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Here are my favorite tools for decreasing stimulation overload for my personal neurodivergency of ADHD:

In previous posts I have mentioned neurodivergence, let's get into what that means.

Neurodivergence literally means: neuro=nervous system, divergence=different.  So it just means different from "normal."

Neurodivergence is a blanket term for anyone who has high IQ, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Bipolar Disorder, Dyslexia, Dysphasia, OCD, ODD, and/or anything that is not neuro typical aka "normal" brained.

Since 1998 there has been an increase in movements to help the neurotypicals have more understanding and acceptance for us neurodivergent.  Studies even suggest that neurodivergence is where evolution is heading.  Studies suggest this because we no longer live in a hunter gatherer society, but rather a technological based society that is recruiting more brain functions.  pretty cool!

Now for those that are neurotypical it may be very challenging to work/raise/deal in whatever whay with someone that is neurodivergent, but get over it because guess what, you are really dumb and difficult for us to work with!  

Yes I know that I'm being snarky this morning, but it's just one of those weeks that normal people are annoying me because they think so linearly rather than in 3D.  

Before I sign off there are a few things that I think people should understand about neurodivergence:

1) We think outside the box because we do not have a box in our minds.  There aren't limitations, or boxes, to our creativity because we use more of our brain than neurotypicals do.

2) We see, feel, taste, hear, and smell everything all at once, this causes us to get overstimulated quite easily.  i'm sure you have all seen a TV show or movie where a country person goes to the big city and gets completely overwhelmed by all the sensations and hustle and bustle, well, that's us ALL OF THE TIME.  When we wake up we feel the clothes on our skin, we feel the rumples in our hair, we feel the dryness and at the same time the oiliness of our skin.  We hear the cars, the wind, the lawnmowers or snow plows, we hear the dogs lapping up water.  We smell the sheets, our own breath, the oils in our skin and hair, the pets, the trash, the carpet.  We taste the staleness in our mouth, we taste the air we breathe in.  And this is just in the one second after waking up.  Now imagine feeling, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling all there is around you, along with the sensations and stimulus of your own thought times 100 because our minds are thinking of 20 things simultaneously.  You might get overwhelmed too.

3) if we need a break, just give us a damn break.  We'll get what needs to be done done, we just need a procrastination time crunch to get it done, so chill the freak out!

And now for my fellow neurodivergent people:

1) Chill the freak out!

The neurotypicals have no way of understanding what you are going through because their brains are limited.  See it as they are the ones who have a "disability" because they can in no way even begin to understand how difficult it is for you.

2) you are in charge of your own regulation.

Don't expect everyone to cater to you, that's just rude! You are overstimulated, then do the things that help you regulate:  noise canceling headphone, sunglasses or eye cover, mask to decrease the smell, gloves if you don't like the feel of things, take 10 minutes to go to a quiet place and relax.  You are in charge of you.  If you don't like the texture or taste of the food that is being served, bring your own damn food, who cares if the host is offended, that's her problem, you take care of you.