Inside the Pickle Jar: Connecting with the Spectrum

Week Two of the Creative Dream Year is a gift. And it starts next week. 

Not a task. Not a checklist. A place to go inside your own mind where everything you need is already there.

SARK sends us on a luxury train ride, a guided visualization she calls "A Gift for You." It is a resting place for the creative mind, a journey for the imagination, and an invitation to let your brain open up instead of clench shut.

Before we get there, we return to the big ideas of the Fantastic First Month. The ones worth saying more than once:

The four foundations we are living with all month:

• You cannot choose the wrong dream
• Many dreams are undercover...in drawers, closets, and computers...and more time never comes
• Your dream has a life stage, and knowing which one changes how you care for it
• Naming your dream makes it more real

Week Two - A Gift for You:
SARK sends you on a luxury train ride. All the inspiring people you've ever wanted to meet are there. So is every book you've ever wanted to read. Time stands still if you nap. And you can board this train any time you want.

Your invitation for next week:
Try the visualization. Actually try it. Lie down, read it slowly, or listen back to this episode somewhere comfortable. Then write down anything that came up, an image, a feeling, a person who showed up. Dreams use imagery. Pay attention to what your imagination offers when you give it permission.

Come tell us what you found in the Weird Girls Club community especially on the meeting videos on all socials.

GET THE BOOK

Make Your Creative Dreams Real by SARK
 Available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743269241 

GET THE ZINE

Permission to Begin - A Creative Year Zine | Month 1

A printable zine companion to this month's chapter. Eight panels to fold, fill in, and carry with you all month. Also available as a physical packet with ephemera and stickers.

Available in the shop at insidethepicklejar.com

https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com/products/permission-to-begin-a-creative-year-zine-month-1-a-pickle-jar-zine-digital-download?variant=67537069965547

https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com/products/untitled-sep27_18-48-05?variant=67537935565035

JOIN THE WEIRD GIRLS CLUB

The community where we are doing this together — all year long.

https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com/collections/weird-girls-club

FREE RESOURCE

Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain
A free guide that does the explaining for you.

https://insidethepicklejar.com/

MISSED AN EPISODE?

Episode 109 - Fantastic First Month, Week One: A Game or Something to Try
We created our Creative Dream Guidebooks and named our dreams for the first time.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/2378499/episodes/19870160-fantastic-first-month-finding-and-naming-your-dream-the-creative-dream-year-1

Episode 108 - A Letter to My AuDHD Self — and maybe yours
The episode that announced the Creative Dream Year.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/2378499/episodes/19797701-a-letter-to-my-younger-audhd-self-and-maybe-yours

WHAT IS COMING NEXT

Week Three of the Fantastic First Month...Naming your dream goes deeper. SARK is going to ask you something that might be harder than you expect.

Subscribe so you do not miss it.

CONNECT WITH TONYA

🥒 Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com 

📬 Get "4 Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain" (free): https://www.insidethepicklejar.com 

🕸️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org 

🚇 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethepicklejar_ 

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidethepicklejar_ 

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver

IF THIS EPISODE RESONATED

Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who has a creative dream sitting in a drawer.

It is time to take it out.

Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar.

#InsideThePickleJar #WeirdGirlsClub #CreativeDreamYear #SARK #MakeYourCreativeDreamsReal #AuDHD #Neurodivergent #ADHD #Autism #NDCommunity #PickleFriends #NeurodivergentWomen #CreativeDreams #GiftForYou #Visualization #MicroMovements #PermissionToBegin

Support the show

Today is the first episode of the Creative Dream Year.

The Weird Girls Club is spending twelve months working through Make Your Creative Dreams Real by SARK, month by month, week by week, micro-movement by micro-movement. And this is where we begin.

We are in the Fantastic First Month: Finding and Naming Your Dream. And Week One has one simple game to try: create your Creative Dream Guidebook. A blank book, a journal, loose paper clipped together anything that gives your dream a place to live outside your head.

Because naming your dream makes it more real. And more real means more possible.

This episode also covers the big ideas we will be living with all month. The ones we will return to every week of October as our foundation.

The four big ideas of the Fantastic First Month:

• You cannot choose the wrong dream
• Many dreams are undercover...in drawers, closets, and computers waiting for "someday" that never comes
• Your dream has a life stage and knowing which one changes how you care for it
• Naming your dream makes it more real

Week One - A Game or Something to Try: Create your Creative Dream Guidebook. Give your dream a home on paper. That is your first micro-movement.

Your homework this week: Name your dream. Even roughly. Even imperfectly. Write it down somewhere and then come tell us what it is in the comments, in the community, anywhere you feel safe saying it out loud.

Because talking about dreams expands them. And we are here to expand together.

GET THE BOOK

Make Your Creative Dreams Real by SARK Available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743269241 

GET THE ZINE

Permission to Begin - A Creative Year Zine | Month 1

You can use any paper you would like. If you want the printed zine I use in the YouTube video there is a printable zine companion to this month's chapter. Eight panels to fold, fill in, and carry with you all month.

Available in the shop at insidethepicklejar.com

https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com/products/permission-to-begin-a-creative-year-zine-month-1-a-pickle-jar-zine-digital-download?variant=67537069965547

JOIN THE WEIRD GIRLS CLUB

The community where we are doing this together — all year long.

Weird Girls Club – Inside the Pickle Jar

FREE RESOURCE

Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain A free guide that does the explaining for you.

https://www.insidethepicklejar.com

MISSED THE ANNOUNCEMENT EPISODE?

Episode 108: A Letter to My Younger AuDHD Self (and maybe yours) The final episode of the Weird Girls Club introductory series and the one that announced the Creative Dream Year. https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/2378499/episodes/19797701-a-letter-to-my-younger-audhd-self-and-maybe-yours

WHAT IS COMING NEXT

Week Two of the Fantastic First Month - A Gift for You. SARK sends us somewhere beautiful. Stay tuned.

Subscribe so you do not miss it.

CONNECT WITH TONYA

🥒 Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com 

🕸️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org 

🚇 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethepicklejar_ 

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidethepicklejar_ 

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver

IF THIS EPISODE RESONATED

Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who has a creative dream sitting in a drawer.

It is time to take it out.

Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar.

#InsideThePickleJar #WeirdGirlsClub #CreativeDreamYear #SARK #MakeYourCreativeDreamsReal #AuDHD #Neurodivergent #ADHD #Autism #NDCommunity #PickleFriends #NeurodivergentWomen #October1 #CreativeDreams #PermissionToBegin #MicroMovements

Support the show

This is the one I saved for last.

Because I think it is the most important one.

We have talked about the things we do that look weird but make complete sense. We have talked about the friendship thing and why connection is so hard and so intense for our brains. Today I want to do something different.

I want to write a letter.

To the younger version of you. The one who was figuring all of this out without a map. Without language. Without anyone who could tell her what was actually happening in her brain.

This is what we wish someone had said to us earlier.

In this letter:

• The exhaustion is real and it has a name
• Your intensity is not a flaw, it is a gift for the right people
• The unspoken rules were never obvious to everyone
• Your brain has superpowers too
• It is okay to not know who you are yet
• You were always going to be okay

And one more thing:

Something big is coming October 1. The Weird Girls Club is redefining new year, and we are spending a full year doing something together. Listen to the end to find out what.

JOIN THE WEIRD GIRLS CLUB

The Weird Girls Club is for AuDHD women who are done pretending and ready to be known exactly as they are.

Weird Girls Club – Inside the Pickle Jar

SOMETHING BIG IS COMING OCTOBER 1

Starting October 1 the Weird Girls Club is spending a full year reading Make Your Creative Dreams Real by SARK...month by month, week by week, micro-movement by micro-movement.

Go order the book now so you have it in your hands before we begin.

Make Your Creative Dreams Real by SARK, available on Amazon and wherever books are sold. Here is the Amazon link: https://a.co/d/02f7oWpp (it is NOT an affiliate link. I make $0 on the purchase. I just wanted to make is easy for you to find.)

FREE RESOURCE

Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain A free guide that does the explaining for you.

https://www.insidethepicklejar.com

THIS IS EPISODE 108 — THE END OF THE FIRST WEIRD GIRLS CLUB SERIES

Episode 106: The Things We Do That Look Weird But Make Complete Sense https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/2378499/episodes/19725412-the-things-we-do-that-look-weird-but-make-complete-sense

Episode 107: The Friendship Thing https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/2378499/episodes/19762550-the-friendship-thing-why-it-s-so-hard

The Weird Girls Club series continues October 1 with something bigger than we have done before. Subscribe so you do not miss it.

CONNECT WITH TONYA

🥒 Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com 

📬 Get "4 Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain" (free): https://www.insidethepicklejar.com 

💌 Join the Pen Pal Club: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com/the-jar/ 

🕸️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org 

🚇 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethepicklejar_ 

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidethepicklejar_ 

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver

IF THIS EPISODE RESONATED

Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with the younger woman in your life who needs to hear that she was never too much.

She needs to find the jar.

Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar.

#InsideThePickleJar #WeirdGirlsClub #Neurodivergent #ADHD #Autism #AuDHD #LetterToMyYoungerSelf #NDCommunity #PickleFriends #NeurodivergentWomen #YouWereNeverTooMuch #LateIDiagnosis #October1 #SARK #CreativeDreams

Support the show

Nobody tells you that friendship is supposed to feel this hard.

You watch other people make friends effortlessly, at work, at parties, in class, and you wonder what you are missing. What the unwritten rulebook says that everyone else seems to have already read.

And then when you do find someone who gets it, really gets it, you love them with your whole heart and excellent memory and complete devotion. And sometimes that is too much for the person receiving it. And you learn, slowly and painfully, to turn it down.

This episode is about all of it. The making. The losing. The loving too hard. And why none of it means you are broken.

In this episode:

• Why making friends is genuinely harder for AuDHD brains and what is actually happening neurologically

• The specific ways we lose friendships without ever understanding what went wrong

• Time blindness and the friendship gap - why silence reads as indifference when it is anything but

• What it means to love with the full force of an AuDHD heart

• Why the right people will not ask you to turn it down

• What the Weird Girls Club is for

JOIN THE WEIRD GIRLS CLUB

The Weird Girls Club is for AuDHD women who are done pretending and ready to be known exactly as they are.

Weird Girls Club – Inside the Pickle Jar

FREE RESOURCE

Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain

DOWNLOAD

Previous episode: Episode 106 — The Things We Do That Look Weird But Make Complete Sense

LINK

FIND ME

🥒 Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com 

🕸️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org 

🚇 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethepicklejar_ 

📸 Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/tonya_weaver_coach 

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver

Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar. 💚

Hashtags:

#InsideThePickleJar #WeirdGirlsClub #Neurodivergent #ADHD #Autism #AuDHD #TheFriendshipThing #NDCommunity #PickleFriends #NeurodivergentWomen #YouAreNotTooMuch #LateIDiagnosis

Support the show

Welcome to the Weird Girls Club.

This is a new series inside Inside the Pickle Jar for the woman who has always felt a little too much, a little too intense, a little too different. The one who figured out early that certain parts of herself needed to stay hidden in order to belong. The one who is done pretending.

We are starting with the things we do that look weird from the outside but make complete and total sense once you understand how our brains actually work.

The stimming that everyone told you to stop. The conversations you rehearse in your head before you have them. The same outfit worn until it is genuinely unwearable. The same meal eaten for three weeks straight until you suddenly cannot stand it.

You are not weird. You are wired differently. And there is a jar full of people who do exactly what you do.

In this episode:

• What stimming actually is and why stopping it makes focus worse, not better
• Why scripting conversations in advance is adaptive and resourceful, not anxious
• The nervous system logic behind wearing the same outfit and eating the same meal on repeat
• Why these things are not flaws — they are your brain being extremely smart about conserving its resources
• An introduction to the Weird Girls Club and what it is for

JOIN THE WEIRD GIRLS CLUB

The Weird Girls Club is officially open.

It is the community for AuDHD women who are done pretending and ready to be known exactly as they are.

Weird Girls Club – Inside the Pickle Jar

FREE RESOURCE

If there is someone in your life who still thinks the things you do are weird rather than wired, I made something that might help explain it.

Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain A free guide that does the explaining for you.

https://www.insidethepicklejar.com

THIS IS EPISODE 106

Starting our third year. One hundred and six episodes. Thank you for being here for every single one of them.

The jar exists because you kept showing up. And so do we.

MORE FROM THE WEIRD GIRLS CLUB SERIES

This is the first episode in the Weird Girls Club series. More coming soon:

• The Friendship Thing - why making and keeping friends is so much harder than anyone realizes
• What We Wish Someone Had Said to Us Earlier - a letter to the younger version of you

Subscribe so you do not miss them.

CONNECT WITH TONYA

🥒 Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com 

📬 Get "4 Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain" (free): https://www.insidethepicklejar.com 

💌 Join the Pen Pal Club: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com/the-jar/ 

🕸️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org 

🚇 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethepicklejar_ 

📸 Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/tonya_weaver_coach 

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver

IF THIS EPISODE RESONATED

Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a woman in your life who has always felt a little too much.

She needs to find the jar.

Reviews help other neurodivergent adults find us.

Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar.

#InsideThePickleJar #WeirdGirlsClub #Neurodivergent #ADHD #Autism #AuDHD #NDCommunity #PickleFriends #NeurodivergentWomen #Stimming #Scripting #NeurodivergentLife #YouAreNotWeird #LateIDiagnosis #Episode106

Support the show

Meet Eleanor.

She is bright blue, she has three eyes, and she sees absolutely everything.

Eleanor is the Focus Sprite, the last character in the Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood, and she represents something that I think is one of the most misunderstood experiences in the neurodivergent world. Not a deficit of attention. A deficit of attention filtering. Eleanor is not failing to pay attention. She is paying attention to everything simultaneously, all the time, without being able to easily decide what matters and what does not.

She is the reason you notice things other people miss. The reason sensory environments cost so much. The reason certain spaces feel impossible and certain others feel like home. And the reason your brain, when it is in the right conditions, sees connections and patterns that genuinely extraordinary minds are built to see.

This is also a milestone episode. Inside the Pickle Jar is entering its third year. And I want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has been in this space, who has shared these episodes, who has told someone else that they finally found the language they were looking for. The jar exists because you kept showing up. And I am so glad you are here.

In this episode:

• Meet Eleanor, the Focus Sprite - the sixth and final character in the Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood
• What distractibility actually is - and why attention filtering is a more accurate description than attention deficit
• What it costs to live in a brain that processes everything consciously
• The gift Eleanor carries - pattern recognition, perceptiveness, and a kind of intelligence the world has not always known what to do with
• A milestone moment - Inside the Pickle Jar enters its third year

FREE RESOURCE

If there is someone in your life who still thinks your distractibility is a choice or a lack of effort, I made something that might help explain what is actually happening.

Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain A free guide that does the explaining for you.

https://www.insidethepicklejar.com

MEET THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD

Now that Eleanor has joined the jar, all six characters are here:

• Emily - The Time Blindness Goblin
• Lily - The Executive Function Gremlin
• Rosie - The Stress Monster
• Millie - The Hyperfocus Dragon
• Eleanor - The Focus Sprite
• Little T - The Inner Child Archivist

Stickers and trading cards for the neighborhood are available in the shop at insidethepicklejar.com

MISSED PREVIOUS EPISODES?

Episode 6: Meet Emily — The Time Blindness Goblin https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19588342-meet-emily-the-time-blindness-goblin-and-why-it-s-not-your-fault-you-re-late

Episode 7: Meet Lily — The Executive Function Gremlin https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19621364-you-re-not-lazy-meet-lily-the-executive-function-gremlin

Episode 8: Meet Rosie — The Stress Monster https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19654247-meet-rosie-the-stress-monster-and-why-you-need-rest

Episode 9: Meet Millie — The Hyperfocus Dragon https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19688213-meet-millie-the-hyperfocus-dragon-and-how-to-use-your-super-power

THREE YEARS IN THE JAR

This episode marks the beginning of Inside the Pickle Jar's third year. Thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing these episodes. Thank you for telling someone else that they finally found the language they were looking for.

The jar exists because you kept showing up.

CONNECT WITH TONYA

🥒 Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com 

📬 Get "4 Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain" (free): https://www.insidethepicklejar.com 

💌 Join the Pen Pal Club: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com/the-jar/ 

🕸️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org 

🚇 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethepicklejar_ 

📸 Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/tonya_weaver_coach 

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver

IF THIS EPISODE RESONATED

Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who has ever been told they are not paying attention when really they are paying attention to everything.

Reviews help other neurodivergent adults find the jar.

Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar.

#InsideThePickleJar #Neurodivergent #ADHD #Autism #AuDHD #Eleanor #FocusSprite #NDCommunity #PickleFriends #NeurodivergentLife #AttentionFiltering #ThirdYear #WeirdGirlsClub #NeurodivergentWomen

Support the show

Meet Millie.

She is soft, lavender, and long, with iridescent silver spines and a glittering tail. And she has been lying in wait in your brain, probably since childhood, ready to lock onto something magnificent and not let go for five hours.

Millie is the Hyperfocus Dragon. And she is the character I want you to stop apologizing for.

If you have ever lost an entire afternoon to something you love, not because you were avoiding something else, not because you were being irresponsible, but because your brain locked in and the rest of the world simply ceased to exist...Millie was there. That was not a flaw. That was a dragon doing exactly what she was built to do.

In this episode we talk about what hyperfocus actually is, why it is one of the most extraordinary features of the AuDHD brain, how to work with Millie rather than against her, and how Tonya personally manages her own hyperfocus so it works for her life rather than running it.

In this episode:

• Meet Millie, the Hyperfocus Dragon, the fourth character in the Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood
• What hyperfocus actually is and what is happening neurologically when Millie locks in
• The gift inside what everyone called a problem, why this is a genuine superpower
• The honest complication when Millie arrives uninvited on the wrong thing at the wrong time
• What actually helps and working with Millie intentionally rather than being run by her
• Personal examples from Tonya on how she manages her own hyperfocus in real life

FREE RESOURCE

If there is someone in your life who cannot understand why you can spend five hours on one thing and cannot start another — I made something that might help explain it.

Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain A free guide that does the explaining for you.

https://www.insidethepicklejar.com

MILLIE'S STICKER

Millie has a sticker in the Inside the Pickle Jar shop. She is soft purple with iridescent wings and she belongs wherever you do your deepest work.

Start your collection at insidethepicklejar.com

MISSED PREVIOUS EPISODES?

Episode 6: Meet Emily - The Time Blindness Goblin https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19588342-meet-emily-the-time-blindness-goblin-and-why-it-s-not-your-fault-you-re-late

Episode 7: Meet Lily - The Executive Function Gremlin https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19621364-you-re-not-lazy-meet-lily-the-executive-function-gremlin

Episode 8: Meet Rosie - The Stress Monster https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19654247-meet-rosie-the-stress-monster-and-why-you-need-rest

Emily explains why you are always late. Lily explains why you cannot start. Rosie explains why you are exhausted before anything has even happened. Millie explains why you lost five hours to something magnificent and feel absolutely no regret about it.

MEET THE REST OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD

The Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood has six characters, each one representing a real part of the neurodivergent experience:

• Emily - The Time Blindness Goblin
• Lily - The Executive Function Gremlin
• Rosie - The Stress Monster
• Millie - The Hyperfocus Dragon
• Eleanor - The Focus Sprite
• Little T - The Inner Child Archivist

One more character episode coming next. Subscribe so you do not miss her.

CONNECT WITH TONYA

🥒 Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com 

📬 Get "4 Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain" (free): https://www.insidethepicklejar.com 

💌 Join the Pen Pal Club: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com/the-jar/ 

🕸️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org 

🚇 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethepicklejar_ 

📸 Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/tonya_weaver_coach 

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver

IF THIS EPISODE RESONATED

Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who has ever been told they have a problem with focus when really they just have a dragon.

Reviews help other neurodivergent adults find the jar.

Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar.

#InsideThePickleJar #Neurodivergent #ADHD #Autism #AuDHD #Hyperfocus #HyperfocusDragon #NDCommunity #PickleFriends #NeurodivergentLife #FlowState #Millie #LateIDiagnosis #NeurodivergentWomen

Support the show

Meet Rosie.

She is big, fluffy, lavender, and she has been in your nervous system your entire life.

Rosie is the Stress Monster and she represents something that I think is one of the least understood and most exhausting aspects of the neurodivergent experience. Not stress in the way most people mean it. Not overwhelm from a difficult circumstance. The state of a nervous system that is running at a higher baseline level of activation than most people around you...all day, every day, without anyone being able to see it.

She is the reason ordinary days feel extraordinary. She is the reason you come home from a completely normal day and have nothing left. She is the reason rest is not optional and quiet is not dramatic and alone time is not antisocial.

And she has been with you the whole time.

In this episode:

• Meet Rosie, the Stress Monster - the third character in the Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood
• What nervous system dysregulation actually means and what is happening physiologically
• Why the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system matter for neurodivergent people specifically
• What a day with Rosie in it actually looks like from the moment you wake up to the moment you collapse
• The mask Rosie wears and why her cost is invisible even to the people closest to you
• What actually helps — reducing activation and building in recovery time that your nervous system actually needs

FREE RESOURCE

If there is someone in your life who cannot understand why you seem overwhelmed when nothing hard is happening, I made something that might help start that conversation.

Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain A free guide that does the explaining for you.

https://www.insidethepicklejar.com

ROSIE'S STICKER

Rosie has a sticker in the Inside the Pickle Jar shop. She is big and fuzzy and purple and she belongs on whatever surface you look at most often.

Start your collection at https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com

MISSED PREVIOUS EPISODES?

Episode 6: Meet Emily — The Time Blindness Goblin https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19588342

Episode 7: Meet Lily — The Executive Function Gremlin https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19621364

Emily explains why you are always late. Lily explains why you cannot start. Rosie explains why you are exhausted before anything has even happened yet.

MEET THE REST OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD

The Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood has six characters, each one representing a real part of the neurodivergent experience:

• Emily - The Time Blindness Goblin
• Lily - The Executive Function Gremlin
• Rosie - The Stress Monster
• Millie - The Hyperfocus Dragon
• Eleanor - The Focus Sprite
• Little T - The Inner Child Archivist

Each character has their own episode. Subscribe so you do not miss them.

CONNECT WITH TONYA

🥒 Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com 

📬 Get "4 Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain" (free): https://www.insidethepicklejar.com 

💌 Join the Pen Pal Club: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com/the-jar/ 

🕸️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org 

🚇 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethepicklejar_  

📸 Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/tonya_weaver_coach 

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver

IF THIS EPISODE RESONATED

Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear that their exhaustion is real and it has a name.

Reviews help other neurodivergent adults find the jar.

Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar.

#InsideThePickleJar #Neurodivergent #ADHD #Autism #AuDHD #NervousSystem #StressMonster #NDCommunity #PickleFriends #NeurodivergentLife #SensoryProcessing #NervousSystemRegulation #LateDiagnosis

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Meet Lily.

She is small, pink, and absolutely scrambling your start button right now.

Lily is the Executive Function Gremlin, and she represents one of the most misunderstood and most unfairly judged experiences in the neurodivergent world. The gap between knowing what you need to do and actually being able to start it.

If you have ever been called lazy or called yourself lazy because you could not begin a task that you genuinely wanted to do, this episode is going to change the story you have been telling yourself.

It was never laziness. It was Lily.

In this episode:

• Meet Lily, the Executive Function Gremlin, the second character in the Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood
• What executive function actually is and why it is often called the brain's CEO
• Why starting is the hardest part and why the difficulty has nothing to do with how much you care
• The inconsistency that makes neurodivergent people look like they are selective with their effort and what is actually happening neurologically
• The guilt that lives in the gap between knowing and starting
• What actually helps - strategies that work with Lily rather than against her

FREE RESOURCE

If someone in your life has ever called what Lily does laziness, and you have been trying to explain that it is not, I made something that might help start that conversation.

Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain A free guide that does the explaining for you.

https://www.insidethepicklejar.com

LILY'S STICKER

Lily has a sticker in the Inside the Pickle Jar shop. She is small and pink and she is waiting for your water bottle, your laptop, or your journal.

Start your collection at https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com

MEET THE REST OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD

The Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood has six characters, each one representing a real part of the neurodivergent experience:

• Emily - The Time Blindness Goblin
• Lily - The Executive Function Gremlin
• Rosie - The Stress Monster
• Millie - The Hyperfocus Dragon
• Eleanor - The Focus Sprite
• Little T - The Inner Child Archivist

Each character has their own episode. Subscribe so you do not miss them.

CONNECT WITH TONYA

🥒 Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com 

📬 Get "4 Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain" (free): https://www.insidethepicklejar.com 

💌 Join the Pen Pal Club: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com/the-jar/ 

🕸️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org 

🚇 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TonyaWeaverCoach 

📸 Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/tonya_weaver_coach 

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver

IF THIS EPISODE RESONATED

Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who has ever been called lazy when they were anything but.

Reviews help other neurodivergent adults find the jar.

Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar.

Support the show

Meet Emily.

She is a small mint green goblin with a broken hourglass, and she has been living in your brain probably since childhood - stretching time, shrinking it, making transitions arrive without warning, and throwing emotional glitter over the whole experience.

If you have ever been told that you are late because you do not care, or that you would be on time if you just tried harder, this episode is going to change the way you understand yourself.

Time blindness is not a character flaw. It is not laziness. It is not disrespect. It is a brain that experiences time in a fundamentally different way and today we are giving that experience a name, a face, and a trading card.

In this episode:

• Meet Emily, the Time Blindness Goblin: the first character in the Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood
• What time blindness actually is and what is happening neurologically
• Why the now/not-now framework explains so much about how your brain experiences time
• What it looks like in real daily life and why the apology you give when you are late is genuine even when nobody believes it
• The shame that compounds the original problem and why it does not help
• What actually helps...strategies that work with your brain rather than against it

FREE RESOURCE

If you are struggling to explain your experience to the people in your life, I made something for you.

Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain A free guide that does the explaining for you.

https://www.insidethepicklejar.com

EMILY'S TRADING CARD

Emily is the first character in the Inside the Pickle Jar trading card series. She is custom designed, hand crafted, and now available in the shop.

Start collecting the originals. https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com

MEET THE REST OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Emily is just the beginning. The Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood has six characters, each one representing a real part of the neurodivergent experience:

• Emily - The Time Blindness Goblin
• Lily - The Executive Function Gremlin
• Rosie - The Stress Monster
• Millie - The Hyperfocus Dragon
• Eleanor - The Focus Sprite
• Little T - The Inner Child Archivist (seen in the five-part series on masking)

Each character has their own episode coming up. Subscribe so you do not miss them.

CONNECT WITH TONYA

🥒 Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com 

📬 Get "4 Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain" (free): https://www.insidethepicklejar.com 

💌 Join the Pen Pal Club: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com/the-jar/ 

🕸️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org 

🚇 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TonyaWeaverCoach 

📸 Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/tonya_weaver_coach 

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver

IF THIS EPISODE RESONATED

Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who has ever been told they do not care because they are always late.

Reviews help other neurodivergent adults find the jar.

Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar.

Support the show