Navigating ADHD, Personal Growth, and Embracing the Messiness of #JefaLife

What if personal growth is as much about embracing your messiness as it is about achieving your goals? Join me as I return from a significant hiatus to share my journey of leaving a full-time job and diving headfirst into my roles as an educator and coach. I reflect on the evolution of my beta program, now in its third cohort, and the beautiful chaos that comes with holding space for others while facing my own battles with ADHD and fibromyalgia. This episode is a raw and honest look at how I’ve navigated the ups and downs of this path and the incredible support from my loyal listeners that’s kept me grounded.

Living with ADHD and fibromyalgia during a pandemic has been no small feat, and I open up about my experiences with DIY therapy and the struggle to find knowledgeable help. As I lean into my traits as a highly sensitive person and empath, I explore how these aspects shape my life, business, wellness, and relationships. Perfectionism, setting new rhythms, and learning to slow down are key themes as I share my gratitude for the community that surrounds me. To wrap things up, we’ll take a few grounding breaths together, look forward to the future, and continue to build a cozy, supportive space for all of us. Thank you for your unwavering love and support!

Transcript

Navigating Growth and Identity Transformation

Speaker 1 0:00

Testing testing One, two, three, mic check. This is Gita calling all helpers Looking to learn, looking to connect, looking to push through the hard and grow and grow. Your girl's been growing slowly, doing the hard work behind the scenes, the deep work, and I'm stronger now. But where we left off, since the last podcast episode, december 12th, introducing y'all to my husband on his birthday, there's been a few lives lived since and I'm sure over time I'll be sharing a few anecdotes from different events and highlights that have happened. Since there's so much debriefing I feel like I have yet to share and I've missed y'all. I've missed y'all. I've missed getting on into this educator, coach role, y'all, and it's been so cool, scary and a lot of fun, of fun and man.

Speaker 1 2:11

I have had the opportunity to sit and hold space with some of the most incredible HIFAs, even if it's been moments where they're just willing to say I am not quite sure how to move in this next move or in this next stage of my evolution, expansion, in my growth era, as my girl likes to say, being able to step out, step into who we are, allow ourselves to be seen, use our voice so that we can be heard. All those things aren't necessarily the easiest things to do and when life lives it definitely can be that much harder to take up space when you're in the messy middle, as some people say, and although I can't say I am fully on the other side of this rainbow or turbulent season, as vida es vida, siempre pasa algo. But I'm really grateful to be able to say I am much stronger now, beyond the many tears that so many of y'all have even experienced, either listening to this podcast or in the room in cafecito or in person, because y'all already know your girl's always with the feelings and shout out to my fellow empaths and hsps out there y'all hold my heart and I hold, I hold yours back, thank you. But I'm so grateful to be able to say that, amidst the chaos that felt like ensued, if not actually did, um at the end of last year, shortly after our show up hefa event leading into the holidays and the beginning of this year, there were quite a few tumultuous things happening and, as I had been sharing, towards the end of um, the episodes that were released last year, I had quit my full-time job, I was officially burnt out and was transitioning into, you know, full-time Hefa life, as I like to call it, and threw myself into the beta program that I originally called the show of Hefa Mini Mastermind, just wanting to bring a group of Hefas together that were looking to grow and have some accountability. And now it's evolved. We're now on round three of this cohort and I have acknowledged what this really was and what it evolved into as a coaching program, way or form or lead or train, manage in so many ways in quite a few different roles. Now, as I translate those skills that I have developed over the years and apply them towards what I've learned, what I've known, what I've done, what's gotten me here good, bad and ugly, I mean, I've made so many mistakes that I'll happily help anyone not go through, simply because it's if possible. Why go through that pain, pero bueno, if I'm able to at all close gaps and provide little nuggets of wisdom here and there by sharing my story and allowing myself to be seen imperfectly.

Speaker 1 7:09

This episode has no intro, no outro, because I am determined to release it raw and uncut, because I have been longing to talk to y'all for weeks and have been getting caught up in the structure and needing it to be a certain way and, honestly, all it needs to be now is cutting the noise. I need to break the silence. Hi, hi, I miss y'all. So, to my loyal podcast listeners, who have the notifications on and are listening to this, within the first I don't know 48, 72 hours Las amo, las aprecio. Thank you for riding with me.

Speaker 1 7:53

It's been a wild ride as I have stepped into this role that I'm now determined to take on and allow myself to be seen in different lights and holds different roles in different spaces, and this expansion has been so scary, um, beautiful and uh, transformative, to say the least. Um, having the privilege to get to walk alongside so many incredible hefas, to have them trust me with their stories and dreams, man, it's beyond me, given and that's all. My heart is y'all. My heart is here to serve as I also navigate, continuing to put food on my table and healing on all the levels and navigating adulting and being to ADHD and being to fibromyalgia being a beautifully constant, irregular rhythm in my life. Um, and starting to talk about that and that's really vulnerable, because those are both really hard and heavy topics that I've dealt with for really long time. Um, they're not new to me.

Speaker 1 9:42

The official diagnosis to adhd is new ish. What now, two years old almost, I think officially maybe like a year I'll check but oh, I've been dealing with it my entire life. Sure, now I better understand it because, thankfully, with my brain, I have consumed a lot of research on trying to better understand and manage it, because your girl is an ultra-chronic DIYer. So therefore, as my fellow ADHDers know, when we go in on our research, we go in and we know things inside out as best as we can because we need to know. That is your girl on many subjects, science-wise of the body, head, heart, mind, that all like I love it. It's just something that I am overly passionate about. And personal development and learning, it's just my brain is a sponge Now, especially having owned my superpower that is learning Audiblevia audiobooks.

Navigating ADHD and Personal Growth

Speaker 1 10:49

After receiving the dyslexic diagnosis and that one was a newer realization which, if you listen to, I believe, the third episode of the podcast, you'll hear a much rarer version I was newer to owning the fact that I was going to speak out loud of the fact that I am dyslexic and have been struggling with that learning quote, unquote disability, and yeah, that's caused quite a few roadblocks. But we're here working with this brain and looking to support it and adapt and adjust the systems. For many years, if not my entire life, I have attempted and worked really, really hard to fit many different molds in many different directions. And so, as I am redefining quite literally my brand which, of course, as many of us who have defined personal brands know, is a very personal process and defining what will be shared and how it will be shared, and where to show up and how to present yourself and what topics you're now going to allow yourself to be seen in, and simply owning my neurodiversity when I was first in that research and looking to get diagnosed and the diagnosis for me was very much so like I need it official, like I need an official professional to tell me because I know I need facts I'm not gonna go out on a mic, I'm not going to tell people, period, if it's not for sure. And so I got the diagnosis.

Speaker 1 12:41

Unfortunately for me, I knew more about ADHD than that therapist, because she was like I didn't even know it happened in adults and I was like great, well, that's where we end, because I do not have the time to educate you on adult ADHD and process all of my things like nah, thank you. So your girl's been DIYing this process for like uh, three, four years now, probably right when the pandemic hit was when I was really hearing all of the ADHD lingo, seeing creators on TikTok put my life with ADHD and I was like wait, m2, wait, m2, huh, I do that. And you know, passing all those self-assessments with flying colors like oh, oh, no wonder. So, as I have navigated the healing journey that is coming to the realization that what I have quote unquote, or what is going on or what I'm feeling or all the feelings that are coming up, is a combination of things like my ADHD and being a highly sensitive person and an empath, and holding space for a lot of fellow hearts and feelings and feeling all of that and being able to also feel the real heaviness that is the weight of the world in general. But, of course, when going into a highly stimulating environment like social media, it then hits harder than your average Joe at times, and so your girl has been really working on, of course, figuring myself out, but really learning how to adapt and create and build and builds my life, my business, my wellness, my marriage, my goals, my relationships. You know everything. I mean todo, todo, my time, how I study, create focus. I mean man, so many things to consider and calculate as I work really hard to do. All the things pas as a badge of honor, that is, I don't appreciate quality because, man, far from it, my goal is to provide the best quality that I can, my standards. I'm a recovering perfectionist, which is why I own the imperfect part, because there was the perfection standard that, as someone with ADHD and fibromyalgia and dyslexia and all kinds of things, of course, cada quien tiene sus cosas right, we have our things that we're working through, and so, with all of that, I just didn't fit that mold, any mold. I've tried a lot of them and it just doesn't, but I don't.

Speaker 1 16:25

And so I've been able to step out and be more of myself and show more of myself without the mask and real, here on the mic in Cafecito, alongside my fellow jefas. Y'all have allowed me to be myself and still love me, and I know that I also have many fellow HSPs who I know. I know I know I have let some of y'all down or I have hurt you or your feelings by not responding or acknowledging or, in truth, being at capacity, but in that moment my capacity not doesn't matter but isn't accounted for in the lack of response and in that season, which was a while, there was quite a lot to hold and I know I've failed and I know I've dropped the ball. And even in I mean I feel like it was the second half of the podcast que yo de panzazo was showing up I mean it was everyone else on the team that was so generously giving up their time helping me get it across the finish line and I still was not at capacity to show up online to even promote what was already being there and it was. My goal was never To hurt anyone as a result of my own personal whirlwind and unfortunately that's not the first time I've had to start a conversation in that way. I mean, many of us in business have started an email with sorry for the delay. So I guess please take this very raw and uncut episode as my apologies for the delay and thank you for your grace grace.

Speaker 1 19:56

There's many things that I am still working towards that I thought may be here here sooner and in the healing that's happened in the past six months, a big theme in my life has been resetting my rhythms and setting a pace and learning to slow down and say less, which can be hard for your girl. If you've been here, you know. So with that, I'm really excited for what's coming. For what has, ooh y'all, I've been dreaming building, I have been strategizing, I have been having conversations, planting seeds, watering them and nurturing them in order to be able to build out a hopefully really cozy casita for us. And we have a casita for Cabecito con Jepas, which is, I'm so excited.

Speaker 1 21:35

I'm actively working on the Cabecito con Jebas podcast and getting back on the mic, as today we are breaking the silence and getting into an official rhythm, probably starting here in June. Pero I wanted to jump in here to say hi, to thank y'all for rocking with me, as always, through all of it. There have been a lot of changes Over the last just couple months and Change Can be hard on anyone, and fellow ADHD Dears know that it can be harder on us when it comes to those changes, especially when they're Unexpected. But it was a post-college, so I'm starting to feel more grounded, lots more clarity, definitely feeling stronger, grateful for that. So I'm here, I'm showing up imperfectly, I'm not sure what this rhythm will be just yet, because I'm actively working on mapping out the official relaunch for season two of the CCJ podcast. There's already a few interviews that I've had with a couple ofifas that I don't want to get um to uh. I don't want them to sit on the shelf for too long and wait for that official launch. So we may have some. Maybe call this a continuation of season one, because we're not quite ready with the graphics and the branding and all of that with for season two, which we want to be able to do well, and so I have a few ideas on how to be able to release some of these. Up until then, I hope to be able to jump on here a bit more beyond just catching up.

Speaker 1 23:53

Today. I just I've been needing to talk to y'all, so I wanted to jump on here, say hi, tell you how much I appreciate you, how much I miss y'all, how much I love you, and I am really excited about what's going to be coming. There will be more structure to my solo episodes. I'm going to be having episodes where I'll be talking about certain books and what I'm learning from them, and I'll have all sorts of links to kind of free up the rhythm for me on here and be able to jump on when I do have just a short note for y'all, like this or when I come in and teach, I'll be sure to give y'all a heads up, like okay, venga, and take some notes. Okay, I'm coming with some strategy here, here and here, so stay tuned, there'll be. There'll be more coming here, but I wanted to jump on here and say hi, so thank you for listening.

Speaker 1 24:56

As always, as I'm on this podcast community, I would not be doing what I do, I would not be holding the titles like head coach, brand strategist or photographer. I wouldn't have any of that without all of you. So thank you so much for continuing to show up for me, um, and for each other. So I'm really grateful, really grateful for how y'all have impacted my life. So thank you for that. Um, there'll be more coming.

Speaker 1 25:32

I we'll be sharing more of the behind the scenes también, because of the rebrand personally for Quita Zuleta as well as CCJ, and, of course, some of you may know that we are relaunching my agency alongside my fellow, my fellow, my husband, my fellow husband, my business partner mejor dicho, um and our agency, which is a creative media marketing agency, zuleta unlimited. So we're in the middle of quite a few um rebrands and launches that are going to be scheduled out throughout the course of the summer, um, so there's a lot of things in the works, pero, I wanted to start this and open up this line of communication. I feel like it's gonna be the fastest way for me to be able to just talk to y'all whenever I'm able to, um, and then that way I can keep being here, um and and showing up for y'all, because, yeah, I'm done hiding. That's scary, but it's the truth. So I'm excited to keep showing up for y'all in here. I'm excited for those of y'all who are in the casita we're going to have our first official casita cafecito next week, which will be the first week of June, so keep an eye out for that.

Invitation for Grounding Breaths

Speaker 1 27:05

And if this is your first introduction to me, my name is Gita Zuleta, brand strategist, jefa coach, brand photographer, based in LA, and I serve HEFAs and teach them how to show up online using simple strategies to be able to monetize their business. So, if you are interested in working with me, I am serving one-on-one clients for six-week retainers or just brand intensives for 90 minutes or time audits for 45 minutes, so we have all kinds of different ways that I'd be honored to be able to walk alongside you and serve you Definitely have different brand photography offerings coming up here, especially in the summer, so keep an eye out. For those of you who are interested in working with me, I would be honored to walk alongside you and help you grow your brand and business online. Please book a consultation and I would be honored to hear about your brand, your vision, your dreams, um, and potentially getting to work with one another.

Speaker 1 28:11

So when? Thank you again for your time, have an amazing day and, if you allow me, I would love to invite you to join me for a few grounding breaths. Thank you, jefas Las amo. Have an amazing rest of your day, your week. Y pues aquí nos estamos hablando. Bye.