Speaker #0Welcome to NeuroDivergent Spot. I'm your host, Sam Marion. I'm a multiply neurodivergent therapist, content creator, speaker. I do all kinds of things. My primary interests are in autism, ADHD, learning differences. But really, I love talking about all things neurodiversity. And today's episode is going to be a solo episode. And it's going to be a little bit of an emotional solo episode for me today. Because this is going to be my last episode, at least for now. I'm not making promises about this being a final or a pause, but at least for now, I know this will be my last one for a bit. So honestly, just going to try to be really transparent with you here. As I'm saying this aloud, yeah, I'm feeling it. I'm feeling more emotion than I thought I would. So I do have myself prepared to be a little organized today. And I want to share sort of where I'm coming from, why I'm at this place, kind of going back to the start. So I've got questions set up for myself that I'm going to ask and then I'll answer. So my first question, when I think back to why I started Nerd Divergent Spot, what was I hoping to create or share? And how has that vision changed along the way? And when I look back, so I started NeuroDivergentSpot. Quite frankly, I had a bad day and I realized I needed a creative project. Sometimes when I'm feeling stuck or overwhelmed or stressed, I need to be creative. And that looks like a whole range of things for me at different times. I don't really do a lot of sort of traditional artwork, but this, this is... this is that creative outlet. I actually went for a walk on a Saturday morning and in that maybe 45 minute brisk walk, I came up with the name of the podcast, the format, had it all in my mind. And so that's sort of what got me to here. And I, I found it to be very helpful to talk to other people, to ask people to share some of their experiences. I thought it was very humbling that people would be so open with me. It was just a really, really special experience that I will always treasure. But that's why I started it, was I, you know, I wanted to hear people share stories with me, but also with the world. I get to hear a lot of lovely stories in my clinical work, but they're behind closed doors. They're protected, right? Because I do respect, you know. the privacy, not just because legally I have to, but because, you know, people trust me with their stories. And this was different. This was me asking people to share vulnerably and publicly. But it was just a creative outlet for me. That's really where it started. I didn't necessarily have goals that I wanted to achieve through this other than sharing meaningful stories. And that, that goal, I do believe I met. So the next question I've got for myself. is what have my guests and listeners taught me about neurodivergence, community, or even myself that I didn't expect when I began? So this is a tricky question because there's a lot of details about people's lives that they shared on this podcast that are similar to things that people shared with me privately. The difference is this time it was public. And I think that what surprised me the most. or that I didn't expect was just how vulnerable people were willing to be from the start on this podcast. Some people who knew me already, and so maybe that felt a little bit more expected, but people who didn't know me showed up and were open and honest and vulnerable and shared details of their lives that I think were so special. And I'm so grateful for the trust that people put in me. I think it's amazing. And It's a reminder that for me, this is, it's not just the people trust me when they know that it's sort of legally protected privacy, but in general people will trust. And I think that I honored that trust through this. That was pretty special. And for listeners, I think people probably, I think that while I didn't learn this, I think listeners did. I think listeners had the experience of feeling relatable. Or relating to others as they shared their story. I think people, and I know this because I got this feedback. I think some of you listened to somebody share and felt seen, felt heard through that other person sharing. And that's a beautiful thing to me. Next question I have for myself is about the pressing this pause, whatever we want to call it for now. Why does this feel like the right moment to pause? And what does rest or stepping back mean to me as a neurodivergent creator? So quite simply. I've got myself overwhelmed. I have a habit of saying yes to projects, even just to myself, but I don't scale back on them. I don't cut things out hardly ever. And I had to sort of go Marie Kondo on my work life and start looking and seeing, you know, what's sparking joy? What's more of a stress at this point? You know, I can't cut things that are paying the bills. and where I want to invest my time, my energy, my effort. And I've got some opportunities right now that are very meaningful to me that I'm going to lean into a little bit. I am not done in content creating. I've actually, because I've got spent so thin, I've not done as much in social media, things like that. I'm trying to get back into that space. And I'm actually working on a different, shorter podcast format potentially as well. So stick around for that. Follow me, you know, social media, you'll hear more. I just, yeah, I've got some opportunities with some groups I'm working with that are on a larger national scale, things like that, that I think have opportunities for real impact. But I have to be mindful of when I'm feeling spread too thin. And I am. I don't want to half-ass a lot of things. I want to make sure that what I do is quality. And I don't want to resent anything that I'm doing by choice. So I'm making this hard choice. In some ways, I feel really sad. In some ways, I feel relief. But I think that's probably relatable as well. Final question I've set up for myself is, what do I hope listeners carry forward from NeuroDivergentSpot? And what am I curious about exploring next whenever that time comes? So here we go. I hope that you carry with you just the lovely stories that people shared of their lives. People share it about some really... difficult experiences. Some things that we might call traumatic and some things that were just really overwhelming. Each person gets to define that for themselves. And I hope that you care for that. I am so grateful. Every person who listened, each time you listened, I'm grateful. It's meaningful to me. I followed metrics more at first. And at some point in time, I realized I didn't care so much about numbers. I knew that there were people listening and that meant a lot. That's all I cared about. So I hope you know that I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful for every time you showed up here. I'm grateful that you had the opportunity to hear stories that I don't know if you would have heard otherwise. I'm grateful for what you added to this community. And those of you, there's some people who start as listeners and turn into guests, and that's a beautiful thing too. So I'm very, very grateful. Genuinely. grateful for each of you and each time you listened. My next steps, you know, I'm looking at different resources that I can be part of creating and that's stuff with some other organizations that I can be a support with that they can have some wider impact. I'm playing with other short form content that I think I can continue to do in ways that won't have quite the same lift. This format where I'm interviewing people, it's an executive function challenge for me because it requires scheduling and coordination. And the editing is a little bit different, like sort of all these different little things that add up. And so I'm streamlining that, less coordinating with others, things like that, that I think will go a long way for me in reducing sort of the cognitive load that I've been carrying that has just become too much. So I think that that will... Yeah, that's sort of all of my future. Also wanted to get back to some other long-form content. I've been working on a book, my second book, for several months now, but very little time spent on it compared to what I'd like to spend on it. And so that's an effort that I'm making as well to get back around to writing more and creating more balanced content. I think that that's very short form. And then long form is probably where I land the best as opposed to kind of this medium form. of these podcasts. Also, I've done more and more in-person speaking engagements. more recently, and I've got several scheduled out. And so that's also a coordination thing. And just knowing what is taxing on my executive function. And that is all the different details of coordination that does add up for me. So I'm being mindful of that as well. So I hope that if you don't follow me on social media, I hope on Instagram, you'll go over there. Sam Aaron Counseling is the place that I update the most and that's where I will continue to do so. But I hope that You'll make sure that you follow me over there. If you've listened and you and I've not interacted, I hope you'll send me a message. Reach out. I'd love to hear about what this meant to you. If you're following the show, I hope you'll keep following it because I'm not promising I won't put out an update every now and then. I do love the option of pushing out content when I've got things to say. So that may happen. We will just have to see. I'm not making promises, but keep the follow going on. And again, just... Just know that I'm very grateful for you. I'm grateful for all your support from the messages that I have gotten, the encouragement that I've gotten. Truly very, very grateful. And I hope you'll just continue on this journey with me by following me elsewhere. Engage. If you have ideas for me, or if you're going, wait a second, we need a speaker for this or that, please reach out. Hopefully, I'm actually opening up more time to do more. Just stays a little more aligned. So again, thank you so much. I'm Sam Marion. And just know that each of you means a lot to me. Thank you for listening to Nerd A Virgin Spot.
