Neurodivergence, Learning Differences, & Addiction | A Path Home

Welcome to a special minisode of The Fully Mindful. In this reflective episode, I share some of my own story—navigating neurodivergence and learning differences, and my reliance on alcohol to treat my differences—and how these experiences shaped my journey through rebellion, recovery, and ultimately, a return to Self.

This episode marks the beginning of a new podcast series that explores neurodivergence, learning differences, and addiction--and the often misunderstood intersection of these experiences.

In this minisode, I'm sharing as someone who’s lived it—from a quiet, but hyper kid masking her inner world, to a rebellious young adult spiraling through chaos, to a professional woman still secretly grappling with regulation and worthiness even after sobriety and success.

In the upcoming series I'm introducing here, you’ll hear from:

• A teacher once told she'd never succeed, now fiercely advocating for neurodivergent kids—including her own
• A psychologist helping families understand and navigate learning and thinking differences
• A lawyer living in alignment with her true self after walking through addiction and into mindful sobriety
• A woman with decades of 12-step recovery, sustained by community and connection
• A therapist working at the intersection of neurodivergence and recovery—helping clients reclaim wholeness

And that’s just the beginning.

This series is for anyone navigating ADHD, dyslexia, addiction—or all three.
For parents, partners, and professionals who love them.
For those tired of just surviving.
For those ready to reclaim purpose, creativity, sensitivity, and truth.

🔗 Want more of my personal story? Here's a link to an earlier minisode on The Fully Mindful.
Or check out the full story on Kintsugi Heroes. 
💌 Reach out anytime: info@thefullymindful.com. I read an answer every email.
📣 Be sure to follow, subscribe, and share with someone who needs to hear this.

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Transcript

Welcome to Fully Mindful

Speaker 1 0:04

Welcome to the Fully Mindful Podcast. I'm your host, melissa. I designed this podcast for you. I'm so happy you're here. We are talking about what it means to live with more intention, creativity and authenticity so we can make aligned connections. I'm a neurodivergent lawyer turned coach who found the healing power of breathwork and the powerful impact of mindfulness as we navigate this wild and beautiful ride of life. Here at the Fully Mindful, we dive deep with inspiring guests, share solo mini-sodes that are packed with tools you can apply immediately, and I mix it up a bit with tangents and sidebars where no-transcript. I'm Debbie Harrell and I'm a founder of the New World Normal Podcast. I'm Debbie Melissa here and welcome to this special mini-sode of the Fully Mindful. I'm glad you're here Today. I want to share something a little more personal and invite you into the heart of this next chapter of the podcast. We're beginning a new series, one that explores neurodivergence and learning differences and addiction and often overlooked but powerful ways in which sometimes neurodivergence, learning differences and addiction overlap. And I'm not approaching this as a coach or a mindfulness teacher. Really, I'm coming at it as someone who's lived it.

Speaker 1 1:53

I was diagnosed, as many of you know, with ADHD as a child, but like many girls at the time, there was little understanding or meaningful support. It became a label, not a lifeline, and I was smart and sensitive I now see and maybe a bit imaginative, and sometimes intense and also often overwhelmed by what was going on in my nervous system and how differently I learned. So I learned to withdraw. I did build a vivid inner world and on the outside I masked pretty hard. I became I'm not sure I was the easy kid, but I was definitely the achieving kid, the one who just had to do it all. I worked hard to make sure that no one saw the mess underneath. But the internal pressure of being the kid who actually learned very differently and regulated very differently, that pressure just didn't vanish. It built and eventually it broke through.

Speaker 1 3:10

And as I moved into my teens and then later into my early twenties, that quiet, masking kind of turned a little rebellious, or maybe a lot rebellious. I started running from expectations, from relationships, from myself. I drank hard, I lived fast, I tried to write and roam like my hero at the time, jack Kerouac. I, needless to say, romanticized the chaos, trying to feel free really. But eventually I found myself back at the start, maybe even behind no book, no real direction, no peace. So I did what I thought I was supposed to do and I buckled down. I I went off to college, to a really good college, and I got lucky. I met the man who would become my husband these last 30 years I found love and, for the first time, a sense of stability. I'm sure he didn't feel that way, but I did feel that way.

Recovery and Mindfulness

Speaker 1 4:17

But even then I was definitely still caught in alcohol abuse and I was still using it to manage what felt unmanageable. And that's really when the next chapter began over achievement yeah, a lot over achievement. And even after I got sober, which I'm so grateful for and which saved my life, I stayed in the cycle of proving myself. I performed, I produced, and still I felt like I wasn't quite whole. You know, I went to law school, I became a lawyer, I was doing the deal, but I was chaos inside. And that was even though I was practicing mindfulness. I mean, I was really even trying to like overachieve mindfulness, if that's the thing it wasn't really until I finally came to terms with what it meant to live with ADHD, that things really began to shift, that things really began to shift and I chopped, stopped trying to to fix myself totally and I started trying to understand myself and why I was having such difficulty when everybody else seemed to be, you know, not having difficulty. And that's not to say that everything's been perfect since those early days of coming to terms with my ADHD, my neurodivergence. There are days where I still struggle, for sure, despite decades of mindfulness and many years of breath work and self-help and therapy and running and all the things. There are days when I still feel like I'm too much and, at the same time, not enough. Days where there's a gaping hole inside and I wonder is this all there is? Am I slipping back? What's going on? But now I don't fall quite as hard in the way that I used to and I definitely don't stay there as long, because now I have connection to my breath, to my body, to myself, to others, to something greater than myself, and that's what this series is hopefully going to get to.

Upcoming Guests and Series Preview

Speaker 1 6:47

You're going to hear from people with lived experience, like myself. You're going to hear from those who walk alongside others in their journeys of healing and growth. You're going to hear from an educator with dyslexia who, as a second grader, was told by her teacher she'd never amount to anything? Who would do that right and who is now a fierce advocate for the kids in her own second grade classroom who learn differently, as well as her own children? You're going to hear from a psychologist who specializes in identifying learning and thinking differences in children and teens and helps them and their families understand, navigate and thrive.

Speaker 1 7:28

You're going to hear from a lawyer who's walked through addiction and recovery and who now lives and works in full alignment with her true self, teaching yoga, living mindfully, embracing sobriety. You will also hear from a woman thriving with decades of sobriety and 12-step recovery, who shares how community and connection sustained her through some of the more difficult times. And you'll hear from a therapist who works at the powerful intersection of neurodivergence and recovery from addiction, helping clients reclaim their wholeness and thrive, not just survive. And that's just the beginning, because after this series we'll be diving even deeper with conversations that explore how we move from diagnosis and sobriety into authentic living. And you're going to hear from an author who offers a practical, compassionate framework for thriving, not just functioning, as well as one of my favorite conversations with a breathwork and spiritual teacher who helps us connect more deeply with ourselves, each other and the world around us in a really meaningful way.

Speaker 1 8:38

This season is about recovery, yes, but also about reclamation reclaiming our, our creativity, our sensitivity, our truth, reclaiming connection, meaning and purpose and helping those we love our truth, reclaiming connection, meaning and purpose and helping those we love reclaim theirs. So, whether you're navigating neurodivergence, addiction, a learning difference or all the above, whether you love someone who is or you're just starting to ask questions, you're not alone, you're not too much and you're not broken, and they're not broken. So thank you for being here, thank you for listening, and if you'd like to hear more of my personal story, I will link a longer mini-sode where I go deeper into my journey in case you're interested, and you can always reach out. I'm happy to talk about my recovery from alcohol addiction, my recovery within ADHD and my mindfulness and breathwork practices. You're not alone. Reach out, I'm here. We've got a lot to explore together, so let's begin.

Speaker 1 9:51

Thank you for joining me on the Fully Mindful Podcast. If you got value from this episode, I'd love for you to subscribe, leave a review or share this episode with someone who loved this content too. Remember, small moments of mindfulness can lead to big changes in your day-to-day life. Until next time, take a deep breath, stay present and tap into your own mindfulness. I'll see you next week.