I masked my ADHD by being “perfect”| My Neurodivergent journey

Join me, a late-diagnosed ADHD entrepreneur, as I share my raw journey of breaking free from perfectionism and embracing authenticity in business. Learn why traditional 'rules' might be holding you back and how to reconnect with your intuition for greater success. Featuring practical tips for neurodivergent entrepreneurs and a special guide to understanding your intuitive strengths.

Key Topics:

• ADHD and perfectionism in business

• Breaking free from neurotypical expectations

• Connecting with your intuitive strengths

• Building authentic content creation habits

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Discover Your Intuitive Superpower: A Guide for Neurodivergent Entrepreneurs

If you didn’t know it, you are intuitive beyond others because of your fast-paced mind. It’s time for you to know, trust and use this amazing ability as your SOURCE to a successful business you love.

Join me in this little video where I talk about the power of your business intuition and the unique gifts of neurodivergent entrepreneurs.

Discover how to harness your intuitive abilities and integrate them into your business for greater success and fulfillment. Susan shares her personal journey and insights, offering practical guidance on using intuition to create a business that truly fits you. Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn about the four Clairs and how they can transform your approach to business!

And psst…grab the free guide that can help you find ways to use it now!

Messy Healing: How This ADHD Woman is Moving Through Grief and Burnout by using Intuition

I've spent 3 days on the couch with my snuggly robe, 2 cats, and my mobile phone in the scroll hole.📲

A photo of Susan de Vriend, That’s so Susan blog

I am home. But home is different. Lots has changed in my life in a short period of time. In case, I didn't tell you, I was living in the US at the house I grew up in (US/Michigan) from early November to just last week, January 21st. In all that time, I was helping my Mom and visiting, caring, and eventually losing my father. 

The intense focus on this major life shift of having someone in your life to not, hasn't fully set in. While there, I was very busy running to hospitals and talking to medical professionals trying to make sense of the non-sensical process of a life ending. 

There were things to understand in fast succession and things to get really angry about, like pain medications that weren't being administered and negligent nurses giving prognosis without fully understanding my Dad's medical history or current diagnosis. 

The constant rushing around planning and organizing took up so much time and energy that I lost track of my own life in the process. My family was over there in Europe living the normal day to day and I was in the US just barely getting by. They would watch me break down over a Whatsapp group chat WHEN I could remember to call them. My whole body is out of remission and my emotional stability frayed beyond recognition. This is a combination of grief & burnout. 

Once my family was able to join me in the US, they brought me the necessary drugs to help my body get back to well (still in progress). I have a chronic illness and it is fully flared. I had to beg the doctor in an email that it is NOT the stomach FLU! And she complied in the knick of time. Thank God/Goddess!🙏

I am home but not quite. My body needs healing, my heart needs tending and my family and I need reconnecting. I want to be free of the uncomfortable place I am in. I know a process is unfolding that is painful, chaotic and revelatory, if I just can just let it be. 🙄

While talking with a friend the other day, I said this: 

"I just need to not." 

And though, that seems easy in a way, I find it is probably the one thing I am struggling with the most. I am too fidgety in my mind to slow down and just not. But I do believe it is necessary! So to remind myself, I made a t-shirt with the words “I just need to not.” in black. 

I think it will arrive next week. I hope by having it ON me that I remember to not DO and just be for awhile. Let whatever needs to be here have a space. And I think that may mean creating, napping, dancing, crying, and laughing. 

I am letting my intuition guide me through all of this.💯 Taking my time and receiving whatever comes my way that helps me restore. And, there is so much I want to share with you. Like, stories of miracles, random acts of kindness and amazing intuitive things that happened to me during my trip back home. Even as I am here writing, magical connections and synchronicities are happening. I feel a new chapter is rising. One that feels wild, intuitive, creative and FREE. And it is messy with all the grief and sadness to boot. I am going to be with it and let it show me the way. 

Next week, I'll reveal the shirt! Want to follow along with this lovely, expressive ADHD grief journey? Subscribe to my email list for updates, plus a fun Business Intuition guide to help you discover your intuitive senses and learn how to use them in your business!

What my Dad taught me in being a leader.

Last week, I boarded a plane to visit my family in the US. We are going through something I wish on no one and yet I know many of us have or will at some point in our lives. That is, the process of slowly losing a parent to a degenerative brain disease. My father has been in a decline in his health steadily for this entire year.  He has Parkinson's with dementia. I visited this past summer and since then his dementia has really progressed. There would be flashes of smiles and storytelling but mostly he was sleeping or zoned out. Now, being here I see with my own eyes how my father's disease has taken over him. As I mourn the loss of who he used to be, I realize there is a lot to cherish of who he was for me as a child and an adult. Those things I hold onto now more than ever. It is who he will always be. And that doesn't change for me. 

When I arrived in the US, it was the day of the US election results. As an American who lives abroad and a mother of a teenage daughter, this wasn't a happy moment for me, to say the least. I realize politics can really polarize us. I seldom use my business as a platform for political issues because I do not want my clients to feel that I have an issue with any of their choices. And I don't. I like to think I am open to all. So why do I talk about this now. It is because I feel strongly that this is a bit trickier than who is the better candidate. Lives are depending on this decision. 

What I know about the political climate we are in now is this, it has been made out to be who it is rather than What it is. This goes beyond the person elected. It is about what comes next. I believe, and was raised to believe, that if we are in a more privileged position in life that we must make it our duty to protect others less fortunate than us. 

Yesterday we celebrated Veterans Day and honored my Dad at his care facility. He risked his life for American freedom. And that did come at cost to him and his health. He taught me to value life and to help others in need. And now I reflect on this: What risks am I willing to take to protect the rights of others?

My Dad in 1969 posing by a red convertible.

As it stands today, I had more freedom for the whole span of my life (I'm 51) up until 2 years ago when they took away the right for women to choose. That means my daughter does not have the same rights that I used to enjoy! That is absurd to me. And yes, it makes me angry because that is not progress.

Beyond these rights being overturned, I wonder what will become of other people's rights who do not fit a certain acceptable mold in society. And if this becomes a trend, what will be next? What other rights and freedoms will be taken away? And will other countries follow?

This year is teaching me to stop hiding behind things like traditions, the norms, my parents, society and what people think is acceptable. As I have learned recently that for my whole life, I have been struggling with ADHD totally undiagnosed and unaware. It's another thing I'm coming to terms with and here are some questions I reflect upon:  How do I want to be now that I am free of being something I am not? Who am I really? How do I want to share my voice and show up?

These events in my life right now are calling something out in me that I have not felt ready nor comfortable in showing because of fear, because of what I learned to do as a child and what not to do. But now I am getting a swift kick in the pants to be in my full leadership and power using that privilege to do away with all those things I learned over a lifetime and be the woman who protects the rights of all people. This call has been there always in whispers and ideas along the building of my business and my career. But now, the fire alarm has been sounded and the only question I have left is this: 

Will I be brave enough to let go of all my perception of staying safe and acceptable so I can stand up for others & help make changes for future generations like my father once did?

There will be more to come from me on this. I do not know where I'm headed but I do know that my heart will lead the way. 

Lead with Intuition, Build with Purpose

As neurodivergent entrepreneurs over 40, we hold the power to create meaningful change. If you’re ready to trust your intuition and plan your business with clarity, join my email community. You’ll receive my Business Intuition Guide—a free resource to help you align your work with your authentic self.

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