When did you last do something just for the fun of it, no purpose, no productivity, no plan?

On this episode of Organizing an ADHD Brain, ADHD coach Megs explores what it really means to give yourself permission to play and why your ADHD brain might need it more than you think. Whether you're looking for ADHD coaching, a supportive ADHD community, or practical ways to get organized, this episode meets you where you are.

By the end, you'll have a new way to think about joy, mess, and micro practices that interrupt the go-go-go mindset and bring you back to the present.

Megs opens with her daughter's observation that adults forget how to play and takes it seriously. Turning 40, watching her girls gleefully stomp through mud, and eventually joining them despite every instinct to stay clean became a turning point. From there she shares a series of playful experiments: ice skating, rollerblading, hopscotch on the school walk, a spontaneous lunch invitation, and using Command strips to try out home decor without the pressure of getting it perfect.

She connects rigid internal rules, shaped by church culture, parenting pressures, and strict routines, to a deeper fear of making mistakes, and explores how treating life and work more like play helped her run a summer-planning event smoothly despite tech mishaps, stay present with her family, and slowly retrain her body to pause instead of push.

The good news? Play doesn't have to be big or planned. It just has to be real and this episode gives you plenty of small places to start.

Megs has been part of the Mindful as a Mother community and wanted to share something she thinks is worth knowing about. If you're a mom of a neurodivergent kid, their small group might be exactly what you've been looking for, a 4-week space led by neurodivergent child counselors who live this stuff too. Real talk about regulation, RSD, meltdowns, and burnout, in a small group where you can finally stop masking and get into what actually works.

Learn more here: https://stan.store/Mindfulasamother/p/you-can-sit-with-us-

Also check out the Mindful as a Mother podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindful-as-a-mother/id1546749518

This episode is for anyone with ADHD who has been running on empty and is ready to remember what it feels like to just play.

2:54 — Turning 40 and the Mud Lesson 

5:45 — Micro Practices and Shifting the Go-Go-Go Mindset 

7:24 — Family Skating and Making Play Happen 

8:43 — Messy Social Play and the Lunch Invitation 

11:12 — Rigid Rules, Church Culture, and Bedtime Battles 

13:59 — Hopscotch on the School Walk 

15:51 — Why Play Is Really Practice 

18:03 — Home Decor Experiments Without Perfectionism 

19:50 — Making Faster Decisions by Lowering the Stakes 

21:16 — Running a Planning Event Like It's Play 

24:45 — Interrupting the Go-Go-Go in Real Time 

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