Drawing from The Charisma Myth and her work coaching adults with ADHD, Megs breaks down why lasting change requires both a clear vision and a deep belief that you're capable of it. She explores why people with ADHD often carry limiting beliefs that block growth, how the dopamine pull of novelty (hello, online shopping) fits into that picture, and what it actually feels like to sit in discomfort long enough to forge a new path.

Article referenced in show: Never Enough: Why ADHD Brains Crave Stimulation

Whether you're part of an ADHD community looking for real talk, searching for an ADHD coach, or just trying to figure out why you keep ending up back at square one — this episode will give you language, perspective, and empowering beliefs to carry with you.

You'll hear: the hiking metaphor for building new habits, the "Pandora's box" of self-awareness, why community and coaching accelerate change, and a set of affirmations you can repeat daily — including "My patterns kept me safe. I get to choose different now" and "Good things are allowed to happen to me and stay."

In This Episode:

04:57 — Why your beliefs are blocking change (even when you're trying really hard)

06:26 — What discomfort actually is — and why it's proof you're capable

10:20 — How therapy, ADHD coaching, and mindset work together

13:45 — A guitar lesson on the power of community for ADHDers

15:45 — No-spend month as a real-life example of belief in action

19:15 — The Pandora's box of self-awareness: facing data, emotions, and avoided realities

22:12 — The hiking metaphor: forging a new path through your brain

27:56 — Be the hero of your own story — and take action

29:54 — Beliefs to repeat daily if you have ADHD

Share your thoughts with Megs!

Would you like to learn more about hiring Megs as your ADHD coach? Start here> The Perfect Place to Start

The Community is OPEN! Join right here: Organizing an ADHD Brain

You can also learn more about the community HERE> OrganizinganADHDBrain.com

If you've ever struggled to explain a hard mental health moment to your child — or wondered how to hold your ADHD brain together as a parent — this episode is for you.

Megs sits down with Kendall, mental health advocate and children's book author, to talk about something most of us never learned how to do: make our inner emotional world visible to the people who love us most. Kendall shares her journey from lifelong anxiety diagnosis to ADHD discovery, how postpartum depression cracked her open, and the "cloud" metaphor she created so her kids could understand mom's hard days without fear or confusion.

🎧 What We Talk About

Understanding your own brain first — Kendall spent years being told she had anxiety before landing on an ADHD diagnosis that finally made sense. If your mental health story has kept shifting, you'll feel seen here.

The cloud metaphor that changed everything — After PPD, Kendall needed a way to say "mom is struggling today" without clinical language or blame.

ADHD tools for couples — Kendall and her husband have different ADHD patterns. She shares "pause" check-ins, shared lists, and strategies that actually work when two executive-function-challenged brains are building a life together.

Care kits for hard days — What goes in one? Simpler and more intentional than you'd expect.

The book + pay-it-forward program — Kendall self-published Cloudy Day Chronicles to keep the family dialogue supportive rather than clinical, and now donates books through a pay-it-forward program and speaks with community organizations to connect parents to local mental health resources.

About Kendall

Kendall's greatest adventures began at home, as a mother. Her stories are inspired by the curiosity, humor, and boundless imagination of her children, who often help shape the characters and moments that appear on the page. Alongside her husband Matt and their dog Kiaora, she fills her days with laughter, exploration, and just the right amount of playful weirdness. When she's not creating stories, Kendall can usually be found where the wild things are.

⏱️ Jump To

• 01:12 — From mental health struggles to becoming an author
• 02:07 — Postpartum depression and the birth of the cloud metaphor
• 03:26 — Inside the Cloudy Day Chronicles book
• 12:21 — ADHD tools for couples with different patterns
• 18:46 — Building a care kit for cloudy days
• 23:42 — How (and why) to ask for support out loud
• 27:12 — Publishing choices and drawing the family line
• 29:56 — Advocacy work and connecting parents to resources
• 33:36 — Community impact and closing thoughts
• 35:16 — Where to find the book

📚 Resources & Links

• Cloudy Day Chronicles — Author's Website/Buy The Book
• Follow Kendall — Substack/Instagram

Organizing an ADHD Brain is a podcast for humans with ADHD who are done with shame.

Share your thoughts with Megs!

Would you like to learn more about hiring Megs as your ADHD coach? Start here> The Perfect Place to Start

The Community is OPEN! Join right here: Organizing an ADHD Brain

You can also learn more about the community HERE> OrganizinganADHDBrain.com

If you've ever started a weight loss journey, tried to declutter your home, or attempted to quit a habit — and felt like you were doing it "wrong" because it wasn't linear or easy — this episode is for you. As an ADHD coach for women, Megs Crawford digs into why quick fixes don't create lasting change, and why going through the "messy middle" is actually what builds sustainability, self-trust, and genuine self-understanding — especially for an ADHD brain.

Using real stories from her own life, Megs shares her experience pursuing bariatric surgery and the required nutrition coaching, therapy, strict dietary changes, and body-image work that came with it; getting sober through a structured program, confronting depression and navigating triggers like ordering drinks in social settings, and maintaining sobriety for nearly four years; and decluttering her home through trial and error, selling items, lowering barriers, and discovering which organizing systems actually fit her ADHD patterns.

She also connects these lessons to parenting a child through uncomfortable transitions, showing how the messy middle isn't just a personal growth concept — it's a life skill. If you're a woman with ADHD looking for an approach to organizing, sobriety, or weight loss that meets your brain where it is (instead of shaming you for not fitting a neurotypical mold), this episode will feel like a breath of fresh air.

03:11 Cora And The Transition

04:17 The Quick Fix Trap

06:57 Weight Loss And Surgery

11:10 Body Image And Self Talk

13:07 Quitting Drinking For Good

16:15 Sober Struggles And Tools

19:05 Decluttering With ADHD

22:39 Trial And Error Systems

27:25 Fix It Mindset Shift

31:32 Small Steps Build Rome

Share your thoughts with Megs!

Would you like to learn more about hiring Megs as your ADHD coach? Start here> The Perfect Place to Start

The Community is OPEN! Join right here: Organizing an ADHD Brain

You can also learn more about the community HERE> OrganizinganADHDBrain.com