6. When ADHD meets financial freakouts

Ever juggled appointments, panic and pretending you’re okay, all in one day?

In this episode, I’m sitting in a Perth hotel room after one hell of a few months. Between urgent medical appointments, wild travel chaos, and running a business while parenting three kids. I talk about what it really feels like to be carrying too much and pretending you’re fine.

You’ll hear the behind-the-scenes of launching She’s Honestly Mental properly, what it took to finally do the brand shoot, and how I’m facing my lifelong money stories, from ADHD impulsivity to avoiding the ATO. There’s a bit of burnout, a bit of Bali, and a whole lot of real talk. I also share why one powerful guest episode had to be put on hold.

This isn’t a highlight reel. It’s the chaos, the cracks, and the quiet strength it takes to keep going when everything feels too much. If you’ve ever whispered, “I can’t do this,” this one’s for you.

Have you ever had to wear your brave face when your world was falling apart? Come tell me over on Instagram @sheshonestlymental, I’d love to hear how you held it together (or didn’t).

In this episode we cover:

• Corrina shares her current reality from a Perth hotel room
• The chaos of being back and forth to Perth multiple times in 4 months
• Behind the scenes of finally launching, She’s Honestly Mental as a brand
• The emotional rollercoaster of her son’s potential diagnosis and urgent MRI
• Doing a joyful photo shoot minutes after receiving scary medical news
• Juggling motherhood, mental load and logistics during a trip to Broome
• Flying home early from Bali to support her partner
• Financial anxiety, ADHD impulsivity, and working with a strategist to regain control
• Honest reflections about being shit with money (and trying to do better)
• Pausing a powerful guest episode due to legal context around DV and custody

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

• Belle – Photographer for the shoot
• Cass from Emmersyn – Brand strategist
• Archie Brothers – Photo shoot location
• Em Gee – Biz Revolution founder

• Invictus Apothecary (discount code: SHMFAM)
• Connect with Corrina on Instagram at @sheshonestlymental
• sheshonestlymental.com.au
• The Messy Middle – free community for offloading
• The Chaos Letters – sign up for raw mental health reflections
• Instagram (co-working): @hausofcollab
• Lifeline: 13 11 14
• Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636

Episode Transcript

Speaker (00:01):
Welcome to She's Honestly Mental, a podcast for
women who are done pretendingthey're fine when they're
falling apart on the inside.
I'm your host, KarinaRawlinson, ADHD Brain, Medicated
Mind, and proud mental healthhospital alumni.
Still here, still showing upsomehow.
This is the space for thefillers, the fixers, and the

(00:24):
ones who carry it all and stillwonder if it's enough.
We talk about the chaos, theconnection, and everything in
between because silence nearlykilled me.
And these conversations savelives.
Alright, cacao in hand,headphones on, chaos
semi-contained, let's gethonestly mental.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Welcome to today's episode of She's Honestly
Mental.

Speaker (00:50):
This one's a bit of a messy catch-up, but if you've
ever had to keep functioningwhile everything's falling
apart, this will hit home.
I'm sharing what the last fewmonths have been like.
From parenting chaos to brandshoots, burnout and money
meltdowns, and how I'm stillstanding.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
I am currently sitting in Perth in a hotel
room.
Up here again.
Feels like it's just beenabsolutely insane.
The last, gosh, I feel likesince June.
So were there like four months?
The last four months, Iprobably have been to Perth on
average twice a month.
And one of those months, I wasthree weeks on the road to

(01:26):
Broome.
So math that.
So I suppose it's a little bitof, you know, what I'm hoping to

(01:58):
teach through the podcast isbeing aware of the language that
we're using when we're talkingto ourselves, but also educating
people around what it's likefor someone who is living with
some mental health struggles andways that those that are living
with the mental healthstruggles can build some more
tools to be able to get throughlife, right?
And I've been doing some work.

(02:20):
There's gonna be lots of likegoing from one thing to the
other, but that's just the pointof the podcast, right?
I've been doing a lot of workon me, I suppose, and people are
like, How long have you been inthis business?
I'm like, Well, about sixyears, because my first
admission was in 2019, and we'renow 2025.
So yeah, I feel like I've beenin business with this for about

(02:42):
six years.
How long have I actually beensharing She's Honestly Mental
properly?
Actually, it's been since wedid the photo shoot with Belle
and Cass and Casey and M.
And that was wild.
Did I tell you?
I've done a massive fun photoshoot at Karen up.

(03:02):
It was amazing.
So Belle's a photographer,she's a fucking hoot.
We did that in June, and what aride that was.
I'd supposed to have this photoshoot with Belle for the last
two years, and it was when I wasgonna be like focusing on my
dual business or actually lifecoaching, and it was just gonna

(03:22):
be a real like kind ofaesthetic, sit there with my
laptop kind of vibe.
But then obviously two yearshappened and things have
changed, and I really thought,fuck, she's honestly mental's
gotta come to life.
And so I worked with Cass fromEmerson on the brand.
I really committed to gettingshit to look professional

(03:46):
because I wanted it to be aprofessional.
I didn't want it to be justlike a hobby thing anymore.
Like I really wanted She'sHonestly Mental to be something
in the world.
And I suppose that's like kindof like the weight that I've
been carrying a lot and what'skind of got me to this day
specifically.
But yeah, anyway, I digress.

(04:06):
Worked on the brand with Cass.
She's fucking epic.
She just really pulled thingsout of my head that I know
innately, but I haven't beenable to put on paper.
So when you see all the fancybranding and pretty colours and
a few keywords and stuff likethat, that's like it's come from
my bones, like my genes.

(04:26):
But it's like Cass has been theone that's been talented to be
able to pull that informationout of me, which is just like
fuck man.
And then so we went and didthis photo shoot with Belle and
the girls, and we were at KarenUp.
We went to Archie Brothers,which is like a time zone kind
of thing, but really epic.
And I just was a big kid and itwas fun and it was loud, and we

(04:51):
literally like walked aroundthe West Deck at Karen Up and
just did wild photo things, andit was amazing because it was
me.
There's even some photos of myson like pushing me around in a
trolley.
This photo shoot happened, noshit, an hour after we got some
news about my son that hepotentially has this.
I don't know.

(05:11):
Anyway, he's been reallystruggling.
He's never really slept well.
He has these hallucinations,delirious episodes when he's
extremely stressed or unwell.
And it just happens for likedays on end, like for nights and
nights and nights, and it'sreally hard, and I feel really
horrible for him because there'snothing that we can really do
about it, and he's aware of ittoo.

(05:33):
So we've been back and forth inPerth, we've seen a
neurologist, and when we saw theneurologist this couple of
hours before the photo shoot,she was going through
everything, and she's like, oh,okay, well, this sounds like
yeah, potentially ADHD anxiety,which we already knew about.
He's dyslexic and like such asmart, sweet kid, but obviously

(05:54):
I feel the same when it comes toschool stuff, just such a
struggle.
And so then when we saw theneurologist, she's doing the
whole like once-over check.
And then she says, All right,cool, needs to do like a
physical look.
And she goes, Oh, do you haveany birthmarks?
And he's like, Yeah, I've gottwo.
And I was like, I know thathe's got one on the back of his
leg, but then he's also got oneon his hip, which we hadn't

(06:17):
really looked at for a littlewhile, but the one on his hip
has actually freckled over thetop of the birthmark, like over
the they call it cafe au layspots.
And when you've got them likethat, they can say that it's a
sign of neurofibromatosis, andthat's where you can have like
tumours and stuff going on yournervous system, you can have
them in your brain, they can bein your eyes, you can have these

(06:40):
like lich nodules in your eyes,and so she was like, right,
you're in Perth, let's get youan MRI, like let's get it done
really quickly.
And I'm just like, Oh, supposedto be at a photo shoot in an
hour.
Seriously, the photo shoot, itwasn't important.
Like it was important, but whenit comes to this stuff, like it
wasn't important.
But I was like, fuck, okay, howdo I make this work?

(07:03):
And also try and not fall apartat this potential thing that
your child could have tumours,not have tumours, who fucking
knows.
But this neurologist wants youto get checked ASAP.
She's like, okay, well, you'reyou're up from the country,
we'll just get this done whileyou're here.
And no shit, she rang the MRIplace because of course she

(07:24):
wanted like a particular modelof machine so that they can get
the images that they needed, andshe rang and she's like, Yep,
they can see you at 3.30 thisafternoon.
I'm like, fuck.
So if you're in Perth, like Ihad to get from wherever this
appointment was, it was kind oflike just north of the city.
I don't really know Perth, butthen up to Caranot, which is
kind of like out on thecoast-ish.
And then I had to get back downsouth for this MRI and still

(07:50):
somehow do my photo shoot.
And it was only then going tobe about an hour, and I was
like, fuck, fuck, fuck.
Anyway, got in the car, starteddriving, and I thought, let me
just ring the MRI place backagain.
And they said to me, Yeah,actually, we can see you first
thing tomorrow.
And I'm like, brilliant.
So I was able to go and do thephoto shoot, knowing that we had

(08:13):
an appointment for tomorrow.
I had to change flights, rebookaccommodation, extend the car
hire, blah, blah, blah.
But right now I had to go andlike pull the mask on of like,
you're a really fun, cool personwho's super honest about mental
health, and go and pull thatessence into a brand shoot.
Fuck.
But I did.
I told the girls about it andthey were amazing and really

(08:34):
supportive.
But then we were like, right,let's go, let's get this shit
done.
And it was so much fun.
And then as soon as we finishedand they all walked away, I
just broke down a bit.
But I couldn't fully break downbecause my son was there.
And it just was like as amummy, you have all of these

(08:55):
emotions, and you're trying toprotect your child, you don't
want them to freak out.
And I mean, he's 12, like he'sa smart kid.
But at the time, I was like,hey mate, we're just going to
Archie Brothers.
Like he knew that we had thephoto shoot, and I was like,
here's $200.
You can spend two hours atArchie Brothers while we do the
photo shoot and have the fuckingbest time.
And he did.

(09:15):
But then once the photo shootwas done, I was like, fuck, we
don't have pajamas.
Like we were literally justflying up for the day.
We didn't have spare clothes.
So, you know, it was like,fuck, we need to go get some
clothes.
We need to go and get somesocks, some jocks, I need to get
another night's accommodation.
And it just was a lot.

(09:35):
I'm sharing this because I knowI'm not the only one trying to
hold it all together whileeverything feels like it's too
much.
And so then we had hisappointments.
We flew home that nextafternoon.
And then I was home for twodays and we jumped in the car
and went to broom.
And it was fine.
I just got the shit done.
Jared carried a lot of the loadat home.
He's like, just pack yourclothes.

(09:57):
That's all you've got to do.
So I was like, clothes andbooks.
That's it.
I had it all in there.
And we went and spent threeweeks up north, and it was
amazing.
It was so good.
And then came home and I washome for a week and a half.
And then I went to Bali, whichis obviously where I recorded
the first few episodes of thepodcast.

(10:18):
That was a whirlwind.
I had to come home.
Well, I didn't have to comehome early.
I actually left 12 hours earlyor whatever because Nula, our
family daycare lady, she wasactually sick the entire time we
were in Bali.
So Ruben couldn't go todaycare.
And then there was other stuffgoing on as well.
And it was just insane.

(10:40):
And I felt so, so horriblebecause Jared was at home
carrying that load of being adad and running our business and
all of the other things, whichdo not get me wrong, like he is
the goat when it comes to beinga dad and doing all of the
things.
But I have learnt that there'scertain times of the year, i.e.

(11:02):
harvest, that putting thepressure on is not ideal.
And so I flew home a little bitearlier from Bali because we
had an event in Perth.
He ended up driving up becausehe's like, well, like Ruben's
sick.
I can't send him to Daycar.
I can't do anything.
So I'm just gonna jump in thecar and come to Perth.
And I was like, perfect.
I might actually fly in alittle bit earlier.
Gives me time for the next dayto prep myself for the events

(11:24):
for the next night.
And it just was this one thingafter the next.
So flew home early, met them inPerth.
Ruben was kind of okay.
He'd been having those tempsand stuff.
Turns out he had influenza andhe had it for two weeks and it
was shit.
And the funniest thing, so wehad the event on the Friday
night, which was my brother andmy sister-in-law were having an

(11:47):
engagement party.
They got married, which wasamazing.
I was so stoked for them.
And then our plan was the nextmorning to get up at three to
drive back to Esmerance.
And so when you live 800kilometres from anywhere, you're
traveling at dumb hours of theday and night.
And so we were like, right,we'll leave at three, it'll be
fine.
Fucking 1.30 in the morning,the fire alarms go off in the

(12:11):
hotel.
So we'd been asleep for likefour hours or something.
And these fucking alarms gooff.
And we're like, well, we'reawake now.
And we decided that we would goback up to the room, pack
everything up.
Like it was just one of thosefault alarms that had kind of
gone off.
But of course, everyone had toevacuate.
Got back up to the room, said,fuck it, let's jump in the car

(12:31):
and we'll drive home.
And we got in the car, we gotabout 45 minutes out of Perth,
and we're like, no, we need tosleep.
So we parked up, slept for acouple of hours, and then drove
home.
And got home and I went andplayed hockey that afternoon,
because that's what you do.
Mostly because I love my hockeygirls.
But it I feel like it's like Iwent to Bali, was home for a few

(12:55):
weeks, and when you're away andeverything's so disjointed, and
then you're super involved inall sorts of different things,
you get behind on shit.
And so all of my work stuff wasreally behind, you know, when
you're doing accounts andfinancials and stuff like that.
It's hard to talk about thisstuff for me because I've never

(13:19):
really said this out loudbefore.
So I have this story aroundmoney where I'm like, yeah,
it'll be fine.
Like, so I like just splash itaround and do all the things,
and it's like it's not going toactually always be fine.
And I think that's an ADHDthing, is like having issues
with around impulse control andimpulsivity and stuff like that.
Is I'm just like, it'll befine, like it'll be totally

(13:41):
okay.
I feel like that's my motto, isit'll be fine, like it'll be
okay.
And I'm like, it will be okay.
But it's like I was saying tomy mum yesterday, she's like,
Well, you know you've got thesedeadlines, and I'm like, Yeah, I
know I've got these deadlines,but my brain wants to go and
chase the rabbits.
Doesn't want to, like, it wantsto go down the rabbit hole.
He doesn't want to sit thereand do deadline-y things.

(14:01):
It's really hard.
So a couple of weeks ago, I wasin Perth again for the Biz
Revolution Gullah, my beautifulfriend Emily, MG, as you all
know her.
She runs the Biz Revolution,which is a co-working,
networking, online platform forwomen in business.

(14:23):
But it's like women in businessthat are a little bit
rebellious.
Like, we question everything.
And I suppose this is a reallycool thing.
I'm like, question everything,even the thoughts in your mind.
So, like the story that I'mtelling myself around my money
stuff is that I'm really shit atit.
But I'm in the middle ofworking with that.

(14:44):
I'm even doing some shadowwork.
Like, if you're a bit woo-woo,I clearly need to do a bit more
on that, but we're gettingthere.
I met this amazing lady, thislovely lady, Vicky, and she is
like a financial strategist.
And I was just kind of talkingto her, and she's like, Look, I
am actually an accountant bytrade, but I don't do the behind

(15:07):
stuff.
Like, we don't look backwardsbecause you know, most tax
accountants and BASS agents andstuff like that are looking
backwards and they're trying todo compliance and blah, blah,
blah.
Whereas what businesses reallyneed is like proper forecasting
where you can have a bit of abudget and a bit of a plan, and
that's where you can see onpaper or on a spreadsheet just
exactly where things are goingif you spend X, blah, blah,

(15:31):
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And I'm like, where have youbeen all my life?
I literally all my life havewanted someone that can sit
there and properly forecast thedata with me.
And it's taken me like thislong to be able to find someone
that's like, yeah, I'm actuallyan accountant by trade, but we
look forward.
I've now set up a few differentbank accounts so that I've got

(15:51):
like my P A Y G in one and mysuper in another one, and all of
these things just to make surethat, and I've changed my zero
dashboard so that I can seeexactly what's where when.
And I'm not having to fuckingguess.
Please just give me the blackand white.
And I actually had to ring theATO yesterday to talk to them,
and they're like, no, look, weneed to go a bit further into

(16:14):
this.

Speaker (16:14):
I'm like, for fuck's sake.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Anyway, I know that it's gonna be okay.
I've been speaking to our team,it's just a business thing, and
I suppose this is why, like,she's honestly mental, because
like my best friend, I love her,she has been petrified of the
ATO because of stuff that herparents have said around it.

(16:38):
And it's like they'll come foryou, they'll put you in jail,
they'll take all of your stuffaway from you, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah.
Yeah, dickhead.
That's if you don't talk tothem and don't communicate to
them.
And so I've learned that a lot.
I'm like, I have to be up frontand I have to be honest,
because if I'm not, it justfucks everything off.

(16:58):
Like it just makes it worse,but then it also makes the
stories that I'm telling myselfmore real when really that's not
the reality.
And so, one little trick, I'mlike, if you've got stuff
ruminating in here, you have toget that out of your head
because it's probably just astory that you're saying.

(17:19):
And I'm like, Cool story broneeds more dragons.
Actually, is that true?
Oh, it's not actually.
So, you know, I did the hardthings, I had the hard
conversations, all will be okay.
It's gonna be a little bitrough for a little while, but
that's okay.
Like, we've got a plan.
And so now I'm, you know,working with Vicky to try and

(17:40):
get myself sorted.
And it really sucks becauseit's kind of something that my
family's been having to help mewith get out of for a really
long time, is my stuff withmoney.
So, yeah, what are the kids?
They're like, psych.
Karina's really good with likefinancials, but she's not
actually really good with money.
But I am like, I'm getting muchbetter, and it's just one of

(18:03):
those things, but it's one ofthose things that weighs on me,
and it's like really airing outmy dirty laundry if people want
to look at my bank statements.
I'm like, oh, that's reallywhere it's at.
And people do say that.
I'm supposed if you want tolook at your values and stuff
like that, you just look atsomeone's bank statement.
I'm like, I just valuebeautiful things, but then comes
the major emotional guilt overthat.

(18:24):
So here I am back in Perth,go-karts this weekend.
That's a whole other episode,governance.
But yeah.
Welcome to I don't know whatare we up to, episode six.
I actually had another episoderecorded for episode six.
It was my first guest podcast,and it was around a good friend

(18:46):
of mine that I've been workingwith for a little while.
This is what happens, you endup working with these people,
and they become good friends andyou get to know them, and it's
really beautiful having thesedifferent people, particularly
when you're living in such asmall country town, it becomes
really isolating.
Anyway, she's actually someonewho's come into my life through
a mutual friend, and her area ofexpertise is something.

Speaker (19:07):
I know, I wish I could share more.
Her area of expertise issomething that's been really,
really valuable in our liveswhen it comes to business HR
operations and reallystreamlining how our business
actually works.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
When we're in Perth for the Biz Revolution Gala,
which also she's honestly mentalsponsored, it was just great.
We got to give away $5,000 totwo different women in business.
It was just amazing.
I sat down and had this guestepisode, and my friend was like,
right, we're doing it.
We're doing a guest episode.
It's going to be a first one.
I'm going to pop the cherry.
And it was an epic, epicepisode.

(19:43):
But because of the context ofit, which is around like
domestic violence, coerciverelationships, and currently
there's issues around custody ofchildren, etc., we've had to
just put a little pin in thatone.
And hopefully, sometime in thefuture, we are able to actually
share that epic episode becauseI think it would be something
that's really valuable to a lotof people.

(20:03):
So, yeah, that's where I'm at.

Speaker (20:06):
It's been big, it's been messy, but also if you're
caring a lot, just know you'renot doing it wrong.
Life is just heavy sometimes,and you're still here.
That counts for something.
Thanks for hanging out with meon She's Honestly Mental.
If today's episode cracked opensomething inside of you or gave
you space to exhale, come sayhi over at Instagram at She's

(20:28):
Honestly Mentor.
Or send this to someone whoneeds to hear that they're not
alone.
And if you haven't yet, hitthat follow button so the next
episode lands in your messy feedright where it belongs.
Until next time, take care ofyour brain.
You're not broken.
You're just honestly mental.
And all the best people are.