Welcome to Noticing the Ordinary

Welcome to Noticing the Ordinary

It's June 22nd. In four days it'll be 20 years since I lost my mom to breast cancer, she was 49. I'm 49 now. And this week, I found a lump in my left breast. The timing is eerie, and I'm trying not to panic. This is the moment this podcast was born out of.

This episode is for you if...

• you want to know what this whole podcast is actually about before diving in
• you're autistic, ADHD, or just someone who notices things other people walk right past
• you're carrying grief, heavy timing, or complicated family stuff and want company, not toxic positivity
• you like the idea of small moments: glimmers, wonder (whatever you call them) being enough, without needing to go "look" for them

This is the origin story episode, why I'm starting this podcast, what it's really about, and why it's not about giving you homework or another thing to do. I talk about the last few years being genuinely hard, about parenting a child with high support needs and the grief that comes with a life that looks different than I imagined, and about a daddy long legs in my kitchen that stopped me in my tracks. 

This podcast is about noticing what's already there. 

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why I'm launching this podcast now, and the 20-year anniversary that shaped the timing
• What "noticing the ordinary" actually means, and what this podcast isn't (spoiler: it's not toxic positivity)
• Being autistic and ADHD, and noticing things other people miss
• Parenting a child with high support needs, and the grief that comes with an unexpected path
• The daddy long legs story, and why I didn't pick it up and throw it outside

Let's get noticing together.

Noticing the Ordinary is produced by Award Winning Vancouver photographer Michele Mateus. If this episode caught you, subscribe so you never miss a beat!

Please Note: This podcast is about personal sharing, not professional advice. So if you're going through something please reach out to a professional who can really help. I've added some resources to my podcast homepage, so make sure to check those out. https://www.mateusstudios.com/podcast/

Noticing the Ordinary is produced by Michele Mateus.
If this episode caught you, subscribe so you never miss a beat!
 
Please Note: This podcast is about personal sharing, not professional advice. So if you're going through something please reach out to a professional who can really help. I've added some resources to my podcast homepage, so make sure to check those out.https://www.mateusstudios.com/podcast/
 

Transcript

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It's June 22nd, 2026. I just wrote down on my Monday morning to-do list the week of June 26. I always put the last day of the week when I'm thinking about what I need to accomplish in this week, and June 26, it is a date that feels like a gut punch In 2006, June 2026, I lost my mother to breast cancer. She was 49 years old 20 years later, I am 49 years old. And well, I found a lumpity lump lump in my left breast. And don't worry, let's not panic. I'm trying not to panic, but the timing couldn't be more eerie Hi, my name is Michelle Limateas, and welcome to Noticing the Ordinary, where we're gonna get up close to the everyday moments that somehow crack open into something extraordinary. I'm a photographer, a newbie gardener, I'm autistic and ADHD, and I'm that person in life who stops mid-conversation to point out a sticker on a pole that everyone honestly just walked past. I'm completely unscripted. Sometimes I cuss, so sorry. Not sorry, 'cause that's who I am. I love to wander record stores and eat poutine. And as a photographer, something that's been reflected back at me many times in my life is, "How did you notice that? Wow, I didn't even see that. It's amazing that you saw that. I've never seen that in myself." And in the last little while, it's come up that, "You should have a podcast." And here's something really funny. I did. I tried to have a podcast a year and a half ago, and I loved the idea, and I had so much energy going into it, but it just wasn't feeling right. And so I got really frustrated, and life was still really quite heavy. Honestly, it really is still in this moment as I'm recording. But people keep telling me, "You're such a good storyteller. You have so many wonderful things to share." I often go sharing on Instagram stories, and people are always in my DMs thanking me for what I shared So as I reflected on all of these things and bringing them together and realizing that's it, one of the things that I think I am great at, and we all need to think about what are we great at? For me, it's really, it is. It's about noticing the ordinary. Yesterday... Let me tell you a story about yesterday. There was this daddy long legs in my kitchen, and I was washing up after dinner, and I saw it there, and it just took my breath away, and I was like, "It is like it's dancing in midair. I wish I could do that." And I stayed there, and I watched this daddy long legs for quite a while. Now, some people might have picked it up and thrown it outside, but no, I was like, "Check this daddy long legs out." It was so cool so what's this podcast gonna be all about? It's gonna be unscripted solo musings sharing ordinary things that I've noticed throughout my days, like that super cool daddy long legs. Sometimes it can feel really fricking hard to be alive. Like, we do not wanna get out of bed. Trust me, I know that feeling And hey, even when we can't get out of bed, I think there's something there somewhere that can still bring us a little bit of wonder and a reminder. You know those little glimmers that people talk about? They're there And I hope that in sharing some of the things that I've noticed, it will remind you that they're there for you too things that have made me pause in awe, in wonder, or even in those holy shit moments things that have taken my breath away, things that remind me that I'm still alive And I think, that's the point. This podcast isn't about trying to give you something to do or going to look for the ordinary in your everyday, because that's not the point. Because that's not the point. The point isn't to go looking for the ordinary, because the ordinary is always there. So this podcast is a little reminder, and I'm really excited about sharing more with you, having conversations, and noticing what comes up So what else should I share with you that's important for you to know? Well, this podcast was really born out of not just the whole timing of 20 years of my mom being passed away Over the last three years hasn't been easy I think we've all really had so many things that we're carrying. One of the things I'm carrying is the fact that I have a child with really high support needs, and there's a lot of grief involved when you realize that you don't have the family you thought you would have, that your role as a mother is way more complex than you ever could have imagined, and that it brings up a lot of gunk for you to work on Working on that gunk Oh man, I'm so grateful for a good therapist. Um, it's not easy, right? We all know that And I can't help but reflect on the fact that it's such an immense privilege to be able to work on it. It's such an immense privilege to be here, to be sharing these thoughts with you, even on those days where it doesn't feel like it's a privilege, you know? This isn't about toxic positivity either, friends, 'cause I'm so not into that. But it is about magic and wonder and slowing down the key thing is that I wanted to say, surprise! I'm launching another podcast, and I'm really excited about, I don't know, the thesis if you will, of what this one's gonna be centered on I'm really happy that you're here listening, and I can't wait to share more with you. And if there's one thing I can leave you with today is that the ordinary is there. It's there for us all. We don't need to go looking for it We just need to be receptive. And those little moments, some call them glimmers, some call them magic, some call them wonders They're there And I can't wait to hear about yours, and I can't wait to share about some of the ordinary moments that happen in my daily life, as well as share with others theirs All right, folks. All right, folks. That's it for today. There's no homework, there's no hustle. There's just a reminder to be aware of what's around. You never know when the next daddy long leg is gonna be dancing in front of you. Don't pick it up and throw it outside. Take a moment. Stick with it. Check out its cool little serenade that it's offering you. It might bring you that moment of awe that you really need. All right, I'll see you next time