Learning to Human… but just enough
Meditations on a peaceful life.
This blog is here to document all the things I’m learning as I navigate life through shifting lenses of neurodivergence, ageing, parenting and spirituality. If you are trying to love your brain, you like essays on joy, poetry and art mixed with everyday observations then you’re in the right place and I’m so glad you are here!
-
How to Be Human Enough to know when to keep swimming and when to float
Swimming in the North Sea has taught me to embrace the cold and the wild, finding peace in the controlled chaos of the sea pool. This unique blend of safety and freedom has become my sanctuary.
-
How to Be Human Enough to… be diagnosed in midlife
A blackbird building her nest in a hedge no more needed my assessment than my adhd needed the psychiatrist’s clipboard. So I watched her and she watched me while he was daein his deekin. I saw her and she saw me. And he saw his form.
-
How To Be Human Enough to… feel burnt out and still go on
Life in St Andrews might be full of abundance, but the real luxury is the raw beauty of this beach. The wind, a force of nature, pulls me into a moment of clarity. As I walk, my body follows its rhythm, burning thighs and stinging eyes becoming part of the landscape’s timeless dance.
-
How to be Human Enough to…be proud of how far you’ve come
Discovering ‘taivert’ as a word for ADHD’s relentless fatigue helped me redefine normalcy, one step at a time.
-
How to Be Human Enough To… see yourself as others see you.
A collection of poems inspired by Dumfries and a quote from To A Louse by Burns on seeing ourself as others see us.
-
How to be human enough to… honour vigils and farewells
The poetry born from this season of loss speaks to the unspoken rituals of grief, where vigils and farewells shape our journey through sorrow. These poems challenge us to show up for death, even when every instinct urges retreat, embracing the resilience of the human spirit in the face of profound loss.
-
How to be Human Enough to… be an adequate parent.
On the challenges of parenting before knowing why things are so hard
-
How To Be Human Enough to… Build the right channels.
What if I’m not an overflowing mess but just trying to flow two rivers in the same channel during flood season?
-
How to be human enough to… be there at the end
A poem to recollect my father in laws final moments, written before the funeral of my beloved high school English teacher.
-
When I’m Old
My Grannie was born in 1910 in Scotland and was quietly amazing.This photo is the opposite to who she was […]
-
New Beginnings
A poem contemplating that time between the end of one thing and the beginning of another and the rest and processing that needs to come in between.
-
Why its a new year, same me in 2025
When a flower doesn’t bloom you don’t try to fix the flower. I’ve done so much self help reading and […]
-
Frost
Today’s exercise from Beth Kempton’s Winter Writing Sanctuary
-
1980s Christmas Lights
The lights and magical gifts of an ordinary 1980s Christmas
-
How to Be Human Enough To… process my diagnosis
A submission on the topic “Reveal” for the Creative Future competition. My first submission.
-
Digging for Hope – A Glimmer of Truth
A poem written in response to Frans Stiene’s Digging for Truth. It made me think of developing resilience and coping strategies and not thinking the storm will abate forever.
-
Flight of the Changemakers
How the connection that many neurodivergent people have to their environment might be a signal that change is coming.
-
How To Be Human Enough To… grieve (part 3)
I want to talk about the deep sadness that I have over the gap between my potential and what I have actually been able to achieve. For me this disparity has been so difficult to come to terms with.
-
How to be Human Enough To… grieve (Part 2)
The consequences of coming at things from a place of believing you are broken. I was recently on a course […]
-
How to Be Human Enough to… grieve the life you thought you had. Part 1.
The first in a three part series on the grief of late diagnosis
-
How to Be Human Enough to… make time your friend
Living with ADHD impacts how I perceive and manage time, often feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Coping includes routines and habits for stability and reminders to aid memory. Importance is placed on self-regulation and care, as stress undermines all strategies. Emphasising the value of intentional living, the key is finding a personal sense of need rather…
-
How To Be Human Enough To… thrive as an introvert
After forty years of people-pleasing and self-neglect, a coaching course sparked a person’s journey to self-discovery. An existential crisis highlighted their performative existence, but coaching and a global pandemic offered clarity and rejuvenation. Despite regressing into old patterns, opportunities and an ADHD diagnosis led to self-love, peace, and a true understanding of personal needs. Writing,…
-
How To Be Human Enough To… endure the ADHD medication crisis
After a life-changing ADHD diagnosis, I’ve faced a five-month delay in receiving NHS treatment due to a global medication shortage. Nonetheless, I persist with honed routines, balancing a demanding job and family life, while dispensing with shame over my fluctuating capabilities. Currently, self-care and hope sustain me as I await medication availability, employing rest and…
-
How to Be Human Enough to… Explore Your Passions
A multi-passionate individual, devoted to creativity and constant learning, shares poetry inspired by the serene Scottish countryside and early morning skies. While combating the overwhelm of modern life, this person seeks joy in nature and moments of beauty, grounding themselves through walks with their dogs and embracing a philosophy of belonging and self-acceptance.
-
How to be Human Enough to… let others help
Cultivating independence and resilience, often in response to a world that bombards them with criticism, neurodivergent individuals like the author develop a guarded self-reliance. With time, they may realize the need to open up and share burdens, despite the challenge of asking for help. Embracing vulnerability with boundaries, the author is learning to connect with…
-
How to be Human Enough to…be consistent
The writer shares their personal struggle with forming consistent habits and how this challenge, exacerbated by unrecognized ADHD, led to exhaustion and a sense of chaos. They discuss the pressure to meet family needs and the realization that attempts to mimic neurotypical habit-building strategies failed due to overlooking their neurodiversity. The solution was making tiny,…
-
How to be Human Enough to…meditate
For people with ADHD the idea of learning to meditate can be daunting at best and terrifying at worst. Some […]
-
How To be Human Enough to… Feel All your Feelings
I am a deeply feeling person that is wired to absorb information in a world that thrives on stoking outrage, […]
-
How to Be Human Enough To… Just Write
Words are everything to me. A hyperlexic, preschool reader, they were my first source of connection and escape. Books fascinated […]
-
How to Be Human Enough to… Lift the Mask
I’ve not been writing as much as I wanted to over the last few months. I’ve been taking time to […]
-
How to be Human Enough to…deal with an ADHD diagnosis
So much is written in the press about women like me flocking to get a diagnosis of ADHD. The waiting […]
-
How to be Human Enough to… enjoy solitude
Do you struggle to balance solitude and loneliness? For someone who often feels lonely the thought of solitude can be a bit tricky. Particularly for me as I’m also an introvert.
-
How to be Human Enough to… Belong to Myself.
If I look for confirmation that I don’t belong, I’ll find it every time. I had drifted so far away from belonging to myself that I didn’t know how to get back.
-
How to Be Human Enough to… love wild swimming
Don’t be fooled by the breathtaking beauty of the rainbow sky. This is the North Sea in Scotland in January […]
-
How to Be Human Enough to…belong? New blogging community
Introduction to this blog, polymath or flibbertigibbet?
Thanks for stopping by! I’m so pleased that you’ve decided to visit my blog. Its taken a long time and a lot of courage to share my thoughts here and I hope that by doing that I’ll reach more people who identify with my situation. I was diagnosed with ADHD aged 45. Writing now as I process what that understanding means for me, how it has impacted my life and how all the strategies I have learned along the way have supported me to reach my goals.
I have spent my whole life trying to cultivate peace, a hilarious paradox when you have a brain that whirls at a million miles an hour and you are a parent! However until recently I didn’t realise that it was because I’m neurodivergent and that other people aren’t dealing with the onslaught of all these thoughts tripping over themselves. Therefore I’ve got pretty good at working out what works for me. They may not work for you but I hope you’ll find something among my meditations for a peaceful life that makes you feel like life is less of a struggle.
https://facebook.com/HowToBeHumanEnough