I run two businesses - partly out of necessity, partly out of that particular ADHD drive that's always reaching for the next thing. Add a history of neurodivergent burnout and a late-in-life understanding of how my brain actually works, and you get someone who has spent a long time mistaking speed and productivity for worth. So over the last couple of months, navigating a stretch of brain fog, I did something that still feels almost defiant: I slowed down.

I see this all the time in my work, and I live it myself. Even now, something as simple as arriving somewhere new can trigger a whole cascade of preparation — scanning, bracing, rehearsing. Not because anything is wrong. Because the nervous system has learned that novelty sometimes requires it. For many neurodivergent people, that baseline of preparation is already higher than average. It often reflects the sheer amount of processing required to move through environments....