ADHD Aha!

Hey, everyone. There was a publishing issue with this episode last week, but it’s too good to miss. If you downloaded this episode with Taryn Delanie Smith when it first came out, it’s possible you actually got an episode of Hyperfocus instead. We hope you liked it. But now we’ve uploaded the correct ADHD Aha! episode here. Enjoy!

Cold-calling strangers about Brazilian butt lifts wasn’t exactly the plan. But for Taryn Delanie Smith — comedian, actor, former Miss New York, and creator of the viral TikTok character “Denise, Heaven’s Receptionist” — the detours turned out to be the whole story.

In this episode, Taryn talks about competing in the Miss America pageant with undiagnosed ADHD, the curses and gifts of ADHD, a learning disability in math, and struggling in corporate America. Plus: justice sensitivity, farting around time, and why waitressing might be the perfect job for an ADHD brain.

For more on this topic:

Listen: What’s so funny about ADHD? (Comedian Jim Tews’ story)

Read: ADHD and creativity

Watch: What is dyscalculia?

For a transcript and more resources, visit ADHD Aha! on Understood.org. You can also email us at adhdaha@understood.org. 

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Cold-calling strangers about Brazilian butt lifts wasn’t exactly the plan. But for Taryn Delanie Smith — comedian, actor, former Miss New York, and creator of the viral TikTok character “Denise, Heaven’s Receptionist” — the detours turned out to be the whole story.

In this episode, Taryn talks about competing in the Miss America pageant with undiagnosed ADHD, the curses and gifts of ADHD, a learning disability in math, and struggling in corporate America. Plus: justice sensitivity, farting around time, and why waitressing might be the perfect job for an ADHD brain.

For more on this topic:

Listen: What’s so funny about ADHD? (Comedian Jim Tews’ story)

Read: ADHD and creativity

Watch: What is dyscalculia?

For a transcript and more resources, visit ADHD Aha! on Understood.org. You can also email us at adhdaha@understood.org. 

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why does sitting still feel like a physical emergency? Kate Moryoussef, ADHD lifestyle and wellness coach and host of the “ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast,” spent years convinced she was the problem.

It wasn't until her daughter's meltdowns, daydreams, and overwhelm mirrored her own childhood that everything clicked. In this episode, Kate unpacks restlessness and what ADHD actually feels like in the body, how generational ADHD shapes families, and why so many women spend decades doubting themselves before finally getting answers.

For more on this topic: 

Listen: Can I get rid of my adult sensory issues? 

Read: How ADHD can affect your mental health

Watch: Can ADHD affect physical health?

For a transcript and more resources, visit ADHD Aha! on Understood.org. You can also email us at adhdaha@understood.org.

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if the clue to an ADHD diagnosis was making a different tiny mistake every night on stage?

John Garden is a therapist and professional musician. He shares how years of strong emotional reactions, rage quitting, boredom with repetition, and feeling like a failure eventually led to an ADHD diagnosis.

The conversation explores emotional regulation, inattention to detail, perfectionism, and the hidden ways ADHD can show up. It also highlights how ADHD realizations are often not a single lightning-bolt moment. More often, they come from years of experiences that slowly add up until everything starts to make sense.

For more on this topic

Listen: Adult ADHD, perfectionism, and soft productivity

Read: ADHD and perfectionism

Watch: ADHD and emotional dysregulation

For a transcript and more resources, visit ADHD Aha! on Understood.org. You can also email us at adhdaha@understood.org.

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

KC Davis, counselor, author, and host of Struggle Care, talks about the everyday realities of ADHD and executive dysfunction: messiness, boredom, and keeping up with household tasks like laundry. She shares how caring for a newborn and a 2-year-old during the COVID shutdown pushed her coping strategies to the breaking point — “I lost my mind,” she says — and ultimately changed the way she understood herself.

KC reflects on ADHD signs that showed up throughout her life, from forgetting to turn in homework to biting her tongue until it bled to stop herself from interrupting people. She also discusses working memory, addiction, and the years she spent fighting for radical acceptance in therapy — and why understanding her ADHD sooner might have made that journey much easier.

For more on this topic 

Listen: Managing expectations in relationships with ADHD (interview with KC Davis)

Read: ADHD and boredom

Watch: Why ADHD makes everything so hard (executive dysfunction explained)

For a transcript and more resources, visit ADHD Aha! on Understood.org. You can also email us at adhdaha@understood.org.

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.