Stories, insights, and hard-earned wisdom from the AuDHD human experience. I write about autism, ADHD, resilience, relationships, grief, healing, and the everyday challenge of being human. Part personal reflection, part practical wisdom, and part ongoing experiment, my work helps people feel less alone while discovering what becomes possible when they stop trying to be someone else.
Notes From the Thick of It (Sept 10, 2026)
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I call this Notes From the Thick of It because I’m writing from inside real life, not from a polished finish line. These are reflections from the messy middle of AuDHD and chronic Illness, where overwhelm, grief, humor, healing, and small flashes of clarity all show up together. If you like what you read, please share it. Meanwhile, in My BrainUnmasking isn’t safe to do in every situation. There are times when masking makes sense because stripping naked in front of others isn’t always safe. Finding the safe people and situations are what we're after. Calling Autism/ADHD A Superpower Comes At A Price
Calling autism or ADHD a “superpower” does a real disservice to people who struggle daily to live their lives because of the real and disabling qualities of these conditions. Cutesy words like “neurospicy” make it sound like someone added extra pepper to your DNA when, for many of us, it may as well be acid. Can there be strengths, or even giftedness, as part of autism or ADHD? Of course. I experience a few myself. But the fastest car can only go so far if it keeps breaking down for reasons no mechanic can fix because it’s how the car is built. The daily reality of living with autism or ADHD can be depressing, demoralizing, and defeating because so much of life feels uphill. Sure, our strengths can be a source of confidence, pride, and even financial success, while other parts of living with these conditions absolutely suck. Both can be true. The balance, at least for me, is learning not to confuse honesty with hopelessness. I can be honest about what’s hard without deciding everything will always be hard. I can grieve what autism and ADHD make difficult while staying curious about what might make tomorrow a little easier. That kind of curiosity leaves the door cracked open for hope and curiosity. We don’t need to turn autism or ADHD into a superpower to find something valuable in ourselves. And we shouldn’t have to romanticize the parts that disable us in order to feel proud of the parts that help us shine. Sometimes the most honest form of neurodivergent pride is being able to say, “I love this about myself, and this other part makes my life really fucking hard.” Neither truth cancels out the other. And neither truth gets to tell us there’s nothing left to discover. When insight isn’t enoughA lot of neurodivergent adults I talk with understand themselves better than they ever have. They know about Autism. ADHD. Masking. Rejection sensitivity. Executive functioning. Trauma. Nervous system responses. And yet they still find themselves thinking: I understand why I do this. So why do I keep doing it? That gap between understanding yourself and actually changing what happens next is where my newly improved MindBridge coaching program focuses. MindBridge is one-to-one coaching for neurodivergent adults who want to look beneath the problem they keep experiencing. We explore the patterns, beliefs, assumptions, reactions, and old survival strategies that may still be influencing how you communicate, set boundaries, handle criticism, make decisions, and relate to yourself. Not so I can give you another list of things you should be doing. The goal is to understand what makes sense about your current response, then experiment with something that works better for your brain and your life. MindBridge now includes up to two private 30-minute sessions each week, between-session support, personalized exercises and resources, selected video lessons, and access to my BRAVE Process course. Most importantly, we’re working toward something bigger than becoming dependent on a coach. We’re building your ability to recognize your own patterns, trust yourself, make more intentional choices, and need less outside support over time. MindBridge is $525 per month, month to month, with no long-term commitment. If you’ve done a lot of understanding and you’re ready to explore what to do next, you can learn more and apply below. Are You Still Protecting Yourself From a Life You No Longer Live? with Denny LaVeSometimes the things that helped us survive become the very things that make connection harder later. In my conversation with Denny LaVe, we talked about what happens when childhood instability teaches you to expect the other shoe to drop, keep people at a distance, and rely on yourself because vulnerability feels too risky. Denny is remarkably open about the ways those patterns followed him into adulthood, relationships, leadership, and his definition of success. What I appreciated most was that this wasn’t a conversation about blaming the past. It was about understanding it well enough to stop letting it run the present. We also talked about therapy, faith, mentorship, self-compassion, personal responsibility, and a question I think a lot of us wrestle with: What if success isn’t always about winning? Sometimes success is having the courage to take another swing at something that matters, even after life has given you plenty of reasons not to. If you’ve ever wondered why certain protective habits are so hard to let go of, I think you’ll find a lot to relate to in this conversation. Listen to my conversation with Denny LaVe. 🌿 Get Your Copy of Agatha’s Garden 🌿Have you purchased your copy? I'd love to hear your feedback. Thanks for being you, |
Brian R. King MSW
Stories, insights, and hard-earned wisdom from the AuDHD human experience. I write about autism, ADHD, resilience, relationships, grief, healing, and the everyday challenge of being human. Part personal reflection, part practical wisdom, and part ongoing experiment, my work helps people feel less alone while discovering what becomes possible when they stop trying to be someone else.
I call this Notes From the Thick of It because I’m writing from inside real life, not from a polished finish line. These are reflections from the messy middle of AuDHD and chronic Illness, where overwhelm, grief, humor, healing, and small flashes of clarity all show up together. If you like what you read, please share it. Meanwhile, in My Brain Life with AuDHD lends itself to latching on to a lot of unhelpful ideas about our own worth, how relationships work, and more. Then the day comes when...
I call this Notes From the Thick of It because I’m writing from inside real life, not from a polished finish line. These are reflections from the messy middle of AuDHD and chronic Illness, where overwhelm, grief, humor, healing, and small flashes of clarity all show up together. If you like what you read, please share it. Meanwhile, in My Brain We don't have cookie cutter brains. Accommodating one person's ADHD doesn't mean the problem is solved for all of us. To suggest otherwise is...
I call this Notes From the Thick of It because I’m writing from inside real life, not from a polished finish line. These are reflections from the messy middle of AuDHD and chronic Illness, where overwhelm, grief, humor, healing, and small flashes of clarity all show up together. If you like what you read, please share it. Meanwhile, in My Brain Acceptance isn’t the same as submission. The School System Gave Up on My Father My father spent much of his life believing he wasn’t very smart....