The Adulting With ADHD Podcast

Rejection sensitivity and communication challenges at work are often misunderstood, especially for adults with ADHD.
In this episode of Adulting with ADHD, Sarah talks with leadership coach and CEO of Collaborate Consulting, Trystan Reese, about how rejection sensitivity can affect workplace interactions and self advocacy. Trystan shares how understanding brain based differences can help people approach work challenges with greater clarity and confidence.
Together, they explore why asking for support can feel difficult, how fear of negative feedback can influence behavior, and how small shifts in communication can improve workplace experiences for neurodivergent employees.
This conversation offers a practical reframe: instead of focusing on what feels hard, we can focus on what helps communication feel clearer and more effective.
In this episode, we talk about:
What rejection sensitivity is and how it relates to ADHD

Why feedback can feel challenging in professional settings

How to think through possible outcomes before making requests

The difference between emotional discomfort and real risk

Why preparation and practice support better communication

How to align requests with shared workplace goals

Why body awareness and regulation can help before difficult conversations

How self understanding supports self advocacy

Trystan also shares practical tools and examples, including:
A step by step approach for evaluating concerns

Ways to request clearer expectations or meeting information

Simple communication scripts for everyday situations

Why practicing conversations can increase confidence

How reframing internal narratives supports growth

If workplace communication feels stressful or uncertain, this episode offers a supportive and realistic approach focused on clarity, preparation, and self trust rather than fear or perfection.
Resources mentioned:
Collaborate Consulting
Trystan Reese coaching and training services
Neurodivergent leadership and workplace inclusion programs

Clutter is often treated like a motivation problem but what if it's really a systems problem?
🎙️ In this episode of Adulting with ADHD, Sarah sits down with ADHD and autistic decluttering specialist and podcast host Heather Tingle, founder of Untangled by Tingle, to explore how home organization, dopamine, and executive function are deeply connected for adults with ADHD. Heather shares how her own experience living in chaos led her to create decluttering methods that work with neurodivergent brains instead of against them.
Together, they unpack why consistency can feel so hard with ADHD, how perfection based organizing systems create burnout, and how decluttering can become a source of safety rather than another area of pressure or shame.
💬 This conversation offers a compassionate reframe: instead of asking "Why can't I stay organized?" we can start asking "What makes my space easier to live in?"
🧩 In this episode, we talk about:
✨ Why traditional decluttering systems don't work for ADHD and autistic brains 👀 How dopamine and visibility affect motivation and follow through 🏁 Why finishing matters more than starting 🧠 How executive dysfunction impacts home organization 🎶 How competition, music, and time limits can increase momentum ❤️ Why emotional attachment matters more than logical rules 🪜 How small, bite sized tasks make decluttering more achievable
🛠️ Heather also shares practical strategies, including:
⏱️ How to "beat the kettle" or a song with a tiny decluttering task 📦 Why gathering similar items into one visible place helps ADHD brains 🤝 How body doubling and shared accountability reduce overwhelm 🎮 How turning decluttering into a game builds motivation 🌱 Why starting with the smallest possible step creates success 🗺️ How treating decluttering as a "side quest" lowers resistance
🌈 If clutter feels overwhelming, emotionally loaded, or impossible to maintain, this episode offers a gentler way forward one that centers dopamine, ease, and self compassion instead of perfection.
📚 Resources mentioned:
🎧 Decluttering Untangled podcast by Heather Tingle 🏡 Untangled by Tingle (professional decluttering services) 👥 Untangled by Tingle Declutter Community (Facebook group)

Stress, trauma, and nutrition are often treated like separate issues but what if they're all part of the same conversation?
In this episode of Adulting with ADHD, Sarah sits down with licensed nutritionist and author Meg Bowman to explore how the nervous system and nutrition are deeply connected, especially for adults with ADHD. Meg shares how her own Crohn's diagnosis led her into the world of mental health nutrition, and why supporting the nervous system is just as important as choosing the "right" foods.
Together, they unpack how stress and trauma shape the body's relationship with food, why consistency can feel extra hard with ADHD, and how nutrition can become a source of safety rather than another area of pressure or shame.
This conversation offers a compassionate reframe: instead of asking "What should I be eating?", we can start asking "What helps my body feel safe enough to eat?"
In this episode, we talk about:
How the nervous system and digestion influence each other

Why fear, stress, and trauma can shut down hunger cues

What polyvagal theory has to do with food and regulation

Why traditional nutrition advice often doesn't work for ADHD brains
How visibility, simplicity, and support can make eating easier

The idea of "taking care of future you" with low-effort planning

How community and shared executive function can reduce decision fatigue

Meg also shares insights from her book, This Is Your Body on Trauma, including:
How trauma shows up in the body as inflammation

Why chronic stress is linked to long-term health conditions

A framework for understanding food, gut health, stress, and mental health together

How to build a personal nutrition toolkit that feels supportive instead of restrictive

If food feels complicated, overwhelming, or emotionally loaded, this episode offers a gentler way forward, one that centers safety, nervous system regulation, and self-compassion instead of perfection.
Resources mentioned:
This Is Your Body on Trauma by Meg Bowman

Meg's Substack: Nutrition Needs Nuance

Meg's website: megbowmannutrition.com

Getting started can feel harder than the work itself—especially when your brain insists on finding the perfect system before you begin. In this episode of Adulting with ADHD, Sarah sits down with Russ Jones, host of the ADHD Big Brother Podcast, to explore what happens when we stop waiting for certainty and start jumping in sloppy instead.
Russ shares his late-in-life ADHD diagnosis and how burnout, depression, and the isolation of the pandemic led him to rethink productivity from the inside out. Together, Sarah and Russ unpack why ADHD brains get stuck in planning mode, how perfectionism disguises itself as "research," and why starting imperfectly is often the most compassionate move we can make.
This conversation is a grounding reminder that progress doesn't come from flawless systems—it comes from momentum, connection, and designing effort that your nervous system can actually tolerate.
In this episode, we explore:
Why ADHDers often over-plan instead of starting—and how to interrupt that cycle

What "jumping in sloppy" really means (and what it doesn't)

How finite effort and timers can reduce anxiety around overwhelming tasks

Why quitting is sometimes part of getting started

The concept of felt accountability and why other humans make follow-through more likely

How community, body doubling, and shared effort reduce shame and isolation

Reframing productivity as something we do together, not alone



Russ also shares the heart behind his ADHD Big Brother approach—why guidance works better when it feels like support instead of authority, and how small, human-scale systems can help us finally tackle the tasks we've been avoiding.
If you've ever told yourself, "I know me—this won't work," this episode gently challenges that belief and offers a more hopeful alternative: start where you are, start imperfectly, and don't do it alone.
🔗 Connect with Russ Jones
Website: www.adhdbigbrother.com

In this episode, I share a personal update, highlighting a shift in content based on audience feedback. I also tease a new resource set to debut in 2026 to meet listeners' needs more effectively.