M.A.Y.A. Episode #73: The Ambition Show featuring Ronald Souers II, ADHD Expert, Coach, Author & Podcaster

Let's talk about ADHD!

Check out Episode #73 of M.A.YA. and meet our next guest on the Ambition Stage, Ron Souers ( @ronnyreel ). Mr. Souers is an ADHD advocate, coach, and author of "Self-Discovery Journal for Adults with ADHD," and the host of the "Don't Mind Me, I Just Have ADHD" podcast. Mr. Souers has dedicated his passion and purpose to specializing in helping adults, especially men over 40, who are navigating ADHD, addiction, or depression. His work has provided individuals with ADHD the necessary tools to overcome social barriers and cultivate prosocial, purpose-driven lives that many neurodivergent individuals actively seek. ​

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Still.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
The information shared on this podcast is for informational and
educational purposes only and is not intended to be a
substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. While we
discuss topics related to mental health, well being and emotional support,
we are not providing therapy or medical services. Always seek

(01:28):
the advice of your physician, psychologist, psychiatrist, or other qualified
mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding
a mental health condition. If you are in crisis, feeling unsafe,
or need immediate support, please contact a mental health professional
or emergency services in your area. The views expressed by

(01:49):
guests and hosts are their own and do not necessarily
reflect those of any affiliated organizations or institutions.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Get Inspired Get Motivated with Maya a Kai and the
Maya My Ambition Your Ambition Podcast.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
Something that I take pride and is trying to be
forward thinking, thinking outside the box, challenging myself and as
I challenge myself, hopefully I challenge you.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Find Maya on Twitter and Instagram at Maya Underscore a
Kai on Facebook at Maya Akai Presents.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
We're going to talk health, wealth, fitness, mental health, financial,
lots of different things that can empower you as you
seek out the ambition that you're pursuing.

Speaker 5 (02:31):
Your prep or get everything.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Maya at Maya akai dot Com.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
Now mistay Everyone. Welcome to Believe It or Not. Episode
seventy three of Maya My Ambition, Your Ambition. As you know,
I like to say that I create this podcast to
embrace salient topics that are related to mental wellness, but
I like to think that it's fresh and for thinking,
I'm trying to normalize the conversation. So we like to

(03:03):
like address those things in this podcast where we can
pull back those veils of self doubt and sabotage that,
let's be honest, plagues every single one of us at
some point of our lives. But in this particular podcast,
especially with the Ambition shows, which I've been doing since August,
I want to help you to identify that ambition and
harness the motivation to help you yield the satisfaction you

(03:24):
want in your every day life. We think small here
because small it becomes big. So of course, if you
are a first time viewer listener, welcome buckle up for safety,
not because you know it's gonna be something that's bad,
but it can get occasionally bumpy, because maybe something will
be said that really makes you think, like wow. I
like to say those things that make you go hmm.

(03:46):
My people who are old enough will know exactly what
that means. My younger folks not so much. But it's okay.
But of course, if you are a returning listener, reviewer,
then welcome back. You know, I always appreciate your support.
Remember you carve out this time for you because you're here.
So I always say, find that quiet space, you know,
Grab the drink of your choice, some coffee, tea, whatever
it might be, Grab a pencil, pen and paper, and

(04:09):
shot down thoughts is maybe as they pop up in
your head, because I guarantee you something will be said
within the show that'll make you think or maybe you
know someone who could benefit from it. So that's the
key thing. This is our sixth installment of the Ambition Show.
I've had amazing guests up to this point, and guess what,
it doesn't stop as we move forward. So if you've
missed any of those past episodes, make sure that you

(04:30):
can check them out on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, I High Radio, Spotify.
You can find it at any of those just search
Maya my ambition your ambition. Of course, the easy way
you could always subscribe to the YouTube channel, so make
sure you subscribe and share at Maya Speaks to You.
By the way, I finally got my act together and
all of my social media platforms are at Maya Speaks

(04:53):
to You, so you can find me on Facebook, ig
and X. But of course you can always go to
my website Maya Speaks dot com and everything is there.
I encourage everyone to go check out the podcast, but
there's two other components on the website that I really
really love to do, which is my inspirational part, which
is one post I make a week about something inspirational

(05:14):
to make you think this week is equally interesting. I
kind of touch on the idea of trauma and how
to grow from that. The other side of the website
that I'm super super passionate about, if you know me,
is Me on Pause, which is my play on the
word menopause, because if you know me, you know that
I am the poster child for menopause. So every week
on Wednesdays, I post something new for you to explore

(05:37):
inspirationally on that daily Inspiration as well as Me on Pause,
So make sure you check out those things. They're really
super important, you know, especially when you're looking for something
that has substance.

Speaker 5 (05:48):
So there's that.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
But with that being said, as you know, in the
month of August, I launched the Ambition Shows and the
whole purpose was to dedicate shows to introduce you to
people that I feel are the of when passion and
purpose intersect and they are driven by ambition. And let
me just say, every single guest has been amazing. I
got to set the stage for our next guest that's

(06:10):
coming up next week on the show, Doctor Simmons. You
have to tune in. She is a double board satisfied
natural health doctor as well as an in chronologist, but
she specializes in fertility. She's a best selling author. Trust me,
you definitely want to tune in for my younger people,
if you struggle with fertility or anything like that, married
people wanting to have, you know, a family. She is

(06:33):
an amazing person. You definitely want to tune in for that.
Before we jump into our next guest. Though, our last
week's guest was so powerful, So if you missed my
interview with doctor Kirsten Veola Harrison, who was talking about
the journey that she has had as a trauma psychologist.
She's an author, but she has been working with an individual,
Shauna Smith, for the last ten plus years. Shauna is intersex, homeless,

(06:58):
and schizophrenic. Partnered together to collaborate to write this amazing book,
which is available on Amazon, but it's also available on
her website. Because it was such a powerful story and
I definitely want to support her and Shawna. I'm still
encouraging people to go back and listen to the episode
because the idea of intersex for some people, they had
never heard of that before, and to find out the

(07:19):
story encompasses homelessness and schizophrenia was very powerful. So those
are what's coming up and what we talked about, you know,
the week before. But without further ado, I have to
get ready to bring on my next guest. I'm so excited.
Ron Sowers a second is an ADHD advocate, coach, and
author and he has an amazing journal to help people

(07:40):
with ADHD. His passion and purpose is specializing in helping adults,
especially men over forty And you know, guys, you guys
don't get a lot of love sometimes, so the fact
that someone is shining light on you, you should be so
excited about this, but it's all about navigating ADHD. Often
there's addiction and depression. So his work has provided so
many individual people with understanding ADHD. You know the buzzword, now,

(08:03):
what is neuro divergent? And there's nothing wrong with that,
But if you don't know what that means, what do
you do with it? It sounds fancy and nice, right, Well,
let's dig a little deeper into what it means to
have ADHD be neuro divergent with our next guest on
the Ambition stage, Ron Sours the second.

Speaker 5 (08:21):
Hey, Ron, how are you?

Speaker 6 (08:22):
Hey? Thank you. I'm honored to share the space with you.
I'm doing good, good good.

Speaker 4 (08:30):
I have enjoyed every guest I've had on. I feel
like everyone has given my listeners something I feel they
can really gain something from. And to have you on
for me is powerful because for a couple of reasons
right now, Ron, it feels like everybody you meet is
diagnosed either with ADHD or autism, and the idea of
neural divergent is like all over, it's trending everywhere, And

(08:53):
to be honest, I think a lot of people don't
really know if they have ADHD. They question it medication.
Bring someone who's experienced it and dedicated and is passionate
about it, I think can help them understand it better.
So let's start with tell people a bit about your story,
like how did you get involved in this with ADHD?

Speaker 5 (09:11):
Kind of where has your journey started?

Speaker 6 (09:14):
Yeah, thank you? And you know, I'm like me, I'm
in here, like I'm a powerful guest. Like no, I'd
like to think that. You know, I still have a
lot to learn about ADHD. You know, going through my
experience is the only thing that I can like really

(09:34):
give you. How it all started for me was like
it really started in in addiction. So I like ended
up homeless. So like one of the last casts that

(09:55):
you talked about, you know that kind of struck a chord,
was like, I'm I've been homeless too, so I it
like and I was actually homeless for the second time,
and you know, it just wasn't fun. I was like
on on the National Mall sleeping and you know, I
actually had a job at the time, and it just

(10:17):
was like I need help, I need to figure out
what's going on. You know, like I needed to to clean,
get clean and get off of drugs, and you know
it began. That journey began like about six years ago,
and along that journey, you know, I was able to

(10:38):
take take a deeper look at myself and what what
I need to work on. And you know it's because
it's it goes well, recovery goes well beyond the drugs.
It's it's merely They're merely just a symptom of addiction.
You know. It's it's that that that impulsivity, that obsession

(10:59):
and pulsion. You know, once I once I get that,
you know, I need that next quick fix. And that
doesn't necessarily have to be drugs. It could be shopping,
it could be you know, eating a lot of different things.
And you know, along that journey of you know, being
taught how to live life again, I was able to

(11:23):
find out that I actually have ADHD. And you know,
because they have this slogan inn Cox Anonymous, and it's
called some some are sicker than others. And to me,
like in the beginning, I thought that meant like just
some are worse addicts and just like that it shows

(11:43):
up stronger, But it's actually means that some show up
with other co concurring like like ADHD or autism or PTSD,
or being a narcissist, so it coke concurs with the addiction.
So how I was able to discover that was like

(12:07):
I actually had. I was about to lose my job
and people were telling me I need to slow down,
and I was just like, you guys, don't know what
you're talking about. But the fear of losing my job
finally got me into a position to listen. So I
was desperate for the help. So I went to see

(12:28):
my practitioner general practitioner at the time, and I told her.
I was like, look, I'm I'm I'm I can't slow down.
I'm afraid I'm gonna lose my job, and you know what,
what can you do? You have anything that can help
with that? And she kind of was like at a
loss for a solution, and I said, well, maybe I

(12:53):
got ADHD and she didn't seem too sure about that,
but she gave me a list of you know, psychologists
and therapist. So I went down that list and I
was able to find the therapist that I'm actually working
with today. So it's been quite a journey to get
to that point, you know. And one of the first

(13:17):
things that really stuck out to me was when I
was in the first one of the first sessions was like,
He's like, you can this can actually be a strength.
I know you're feeling like it's a weakness, but you know,
at the time, I was like, I don't know. I
just felt so much disappointment. I felt like, oh, I'm

(13:39):
one of those like I just you know, like it
was a relief, but it was also like once that passed,
it was like, wow, like how can I fix this now?

Speaker 5 (13:53):
You know.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
First of all, I want to thank you for your transparency,
because it isn't easy to sit in front of people
and to acknowledge the fact that you struggled with an addiction,
because we're often guilted in shame into feeling like, oh
how could you you know, be that person? And it's
not easy. But you also said something that is absolutely
about currency. You said you were homeless on the National Mall.

(14:15):
Are we talking about in DC?

Speaker 6 (14:17):
Yeah? That one?

Speaker 4 (14:18):
So now you said that, and I thought, no, it
isn't that interesting because we just had this entire for
a month conversation about cleaning up DC and homelessness was
one of the things that was earmarked and one of
the things I discussed with people about that homelessness you
see on the National Mall or even you know, obviously
in front.

Speaker 5 (14:36):
Of the White House.

Speaker 4 (14:37):
Is I always tell people one, nobody wants to be homeless.
Nobody decides they want to sleep in their car, sleep
on a park bench, or sleep in a tent. That's
the first thing. But a lot of people that are
in those situations are struggling with addiction, are struggling with
mental health issues that are preventing them from being able
to get their life on track. But you just said

(14:57):
something that probably floored tons of people that either our
listening or will listening. You're like, I had a job
and I was homeless. Because most people don't equate people
being homeless with being people who are trying to get
their head above water or survive.

Speaker 5 (15:12):
They don't frame that picture of them. So when you
said that, I want.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
People to capture that that when people end up in homelessness,
it isn't because that's their one to be and it's
not that they're not trying. You also said something this
is kind of neat.

Speaker 5 (15:26):
I love this.

Speaker 4 (15:26):
We kind of get to roll this in. This might
be the first one we're doing for the ambition shows.
You said something about at that point with your age,
you were definitely getting diagnosed with ADHD later in life.
And one of our listeners in Iowa wanted to know
what a late ADHD diagnosis looks like, and you kind
of talked about you initially started at your sounds like

(15:47):
your primary care physician, who then referred you over to
the psychologist.

Speaker 5 (15:51):
Now, did they do the specific testing with you?

Speaker 4 (15:54):
Did they do like the true traditional ADHD testing or
do they kind of because you're an adult and you
can speak to things differently, kind of talk to you
more and then give you the diagnosis. What direction did
your psychologist go?

Speaker 6 (16:07):
So, yeah, I've never actually been formally tested, And I
asked him about that. I was like, do I need
that to like and he was like, no, not really
because like like it's it's difficult for you know, and
and the research that I've done, you know, in my
life and trying to figure out like why is it

(16:29):
showing up? Why are so many adults that like you know,
have ADHD and they don't know what's going on. It's
because they still are diagnosing, you know, when when? And
it made sense now that my primary care was like
ADHD wasn't on the radar because they only screened for

(16:50):
like depression or anxiety. They don't go deeper into like
the addiction or the ADHD or this this, but it's
actually ADHD is the underpinning or any neurodiversity is the
underpinning to anxiety and depression. So it made sense why

(17:12):
she just wouldn't that wouldn't register because they don't there
a lot of them aren't trained to do that. So
what an AD It could look like different things, you know,
because ADHD is the spectrum. For me, it was like
not being able to slow down. It was the thoughts.
It wasn't necessarily a lot of physical at like I couldn't.

(17:34):
I didn't have a lot of problems fidgeting, although that
could show up, you know. It could just be like
I'm completely unmanageable when it comes to my time, like
I have difficulty holding down a job, or you know,
maybe I can't. I keep interrupting people because like for me,
like it was I need to say this because I

(17:56):
might forget it. It's very important, like I don't even
see me being rude. I actually had to have somebody
in my life that pointed that out to me for
me to understand because it's very hard to look at
yourself and say, hey, I've got something to fix, or
I've been doing something wrong my entire life that has

(18:18):
been rubbing people the wrong way. You know, it's very
hard to see look at yourself in the mirror and
say I need to change.

Speaker 5 (18:26):
This, bye way, everybody.

Speaker 4 (18:29):
This is our guest Ron Sours a second who is
an advocate for ADHD. He also has a podcast, he's
an author, he has this amazing journal. We'll talk about
that in a bit. If you also would like to
join the conversation and be more interactive, just like I
share the post from our listener in Iowa. So if
you're listening via YouTube or on LinkedIn, all you have
to do is type in your comment, it will appear

(18:50):
for us and we can share it on the screen.
So if you have something specific you'd like to ask Ron,
you can. So that's how you can get interactive with
the show. And it's interesting Ron that you.

Speaker 5 (18:59):
Do talk about.

Speaker 4 (19:02):
How it's the kind of thing with ADHD, especially with
the adults. And I can understand why the psychologist did
not necessarily do the testing with you, because as an adult,
there is the ability to ask you questions because you
can truly understand kind of how your life is being
affected in different ways. The testing is different for children
because one of the major hallmarks for ADHD when they're

(19:23):
doing the testing for kids is that it has to
be something that affects them within at least two realms,
So it's always like looking at the behavior in school,
but also does that behavior carry over at home. That's
why they're looking for if it's a behavioral issue and
not necessarily ADHD. And of course there's not always the
hyperactivity which then turns into add So there's lots of

(19:44):
different reasons why. I do know plenty of adults do
not do like the necessarily screening the same way because
you can be more thorough and answering the questions, where
often children cannot always answer things in a certain way.
So how you were diagnosed makes sense is as well
as the fact that your primary did exactly what a
good primary would do. You're right, they're not trained in that.

(20:05):
They're actually not really trained necessarily in depression or anxiety,
but they may give you meds for that, but medications
for ADHD if you choose to go the stibulant route
obviously is something they're gonna want to put towards a
psychiatrist or something like that. So you go and you
ask the questions to find out that you're you know,
you're an attentiveness that talking over people, which are all

(20:27):
big parts of ADHD. Is often the excitability, fidgeting, hyperactivity, impulsivity,
a lack of restraint. There's all kinds of things that
play into that. So you go do this screening with
the psychologist, determine that you have ADHD. Then what became
the next step for you at that point.

Speaker 6 (20:46):
Yeah, it was more about just following. And just like
the thing is, for anything to ever work, you have
to come into it with an open mind. And like
I was, you know, I was skeptical, but I was
still was like, all right, well, I'm going to give
it a shot, you know, and see if it works.

(21:07):
If it doesn't, then you know, maybe he's not the
right one. But you know, I've got to give it
some time to see if it actually works. So some
of the suggestions that he taught me in the beginning
was to like take the long way, like leave for work,
like you're gonna be leaving the long way. So I

(21:29):
actually took that literally and left and took the long
way to work because I was so you know, adamant
about getting this because, like I said, I wanted to
fix it. So I'm like, if I do this really good,
then I won't have ADHD anymore, or it'll go away magically,
which it doesn't. But like that's part of the reason

(21:52):
why I was so focused on it, because I wanted
to get to fix it, you know, so I was
One of the other things that he taught me was
to in the beginning was to write stuff down, you know,
like my thoughts or you know, he said, keep a

(22:12):
journal by you because like I would be telling him,
like I couldn't stand waiting, especially at work, just sitting
around well anywhere really, but especially at work. I couldn't
stand like not working and just standing around and waiting,
and you know, that was giving me a lot of anxiety.
So he's like, go ahead, and you know, write down

(22:34):
like the thoughts that are coming in your head or
what you're feeling, or draw it out because like what
I've learned through that process it you know, it actually
kind of helps because you're those thoughts need to come
out otherwise they're just going to stay in there. So
either you speak it or you write it down, it's

(22:57):
still coming out. So it's like actually prefer a mole
that you know in those situations to be able to
write those things down. So that really helped me, you know,
and I try that in different different scenarios, and like
I would be able to pay attention to what people
were actually saying and then like write that down and

(23:17):
like actually be curious about why they said it. So
it it it opened up like a whole doorway to
like be able to at least start looking at you know,
and get better at slowing down because that that was
almost at the time, it seemed impossible for me to

(23:37):
for me to like not be as impulsive. Yeah, it
shows up, but it's there's like I have techniques and
abilities like or you know, to be able to slow
down and recognize.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
Them things and one of the things that you know,
And I have to say, I've worked with so many
people that have been diagnosed with often a little bit
later in life, like high school, college, even adult. I've
seen the duration. So two questions I have for you.
Let's maybe start with the first one, which was it's
kind of like the question is the chicken or the egg,

(24:15):
we know.

Speaker 5 (24:15):
That the ADHD was probably always there.

Speaker 4 (24:19):
Do you feel, and if this is too personal of
a question, you don't have to answer it. Do you
feel because of it's ultimately, when people are neurodivergent, it
just means that your executive function is different than other people.

Speaker 5 (24:30):
That's it. It doesn't mean that it's right or wrong.

Speaker 4 (24:32):
It just means the way that you process information, the
way that you perceive things is just a little different
and you have to walk a different path. Do you
feel that, especially with not being diagnosed. And I've kind
of only had this conversation with some adults that they
found that often they did struggle with things like depression
as well as addiction because they couldn't put the finger

(24:53):
on why they always felt so disorganized lacked motivation, because
part of what also can happen with ADHD and time
is frustration and losing motivation, and people began to kind
of seek other ways to in their own way self medicate.
Do you feel your addiction at some point was tied
into that? Potentially when you stop and reflected.

Speaker 6 (25:14):
Back, oh, yeah, there was, you know it was, there
was a lot of and and and it comes back
there's like a couple different areas in there that you know,
from my understanding of the research that I've done, it's
like it's right, there's nothing you know, good or bad
about the executive that part of your brain, the free

(25:35):
prefrontal cortex that makes their decisions. It was actually just
and this comes from like doctor Gibor Mate, and he
he talks about that your brain during during you know, people,
He really says like people are like sensitive, highly sensitive

(25:57):
babies in the womb when mothers are under stress, that
parts of their brain don't develop normally while other parts
get over developed. And I believe like that's what happened
with me, is like my prefuntional cortex is not as

(26:18):
developed as somebody else, but my emotional side of my
brain is majorly developed. And because like there was a
lot of shame growing up, you know, because like I
didn't fit in, or I couldn't make my dad proud
or whatever trauma like he was going through that he
couldn't give me the affection and the support that I

(26:41):
needed emotionally and physically growing up, Like I ended up,
you know, turning to drugs at some point because like
this felt like something that could calm those you know,
could distract me from all these emotions, distract me from
the shame, distract me from you know, living experiencing these

(27:04):
really negative thoughts and perception of who I was. I
was able to just be free of that to a degree,
you know. Of course, when the high came down like
that would I would have to be always searching for that,
you know. And I spent most of my life trying

(27:27):
to avoid feeling feelings, even though, like I knew I
was always so emotional growing up, I was so much
more in tune with my emotions, you know. And and
like one of one of the major events that I
didn't even know was trauma until I started doing the work,

(27:47):
was that my dad what you know, I like cried
in front of my dad. I can't remember the reason.
I think. I was pleading with him, like you don't,
you don't you're not proud of me, or you don't
support me, or you know, and I was you know,
at the time, I didn't know, but I was expecting
him to say, it's okay, and give me support and

(28:09):
feel you know, feel you know, maybe give me a hug,
and he just stared at me in disappointment. And so
since that moment, like I felt like that that dictated
who how I responded in those emotional situations moving forward,
because I was so traumatized by that neglect of you know,

(28:31):
what I needed in the moment that I didn't even
know was trauma.

Speaker 5 (28:36):
Yeah, and that's one of the things.

Speaker 4 (28:38):
By the way, everyone, you can go to mayadeeskpeaks dot
com and go to the Daily Inspirational Journal. There's a
really good post about trauma I have this week that
people don't understand. We have normalized ron. What you just
said is I never would have thought me crying in
front of my dad and him saying, you know, there
is no crying in baseball, you know, stuck it up,
your boy, don't do that. You know what I mean

(28:59):
that people don't undernderstand that for children. I'm not sure
how old you were in that when that happened, but
especially for tum for children, that is trauma because we
learn from our parents or whoever our care network is
how to manage our emotions. So when you cry, if
someone does not stop talk to you, try to console you,

(29:19):
help you to understand why something has happened, then you
don't know what to do with it. So I'm glad
you shared that trauma is something that to some people
seems like, oh, that's just discipline. Okay, yes, but if
it's repeated, it's a behavior now that minimize you understanding emotion.
Another listener just posted something and this kind of segues

(29:39):
into my second question. Everyone is very good today. They're
asking the question are there alternatives rather than medicine to
relieve or treat ADHD? And I was going to ask
you once you were officially you know, kind of the
decision was made with you and your provider that ADHD
was the underlying issue with you know, your impulsivity, concentration, focus,
et cetera. Did you choose medication or did you go

(30:01):
a different route?

Speaker 6 (30:03):
Yeah, and that's good. That's an excellent question, you know.
And and to to just preface all of this is like,
I believe that medication does help a lot of people,
you know, that needed but I was fortunate to be
one of those few that like were the ones that

(30:23):
didn't need medication.

Speaker 5 (30:27):
You know.

Speaker 6 (30:27):
I've had experience with like antidepressants and different things like.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
That, and.

Speaker 6 (30:35):
I wasn't given the care that it was needed. So
I stopped taking those because it made things feel worse
like for me, like there are different ways that you
can you can go about, you know, managing ADHD without medication,
and like I said, I was fortunate to have a

(30:59):
therapist that that wasn't the first thing, you know, and
that those are the good therapists that you know. They're
not pencil whipping the prescriptions. They're they're there their last resort.
And I even asked him later on, like further down
when I was having trouble, I was like, do you
think I need medication? And he was like, let's wait

(31:20):
it out and see how you how you you know,
So it wasn't you know, I was even open to
that at one point, you know, because like I just
didn't want to put anything out. But I'm I weigh
more like heavily on the holistic side. And one thing
that's really helped me the most with my ADHD, and

(31:45):
I do it on a daily basis is mindfulness. Like
I know, it sounds like it's not maybe the answer
that you're looking for me.

Speaker 4 (31:56):
No, it is the answer. Mindfulness last meditation is training
your brain and people don't understand that. So no, it
isn't your spot on when you say that. But it's
something that sounds like you're committed to that you didn't like,
Oh I just tried it and didn't. It sounds like
you've made it part of your daily routine.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (32:14):
And but the thing is, like most people with ADHD,
me included, are like, if you like it takes it
for us to sit in a room with our thoughts
alone being quiet is like we'd rather do anything else
than that. So that's why I'm saying like, because when
I first heard it, I had that same reaction because

(32:37):
I was like telling my I had an ADHD coach
at the time as well, and I was like, Okay,
I'm trying to start my business, Like I was getting
anxious about, you know, doing normal stuff like clinton, you know,
doing laundry and cooking, and I was like, this is
getting in the way of me building my business, like,

(32:59):
but I needed to do those things. So and I'll
explained that to my coach and she was like, yeah,
maybe you should try some mindfulness and I was just like,
that's it. But it really was it. It really like
it that it gives me. It consistently gives me that
space that's just like and it's throughout the day, like

(33:20):
and It doesn't have to start out like where you're
sitting there in a chair in a zen position for
five hours to get that mindfulness. It can be as
little as thirty seconds, yes to two minutes, depending on
the practice. And that's and it's wherever you're at, you know,
it's like those I feel like for me and for

(33:44):
most people with ADHD. It depends on like the where
you're at on the spectrum. But if you're like me
and you're hyperactive, like more on that side, like I
would say it's better to like the prime, like the
optimal amount is probably like an hour, and that doesn't
have to be like one hour at one time. It

(34:08):
could be spaced throughout the day, like say ten minutes,
ten minute, fifteen minute walk in the morning, like where
you're mindful of like the birds or how you're walking,
or how you're breathing while walking, or you know, the
wind on your skin, like just kind of getting out
of your head when it comes to like future thoughts

(34:30):
or even thoughts right now, just like connecting back with
your body because there's so much of a separation there
between it between you know, like how we interact with
each other, like as if we're two different things, like
the body and the mind are the same thing. So
it's like and then you can have like you know,

(34:51):
I've set like two or three different alarms on my
phone to remind me to do mindfulness, to to to
have a practice, you know, sit. You know, it's usually
like transitions in the day, so like I could create
like a more natural transition to the next part, and
those could be anywhere between five maybe ten minutes, maybe

(35:14):
even you know, two to three minutes. You know, as
long as they're in there, that's all they're in there.

Speaker 5 (35:20):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (35:20):
This is episode seventy three of Maya My Ambition, Your
Ambitions specifically this show, as many others have been for
the past, like four or five Saturdays are the ambition shows,
and we're featuring Ron Towers the second, who's an eighty
h expert. I'm going to make you an expert, Ron,
even if you don't want to say, you are coach, podcaster,
and author. You know, and what you just said is

(35:40):
so important. Here's what I find the struggle is, especially
when it comes to mindfulness, which forms of meditation can vary.
I always tell people when you first start small, like
you said, anywhere from thirty seconds, two minutes, and you build,
you build as you get better at it, so to speak.
I always tell people using guided meditations you often there

(36:04):
are actually some meditations out there that are designed for
people with ADHD to help you to kind of you know,
so then you're not saying I'm sitting here listening to
what my thoughts. I don't know what to do with that.
So there, I always say guided meditation is a great
way to start. I want to preface and say that
the reason so many people struggle with most mental wellness
things they need to do to get better, is because

(36:26):
it's interesting. For instance, you hear things like there's a
psychology to losing weight, and it's true for people who
have truly struggled with their weight their whole life. Because
it's not something like a fly by night you can
just do this and think you've solved the problem. It
requires consistency and discipline. And that's where a lot of
people will struggle because they struggle with being consistent, you know,

(36:47):
they lack often the discipline. And I'll tell you something,
it's got nothing necessarily to do with ADHD. Sometimes it's
just our lifestyle of kind of how we've been engaged
to be multitaskers in life, you know, so it's often
hard to say, say, okay, I'm going to carve out
these three to four times a day where I stop reflect.
I always tell people start in the morning when you wake,
before you jump out of bed, and just start your day.

(37:09):
Stop reflect, reflect on what it is you need to do.
So when you said things like writing things down, having
to do lists, I think that is so important for structure,
especially if you have a job where you have a
lot of autonomy and nobody really stands on top of
you and micromanages. Those were my people that struggle the
most versus my people who had regimens you know, that

(37:30):
they could do at work they relatively did. Okay, I
want to give one last note about the medication piece,
because I agree with you that it doesn't have to
be the route you start. I would say, I know
it can be complicated for children because a lot of
people don't like the idea of putting their kids on
you know, obviously medication. I think the difference in what

(37:51):
has to be considered is that children do not often
have the emotional regulation or intelligence that adults have. So
the skill sets you're asking them often to harness can
be hard because they're learning them as they go, So
you have to look at your situation individually. But here's
something to also consider. There are stimulants and there are
non stimulants. Stimulants are the adderalls, the rit lens, the

(38:13):
controlled substances, which were the most popular obviously when people
were being diagnosed with ADHD. But you also have options
that are non stimulants. They work differently. It means when
you take a non stimulant, you have to take it
every day like you would any other medication, and over
time it builds up and it starts to work, whereas
a non where or as a stimulant, literally you take

(38:33):
it and it works. But I also have people that
are very mindful. If they take a stimulant, they often
will not take it on the weekends. And this is
including I know what people have children. They maybe will
not give it to their kids on the weekend. They
don't have their kids take it in summer. They want
to give them a break from it. So even when
taking a stimulant, you can control how you use it.
But the other option, if you've tried to do things

(38:55):
mindfully and you're still struggling, especially with the kid, it's
going to probably be a little harder. There is always
the option of a non stimulant. The last thing I'll
throw in here, and I'm a huge advocate for this
rather it's ADHD depression or anxiety. Is that a tool
that has been given to the mental health community that
we didn't have, unlike medical professionals or tests that can

(39:16):
help us understand what would be the best medication for people.
So there is a test that's called gene site. Not
sure if you ever heard of it. Gene site is
literally a swab in your mouth, It goes to a
lab and then they actually process that and they look
at how you metabolize medication. They also look at your
genetics to see what medication would be best for you.

(39:36):
So without even playing the guessing game, even though ADHD,
to be honest, most people are either going to respond
to a stimulant or not. But I always say that
you can always request can we do a gene site
test to see what medication would be best for me?
Because we're not When it comes to mental health, medication
is not one size fits all. And I think a
lot of people don't know this, but I like to

(39:57):
share there are tools now that can help your providers
make better choices. Okay, so we know it's executive functioning.
You started out with mindfulness. You even had a coach
talk to people about the value of an ADHD coach
because I think it is such an amazing tool.

Speaker 6 (40:16):
Yeah, definitely, you know, a coach to me, you know,
it goes back to like what you were saying is like,
you know, if if you're having struggles, if you're struggling
using losing weight, you know, even it doesn't mean that
you're like bad at it, Maybe you just need help.
Maybe you need somebody that's going to be in your

(40:37):
corner that understands what you need and understand like because
when when you're held accountable, you know, especially if you're
like paying for that accountability, like you're more likely to
do it. Plus, no one's going to motivate you, Like
you can't motivate yourself the way somebody that's getting paid
to motivate you will. So it's like I always feel

(41:02):
like a coach is so necessary because it's the it's
about the doubts that end up showing up in our
lives because face it, you know, most people that that
live with ADHD or some neuro divergency, they've it's been
a struggle. It has been it's you. You've had to

(41:23):
persevere and and honestly, that is a strength. It's like
for you to just manage and like keep your head
above water with ADHD or whatever you're struggling with and
have like to show up and you still shoot up
and show up. That is amazing. That that is like
a superpower that you don't even realize that you have.

(41:47):
But that the like, even when you switch to that
other side of thinking where you start to think more
positively and start to recognize the strengths that you have,
you still those doubts have been going on you whole life,
and your brain only did those things because it was
trying to protect you. And it's still there and it's

(42:07):
still saying those things because like things start to trigger
it and it goes back to that trauma that we
were talking about, you know, because like you don't know
what's going to trigger your trauma, like it could be
and until you know how to explore that and where
it's coming from, it'll always throw you off and it

(42:28):
will show up in patterns. So a coach will be
able to like maybe not go into that trauma with you,
but like when those things show up, they'll be able
to help you like come up with a game plan
for it, help remind you that what you're fighting for,
and help remind you of like what you're really good at,

(42:49):
because that's oftentimes it's very hard to remember. Even for me,
like there's you know, especially in the morning when I
wake up, it's like it's so bad, like because I
deal with depression that's not going anywhere. It's gotten a
lot better since I've done the work and I and

(43:11):
I'm and in my mind has kind of like been
reprogrammed to be more positive. Even in those like dark moments,
I'm still there's still that like little voice that's saying,
you're good, you you you're doing this, Like you shouldn't
think that way. But sometimes you need to be able
to explore that, you know, and see where that's coming from.

(43:32):
Because it's okay to feel emotions, you know, like it's
okay for guys to cry, you know, like it's okay
because that's actually a release. And and when you hold
that in, it weighs you down. And when you weigh
and that when that starts to build up. You're not
able to show up in the way that you need

(43:54):
to for other people or want.

Speaker 5 (43:56):
To m H, what did did you make any changes?

Speaker 4 (44:00):
Because one of the things, because I do have some
people I work with who opted that they actually stop
taking medication. They really wanted to try and see how
they could do things on their own, and they definitely
employed some of the things you said, like making lists,
they made sure they get good sleep. But one of
the things that one person that really dug deep into
it is that they went and sat down and spoke

(44:22):
to someone about, Hey, how does nutrition affect me? And
they were like, well, hey, yeah, that's a lot to consider,
Like you really do need to have like a balanced diet.
They talked about like having like you know, the omega
threes are big. You know, you want to avoid as
many additives as you possibly can because as we know,
as they look at obviously, fetal science, which you talked

(44:44):
about earlier, is an amazing area to learn that a
fetus so early on is so aware at like twenty
three weeks, a child knows the sound of its mother's voice,
believe it or not, based on what the mother is consumed,
like her foods, believe or not, Infants kind of develop
a palette smells and taste. So we were learning that.

(45:07):
I always tell people, first of all, the idea of
conception and birth and everything that happens in between. People
have no idea how miraculous of a process that really is.
And we know that, like you said, environmental factors like
stress and anxiety and depression was automatically going to affect
the fetus and if you combine it with anything else.
So one of the things they're looking at is, Okay,

(45:29):
we do realize that so many things cand of affect
the fetus. But once you're here, what can you do
to stay healthy? Especially with young kids, they always say
avoid sugar. Well yeah, but to be honest, it's way
more than just avoiding sugar. There's other things. It's like
you need to feed the brain. So did you kind
of go into this mindset like I need to feed
my brain.

Speaker 6 (45:49):
Yeah, And like I actually did an episode on you know,
diet and health and fitness and how that really helped,
and that was like a really popular episode. But it
goes even deeper than that, Like it's the diet that
you eat actually does affect the chemicals that you make,

(46:11):
so that in turns affects the depression or the amount
of dopamine or serotonin that you produce. It also affects
your autoimmune system, so which is something that we don't
really talk a lot about, and that's like chronic inflammation.
So chronic inflammation is actually a precursor to a lot

(46:33):
of inflammatory of diseases, and that is one of the
number one killers in the entire world. So it's like
what you eat matters when it comes to that, and
it matters upon you know, it's different for everybody. That's
why I was, like, I worked with a dietitian, you know,
for about five five or six months, and that's why

(46:56):
I'm saying, like I like, I wouldn't have got to
where I was without a dietitian and being you know,
and she was kind of, you know, a little strict,
so you know, I was afraid to disappoint her, so
I would show up, you know, and she had a
lot of different things to add to it. But one
of the major major lessons that I learned from her

(47:21):
and took away was that we're all different. So you
got to have like what diet works for me is
not going to necessarily work for you. There might be
core elements of it that are good, Like I eat
lots of vegetables, I ate lots of fruits. I try
to eat more like whole grains, and you know, I
try to stay you know, And there there's a whole

(47:45):
thing about whether to eat you know, veg vegeta more
vegetarian style meats versus you know, or proteins more animal
based versus vegetable plant based proteins. So I do a mix,
and I usually just eat more along of a Mediterranean diet.

Speaker 5 (48:07):
So there you go.

Speaker 4 (48:09):
That was a recommendation when I've had nutritionists, they said,
if you can't do clean eating, which is whatever you
eat only has three ingredients, good luck on that one,
because it means you're cooking everything, you know, you're making everything.
But then the next thing, the response was, the Mediterranean
diet is good for just about everything.

Speaker 6 (48:28):
Yeah said, and you look at you look at these
other countries, like European countries there they don't have the
obesity problems that we have. They don't have they're not
they have those fast room restaurants, but they're not like
they don't live the same type of lifestyle that we
rush around and like we need to we need to
be doing something like productive all throughout the day like

(48:53):
they have time. You know, certain countries like only work
four days a week and they have not lost any
production and they have a great work life balance, you know,
which I feel like, yeah, and that's why there's so
many people seeing therapists in this country because we're we

(49:13):
don't we don't have like these tools or even a
system that supports like better well being, you know, a
work life balance.

Speaker 4 (49:25):
Have you read another listener posted do you know anything
about obviously there's a big conversation now about dies like
the red dye that we've been consuming forever, but like
you just said, Europeans banned a long time ago. Have
you read any research about dies and you know, correlations
with ADHD We may not be there yet that have
you heard anything about that?

Speaker 6 (49:46):
No, I actually haven't, And that's a good question. I'll
have to take a look at that. But I have
read done a lot of research when it comes to
like different types of the different types of foods and
what can like especially processed foods like have heavy metals
in them. So it's like like things like cereals because

(50:06):
it comes off off these production plants, and so it's
like staying away from certain foods, you know, trying to
eat more you know, and more organic food because it's
the pesticides that they spray on them get that it
seeps into the skin. So if if you're eating something

(50:28):
like an avocado or you're peeling off the outer layer,
you're good. But if you're eating some way something like
maybe a grape or an apple, like, you're more likely
to ingest those type of carcinogens that come from the pesticides.

Speaker 4 (50:47):
Well, first, I had to share. So we have a
listener who's totally like dialed in Justin. First, Justin wants
to tell you that he loves you, so I had
to share that. You know, Justin, I'm an assume maybe
you have ADHD because you didn't tell us. You don't
have to, but obviously he's enjoying the conversation and he's
kind of thrown some things up there like he wanted
to know, and you probably can answer this, does diet

(51:08):
dictate efficiency in the workplace.

Speaker 5 (51:10):
Even if you didn't have ADHD.

Speaker 4 (51:12):
I'm going to say, Justin, Yes, one of the things
that we talk about in mental health that gut health
dictates mental health. So if you have a poor diet,
and we're talking about depression, anxiety, if you're not feeding
your body your brain, then you're going to struggle with
fatigue and other things that can come from not having
a good diet overall. But when we speak specifically to ADHD,

(51:33):
what would you say about when you start making your
shifts and the changes to be more holistic, was your
diet a big part of what made you more efficient?

Speaker 6 (51:41):
Yeah, definitely. And let me get this clear, Like I
am nowhere near like where would the ideal diet. Like
I'm not like eating vestall. It's not like perfectly planned.
I do eat poorly here and there, but like I
make a conscious effort to make sure that most of
the days and most of the meals that I eat

(52:02):
are you know, planned, and and I know what's in them.
And a lot of people forget about water being a
major part of the diet, and especially for the eighth
ADHD brain D brain, because we it is so you know,
the hyperactivity part. We even I feel like the inc
act inattentive brain. It's because it takes so much for

(52:28):
us to process throughout the day, like normal information because
we've got to process it through the other part of
our brain, so that takes more time, more energy, more water,
and so we need to be hydrated in in those
in those situations, and I and I definitely perform a

(52:49):
lot better. There's like less brain fog, Like I'm able
to focus better. That's not gonna like make me totally
not distractable. But like I've noticed the day is where
I do drink more water.

Speaker 5 (53:04):
And you know, Justin is asking like great questions.

Speaker 4 (53:07):
One of the things I will say, like specifically about
what we know right now research wise about like ADHD
and autism and other things in regards to let's say
things within the diet like the red dyes. There's not
enough research yet that makes it definitive, you know what
I mean. Like, for instance, there's been a conversation for

(53:27):
years that a seda menaphin now could be a root cause.
With mothers taking it was like, oh you got a headache,
if you're pregnant, it was okay to take tyl seena minifin. Well,
now there's thoughts that potentially that could be something that
could be an issue. It's not known yet. So one
of the things and Justin is posting a lot of
good questions. But one of the things that I would
say to people, regardless to what the research tells you,

(53:51):
think like a caveman. Like legitimately, if you think about
eating clean and simple, you're gonna have a healthier life.

Speaker 5 (54:02):
Think about for people who are younger.

Speaker 4 (54:03):
You probably don't know how your grandparents or great grandparents ate,
but there was a point in our society where preservatives
and fast food and frozen food was not an option.
If you go back and look at the health of
like let's say the average American fifty sixty years ago,
it looks different. They had bigger issues with nicotine because
they were even this full blown you know, smoking full
blown tobacco, you know what I mean. But seriously, if

(54:25):
you look at their life spans and how they ate,
it was clean eating just simply by the design of
how the culture was. There wasn't like, you know, like refrigerators,
and remember like frontiersmen had to like how they preserve
meat is they salted it. Hence we think that.

Speaker 5 (54:42):
Like beef jerky is a thing that was a thing
for them. We think it is you know, oh, it's
beef dirt.

Speaker 4 (54:47):
You know, it's delicious, But if you go back and
think about just eating simple and clean, chances are you're
going to be a healthier person because you're not dumping
all these preservatives into your diet.

Speaker 6 (55:01):
Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (55:04):
About sleep, you could probably answer this for him, and
he thoughts about you know, actually not that one about sleep.
He was asking about eating too late and you know sleep,
any any like recommendations you kind of have with that
about what you do to be healthier.

Speaker 6 (55:20):
Yeah, justin thank you and I love you too, bro.
So the core the correlation between eating late at night. Yeah,
and and and and I've asked my dietitian about that too.
And you typically want to not eat an hour before
bad also to get better sleep. There's you know, you

(55:42):
want to create these screen free time so you don't
really want to watch a lot of tea, Like you
want to minimize your TV and your phone time before
you go to bed, because what that blue light ends
up doing is tricking your brain into thinking it's actually

(56:03):
sunlight out. So it's going to reset your circadium rhythm
and it's going to make it harder for you to
get into that ram sleep. And I would say I
would recommend, you know, so going to bed earlier without
like me throughout the week typically I don't watch TV.
I just and I try not to get on my phone.

(56:26):
If you do it for five or ten minutes, it's
not going to like really hurt anything. But it's like
those hour long and then you try to go to
sleep and you're sitting up worrying about this and you
just ate a bunch of snacks, Like that's not going
to help you.

Speaker 7 (56:42):
That's not not the rate combination for you know, And
what you're talking about is one of the things that
we define when we work with people in mental health
is we call it sleep hygiene.

Speaker 4 (56:53):
And one of the things I tell people if you're
struggling with sleep, I have noticed over the last fifteen
plus years of being in mental health that the amount
of anxiety in people has grown exponentially, especially kids. And
I know the correlation when it's all said and done,
and there are already studies like you just said that
they're telling is that blue light has our brains on ten.
Because we are on computers, we're on tablets with work

(57:17):
and then our phones. We're constantly stimulating our brains, which
which people don't realize. If you're not making enough melatonin,
which is a natural occurring thing that when you make enough,
you go to sleep. So there's lots of factors. One
of the things that I like to suggest to people.
So next week we have on a naturopathic doctor coming on,
though she's talking about fertility, I will tell you that

(57:40):
if you really want to get good insight into your health,
and this is no dig at my traditional medicine type doctors,
it's not a dig. I absolutely love naturopathic doctors because
their entire goal is to understand why you are experiencing something.
They don't just treat some mptoms. They want to get

(58:01):
to the root cause and understand. And a lot of
times when you go into a doctor, they're going to
treat the symptoms but not get to the root cause.
So is that really the outcome that you want? So
I encourage people to seek out naturopathic doctors because, yes,
they may feel a little unconventional, but the insight they
give you is amazing.

Speaker 5 (58:22):
I had an audioimmune.

Speaker 4 (58:23):
Issue resolved that every traditional doctor just wanted to give
me medication for, and it didn't make sense why all
of a sudden I had this autoimmune issue. It just
didn't make sense I went to a naturopathic doctor. She
did what I felt like was some hocus pocus type
interesting stuff A little bit, just a little bit. I
had to open my mind, ron I did. She found
the root cause of my issue is I was literally

(58:45):
using too much artificial sweetener and my goal to stop
using sugar because I said love sugar. I was using
the splendors and the equals and stuff like that. I
have a sensitivity to it, and it created an autoimmune
issue for me. There wasn't a single traditional doctor that
was even interested in figuring out why this happened to me.
That person did, and somebody else referred me to her

(59:06):
because they resolved an issue. So I always tell people
think outside the box. This is why an adh coach
is great. To have someone who can work with you
one on one to figure things out, customize what you're
doing about you versus I have ADHD. I'm like, everybody
else know you're you. So I think having the coach
really helps people to figure themselves out.

Speaker 6 (59:28):
Yeah. Yeah, And it's like, you know a lot of
the coaches that have ADHD are I mean a lot
of the ADHD coaches actually have ADHD. So they got
the experience. They know what it's like. You can tell
them things that are going on there and you're not
going to sound like they're not going to be like,
well they're writing on a pad like okay, that's interesting.

(59:49):
You know, they're even like yeah, that's I get that,
and you know, like maybe try this, you know it's okay,
Like like.

Speaker 5 (59:56):
The podcasts, tell us a bit about your podcast. I
know you do a podcast. Tell us a bit about that.

Speaker 6 (01:00:02):
So yeah, it's called don't mind Me. I just have
ADHD And you know, a lot of it focus, its
focus is on the workplace ADHD advocacy in the workplace
and a little the different solutions that come up. You know,
it goes out in life because life and work intersect,
and you know, a lot of it has to do

(01:00:25):
with you know, we spend like a lot of our
lives working, So why not figure out ways to make
that better, to make that more manageable, to make that,
you know, dare to say enjoyable. You know, because like
when we when we know how to show up at
work and like and speak up for ourselves or advocate

(01:00:50):
for the things that we need or know that we
can ask for a reasonable accommodations. Then things get easier
at that job between both parties. It's about that communication understanding,
you know, when I go into different and I have
different guests on there, that has Yeah, so it's fun.

Speaker 4 (01:01:13):
Tell me a bit about the self discovery journal, because
first of all, I love journals. I know some people
hate the idea of journals. It's because they don't understand
the benefit of what journaling does for you. It's not
like you're just sitting here writing like you're not to
be mean a fourteen year old girls writing love stories.
People misunderstand journaling seriously, they do. So tell us a
bit about the self discovery journal that you put together.

Speaker 6 (01:01:35):
Yeah, and now I'm right there with you, Like, I like,
I was like journaling, what's that? Even the like I
got to write my I didn't do that since I
was like nineteen, and I remember reading some of that
stuff and I was like it helped then, so like
why wouldn't it help now? And like a lot of
the journaling in this book in particular is prompted journal journaling,

(01:01:59):
So it asked you a question that you know, it's
a little deeper, you know, and kind of like scratches
at the surface a little bit and gets you to
think about, like, you know, some of that trauma, but
in a way that's not like really necessarily addressing it.
It's just in a way that you it may be
showing up in your life and maybe like you can

(01:02:20):
look at it in a different way. So it kind
of takes that perspective with kindness, So you can take
your time with that journal come back to it. Because
like when I when I ask myself a lot of
those questions on there or other ones through curiosity, like
it opened up my eyes to who I am. It's
really about discovering who you are. And it may seem

(01:02:43):
weird to like not know who you are, but like
it it's coming from a guy who, like I didn't
really start to begin to understand who I was until
probably about a year ago, Like and I'm still figuring
it out. I'm still learning, like where that trauma came from,
how it showed up. You know, why I do certain

(01:03:03):
things and why certain things affect me. But now I'm
able to I got the tools to be able to
see that and explore that instead of just getting frustrated
with it and trying to ignore it. And you know,
that's another thing with that positive you know, toxic toxic positivity,

(01:03:23):
because it's good. It's good to be positive, and I'm
not don't get me wrong like that you need to
not always be negative. But that doesn't mean like you
shouldn't feel feelings that are telling you stuff, like you
shouldn't feel angry like you should. You should allow yourself
to feel scared, like you know, especially for men, Like

(01:03:46):
feeling sad and scared are like two no nos to
talk about. You know. I remember when I first told
somebody else that I feel sad. That's awesome. Justin so
it's like, oh yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:04:04):
Comspleen, he's just a guy with ADHD. Thank you, Joseph,
thank you.

Speaker 6 (01:04:07):
Justin.

Speaker 5 (01:04:08):
Riley joined the conversation.

Speaker 4 (01:04:10):
I see you back there, like nodding your head and
paying attention, joining the conversation when you want to.

Speaker 5 (01:04:16):
Yes, Hi, can you hear meem We can hear you. Okay.

Speaker 8 (01:04:23):
I love this conversation so much. And Hi, Justin, thank
you for tuning in. We love you too. So something
that I read online recently it kind of ties into
like self talk and how we were talking about, like mindfulness.

(01:04:44):
It deals with water and like kind of saying the
best way I can. I have the article here too,
so I'm not talking nonsense. It's so the masorrow Emoto experiment.
It was in the nineties that this experiment was made

(01:05:08):
and it's popular in Japan. But the method was exposed
water to positive words and intention claim that the water
forms like like symmetrical patterns when frozen, like snowflakes and stuff.

(01:05:33):
But when you have negative like words said to these water,
it is all fuzzy and there's no symmetrical pattern. So
I don't know if like mindfulness and having positive talk
affects like the water in your body to just have
a better like vibration and stuff. That's kind of what

(01:05:54):
I was started thinking about while I was listening to
you guys. But just the importance of mindfulness and getting
just symmetrical with yourself.

Speaker 6 (01:06:10):
I actually heard heard of that study before and seen it.
You know, it's been a while, but yeah, thank you
for bringing that up. That's that definitely would make a
lot of sense, because like water is, is very transient,
you know, and therapeutic. You know. You notice when you're
walking near water or you're in water, you actually trans

(01:06:32):
transmit part of who you are with the water, and
the water comes into you. So water is such an
amazingly underrated substance and you know it's without it we
couldn't live. And it has so many other elements and
properties that you know that that doesn't actually surprise me. Riley,

(01:06:55):
thank you, Thank you for sharing that.

Speaker 4 (01:06:57):
We definitely have to maybe sure that that within the
post we can share it with listeners. And that's the
thing about water is very powerful. I mean, think about it.
Pretty much, the earth is covered with seventy percent water.
We are composed of more water than most people realize.
So think about that. You have this element that we
know we are a hydrogen based type species. So with

(01:07:18):
that being said, it's a very powerful thing. I'm the
kind of person to tell people when I'm on vacation
and I'm at the ocean, I can sit there and
just listen to the waves, and I find that highly
relaxing and not doing anything, just sitting there and just
listening and you know, watching it's just so tranquil. So
there's definitely to be said that water is a very
very powerful element that's in our everyday lives that we

(01:07:41):
don't really tast seriously.

Speaker 6 (01:07:43):
So yes, yeah, definitely.

Speaker 5 (01:07:47):
Closing thoughts for our listeners.

Speaker 4 (01:07:49):
I mean, you've shared so much. Like I said, you
are a coach, you're an advocate. So if people wanted
to like explore working with you, how should.

Speaker 5 (01:07:56):
They do that?

Speaker 6 (01:07:59):
Yeah, definitely, And so like I said, if I've also
put together that free self discovery journal so you can
grab that your ADHD guide dot com And it's a
simple way to reflect, reset and get to know yourself better.
And for anyone ready to take things deeper with me,
I'm a strengths coach. I offer a five session coaching

(01:08:21):
program called the Connection Blueprint. It's designed to help men
over forty move out of isolation, build confidence, and create
a real connection in their lives and the people in it.
Just head on over to your ADHD guy dot com
to book a free discovery call with me.

Speaker 4 (01:08:43):
Nice everybody, I would encourage you if you know you
have ADHD, it never hurts to get some other insight
into what you're struggling. It doesn't matter if you're a medication,
it doesn't matter if you have a therapist. I personally
feel that when someone is a coach it's a different experience.
And I say that too because I've worked with people
that I'm a therapist, but I say, you know what,
I think you've gotten to the point where you need

(01:09:03):
a life coach because there are some elements here because unfortunately,
within my job, there are some constraints of things that
I cannot do as a therapist. And I've had people
and I've said, I think it's time for you to
move on to a life coach because here are the
things that you need to work on, and I think
you need a little bit more intensive type interaction and
somebody maybe they can say a few of the things
that I want to say that I can say to

(01:09:26):
help you kind of work through that. So I'm going
to encourage people, whether you have any ADHD you know,
someone get the journal. I mean, it's all right there
for you. There's so many options out there. So one
thing I always like to encourage people, pay attention to you,
listen to Ron. And I'm saying this because there's a

(01:09:47):
lot of information, like out there in the world. You
got a lot of people doing reels and you know,
putting information out. And the thing Ron I always say
to people is that's somebody unique experience. It doesn't mean
that that's you. And a lot of times people will
see things on social media and as so, oh yeah,
I must be neuro divergent too. By the way, a
good party note about this should be ADHD affects women

(01:10:10):
and men entirely differently. We didn't even dive into that piece.
And ladies, if you're a menopause and you have ADHD,
if you want to talk about a hat like pulling
a rabbit out of a hat, there are so many
things that you probably didn't understand of why you might
be struggling because you already have an issue with executive function.
And then when you move into being perimenopausal or menopausal,

(01:10:30):
oh guess what, it gets really interesting. So with that
being said, connecting with ron get a personalized insight into
your experience versus trying to compare it to somebody else's.

Speaker 6 (01:10:43):
Yeah, definitely, we all have our own unique way of living,
are your own unique way of thinking, you know, And
like you said, therapists are great and I could you know,
and I still need some things, but it's more about
like understanding myself and you know, some tools you know

(01:11:06):
might come up here and there, but like a coach
gives you like a personalized one on one game plan,
you know, so it's a bit different and I feel
like both our nests they both slide in nicely together.

Speaker 4 (01:11:21):
Yes, well, Ron, thank you for coming on the show.
I appreciate you sharing so much good insight. I appreciate
your transparency to let people know that, yes, it can
be a struggle, but you can still be successful, and
you can do it on your terms. And you are
an executive an excellent example of why that's the case.
You did this on your terms and it wasn't easy,

(01:11:44):
but it sounds like you have transformed your life and
now you're taking that passion in your purpose and you
want to help other people understand that they can do
it too.

Speaker 6 (01:11:53):
Yeah, and you do some amazing work too. And I
love your zest, enthusiasm and your social intelligence is off
is off the charts.

Speaker 5 (01:12:03):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:12:04):
I appreciate everybody. This was episode seventy three of Maya
My Ambition, Your Ambition, and this is the Ambition Show.
We've been doing this pretty much consecutively for six satur
days featuring amazing people. And we had on Ron Sowers
a second who was an ADHD expert. Yes, I have
I have done that. I have knighted him. He is

(01:12:24):
the expert as well as he's a coach check him out, podcaster,
check out the podcast, and an author because he's got
that self discovery journal. Look at all these tools we've
just laid out in front of you. So Ron, thank
you for coming on the show. Everybody, we went a
little over, but this was good stuff. Justin You might

(01:12:44):
be my favorite, you know guest. At this point he
was just dropping all kinds of all kinds of questions.
But thank you so much, Ron for coming on the show.
So everybody, thank you for listening to this episode. You know,
the whole purpose of what I do here to help
you to identify your ambition and harness that motivation to
help you acquire the success and satisfaction you seek in

(01:13:07):
your life. And remember, if you came in late or
you want to share this episode, you can always find
episodes on iTunes, Apple, Podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon, Audibles. Of course,
you can make life easy because all things Maya are
located on my website mayadashspeaks dot com, so you can
always do that to find everything Maya. If you want

(01:13:30):
to make sure you know when episodes are coming up,
subscribe and share my YouTube channel which is at Maya
speaks to you. And by the way, I've caught up
with times. All my social media platforms are Maya speaks
to you. So it's Facebook, it's Instagram, and it's x
and it's YouTube. Subscribe and share with yourself other people
because we want to spread the word. We want people
to get these resources as well. Make sure you check

(01:13:53):
out my inspirational blog. You know, this week it's about
trauma and it's a very powerful post that I think
can be helpful, and of course my me on Pause blog.
Actually this week, lady, I'm talking about menopause or being
perimenopausal and heikes a lot of people struggle with things
like that and don't realize it could be tied into menopause.
So until next time, everyone, remember your presence becomes your

(01:14:15):
past and your future is no more. So make the
most of every day. By the way, those are not
my words. That's from Pearl Jam just to let you
know I gotta give rights.

Speaker 5 (01:14:26):
And give you credit.

Speaker 4 (01:14:27):
But anyways, everybody, be well, stay safe and as always,
continue to be amazing and we'll see you next week.

Speaker 3 (01:14:45):
Whether you're on the go or listening on your cell phone,
tablet or laptop, you can find the show in the iTunes, Google,
an iHeartRadio platform.

Speaker 1 (01:14:53):
Sold the respect.

Speaker 3 (01:14:54):
I believe this is going to be our finest hour.
Just search my, my ambition, your ambition, and get ready
to be inspired and motivated to harness your ambitions. M