Episode 98: Breaking ADHD Perfectionism and Burnout Cycles with Michaela Thomas

16 Nov

Perfectionism combined with ambition, control, over-achievement, restless energy, productivity-guilt and burnout are tendencies I see and hear about a lot in ADHD women. It can be exhausting living like this, and many of us struggle to break the cycle, which causes spates of burnout. However, when we create awareness around these behaviour patterns, which are often subconscious and unintentional, we can build better boundaries and gently remove the internal pressures we put on ourselves.

Today on the ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast, I speak to Michaela Thomas, a Clinical Psychologist, coach, founder of the psychology practice The Thomas Connection and author of The Lasting Connection – develop love and compassion for yourself and your partner.

Michaela specialises in perfectionism combined with stress, anxiety, depression, productivity, procrastination, burnout and overall wellbeing.

On today's ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast, Kate and Michaela talked about the following:

Burnout, ambition, overwhelm and not feeling good enough with neurodivergent women
Productivity, procrastination and shame
Perfectionism is a mask we use to hide
Understanding the wiring of our neurodivergent brain
The tools and strategies to help with hyperfocus and burnout
Choosing different ways to live and what's important to us in different seasons
Self-boundaries, self-compassion and seeing our limitations
Softening a 'should' to a 'could, removing self-blame
Being overwhelmed by all our ideas, pulling the reigns back
Celebrating our impulsive energy and creative imagination
Harnessing our energy with regular breaks and self-compassion
Cycle breaking from previous generations
The pressure we put on ourselves and using our intuition