When I started to venture out on my own, I was divided on which direction I wanted to take. I ran my own metaphysical business once before that was succeeding until a devastating hack wiped out everything. I did not have the energy to start over for various reasons.
I've been designing my entire life and although I also have marketing, journalism, and public relations experience, my heart lies in creativity in the form of visual art.
Now there is a new passion in my life in creating awareness for neurodivergent adults, in particular, adults who have been late diagnosed. This is becoming the new norm and I often hear several people say, "Everyone seems to be neurodivergent these days. It's the new fad."
While I believe there is some validity to that, I believe what is happening is that science and awareness are finally catching up to reality. So many people, including myself, spent their entire lives being neurodivergent and NOT EVEN REALIZING IT. Most people cannot conceive of nor understand how this happens.
Most of us have gone our entire lives with a deep feeling of knowing that something is off, that we are a bit different, that we seem to struggle a bit more than others, or that we have a hard time doing things others can easily do every day. We struggle with relationships, jobs, tasks, communication, and most importantly, our health.
Did you know that the diagnostic criteria for determining autism was mostly based on boys in the past? An entire gender was left out of the process. Studies have shown that girls present differently and are better able to hide or "mask" their autistic traits. Some believe this is because society has taught young girls to be as pleasant and accommodating as possible, while young boys were given a pass in expressing anger, frustration, or any other emotion that allowed them to act out and be excused.
Is it no wonder then, why more and more women have been getting diagnoses of "autoimmune disorders" that seem to have no known cause by their early 30s? Most of these women in support groups I have belonged to in the past have claimed that they have always been tired since they were young girls or that they never felt "well." Many of these women were also once incredibly active or were overachievers at home or work who took on a lot of responsibility and thrived. Then it all came crashing down.
The nervous system finally gives out and they go through years of diagnoses, medications, physical therapy, tubs filled with supplements, traveling to Peru to find a shaman ... you see where I am going. We would do anything to feel better. Meanwhile, because we are clueless to the fact that our brains are in disharmony with the way our society is built, the trauma continues to fester day after day.
Let's not discount that there is probably so much trauma that is already within the system from a lifetime of shame because you never felt good enough. You either perceived it yourself or you were told so by others. You simply did not have the proper mechanisms in place to help you succeed. You were operating on Android while 95% of the world was operating on Apple. So often, this trauma shows up by being bullied in school by both students and teachers. God help those who also carry childhood trauma on top of it.
I could go on and on with what I've learned. I've studied and sat through so many psychology classes that I feel like I have a secondary degree at this point. Let's just say that I am truly passionate about creating more awareness around ADULT NEURODIVERGENCE and LATE DIAGNOSED DIVERGENCE. It is near impossible to find help after a certain age. I'm not sure if the medical community thinks that autism goes away after a certain age or what, but right now we have hundreds of thousands of adults who are suffering with nowhere to go. As we get older, it gets worse without help because we no longer have the capacity to hold up the facades we once had it place. The longer we hold up the facades, the sicker we become. This is a huge problem.
With all of that being said, you will see that one of the pillars of my business is working with neurodivergent individuals. When I got let go of my corporate job, I had just found out I was autistic the week before. That was not easy to hear. You go through a grieving process of your life. You experience the could've, should've, would've narrative and think of all the things you COULD have accomplished had you known or had the proper support in place. I went through all of the typical stages of grief: sadness, anger, denial, and eventually acceptance.
My goal is to start implementing processes in my business to help neurodivergent members of the community shine. I want to bring more attention to the positive traits of neurodivegent individuals and to create an atmosphere where those traits excel. We have so much to offer the world with our creativity, our willingness to be open and honest, our ability to see the bigger picture and be intuitive, and so much more. While there are a lot of characteristics that we carry that are frowned upon in the business world (not making eye contact or not being a social butterfly), there need to be more spaces in where our characteristics are also embraced.
Next month, I will be introducing an online community for introverted, neurodivergent, and disabled individuals. This will be a once-a-month online meetup for those who want to network but are overwhelmed by typical networking events. (Auditory processing issues? Multiple people talking all at the same time? No thank you!) I also promise that you don't have to speak or introduce yourself if you don't want to either. No cameras are necessary, but I highly encourage it for those of you that are comfortable.
I believe that if we want a world where we are included, we have to create it. We must embody what we want to see and if we are at the helm leading it, it will be more true to us instead of those who don't understand attempting to understand us but missing the mark.
Please forgive me if I am not using all of the correct language. At 47 years old, I am still learning all of this for myself. It's been an interesting journey, but one that is finally starting to give me some clarity and I choose to help others so that they can better understand themselves too.
If you are interested, please join me by signing up on my site or sending me a message through www.aligneddesigns.net.
Comments