October is ADHD Awareness Month. Kirby Hansen-McNulty, CEO and founder of Calibrate ADHD, joins me for a conversation about what it means to understand and live with ADHD, not simply recognizing symptoms, but understanding how ADHD shows up in our lives, what support we need and how we can build systems that work with our brains rather than against them.

October is ADHD Awareness Month. I was diagnosed with ADHD two years ago. It changed everything I knew about my mental health. Over the past few months, I’ve used AI to help make work more manageable, challenge my unrealistic expectations of what I can get done, and change how I feel about my work.

We become so skilled at responding to what’s immediately in front of us that we can spend years avoiding what’s happening within us. This is NOT because you don't care. It is NOT because you don't want to. It is NOT because you are selfish, lazy, or any other bogus label your inner critic absorbed from a neurotypical world.

Why do we have to hide? Well if you look at the Cornell case, the Epstein files, Larry Nassar, only to name three very prominent cases, not to mention all the other cases where women are not believed, what would you expect?

If you are still processing what happened at Cornell and are experiencing strong emotions, please join us for a special episode of Shining Light on Shadows.

My whole point is that mental health really affected my schooling. I wasn’t ready for college when I graduated high school. No one told me that it was OK to wait. No one told me that I would not be a lesser person if I took my time deciding what I wanted to do with my life.

Since I was last on Shining Light on Shadows, I’ve graduated high school, moved to college, and I had to change the way I advocate so that the impacts I made at my high school would turn into an enduring movement for change. Moving to college has been the biggest change of my life.

Moving away from home, starting college and suddenly having to manage your own time, responsibilities and relationships can be exciting. It can also bring new pressures, stressors and mental health challenges.

Twenty-five years later, I remember watching the attacks from my home in New York—and the grieving families I met when I volunteered in the days that followed.