How To Turn ADHD Burnout Into Meaning

The most dangerous part of burnout is how normal it can look from the outside. You can be the one who “handles it,” gets promoted, keeps the family running, and still feel like you are disappearing behind a mask.

We sit down with Dr. Cristina Lauk, licensed mental health counselor and PhD in clinical psychology, to talk about ADHD, trauma, and nervous system regulation through the lens of midlife reinvention. Cristina shares how growing up as a hyperactive girl in an era that rarely recognized ADHD in girls created layers of shame and microaggressions that later showed up as complex trauma. We dig into the cost of high achievement when it is powered by othering, perfectionism, and chronic stress, and what happens when midlife finally makes the old strategy unsustainable.

From yoga, breathwork, and somatic movement to positive psychology and meaning making, Cristina explains how healing becomes practical and daily, not abstract. We explore how meaning reduces anxiety and protects against burnout by expanding cognitive bandwidth and building resilience, plus three concrete tools you can use right now: values tied to roles, journal prompts for post-traumatic growth, and a redemptive story exercise that helps integrate your past instead of fragmenting you. Most of all, Cristina offers a truth every woman in transition needs to hear: you can get off the broken path at any time, starting with a single decision and a few new choices.

If you are navigating midlife funk, ADHD overwhelm, identity loss, or trauma recovery, this conversation is a grounded place to start. Subscribe, share with a sister who needs it, and leave a review so more women can find their way back to their spark.

Connect with Dr. Louk:

www.peacehumanistic.com

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578177422671

https://www.youtube.com/@drcristinalouk

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinalouk/

https://medium.com/@cristinalouk

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Transcript

Welcome And Midlife Reinvention

Speaker 1 0:00

Hi, everybody. Thank you for coming today. Welcome back to the Find Your Lady Tribe podcast. I'm so excited to be continuing our discussion on the midlife funk, also known as all kinds of midlife transformations that we're all going through. And today I'm super excited and honored to have with us Dr. Cristina Lauk, a licensed mental health counselor and PhD. Sorry, got a little tongue-tied there. You've got a lot of little name, little acronyms in there. So uh I do. Welcome to the podcast. Welcome to the Find Your Lady Tribe Podcast. I'm your host, Brenda Richley. This is season four. We are deep diving into the heart of midlife reinvention. Here's the feeling that midlife fun. That sense that you've mastered your roles, but you've lost your spark. You are exactly where you need to be. This season is inspired by the framework of my upcoming book. Ignite your life's purpose and save the world. We're going to help you move from autopilot to on fire by hearing from incredible women who have reclaimed their own life force. It's time to stop just going through the motion and start living your next chapter with intention. Let's ignite that spark. Save the world, sister. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Awesome. Absolutely. So let me tell you a little bit about Dr. Cristina. Again, she's a licensed medical health counselor and PhD in clinical psychology who specializes in helping adults navigate ADHD, trauma, and nervous system regulation. As the founder of the Peace Humanistic Therapy and president-elect of the Washington Mental Health Counselors Association, she integrates her deep academic expertise with holistic practices like yoga, breath work, and somatic movement. Her work is deeply informed by her own personal journey with ADHD, allowing her to offer an empathetic, mind-body approach and transformative health. So again, welcome. Thank you for being here. And I just want to say I'm so uh honored, and uh, on behalf of our listeners, uh, that you are willing to share your midlife funk story and the highs and lows that got you here to where you are today, and probably the reason you do what you do. And we'll get to all of that, right? So if you what if you would just start us off and tell us a little bit about your story.

ADHD Childhood And School Mislabeling

Speaker 2:38

Yeah, you know, um, I was born a very hyperactive um child. My hyperactivity was very challenging to manage. I, my poor parents and family. Um, it was the 70s, and um, little girls didn't have ADHD back then, but it started in kindergarten when they sent me out to see my first psychologist. But back then they're like, meh, we don't know what to do. Um, sent me back to class. Um, in third grade, though, things hit ahead. They wanted to put me in special ed class because I supposedly couldn't read and couldn't do math, but I was reading 12th night at home. So go figure. So they sent me back um to get tested third grade 1980, 1980s. So they finally gave me my ADHD diagnosis. And unfortunately for the school, I didn't go to special ed. They wanted to butt me up a grade, they wanted me to move ahead. Um, my parents kept me in the same grade, but I went to advanced reading. They took me out of remedial reading and went to advanced reading, didn't realize my ADHD. I'm not gonna read Dick and Jane. Come on, I can do that. I'm reading 12th night at home. So I refused to. My justice sensitivity was was real back then, and I just refused, struggled. You know, my ADHD for me became chaos, it became shame. Why can't I, you know, function like everyone else? I'm I'm bright, I'm smart, I can pick things up. They tested my IQ, so I know I knew I was capable, but I felt broken. I felt behind. And that led all the way through. You know, I the school never treated me like I was smart, they never put me in advanced classes after third grade. I was always kind of held back a little bit. Um, college, my first time through, was a hot mess. I nobody taught me how to manage my ADHD. I was never medicated. Um, thankfully, my parents put me in ballet. Movement became the answer for managing my ADHD. Um, got medicated in my 20s, 30s, still struggled, you know, still was having a hard time. Owned a ballet school back then. But then everything that I tried to make meaning around started to collapse. You know, the external achievements no longer were were no longer working for me. They no longer were giving me the joy that I was seeking.

Speaker 1 4:56

Um, the mask I was just a moment too. Yeah. Um, as a child, when you are kind of being labeled and like something's different and all that, I mean, that's got to start creating some internal messages and internal tapes that

Microaggressions And Complex Trauma

Speaker 1 5:12

probably, I mean, maybe carry with you to this day.

Speaker 5:15

It created complex post-traumatic stress disorder because every little microaggression builds up over time. I heard every teacher's comment, I saw every adult who rolled their eyes at me, I heard every time sit down, be quiet. Why can't you? Why can't you? Why can't you? And you know, that so that that turns into this trauma over time. And so many of my clients who have ADHD don't even realize the microaggressions they experienced until now as adults when they're dealing with trauma and they're like, but I've never experienced a big traumatic experience.

Speaker 1 5:51

Right.

Speaker 5:51

Let's go back.

Speaker 1 5:52

Right. I mean, absolutely. We all it it seems like we have all have our own little story and and trauma happens at some point. And sometimes it carries on for decades and it's a it's like a growth. And I know we're going to talk about how you've overcome that and how you help others do that, but you mentioned, you know, during college and afterwards you, you know, you found movement and you it's it sounded like you were living some kind of successes that you weren't really uh aligning with, even though uh from the outside, for outside everything looked fine, it sounds like. But what you know, what was the version of your life of the world that you felt

Success With A Mask And Burnout

Speaker 1 6:32

and saw? What was the quiet whisper that you were hearing in your soul during that time?

Speaker 6:37

Yeah, I was so successful that um I always got the promotion, always got the job I was going for, owned the business, successful business. I on the outside, everyone who saw me thought, oh wow, she's got her, you know, stuff together and she has no problems. On the inside, I'm screaming. I'm screaming because I'm wearing this super heavy mask that's not me. It's not my authentic self. I'm trying to be you, somebody else. I'm trying to be a neurotypical person in this world and I'm not. Um, and it was no longer sustainable. And I was burning out, I was burning out so fast. Um, and there was a piece it was so ADHDs were super resilient. There was a part inside me that always saw ADHD as a strength. And I always felt, well, if you if you're gonna other me, then let's see what my other can do. Like I was gonna, you know, one up, yeah.

Speaker 1 7:30

I love that. You're if you're gonna other me, talk about that for a little bit.

Speaker 7:34

Yes, yeah. Well, I was never, I was never a part of. I was never a part, even my peers. I was never a part of. So fine. That's probably why I was so successful. If I'm gonna be othered, then I will be better. I will, I will succeed. What are you doing? Okay, I'm you want that job, I'm gonna be your boss. Like, cool, like let's go there. I have ADHD. It's not a weakness, it's a strength. I'm super resilient. Um, but we always we bounce back, but the trauma stays and it's still there. Um, and then it happened.

Dark Night And Values Wake Up

Speaker 8:10

Then you know, my 40s happened, and it all just came crashing down. And I had that classic dark night of the soul. And my dark night lasted for a decade, and um yeah, I couldn't wear the mask anymore.

Speaker 1 8:25

Was there a specific moment that you can recall that that you know instigated this dark night of the soul, like the the lowest of the low? Do you recall?

Speaker 8:38

Yeah, you know, I was I was moving through a religious deconstruction. There was a part of me that always felt uh that I believed in this other thing, and that started to trickle. And then three events happened within like a six-month period of time. And the events were simple. Like somebody who I was, you know, um, I would go to church with made a comment that sit didn't sit right with my values and made me almost sick to my stomach. I was teaching a Sunday school class. Little kid asked me a question, and I literally thought I can tell you what they want me to tell you and lie, or I can be honest and tell you what I think. And so my response was, go ask your mom. And then something happened within my family. And then when the thing happened with my family, it was like this blanket came off my head, like I saw everything clearly for the first time, and it got real dark. And I just realized, oh, how I was living my life had no meaning to me. I was living somebody else's life to fit into somebody else's little cookie cutter shape, and this is not sustainable, and so that day from the trigger from my family, that day pushed through um my decision that I'm gonna live my life for me and my husband and my kids, and I'm gonna live within my values, and I'm gonna live within my meaning and how I see my life. And my dark night, though it was a long, was a beautiful journey because I really got to see who I was inside.

Speaker 1 10:13

Oh, that's just love, lovely. I mean, and maybe you were at a point where you kind of had recognized your own values and goals again. Because I think a lot of times throughout our lives, our roles and whatever all the shoulds and all that kind of layer over the top of our own values and stuff. But it seems as though maybe you kind of had begun to recognize the the imbalance and how those were off. And yes, when you decided to pivot towards your passions and the life you wanted and the your own values, um, what were the biggest shoulds or fears that you had unmasked to

Unmasking Bravery And Fear

Speaker 1 10:55

move forward?

Speaker 10:56

Oh, that I had unmasked. Um one of them is that um I should be brave. Right. Um, that one when I went that that's a mask. A lot of times, you know, we see bravery, and is that truly authentic bravery or is that a mask? When I was a little kid, it was authentic. I was incredibly brave. But over time it hardened into this mask that I should be brave, right? I should be able to do anything because I did everything, right? And that should was humbling for me when I unmasked. Um, and and so that that's kind of if you look at like the a positive, like we don't want to, you know, bravery is such a positive, but that could have been, right? Um and then the other one is I should be afraid. I should be afraid. They didn't want me back then, and they're not gonna want me now. And so we have this polar polarized, right? I have this mask of bravery, but this authentic, I should be right, and as I'm asking. So how do I? And so I I leaned into my value of being humble, being humble. And in my, you know, when I work with clients, it's okay to be afraid. It's okay. It's through that fear we find our bravery. Bravery is not just a trait you have. When I was a little kid, I found it through I had to be resilient being kicked out of kindergarten, you know, having friends that didn't want to play with a hyperactive girl, you know, hyperactive kid. Um so those are the two for me that I think were really surprising. Um let's talk about the transformation itself a little bit.

Speaker 1 12:45

Yeah. Um, how did you move from the roles that you were playing before and those masks and the fear and the bravery to playing in the arena of your new values? Or your yeah, you're you're not new, the ones you just brought back.

Speaker 13:03

Uh well, I had to make it a drastic change.

Closing The Studio And Pivoting Careers

Speaker 13:06

Um, you know, nothing could change until change happened. And so I closed my dance school. Closed it.

unknown 13:12

Wow.

Speaker 13:12

Um, and and I had been teaching dance for 30 years. Um, and I had been dancing since I was, you know, seven. Um, and I closed my dance school. The that I was no longer authentically showing up, and I don't think I was authentically showing up for decades. I was I was playing a role, and then I leaned into my authentic true self, which is I am a helper, and that's where I find the purest joy, and went back to school. So it was this complete drastic life change that I needed to do. It was a in dance we call it a push-turn. It was literally a push-turn, it was a 180 pivot. I had to go back a little bit. I had to actually go back to my child. I wanted to be two things when I was little. I wanted to be a ballerina and a psychologist. And I had to actually go back, back to my youth, back to my my dreams. And so I'm like, I'm gonna go back and study clinical psychology, you know, great. And I did that and I started feeling more authentic and I started showing up in spaces more authentically, and the fear went away and the bravery started to develop. And I I only mask now when I have to MC something, and there's like 300 people in the crowd. Yeah, I'm gonna mask. And her name is Lola, and she's brilliant and fun and great, but in real life, you know, here, like today with you, you know, this is me. I'm quirky, I'm weird, um, and that's okay.

Speaker 1 14:43

Lovely. And so tell me, I can I imagine you got some kind of pushback from family that that are used to you in these certain roles, or or maybe they were all on board and said, Hey, yeah, you go for it. I mean, what what what did that look like with your, you know, your grow-up family, your current family? What was what how did they take it?

Speaker 15:06

Yeah, well, my husband and kids, they saw the authentic me. They saw the struggle, they knew what was going on. Um, and so they, I think, enjoyed me actually being more authentic all throughout. And through my authenticity, I regulated my nervous system. So I'm showing up peaceful. And so they're seeing it. I think my family of origin, um, although they've never verbalized to me, I think they struggled with it. Um, I was the troubled child, and that was the role. And so, you know, I'm still treated like, you know, the hot mess, to be honest. That's how that's how I felt. Um, and so I think they probably struggle. And I they probably see me still through that lens of, oh, she's she never could get it together, you know. Wow, wow. That's just my how I I picture it anyway. Just in the level of responsibility I'm given in the family. That's my perception.

Speaker 1 16:02

Yeah. Isn't it interesting those relationships and roles that really never you can uh they they just don't shift enough when you're yeah from those grow up grow up years.

Nervous System Regulation And Inner Medicine

Speaker 1 16:15

So hey lady, just wanted to take a moment and interrupt right now in the middle of the show to ask you to subscribe. Yes, press that button right now. This show is all about you, the mid-life woman. Let's do this thing together. So join us, subscribe now. Wow, so you basically did that pivot turn, uh the 180, and you closed a business that was open for how many years?

Speaker 16:45

Well, I've been teaching for 30. I had um this business specifically was only open for three, but I had a studio in California for five. So I've been doing it for a while. Yeah. Like I literally closed a 30-year career in one day.

Speaker 1 16:58

Yeah, I've I've closed a couple of businesses too, and I know it's not easy and a big decision. And then you go back to school and you start following your heart and you're following your your intuition. And so tell us, you know, what is life like today after making all those big shifts and just showing up for yourself?

Speaker 17:19

Life today is amazing. Um, last year I made the final push, and I do mantras instead of New Year's resolutions. So last year, my mantra was healer, heal thyself, like finish, finish it. We're done. And so I spent the whole year regulating my nervous system, learning all the different pranayama, really getting into my yoga practice, doing all the stuff I coach my clients to do, I'm doing now every day. By the end of the year, ha, I felt so good. So this year, and I had a realization that the medicine is already in you. Like you don't need to seek anything externally, it's in you. So this year's mantra is embody the medicine. So keep doing the stuff. So I'm continuing my yoga practice, I continue doing breath work, I continue showing up authentically and bravely. And I feel really good, honestly. I feel good, and I'm not anxious, my nervous system feels regulated. It's wonderful.

Speaker 1 18:22

I love it. You what you said about the medicine. I have a very good friend. Um, and she says, You are the medicine. So it's very similar mantra. Yes, yes, yes, and it is all within us. Uh, and we just have to look for it a little, or just sit with ourselves and and let the presence and silence and be you know be with us to guide us.

Speaker 18:48

You've nailed it right on the head. We need to sit in stillness, allow quiet to happen, and then the magic will appear. Quiet the uh in yoga, we call this the chit-riti, the soap opera in our head. You know, we got to quiet that so we can just hear, hear what our higher self is telling us. Yes, hear what that path is so we can actually do what we're supposed to do instead of playing these silly little games.

Speaker 1 19:17

Yes, my favorite mentoring guru Eckhart Tolle says the magic is in the pauses, the space between the words. We as a society just run around with earbuds in. Something's coming in to us all the time. We can't even take a beautiful lovely walk without downloading a podcast or something like that. Hey, listen to the podcast, ladies. We we we want you here, but uh, we need to have specific time for our inner being to be able to come forward, don't you think?

Speaker 19:49

For sure. And I, you know, we do, we we need to have our external world in balance with how we treat our internal world. And if we respect the internal world then and don't have this imbalance, then we won't feel that chaos that a lot of us in society are feeling right now with just this constant barrage of external things. You know, what I do is I balance it. I have my podcast and my people that I listen to that so that encourage me and don't shove negativity down my throat. And then I take my pauses, I have my yoga practice, I go and take space to process all that stuff coming in. So that's what we need is just balance.

Speaker 1 20:32

Well, Dr. Cristina, let's go back just a little bit. I and to into your own story.

Meaning Across Decades And Identity Shifts

Speaker 1 20:37

Um, how has your understanding of meaning changed across the different seasons in your life?

Speaker 20:45

Oh, gosh, that's such a great question because it really, really has. Um, just to start at the beginning, so ADHD, one of the what the neurotypicals are gonna call a weakness is actually a great strength in us, is that we have a deep need for meaning. If we have a meaning for something, then we have motivation to do that thing. And if there's no meaning, uh, we're gonna get distracted, we're not gonna do it. It's just a part of us. And that everyone says that's you know, it's so bad. Why do you always need to know why? We're the why kids. Why, why, why? But as we learn in positive psychology, meaning actually brings you peace, less anxiety. It enhances, you know, your ability to think more creatively. So as I got kind of got older, I was able to lean in, not knowing um what it meant to have the meaning in my life until I got my education. And now I have more depth. But in my 20s and 30s, you know, it was really who am I? Why am I here? You know, is it is it my career or is it my calling? And I was reading like every religious book, like my whole religious search. I was I grew up Christian, I'm now Buddhist. But I read, I read all of it, like every Religion. I was like, well, what do you believe? Okay, well, what do you believe? Well, I like that. I'm gonna take that, but I don't like that. Well, what do you believe? You know, I was searching, but it was this imbalance. Do I focus on my career? Do I focus on my soul? Do I focus on my relationships and my attachment patterns? Do I just live in my ADHD? And and you know, it was crazy. Early motherhood also was a part of that, right? You know, who am as I am a mom? Am I even capable of being a mom? Um, but it started to shift. It went from am I enough to what matters to me? You know, and that what matters to me began in my in my 40s. And that's when I did that, you know, push-turn 180 pivot, right? This is no longer mattering to me. I want to be of service. How do I do that? And so then the meaning became really, really different. I started to look at um reevaluating my identity beyond just the role I played, LA teacher, you know, mom. You know, now I'm a student, you know, I'm more than all of that. Um, I started to look toward post-traumatic growth and stopped blaming them for what they did to me and going, thank you for doing that to me, because it made me a better person. Right. And I used to tell people, I had a friend a long time ago, because I used to get teased because I hybrid a girl, how do you take it? She said, and I said, I'd rather have them do it to me than that one over there. I can take it. So, like, right? So that's cool. Like, I thank you for doing that to me because I'm a better person for it now. Tro post-traumatic growth and starting compassion and self-agent, you know, agency, self-compassion and agency. And now I'm in my 50s and I things are shifting again, you know, and and as I'm gonna be moving, you know, through my 50s and into my 60s, I'm assuming I'm gonna be doing more life integration, you know, reviewing where I've been so I can then see where I'm going. Um, I'm hope, hopefully, we'll do some legacy creation. You know, my my daughter and her spouse are trying to have a baby, right? And so that's gonna be something different, right? And so, and then, you know, I want to continue my growth, my spiritual transcendence growth and and my and my study with with my with with my teachers and mentors. And and I know when you and I first discussed, um, one of my spiritual mentors, and I would love to meet her in person, is Carolyn Mays. You know, I want to embrace the knowledge coming into me, integrate it into my life, and then share with others because what I'm learning is actually healing me. And then how do I get that so I can be of service? And so my meaning has shifted through the decades. Um, but you can see kind of a theme, and maybe it's the existential crisis in all of us, that theme of why am I here?

Speaker 1 25:11

Yeah.

Speaker 25:11

What am I what am I supposed to be doing here?

Speaker 1 25:14

Right. So um back to just the whole question of meaning and how that's changed you. How I know there's a lot of women out there who are kind of searching for that. They don't know what that meaning is and they don't really are sure how to find it. Do you have any recommendations or what worked for

Three Practical Meaning-Making Tools

Speaker 1 25:31

you?

Speaker 25:31

I do. In fact, I printed out some three really practical tools because I was hoping you would ask this question, because I want to give people like something to take home with them today that they can actually do to develop meaning. And I came up with three tools because we're all different. You're gonna hear one and go, oh, that's not one, that's not for me. Um, so let me go over them really quick and see if maybe any of your listeners might resonate with some of them. So if you are a journaler, there is two kind of journal prompts that will help build post-traumatic growth and agency. The first one starts like this because of this hardship, I have developed. And then fill in the blank, right? And then the other one is in spite of this challenge, I choose to fill in the blank. I love this exercise because for me, it helped me see that whatever happened to me as a kid made me stronger, made me more able and capable of taking and doing that. So we need to start acknowledging that and we can make meaning behind that. So let's say you're not a journaler. We all aren't. So the next one is list all of your main roles, you know, partner, professional, mother, friend, creator, caregiver, whatever the role is, and then ask yourself what value do I want to embody in each role? Great. So now we're attaching your roles to the values you want to put forward, and that solidifies um in your brain your values and it reconnects your behavior to your meaning instead of your obligation, which is huge, right?

Speaker 2 27:10

Right.

Speaker 27:11

Because sometimes obligation creates expectations, which creates resentment. But if we have meaning behind it, it changes it. Yeah. And then the final one, this is again for the writers, um, it's the redemptive story exercise. Um, you you're gonna write either a painful chapter of your life, um, you're gonna talk about what it cost you, what it taught you, and who you are becoming because of it. And by doing this, it'll integrate your suffering into your identity rather than fragmenting it. And that's part of trauma, you know, what we do in trauma therapy. We're trying to integrate our trauma instead of separating it out. So those three kind of exercises can help start the question of what meaning is in your what it, what your values and how that brings meaning into your life, and then helps you on your path, your healing path for sure.

Speaker 1 28:04

Yeah, I think that would be very helpful. It sounds like an excellent, excellent exercise. So, um, how does this meaning making protect women from anxiety, burnout, identity loss, etc.?

Positive Psychology On Anxiety And Burnout

Speaker 28:18

Oh, well, it let's go into positive psychology. So, this is where my dissertation was in, and so exciting about the research. Um, so there is a lot of research in positive emotions and meaning making, we're really dealing with values and those emotions that we want to, you know, have more of, like pride, awe, joy, contentment, right? And make meaning around having a more peaceful life. Well, the research in positive emotions show that if you have more positive, let me backtrack negative emotions cause cortisol, cause early death, heart attack. Someone said cancer. Some I was just gonna say some studies show cancer. Um, so negative emotions are bad. So, what does positive emotions do? Well, the research shows that positive emotions actually broaden and build. And let me explain. Broaden, it broadens our cognitive abilities, it makes us have more space in our brain. We're more creative, more divergent thinking. Um, it does immense stuff to our cognitive abilities. So the build part is it builds more resilience in your physical body. You'll have less physical illness, you'll be more resilient against all the bacteria and viruses. Um, there is so many positive aspects to positive emotions that we should be implementing them into our daily life intentionally. Um, and so by putting meaning into your life, you're gonna notice initially less anxiety cognitively. You're gonna start having those ruminations because you're gonna be starting to think about your values, how you show up in the world, what you want from the world. The secondary piece is you're gonna start to see nervous system regulation. You know, you're gonna have less fight, flight, freeze, play, dead, less fawning behavior. And then kind of the last piece of it is you're gonna finally feel like you're comfortable in your own skin and you're showing up authentically in the world. That feels and happy and content. And then stressors can come, but you you have this cognitive bandwidth that's huge. You're regulated, stressors come and you're like, oh, let's problem solve this, instead of oh, let's freak out. I can't handle this, right? So um, yeah, meaning making is going to enrich your life in ways beyond just making you feel good in the moment. Continually trying to seek meaning in your life is gonna have long-term benefits beyond just feeling good. You're gonna actually feel good physically, mentally, spiritually, psychically, psych psychically. Love it.

Speaker 1 31:06

Oh, thank you.

Choose A New Path And Take Action

Speaker 1 31:08

So, Dr. Cristina, thinking of the women listening right now, um, who are still in her own version of the mid-life funk or some kind of transition. Yeah, what is the one truth that you've learned through your journey that you want them to especially hear today?

Speaker 31:28

Yeah, you can get off that path at any time. You're choosing to stay on that path. What it took for me was the minute I said, I am done. This path is broken. That's a better path for me. And I always call, I always refer to the healing path because I was not on a healing path. I was on a path for you to, I don't know, accept me, figure me out, who knows what path I was on. It was dark, it was dingy, it was crazy, it was overgrown. You can make that decision right now. You can say, I am done. And you can step off that path. And you do that by making different choices every day. Instead of picking up the cigarette, don't instead of going to the um fridge for the ice cream because you're stressed out, don't do something else. You know, change. Um, it takes you, and it's the it's the decision. I am no longer gonna stay on this path. That's when the magic starts. You've you've already changed.

Speaker 1 32:25

I love it. I love it. Another one of my mentors, Abraham Hicks, kind of just says, look at what you want. Just ignore what you don't want. Don't even look at it. Look at what you want and go towards it.

Speaker 32:39

Yes, exactly. Exactly. But you got to make that decision to do it. So let's, you know, to all your listeners today, why not now? Let's make it now together as a collective and let our feminine energy kind of rise up and let's use that so we can all move toward a healing path.

Speaker 1 33:02

Absolutely, because we need every one of you. We need what your given gifts are to bring forward in this world to make it all it can be. And so absolutely, we need you at your best. So, gosh, Dr. Christine, I love everything you've shared. And I know that our listeners are totally yeah, tuned in and resonating.

Where To Find Dr. Lauk

Speaker 1 33:24

Where can our lady tribe find you online? You know, so they can keep this conversation going.

Speaker 33:30

Oh, for sure. So my website is Peace, like in peace, on P-E-A-C-E humanistic.com. Um, you can see all of the ways to connect with me there. You can also find me on LinkedIn, Dr. Cristina Lauk. I publish a weekly article on my blog on my website, which I also publish on LinkedIn. It is specifically for ADHD and trauma. It is science backed. I mean, I have a full reference section so you can look at the studies I'm referencing. I talk about justice sensitivity, rejection, sensitive, rejection sensitive dysphoria. I talk more than just like use the Pomodoro timer. I really get into um the nitty-gritty of ADHD and trauma. So if you're interested in that kind of stuff, you can find me either on my website or um via LinkedIn. And I publish weekly and it's free. Wonderful.

Speaker 1 34:22

Absolutely wonderful. And we'll put all of Dr. Cristina's links in the comment section, bio section of wherever you're listening to this, all right. So um I ask every guest this

Connection As Tribe And Closing

Speaker 1 34:36

because connection is the cure, if you ask me. So, Dr. Cristina, how do you tribe?

Speaker 34:45

Yeah, so I really go back to um how our the our species communes and it's usually around food. And so I'm always trying to like bring us around. Let's go have lunch, you know, let's go sit down and share a meal together. Um, I think that is a really important piece that a lot of us have gotten away from in our busy world of going through the drive-thru. No, go sit down at a restaurant with a friend, pause, enjoy your food, enjoy your conversation, enjoy the moment. And um, so that's how I really like to engage with my tribe is around food. You know, my family's coming over, it's like, what are we gonna eat? What are we gonna come together and enjoy together? Um, so that's how I do it.

Speaker 1 35:38

I love that. I love I love food. I love to have a meal with you, Dr. Cristina. And if I might add, especially if you're at a restaurant, put those devices away for that little one hour that you're together because we don't need any distractions with our time's limited, and this is special. And turn off the vibration mode. We hear that. Turn it on silent. We don't need any distractions. I'm a squirrel. Anyway, I don't need any that. Yeah, yeah. Awesome. Well, hey, this has just been lovely visiting with you. I am so grateful. And so thank you so much for your vulnerability, for your sharing your beautiful work and your passions and your spark with us today. Um, you've just given us a lot to think about. And I I highly recommend that uh listeners out there connect with Dr. Cristina, especially, I mean, trauma ADHD, I think she's an expert and she can she can help if you're kind of floundering in that area. So, and our listeners, you know, thank you so much for tuning in. You know, if this story resonates with you, please put some comments in, share it with a friend who might not need to hear this message. Definitely uh follow the Find Your Lady Tribe podcast. We're building this tribe, we're building this community and the Save the World Sisterhood so that uh like Dr. Cristina said, you know, we're all going to bring our power forth together collectively and make a huge difference in this world. And you are a part of that. So again, thank you for being here with us today. And when three or more gather, we are tribe. Thank you for spending this time with your lady tribe. I always say that when three or more gather, we are tribe. And today, with my guests, myself, and you listening in, that circle is complete. I hope this story reminded you that your purpose is worth the pursuit. If this episode stirs something with you, please click a button. Subscribe, like, and leave a comment. Your engagement helps other sisters find their way to our circle. If you're ready to take the next step in your own transformation, I invite you to join our gathering place. The Save the World Sister Save the Group. It's where we unpack, connect, and cheer each other on as we ignite our lives together. I'm Brenda Ridgley. Save the world, sister.