Self-honesty as part of the healing process

Self honesty is a massive part of my healing process as a Neurodivergent man, which has not been easy after 40 years of masking.

A lot of my self honesty was able came to light (instead of 'flying blindly' like most late identified Neurodivergents) after I started to understand my own unique brain, and why it does the things it does... and allowed myself self acceptance instead of shame, which in turn led me to stop putting bandaids on things I wish weren't happening, and actually gave me the knowledge I needed of how to really support myself to live an empowered life.

Optimising our brain health underpins everything we do at Neurodivergent Empowered, and we have major questions on why brain scans are not included before providing medication and diagnosis, but anyway, one battle at a time. One thing we found that was free that anyone could do was Dr Amens Brain Health Assessment that you can find here as it focuses on seven categories: Brain Health, Sleep, Memory, Executive Function, Inner Peace, Mood, and Flexible Thinking.: https://brainhealthassessment.com/assessment

It's what I did to work out that as someone with a Brain Type 2:

I have lower activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), or, the front area of the brain. Think of the PFC as the brain’s brake. It stops us from saying or doing things that aren’t in our best interest, but it can also stop creative, out-of-the-box thinking if it works too hard.

I have lower dopamine levels (a neurotransmitter involved with focus and motivation) and need excitement or stimulation in order to stay focused.

Things that help my brain:

• Strengthen the prefrontal cortex

• Higher protein, lower carbohydrate diet (been a game changer this year),

• Physical exercise (wow - a whole post on that coming for the change lifting weights made in me this year)

• Certain stimulating supplements, such as green tea, rhodiola, and ginseng

Any supplement or medicine that calms the brain may make my brain worse - as I experienced from the many years my Drs just prescribed me anti-depressants instead of what my then un-identified Neurodivergent brain actually needed.

Being Neurodivergent is a really wide category and we encourage everyone to remember that you are an individual with a very unique brain, and to make sure you cater to what YOU need to give you your power back over your life.

- 'WC' Rob