Nov 10
I first met Amanda Smith in my Your ADHD Brain is A-OK program, and ever since she has been bringing so much empathy and joy to the group that I knew I had to get her on the podcast.
In Amanda’s own words, she is not your typical ADHD brain. She didn’t struggle with executive functioning or memory growing up, so when doctors discovered Amanda had a Multiple Sclerosis lesion on her prefrontal cortex, causing sudden-onset ADHD with working memory and cognitive impairment, she realized she was going to have to completely change how she had been operating for the past 32 years.
Amanda’s life was turned on its head when she got the diagnosis –her life snow globe got kicked down the stairs, as she puts it– but her ability to find new ways to forge forward and move her life in the direction she wants it to go in is truly an inspiration.
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"ADHD brains are so diverse and divergent that, just because the puzzle fits together doesn't mean we all put it together the same way."
- Amanda Smith
"Sometimes you just can't go back from where you came. It's the butterfly. There's so many caterpillars out there, why be a caterpillar? And I think that's kind of the difference between ADHD and non-ADHD. You know, I used to be a caterpillar. There's lots of caterpillars. They kind of all look the same. But man, the butterflies. Just the colors and the spectrum and just all the different things. They can fly, they can not fly, they can crawl, they can do all kinds of things."
- Amanda Smith
"Once I got the MS diagnosis, I call it my life snow globe got kicked down the stairs. You know, everything had its place and then all of a sudden everything just started floating. Nothing really had its place. Nothing made sense. I couldn't keep things in place, I couldn't think."
- Amanda Smith
- Amanda shares her experience with ADHD and how she's had to adapt to managing her symptoms, including using a planner to keep track of appointments and tasks.
- Amanda discusses her experience with ADHD and MS, sharing how she's always been creative and crafty but has recently become more research-oriented.
- Amanda shares her experiences with ADHD, including her childhood and adulthood struggles, and how she's learned to "wing it" in various situations.
[24:08 - 40:36] Managing illness, Family, and Resilience
- Amanda shares how her resilient mother's brain surgery at age 17 influenced her perspective on life.
- Amanda discusses her experience with occupational therapy after a car accident, highlighting the importance of gratitude and hope for recovery.
- Amanda struggles to organize her home due to disability, but with help from Christine, she is able to make progress by looking at her home independently and making changes.
- Amanda emphasizes the importance of recognizing and valuing individual differences in ADHD brains, rather than trying to fit into societal norms or expectations.
- Amanda shares her personal experience of seeing the world in a unique way, with new perspectives and insights that she wouldn't have had before.
- Amanda shares her experience of acquiring hedgehogs as pets, saying she was drawn to them after seeing one on Facebook Marketplace and now has three hedgehogs that go with her to various places.
Instagram: @dandylion_wishes
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