's a gradual process, truly based in joy.

I've been just basking in that.

I saw a picture of your tree and all the multicolored lights.

It made me so happy, because I know that that makes you so happy.

It sits right in front of a couch that we have that I like to sit on.

I'll just sit on that piece of the couch and stare at the lights twinkle.

I've picked up knitting again because I do that every once in a while for like, 20 minutes before you.

And I chatted this morning.

Just sitting there, knitting a hat, listening to a podcast, looking up, seeing the twinkling lights.

It's just magical.

And as an adult, there's just less magic in the holiday season.

And this is one of those ways that I get to hold on to that magic.

I love it so much.

I had on that note about less magic as you get older.

I remember there was a very specific time when I was older, and I was like, why does Christmas feel so dull?

And then I hit me like a ton of bricks.

I'm like, oh, my mom worked really hard with so many things that I took for granted.

And I was like, oh, I have to be the one to make it feel like something.

So, yeah, I can relate to this.

I mean, and also, my kids are just the most magical ages when it comes to this stuff.

This weekend, we wrote letters to Santa, and my town has a special Dropbox for it.

We went and dropped it off.

We put up all the ornaments on the tree.

They did a gingerbread house, so we are hitting all the notes.

The elf on the shelf joined our household, and every morning they're like, where's Jingle Bell?

That's the name of the elf.

Yesterday, they made a house out of a big cardboard box.

And this morning, Jingle Bell was in there, and they were so excited that something they did became part of his present.

The joy of being a parent during this time is a big part of the magic for me.

But just me sitting on the couch with those twinkling lights, that's not about anybody but me.

And I did it just for myself.

Whether you have kids or not, you can have that magic.

Well, and part of what you're Saying that I'm hearing is during this time of year, it's like a race to a deadline.

It's like, yeah, go, go, go.

Especially this year because there were so few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

And I like what I'm hearing is that you sat and enjoyed.

It wasn't what's next?

What's next?

Right?

You sat and you're like, I'm gonna enjoy these lights.

Wait, isn't that the point of all the stuff that we do?

Like, shouldn't we be stopping to actually enjoy the decorations and all the little pieces?

Well, I've actually been living by the blog post that I put up a few weeks ago about surviving the holidays.

Mental health edition of really assessing what do I want out of the holiday, not what do I feel like I need to do.

So spoiler alert, we're not sending out Christmas cards this year.

It's just too much effort.

I do love and appreciate when we get them, but the pressure to get them made, addressed, and out.

I was like, nope.

If you wanna see my family and you are one of my loved ones, we have ways to do this.

So it's just.

It's been really about picking and choosing for me, about what is important.

And I've loved it.

I just had a great idea for good, better besting Christmas cards.

Ooh, listening.

Okay, good, better, best one is every other year, which I have definitely done.

Another thing I've done is change the Christmas card into a Happy New Year cup.

We've gotten a couple of those before and I've been like, get it.

I always love it.

I've definitely done that one.

And I was thinking about what you could do is like, oh, yeah, you could easily do something in Canva and just text it to people as your Christmas card this year.

Another thing that's available does take a little bit of legwork and it does have a higher price point is you can have it all done virtually.

You can do it all online, you can upload your address book and you.

They can be all sent that way.

So that's like another good, better, best version if you still wanted to do something.

And again, this isn't saying you have to do anything, because you don't.

My less effort way is as soon as I get a Christmas card, I just look at the return address and then I write out the card.

So instead of sitting down to do them all, I do them as I receive them.

And then that's great because the address is right there.

That's like 90% of the thing is it's like, do I have the right addresses?

Where have I put them?

Over the years, you've intrigued me with making something in Canva and texting it.

I might do that.

I would enjoy that.

What are you grateful for this week, Sarah?

Mine's a two in one.

I was able to utilize our joyful support village and communicate about something that was like a mixed emotion that I was having.

I posted, and Lacy already knows this.

I made some Christmas cookies that I'd only ever had from my grandmother.

They're called Jo Froggers, a type of molasses cookie.

It was happy because it was a bit of a labor of love.

I really appreciated that.

I really want to try and figure this recipe out because it's a little tricky with the stickiness.

But what made me really happy was as I was making them, and I'm going to say pain in the ass because that's negative.

I mean, it's kind of.

There's a lot easier cookie recipes.

Yeah.

But as I was doing it, I was like, oh, my gosh.

I mean, I've been eating these cookies since I was a little kid, and I'm thinking about how many hundreds of these cookies I'd had.

I just thought, wow, she went through the time and I really thought of all the years of her making these cookies.

And, like, I had flour on every surface in my kitchen.

I was like, oh, gosh.

My grandmother went through the time to do this and clean up all the flour and all the cooling racks all over kitchen table and then bundling them up and mailing them to me.

It was a mixed emotion of also being sad because this is my first year without my grandmother, and I was trying to get more information from her about the recipe because so much of it was in her head.

But I was never able to really pick her brain about it because that was right when I was trying to figure out the recipe.

Last year is when she started to decline.

But I was so glad that I had the village because I was like, oh, I have these feelings, do I?

And for people to understand, like, why the village is what it is, it's just like, oh, I have these feelings.

What am I going to do with these?

I love my husband, but he doesn't quite understand those emotions.

Yeah.

And it wasn't enough to, like, call a friend crying, you know, and so it was just great to put out in the village.

Like, this is what I'm feeling.

This is what's going on.

And it just gave it a safe place for it to be.

I enjoyed the moment of sitting down and thinking about, you know, this is our second holiday season without my grandma.

She was such a cook.

And you mentioned in your post about how love was an ingredient in it.

And I totally agree that there is some kind of apparently special taste to love that I've never accounted for of that person's love.

And it just really made me think about that and I enjoyed it.

It made me happy and feel those same feelings.

So even though the out there of it, I got something out of it too.

Well, and that's what's great about the village.

It's like a hug.

You give it, you receive it at the same time.

Ooh.

I do wanna take a quick moment to share that we are doing a special challenge for the beginning of the year called the 7 Day Easy Challenge.

If you sign up for the 7 Day Easy Challenge, you'll get seven daily prompts from Sarin.

Right.

So just make your life easier.

Instead of buying into all those hard challenges and starting off the new year pretending like you're a different person, go a different route.

And part of that is a little community that we're going to build around it.

Put more resources.

You can share your easy things.

I've come up with a list of a hundred different ways to make your life easier that you can go through and look at.

We hope you join us there.

It's joyfulsupportmovement.com 7day easy and you can join it.

Let's make life easier.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Sarah.

Thank you, Lacey.