After 5 years of zig-zagging between multiple schools and countless last-minute all-nighters, I somehow managed to graduate summa cum laude from Texas State University with a bachelor’s in psychology, fully intending to pursue a master’s and become a therapist.

But it doesn’t always work how we intend, does it?

After graduating in 2016, I got a job as a crisis worker. In June of 2017, my father died of cancer. In early 2018, I voluntarily admitted myself into a psychiatric hospital and took a break from doing crisis work. I should mention here that my father’s death was an enormous trigger for me, though unfortunately I was hardly a stranger to grief & loss at this point. I picked up a bipolar II diagnosis somewhere along the way⏤my prior ADHD diagnosis still flying conveniently under the radar.

I returned to crisis work in late 2018 and decided to return to school to pursue a master’s… this time in nursing, to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. Something about the dense subject matter of nursing prerequisites prompted me to bring up my old ADHD diagnosis to my provider in the fall of 2019. I was re-diagnosed and re-medicated, with my bipolar II diagnosis still in tow.

Clearly, our journeys are far from linear. Add ADHD into the mix⏤diagnosed, treated, or otherwise⏤and sometimes it feels like we’ve lived the lives of many different people. It’s disorienting. It’s isolating. And I know that there are many of you who can relate to my story and have felt extremely alone because of it.

Spoiler alert: You’re far from alone.

Anyway, where was I? Right, re-diagnosis at 29. For me, in adulthood, medication was a game-changer. I could finally focus in meetings, I had the ability to take in more of the dense information I was learning in class, I was more present with my clients.

But then… the pandemic. I’d just started a microbiology course. While many were skeptical of COVID’s severity early on, our micro professor was far from shy about his mounting paranoia and fear, and would start each class with an update on the global death counter on the Johns Hopkins website. It was horrifying. Soon, all classes were moved online. Despite my high grades in undergrad, I knew getting through this would be a different ballgame.

So, I quit my crisis work job (where it was extremely difficult to social distance safely) and I stopped pursuing prerequisite coursework for nursing.

…Now what?

A few months after leaving crisis work, I landed a promising remote job and was made to believe I would be quickly promoted based on my experience. My new manager actually said it was fate that they’d hired me (red flag #1 🚩). The first two weeks were amazing, I was getting tons of positive feedback and encouragement.

The third week, I felt something shift… you know the feeling. When you can tell you did something “wrong” but it’s unclear what it could possibly be? Everyone seems to know except you? Well, my feeling was right. I never found out what exactly I did wrong apart from their insistence that I “didn’t like it there” (which was untrue) and trying, unsuccessfully, to convince me to quit on my own accord. They ended up firing me on my 30th birthday 🥳, only about one month after I started. I was heartbroken, and it still stings to this day to think about what I could have possibly done to warrant such a complete change of heart.

After several grueling months on unemployment, I finally returned to the workforce as a case manager, again. I quickly became bored and under-stimulated, eventually transferring to the company’s Learning & Development department seeking a bit of novelty and dopamine, and many of my ADHD-influenced strengths were able to truly shine there… for awhile.

Ready for another twist?

I was doing amazing and fulfilling work as a trainer and starting to feel like maybe⏤just maybe⏤I’d found my calling. Unfortunately, this job had become extremely toxic for me, and I could feel the foundation crumbling beneath me despite all the hard work and energy I was pouring into it every single day. I couldn’t believe things were falling apart for me again.

After trying everything I could possibly think of to improve the situation⏤and with as much of a flourish as I could muster without technically “burning bridges”⏤I left the most lucrative job I’d ever had without anything lined up at the beginning of 2023. To say I felt like a failure would be an understatement, but after some time (and invaluable support) to process my feelings, I’ve learned that leaving a job that toxic is the farthest thing from a failure, for me.

Leading up to my decision to leave and the myriad of ways I attempted to salvage my career, I started ketamine-assisted trauma therapy, and my provider (with the help of an in-depth neuropsychological assessment) dismissed my looming bipolar II diagnosis in favor of C-PTSD⏤alongside the confirmed ADHD and a few other acronyms I won’t bore you with… for now.

Again with the best of intentions, I completed a UX/UI Design bootcamp and briefly pursued a design career, but I still had this nagging sense that this field would not be fulfilling for me long-term.

I came across ADHD Works and saw the incredible work they were doing for ADHDers through ADHD coaching, and something inside me clicked. This was the career I’d been seeking all along: an opportunity to support neurodivergent folks, like me, in transforming and simplifying their own lives, using both my lived and professional experience, helping them to feel understood, validated, and safe to unmask. It made my heart flutter with excitement. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Thankfully, I kept thinking about it, which has led me to where I am today: a certified coach, ready and eager to work with other neurodivergent folks with similar stories of feeling misunderstood, different, or out of place.

I’m so incredibly excited to support you in this journey, to constantly remind you that you are worthy even on the days you feel worthless, you are not alone even on the days you feel the loneliest, and that you deserve all the happiness and stability you could possibly wish for in the world.