Wildflower Families

Poetry on your skin is almost always a good idea.

The only appropriate caption involves the apple(s) of my eye(s).

To all the moms, those longing to be moms, those missing and grieving their moms: this sacred and profound journey is a hero’s journey. It will bring you to your knees again and again. It is the most tender and fullest of human experiences. Sometimes we wish moments away because it is also the most challenging and painful way to move through life. But in its exquisite beauty and deep work, we find and lose ourselves over and over again. While we don’t see our labor manifested into something bigger on the day to day, there are those moments, those glimpses where we see ourselves and our children and our own mothers so clearly. It’s cliche but the days are long, so very long, yet the years — they fly. It’s ok not to love every moment but know that the moments amount to the fullest a life could be. I’m grateful to be having the very human experience of being a mother and a daughter. It is the deepest and most important work I’ll ever be privileged to do in this life.

It’s always a fine balance sharing about your children on social media. I asked my daughter permission before sharing this. Today she told me I’m the best coach in the world because of how I’ve supported her. To say that this impacted me deeply would be an understatement. From birth, I knew something was different about my child. She needed constant movement and to be held around the clock. Lots of things felt harder than it seemed for my peers with similar aged children. Around six months old, I took her to a behaviorist and described her behavior and they told me to just push her into situations that felt uncomfortable for her so she could get used to it. My gut screamed that this was wrong. As she grew older, certain things became more challenging. She was struggling and so was I. When I discovered PDA in 2021, tears streamed down my face in recognition. Not only of her neurology, but of my own. I often described myself as feeling like an alien when I was growing up. I just didn’t understand how other people moved through the world and was bullied and ostracized, even by my so-called friends. I knew that masking her way through life would only lead to the same traumatized nervous system that I was now healing. Early intervention is key, but not with the therapies that are often recommended. We did a lot of different things, including equine therapy, play therapy, outdoor occupational therapy, cranial sacral, work, chiropractic work, and others. In this way, I’ve gotten to know the practitioners in the area personally and professionally, and I have a roster of people that I recommend to my clients because I know their work is deeply impactful. (Cont’d in comments.)

One of the perks of having ADHD is all the skills we develop from our many, many (MANY) special interests and career paths. I’ve been a brand manager/strategist/designer since 2015 working. I started my post-lawyer career working major brands like and before kids and then transitioned to being own mini agency working with herbalists, therapists, and coaches. As my life has evolved and I’ve moved toward coaching and herbalist myself, I’m finding myself so thrilled that I have the background that I do because I don’t need to hire anyone to do my own branding and marketing! While us neurodivergent folks may have career paths that have been long and winding, there are incredible skills that come from each piece of the puzzle. This took me less than an hour and I didn’t have to pay anyone. Such a win for my business!

And we’re back! I’ve been on a journey for the past few years after receiving my own autism diagnosis as well as one of my children’s in addition to the ADHD diagnosis I received at 14. It became increasingly clear to me that my calling is to support families with understanding their neurodivergent children and their own neurodivergent brains so that they could live full and unmasked lives. I received my parent coaching certification, but I still felt like there were pieces that were missing for me to serve families in the way that I wanted show up. I pursued additional certifications in herbalism and continue to study herbs as they have been so supportive for my neurodivergent family. I’ve been deep in this coaching work for the past year supporting adults discovering their own neurodivergence as well as parents starting their journey supporting their neurodivergent children. After successfully supporting and working with families over the last year, I am finally feeling ready to expand this business to show up for families like mine who need someone — who not only understands, — but has the lived experience and training to back it up. So here I am! Officially hanging out my “shingle” as a coach for neurodivergent parents/kids/families. I have walked alongside many families now as they navigate this path, and I am so grateful to be able to do this work because I know how important it is to feel supported and held during the experience of both unveiling and unmasking and then learning how to accommodate and live as a neurodivergent person in this world. I offer free 30 minute consults so please do reach out if you’d like to chat more about how we can work together!

Don’t forget to celebrate yourself as a parent. This is crazy hard work and honoring the highs is a hugely important piece of this growth process. Photo:

Parenting stretches our nervous system in ways we couldn’t even have imagined before kids. Many of us never learned about how to up or down regulate ourselves. In the moments where we are about to lose our s**t (or maybe we already have…multiple times), it’s almost like it’s too little too late. At that point your likely so dysregulated that you’ll need to step away from the situation to come back into regulation. Checking in with yourself before you’re dysregulated and making a plan to use your tools is vital. This looks like sitting with yourself for a few moments and asking: what am I feeling? What do I need right now? Maybe it’s a glass of water. Maybe it’s to shake your whole body. Maybe it’s space. Even if the tool you need isn’t immediately accessible — this enables you to name your need and begin to form a plan to meet it. If you’re highly sensitive, have a trauma history, or are neurodiverse, this practice is even more crucial. Those of us with more sensitive nervous systems need to scaffold ourselves with even more supportive practices; often, employing them multiple times a day. Oh and for the record, I lost my s**t today. It happens. These practices are just that — a practice. Some days we get it right and others, we’ll, they’re a learning opportunity.

This time of year is brimming with “obligations.” For many of us, these constant commitments and social interactions head us straight down the path to burnout. Something I’ve gotten really comfortable with since having an autistic child and unmasking myself — is saying no. “No, that’s too much for us.” “That event will be too overwhelming and we are going to skip it.” “We will have to leave early.” “That doesn’t work for us.” These are full sentences. You do not need to explain any further — to anyone. You know your family and what their threshold is for these types of things. No one’s opinion is worth leading yourself or your child toward dysregulation or a meltdown. Protect the family energy. It’s sacred.