Jesse: Welcome everyone to our first episode of ADHD over Tea. My name is Jesse. I'm an ADHD specialist. I myself was diagnosed when I was 16 and I'm very excited to introduce my co-host Tassi.
Tassi: Hello. I'm Tassi. And yeah, I'm not an ADHD specialist, but I guess I'm a specialist of myself. guess. I don't know how else to introduce myself. But yeah, I was diagnosed with ADHD, autism and dyslexia at the age of 21. Yeah, I think I was 21 at that point.
Jesse: we decided to start this podcast because we, first of all, are ADHD enthusiasts and like to also hear different stories and share our experiences. But part of it is also understanding that there are many ways to look at ADHD. And I found that the more I kind of hear ⁓ people's experiences and also different approaches which aren't necessarily the mainstream ideas around it. the more it's helped me kind of reshape my life and things around my own terms. So the idea of this podcast is really to come and start sharing some of these ideas.
Tassi: yeah, I would agree with you. I relate on those points as well. Like seeing the different perspectives and picking whatever works for you from other people's experience has definitely helped me as well. So I hope to share my perspective and hope that someone can relate or feel.
Jesse: Yeah, yeah. And I just want to say, know, openly, this is my first time really doing a podcast. And also, I haven't really heard slash seen that many podcasts in my life. So this is also a bit of a learning curve, but I do like to talk and I do like to overanalyze things. So I think this is going to be a very interesting experience.
Tassi: Yeah, and I really enjoy listening to podcasts, ⁓ have also not done a podcast before, so...
Jesse: You got to start from somewhere, you know? yes. So we decided why Tea you might be asking yourself ADHD over Tea first of all, actually the idea came from a rhyming name. I ADHD, Tea, that sounded kind of cool. And then Tassi, who is T enthusiast, who you can explain a bit about that in a second. jumped on the idea of tea. And then we started exploring this and we started realizing that there's so much culture and, you know, a lot of things are stand behind tea itself, almost every culture has its own tea, or people to connect over tea, or people like gossip, and they call it spilling the tea. And there's a lot different ways to explore things actually through tea.
Tassi: yeah, ⁓ I'll take that. Yeah, I liked your intro about the tea there. I definitely resonate with all of that. Yeah, tea has also been like a way for me to kind of take a step back, take a break and just yeah, enjoy the flavor and whatever the tea serve also medicinally. But also I... 50 % of the time at least I never finish drinking my tea because I just forget that the tea exists. ⁓
Jesse: Thanks for reminding me, actually.
Tassi: Yeah, I just put it somewhere and then cold and yeah, this is a good, good idea to do this podcast because I'll hopefully drink my tea. ⁓
Jesse: Yeah, also gives like, I guess it's interesting what you're saying because tea is a very ⁓ of set amount of time if you want it hot at least. So basically from when you brew it, you pour it, it's really hot. You have a certain amount of time. There's a certain time limit to it, which what you were saying as kind of also a pause from life. But I like it how it's also a framework similar to, ⁓ know how people with ADHD tend to work well with the pomodoro technique. It's like a timeframe. So I kind of like this idea of what we're talking about it more like, okay, a cup of tea is also a designated amount of time where we could focus or focus on a specific topic.
Tassi: Yeah. So if you inclined to put on the and have a tea with us, feel free to join. And we thought it would be nice to have a specific tea every episode. So here's my tea today. I have chamomile tea, which is kind of relevant to our podcast topic today. And yeah. We'll tell you about the topic in a second, but first I wanted to talk about chamomile tea. So basically, chamomile, the It's like flower that's yellow in the middle and then there's white petals around it. They're quite small little flowers. the actual scientific is a name that I can't pronounce very well, but I will try my best, ⁓ which is ⁓ Matricaria chamomilia. like that. But there's basically two different types of chamomile. One is the German chamomile and one is the Roman chamomile. many people the German chamomile. It's ⁓ a plant grows a bit taller than the Roman chamomile and is a bit more potent, a bit stronger.
Jesse: potent you mean like when it comes to the relaxing effects that chamomile tends to have?
Tassi: Yeah, so the properties, like you said, and also the flavor. the flavor of chamomile tea is there's a little bit of bitterness, but also some sweetness and it's ⁓ quite tasting, I'd say. ⁓ But you go to the shops and try it for yourself. I definitely recommend and I'm not a and we're not prescribing any kinds of health benefits here, but
Jesse: Mm-hmm.
Tassi: don't want to get involved in that, but chamomile has a lot of health associations which relaxing properties. It can help help with sleep in general. aids digestion and helps with cramps, gas all digestion related things. It can soothe inflammation for the skin as well. don't only have drink it as tea, obviously there's creams and it also regulates the blood sugar. So yeah, feel free to do your own research and yeah.
Jesse: Thank you. Thank you for that in-depth description on chamomile. And I just want to also second our disclaimer. We are not doctors. If you want to go and explore chamomile more, please and advise with your personal practitioner or before drinking too much chamomile. But all in all, I know it helps me sometimes kind of go to sleep. So, yeah, thank you for that, Tassi.
Tassi: Talking about the doctor thing, I heard that if you have hay fever, not necessarily the best tea to drink.
Jesse: yeah, I can actually second that. remember during April to March, end of March to May is horrible for me when it comes to allergies. That's a whole other topic. But back what we wanted to talk about today, which has something to do with chamomile. is the topic of ADHD and resting. And I find this a very interesting topic for ⁓ reasons. ⁓ is that resting each person, I think, is quite different. And there's a lot of this idea about what resting should be. Particularly people say, to be healthy or, yeah, you need to know how to rest. You need to know how to stop and pause. It is important to rest, don't get me wrong, but it is also very, very vague, that whole idea between resting and what is resting for each person. Particularly with ADHD, I know for myself and people I've worked with that this idea of pausing or stopping or sitting down or just lying down and doing nothing, it actually can cause a lot of stress. And that itself can be quite counterproductive to the idea of resting. And I think before we go into these ideas, Tasi, you and there's basically there's some different types of actual resting out there, ⁓
Tassi: ⁓ yeah, so I basically found this concept or this idea from this doctor physician whose name I also can't pronounce very well. So called Sandra Dalton if you're interested. basically she came with these seven types of rest. ⁓ a lot of people think resting is lying down and doing nothing, putting your feet up, not moving, taking bath, doing a face mask, stuff like that. But actually can also look more active. There's different kinds of rest. Like I said, these ⁓ seven types she classified, which I'm just going to briefly go into. So there's physical rest, there's mental rest, ⁓ sensory rest, rest, social rest. creative rest and spiritual rest.
Jesse: Mm-hmm.
Tassi: I'm gonna do a bit of a deep dive into these but also not too deep.
Jesse: Medium deep, medium deep, like a... of the kids pool.
Tassi: yes, about level of deepness. ⁓ So rest is the of the body as it says in the name. And that could like lying down, ⁓ having a nap, doing some light stretching yoga, something that helps the body relax and calm down. And then there's mental rest, which is to do with cognitive. load and attention so I guess we can definitely relate with that one but it's all about not having to think as anymore and to have problem solve all the time
Jesse: So it's like really shutting down the brain, it doesn't necessarily mean you have to stop thinking. You can like shut it down with like something else. Zone out.
Tassi: Yeah, it's like, guess about, I don't know how to describe it like properly, but I guess it's about this hard thinking where you really have to use your brain power that could be like mentally exhausting.
Jesse: story in my life.
Tassi: then there's sensory rest, which I think we all can relate to very closely as well, which ⁓ to do with maybe stepping back from environments that a bit overwhelming, like if they're loud ⁓ or very or... Yeah, just overwhelming spaces ⁓ to basically put in a more calm environment.
Jesse: Yeah.
Tassi: that's maybe less noisy or less bright or there's like some lighting that would be a way of resting with.
Jesse: With your sensors, yeah, which I just want to also throw in here for it's very common amongst ADHD and also the autistic spectrum to have very strong reactions to the sensory like lighting and sounds and stuff.
Tassi: Yeah, for sure, for sure. Definitely. And yeah, also, I was looking into this and I guess it's also helpful if you are in an environment that's very quiet and calm all the time that maybe you also seek the sensory stimulation. So I guess it's about balance having enough sensory input, but also not too much.
Jesse: Look, that's interesting. just wondering, I don't know if it would consider us a restful, but let's say if you are in too calm a place and you're getting restless from being in such a common boring place, like I know as a kid or most kids, you're in class and it's super and then you're getting restless and then you go outside and you start playing with all the noise and all the craziness and that actually rejuvenates you. So I'm wondering if that would also be considered some type of rest, would you say?
Tassi: Yeah, I mean, I'm not an expert, but I think think that makes a lot of sense. Like, I guess it's about experiencing the senses you need in a balanced way. So yeah, fourth, is emotional rest. And I guess that ties into masking as well. The emotional rest is about just being able to let go and have your emotions flow and to process your emotions and to not have to hide yourself. I guess the type of emotional rest could be being around people that you can be yourself around.
Jesse: yeah, we can just express yourself however you want. If it's a loved one or good friend or a video game
Tassi: Yes. ⁓
Jesse: or your cat. Okay, emotional.
Tassi: And the fifth one would be social rest, could look like time alone, quality time on your own. yeah, so you've been socializing a lot to step back and spend some time with yourself, but like the ⁓ one, if spend a lot of time on your own, maybe it's gonna be helpful for you to go out and spend time with someone as well. we're at number six now. Yes. six is creative ⁓ I definitely feel this is big one for me as well because, especially as people with ADHD, we tend to be quite creative people, but I also think we often second-guess ourselves or can be quite judgmental of.
Jesse: I see, out of seven, right? Mm-hmm.
Tassi: what we produce and I'm definitely that kind of a person. So I feel like I really have to express this creative energy in me, but I also constantly think it's not very good. that's one I need to work on because it's quite healing, I think.
Jesse: Well, it's interesting because what I'm hearing from one side is that you have a creative side. So there's a certain amount if you can allow yourself to get to this place of creating, you can feel like it's resting and you get into this some kind of maybe meditative, meditative states. On the other hand, I'm hearing you might need a rest from this part of you, which is pushing yourself to be a perfectionist around what you're creating. So maybe part of that kind of rest is actually not doing it and being okay with it.
Tassi: Yeah, yeah. mean, I think it looks different for everyone. yeah, myself personally, I feel like I actually have to do more of the creative rest. But if a creative person that maybe even has a creative job, taking a rest doing these creative things doing a different kind of creative activity could be quite helpful and relaxing.
Jesse: Mm-hmm.
Tassi: And now we're at the last one. The last one is spiritual rest. So that's all about something that's more than just yourself, something that gives you meaning, which whether you have a religion or meditation or spiritual practice just or philosophy, just something that makes you feel like there's more to life than than yourself, I guess.
Jesse: it's kind of like you're getting out of your own head and then looking at the bigger picture kind of thing and taking off some of their sense of responsibility.
Tassi: Yeah,
Jesse: Yeah, yeah, no, it's really interesting. because I mean, we just went through a lot. So I'm going to see if I wrote it all down properly. We said we had the physical one. Then we had the forgot the second one. The third one was emotional.
Tassi: The second one was mental. The third one was sensory.
Jesse: Physical, mental, sensory, emotional, social, creative, and spiritual. All right. I did. I also wrote it down a bit. learned I have to write it down quickly because otherwise it's like, but really interesting, you know, and I know it might be a lot if you're listening to this, like to go over so many different types, but when we break it down and we see there's a lot more.
Tassi: Yes, you listened well in class. ⁓
Jesse: that's going on, it's not like, just need to rest. Like, if you break it down, there's already these seven categories, but inside each category, ⁓ start speaking about it, there's different kinds of the creative rest I want to create and be in my own zone doing that. On the other hand, I want to rest from this idea that I need to be creating all the time, And I think it's a lot of people, particularly with ADHD, who can be creative. and maybe have this pressure we put on ourself, you know? And when I was thinking about rest, I find that I rest a lot in less conventional ways. So for me, ⁓ lying down, as I mentioned before, it might not very restful because my mind is and looking for to solve whatever problems. So a lot of the time, Not always, but a lot of the time. I go to sleep like watching cartoons. So I watch something, something maybe I've seen a million times, like old Simpson episodes or something to kind of like zone out in bed, like half listening, half falling asleep because it distracts my mind, And everyone tells you how unhealthy it is, how no, you should stop watching things two hours ahead before you go to bed and close your eyes. I find that for me in most cases, that's probably, it's usually the best way to go to bed because my mind is just naturally thinking that way. And I'm actually, I'm okay with that. And so ⁓ I just wanted to put that out there because there's a lot of ideas in general, how you're supposed to And society us usually this is the right way. This is the wrong way. and for many people, works that way, but I think it's just important also to put out there that in the end, like we are the expert of our own life and we all have these systems that we've been doing. I think rest is really important. but the stress people put on themselves and society puts on you to rest. think is counterproductive because. I hear all the time things like, ⁓ yeah, I just need to stop and I need to rest more. Why? And what does that mean? Maybe you're pressuring yourself to do something that's overloading you or you're going towards a burnout. And that's for sure. You need to maybe pause that. But if you're not specific also what you're doing and what you need to rest from and what you need to stop doing, it's very vague and you can really miss the mark, I think, and lead into a lot of this expectations of ourselves to act in a way which might not even be helping. if that makes sense.
Tassi: Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. go back to your cartoon thing, I always listen to something to to sleep.
Jesse: to? I'm curious. Do you have like a specific?
Tassi: usually just some kind of YouTube videos or podcasts or something where someone's talking about like a long topic, nothing intense,
Jesse: Nice, so it's finding the not too stimulating.
Tassi: Yeah, a little bit but not too much.
Jesse: Yeah, so that helps you, like, do you just do it when you fall asleep or do you also use it for other types of rest?
Tassi: Oh, yeah, actually I do. I feel like this is something that's a bit conflicted with me because I feel like I do consume too much media, but I prefer longer form content, which I feel like I do benefit from. I like to learn about random topics and I find it quite restful to have videos on in the background or a podcast and do housework. do something else, run around, walk around, that can be quite restful. And definitely a lot more restful than just sitting down and watching a video. would actually not be restful for me, I'd say, to sit down for too long without cleaning or doing something.
Jesse: you need to be active. So for you to rest physically is actually doing stuff in many cases.
Tassi: Yes.
Jesse: active, cleaning the house. Well, I know also, yeah, movement, exercise is known to really kind of calm And I think it's interesting because actually reframing it as rest, even though it's actually the opposite of physically stopping and resting.
Tassi: Yeah, there's definitely, a lot of research out there that probably have heard about, like exercising, calming the mind, for people with ADHD and helping with focus.
Jesse: yeah, the exercise I know can really help but also understanding that a lot of these ideas from society, ⁓ they don't on ADHD brain, and I was just talking also with someone, there's many different kinds of meditation. For some people it works to stop and close your eyes. I think it's also important to know how to that on a basic level. It's less about just closing your eyes and, you know, transcending into the stars and becoming one with the Ja universe, but actually practicing resetting your focus. So that can be beneficial, but I would say when it comes to more like deep diving, I meditate better on a dance floor sometimes where you're like with some music, So there's that movement or even when I'm at the gym or doing some other things or, even sitting with my eyes closed, but listening to music and doing this kind of music meditation stuff. So I think it's really individual and I think it's really important that you find what works for you, you know, understand that everyone's advice, you everyone has a lot of advice and it usually comes hopefully from a good place. But it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to work on your own brain or work on who you are. understanding that I think is a key element because many cases we try to force ourselves. I need to rest. I just need to stop and rest. and you find yourself on the beach bored to hell and you're wondering what's wrong with me. I should be enjoying this more, you know? And then you started getting into that whole loop. I should be, I should be, I need to, and you know, and lot of it's just based on other people's ideas and not what actually works for you.
Tassi: Yep.
Jesse: That's my advice, though. I should follow
Tassi: I like I've also benefited from meditation in moment when I do do it, but I find it really hard to stick with it. I guess it's my perfectionism ⁓ of feeling I have to do this every day now. This is my entire personality. But I guess more helpful is having that as something to come back to when you need it. But me personally, if I have this mindset of I'm going to meditate every day and I forget to do it once or I don't do it once, I'm never doing it again. So that's where I went wrong in the past. So I hope I can meditate a bit more. But let's see.
Jesse: can to that. that's why with have my technique is the absolute bare minimum. So with meditation, I ⁓ two minutes a day, two minutes. You can do two minutes. And the bar was like, My eyes are closed two minutes. And then ⁓ if I was ambitious, I would do four minutes, like a little bit more, because I know if I now meditate 10 minutes one day. I'm gonna be the next day, I'm gonna feel like this is never, I'm never ever gonna be able to do 10 minutes again. And it's gonna totally discourage me. And that way I'm never gonna, and I stopped doing it.
Tassi: Yeah, that's a very good tip. Like, I also heard you do with cartoons?
Jesse: over here, I see how much I do tend to watch cartoons a lot. But for defense, it's old cartoons that I've already seen a million times usually. So I do yoga. I needed to ever since I hit 30 plus my back started saying, yeah, Jesse, you have to start doing yoga every day or you're going to be screwed. You know, so ⁓ I am actually I get quite bored quickly with yoga. but I needed to do it physically. I do is I take my phone and I put on like a YouTube yoga with And then I opened my computer and I watched something while I'm doing the yoga to keep my brain stimulated enough. And this is how I found this like a compromise. to do yoga every single day, I do the 10 minute upper back yoga with Adrienne yoga. Maybe I'll put it over here, the link, because highly recommended. yeah. And then ⁓ I'm feeling ambitious, I do another one. But the idea is I do it every day and I can watch something because doing the yoga itself ⁓ be so boring. I would keep pushing it off which would lead to me not actually doing the yoga. And if you ask anyone, any yogis, that's super taboo, right? You have to be centered. The whole thing about yoga is being with yourself. It's true for most people, but the idea is my back physically needs the yoga. So it's better to cartoons or watch whatever while I'm doing the yoga and do it as opposed to breathing into it. And then when I'm feeling like I don't have the motivation to do it, then just stopping it. So I think that also feeds back into this idea of understanding what works for you also the rest wise, You know, what makes you rest. Just like, I more or less it's watching something or playing video games or there are times when I do like to be quiet and be with myself, but it's, ⁓ know, we've been doing this our whole lives. You know, and I think that's... Trying to listen to other people's experiences of what you should be doing, it usually doesn't work out too well for my experience.
Tassi: I actually think like you just said, we do know, how to rest. think I know how to rest to the point I would like to. Like, I know some things, but I definitely feel like I could, could be a bit more rested. So I feel like researching this episode has been quite helpful in, in figuring out some.
Jesse: Mmm.
Tassi: some ways I can more restful, I guess.
Jesse: I see. Well, I mean, I'm curious now, like, okay, so when you were researching maybe the seven different types of rest, Was there anything else that you found in particularly like insightful regarding your quest for rest?
Tassi: ⁓ my quest for rest. I think I resonated with all of them in a way. I think the social rest for sure. also definitely the sensory rest. I feel like I experience way too much overload a lot of the time. So I've actually started to create like a ⁓ space myself for this sensory rest. And I have this lamp that has like some nice lights and it's a moving light. And I have like a box with like fidget toys and I have a weighted blanket and I have a bean bag like the which is like really fluffy and it feels nice. And I have a an essential oil diffuser, I tried to create this space to make it more easy to do sensory rest.
Jesse: it sounds like you already have like a whole system more or less.
Tassi: a way. Maybe my perfectionist self is thinking I could do better, but I guess ⁓ do have things thought out to a point.
Jesse: I mean, it's interesting because also what you mentioned about the perfectionism, I can so to that. And a lot of it is that I need to do it the right way. I need to be resting now the right way. Or it's the weekend. I need to stop. And there's a lot of all these concepts about like the work life balance, you're supposed to stop work and do something else. all these things that we talked about, they're definitely important, but a lot of the idea about how you be doing it, I think, it's programmed inside us based on the society, which is also, I mean, ironically based on productivity. toxic productivity and it's also telling you when to rest and when not to rest and what's the right way to do it. So I keep reminding myself that because a lot of these things seep into how we should be doing things and that leads into the perfectionism. And I can really relate to this. I should be resting now. I got to stop everything. I need to take a break and then forcing myself to do something which doesn't actually help.
Tassi: Yeah, I guess it's either you're resting too much or not enough because I guess either you have to work a certain amount so that you deserve the rest or are resting too much. No, resting too little. ⁓ I for myself, for example, I have worked very hard and very much and I feel like I have heard from certain sides, ⁓ you have to rest more. And I ⁓ resonate with that. do have to rest more at certain points, also I guess the type of rest that I feel like is recommended is maybe not not what would be the most beneficial.
Jesse: Yeah, and I think also, you know, it takes a bit of diving into why you're doing something in order to understand the rest. If you are working on something and you become like obsessive or you have to do it better and better if you're working on a job and you can't get yourself out of it. So that could be a moment where you have to say, stop. I had this with one of my put out this little music video last last week and found myself three o'clock in the morning trying to do the subtitles and I was like. I started getting like zombie, but I couldn't get myself out of it. You know, when you get into this, it's kind of a hyper focus, but it's like, uh, where you feel like you're, you're, you're running on empty, but you still like kind of the zombie on the other side. Sometimes when I'm editing the actual thing and I'm really into it and you find yourself six hours and you know, you probably should be doing something else, but you're actually enjoying the process of it. So I find sometimes that's a good time to actually stick in it.
Tassi: Yeah, like, kind of getting into a flow state that you were talking about, that can definitely be a way of relaxing because you're not having to like overthink things. I guess it's kind of like a brain rest, a mental rest, because you're just flowing. I guess it's also creative. ⁓
Jesse: I was gonna say like the creative that I could connect to what you said about that.
Tassi: Yeah, but I just want to bring things in again because we've been talking a lot. ⁓ I just thinking maybe we could talk about a couple more ideas for relaxing or tips for relaxing and rests that you ⁓ you or maybe have helped your clients or people you have worked with or yourself.
Jesse: I do. I can share a few things, but again, it's just coming back to the fact that come back to whatever works for you. And I'll give you an example. My grandma, rest her soul, she was one of the most ADHD people I have ever met in my life. ⁓ She was all over, jumping around, on phone, you start talking her and then she'd be talking on the phone to someone else. Really sweet. She never stopped. She slept. every night in a chair sitting up in front of a 50 inch screen with CNN blasting over there. And she'd sleep about four hours a night. And then she'd wake up and she'd be drinking coffee. And for her, the idea of lying down, she hated it. She hated it. She had a bed with really nice ⁓ And always slept in this really comfy, lazy boy chair. I think that's they're called.
Tassi: Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean,
Jesse: And for her that was resting and she would go we'd go out we go to eat we come back we'd rest a bit she watched TV she did you know, but part of it was she was always active in her resting and that's what worked for her and know, and For me as I mentioned sometimes resting is like zoning out but then watching cartoons or actually diving into something that shuts off my mind finding actually what works for you. I think it's crucial because in the end As I said, like if you don't tailor things to your own brain, even if it's the best idea, it's usually not gonna work. And not only that, it usually sits on some underlying belief that I should be doing this better.
Tassi: Yeah, definitely. guess the main takeaway this podcast, like you said, like figure out what works for you and try ⁓ things and see how you feel. I've got more tips though, if you want to try it out, take it or leave if it works for you. But something that has worked for me I find it hard to actually do the executive function thing of having to take the step of resting. So for this year, I've made a little envelope with pieces of paper in it with different kinds of rest activities so that if I know, okay, I feel like I have to rest that I can just take one of the piece of paper, piece of paper. So I don't have to like overthink, okay, what restful activity am I doing now? I just take one of the pieces of paper and it's a bit like a game. What rest activity will I get?
Jesse: It's like it's like a basically a bingo style or like you take out which kind of rest
Tassi: Yeah, I guess it's kind of like a raffle. Like I just get whatever rest I pull out. then also I did this. I found this term which is called, what was it called again? Something with green. Green time. like the opposite of screen time in a way, which we probably all do a little bit too much. But green time is basically the time you spend outside. And especially for ADHD, can be really helpful to be in nature. it's been associated with so many benefits like sleep and feeling calm to be in nature around trees. so if you can, I guess, step in outdoors, for me, personally has been helpful too, step outside the door going to the park can put me in a different headspace so
Jesse: Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for sharing it as you know, while you're saying that I think it I'm redefining what rest is in my mind. And after this talk also, and I see now rest is something that recharges you. And it can be either walking for instance, or it could be like, we go out with friends and being around people who you feel comfortable with and unmasking. You know, whatever is going to charge batteries in whatever form, I think that's a good way to look at it because That way you can also feel it on yourself. You know what mean? I really like how this doctor... What was her name? Do you remember?
Tassi: let me just go on my notes. Sorry. I'm very bad with names. ⁓ me too, me too.
Jesse: I don't ⁓ notice.
Tassi: Dr. Saundra Dalton Smith.
Jesse: Sandra Dalton Smith. First all, doctor, thank you very much. I just want to maybe encourage people, any of you who have been listening to this, if you connected any of these kind of rests, physical, mental, sensory, emotional, creative, social, spiritual, throw it in the comments. I'm assuming we'll have comments on that wherever this is going be. A place, yeah, what maybe a type of rest that you're particularly good at or type of rest that you want to be practicing. I'm I'm curious to hear your own experiences and maybe it shapes you. yeah, all in all though, I think if rest is really around this idea of recharging yourself, if you're putting pressure on yourself that you have to be resting and it's draining your battery, the thought of trying to rest. Maybe just stopping to do that might also be restful.
Tassi: Easier said than done, but good luck!
Jesse: Totally. Yeah, just stop thinking and actually all those things that are bothering you, just don't let it bother you.
Tassi: maybe writing it down and journaling about it could help with those thoughts.
Jesse: Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's a whole other I think I love journaling, but I hate doing it. So that's a whole other
Tassi: It's a love-hate for me as well. I have been at my best journaling, but then I also stopped journaling for months and months. I think this proves that we have a lot of topics that we can still into and we're just at the tip of the iceberg.
Jesse: I think it's good and I think on Tassi, I mean, this might be a good time to kind of close I really enjoyed this experience of having a first podcast over here. As we mentioned, if there's anything that stood out for you, you liked, you didn't like, we'd love to hear about it. I'm really curious, yeah, what was meaningful for good or for bad of anything we said. thank you for listening if you got to hear and see you in the next podcast.
Tassi: yeah, and I guess this is kind of mandatory. ⁓ Maybe give us a ⁓ or something? Like and subscribe so we can stay in touch. yeah, like Jesse said, I really hope to hear some of your perspectives. ⁓
Jesse: ⁓ yeah, like and subscribe. Share this with someone who a problem resting, we can also say.
Tassi: ⁓ yeah, do that advertising. Well, we'll see you soon. ⁓ you for listening. You the last word, ⁓
Jesse: Yeah, yeah. And remember, stay I would have to think of a good rest.
Tassi: god.
Jesse: Rest is the best. Or what I say, the restful. You should probably think of a better ending than this.
Tassi: No, this is great,
Jesse: stay restful bye.
Tassi: Hello. I'm Tassi. And yeah, I'm not an ADHD specialist, but I guess I'm a specialist of myself. guess. I don't know how else to introduce myself. But yeah, I was diagnosed with ADHD, autism and dyslexia at the age of 21. Yeah, I think I was 21 at that point.
Jesse: we decided to start this podcast because we, first of all, are ADHD enthusiasts and like to also hear different stories and share our experiences. But part of it is also understanding that there are many ways to look at ADHD. And I found that the more I kind of hear ⁓ people's experiences and also different approaches which aren't necessarily the mainstream ideas around it. the more it's helped me kind of reshape my life and things around my own terms. So the idea of this podcast is really to come and start sharing some of these ideas.
Tassi: yeah, I would agree with you. I relate on those points as well. Like seeing the different perspectives and picking whatever works for you from other people's experience has definitely helped me as well. So I hope to share my perspective and hope that someone can relate or feel.
Jesse: Yeah, yeah. And I just want to say, know, openly, this is my first time really doing a podcast. And also, I haven't really heard slash seen that many podcasts in my life. So this is also a bit of a learning curve, but I do like to talk and I do like to overanalyze things. So I think this is going to be a very interesting experience.
Tassi: Yeah, and I really enjoy listening to podcasts, ⁓ have also not done a podcast before, so...
Jesse: You got to start from somewhere, you know? yes. So we decided why Tea you might be asking yourself ADHD over Tea first of all, actually the idea came from a rhyming name. I ADHD, Tea, that sounded kind of cool. And then Tassi, who is T enthusiast, who you can explain a bit about that in a second. jumped on the idea of tea. And then we started exploring this and we started realizing that there's so much culture and, you know, a lot of things are stand behind tea itself, almost every culture has its own tea, or people to connect over tea, or people like gossip, and they call it spilling the tea. And there's a lot different ways to explore things actually through tea.
Tassi: yeah, ⁓ I'll take that. Yeah, I liked your intro about the tea there. I definitely resonate with all of that. Yeah, tea has also been like a way for me to kind of take a step back, take a break and just yeah, enjoy the flavor and whatever the tea serve also medicinally. But also I... 50 % of the time at least I never finish drinking my tea because I just forget that the tea exists. ⁓
Jesse: Thanks for reminding me, actually.
Tassi: Yeah, I just put it somewhere and then cold and yeah, this is a good, good idea to do this podcast because I'll hopefully drink my tea. ⁓
Jesse: Yeah, also gives like, I guess it's interesting what you're saying because tea is a very ⁓ of set amount of time if you want it hot at least. So basically from when you brew it, you pour it, it's really hot. You have a certain amount of time. There's a certain time limit to it, which what you were saying as kind of also a pause from life. But I like it how it's also a framework similar to, ⁓ know how people with ADHD tend to work well with the pomodoro technique. It's like a timeframe. So I kind of like this idea of what we're talking about it more like, okay, a cup of tea is also a designated amount of time where we could focus or focus on a specific topic.
Tassi: Yeah. So if you inclined to put on the and have a tea with us, feel free to join. And we thought it would be nice to have a specific tea every episode. So here's my tea today. I have chamomile tea, which is kind of relevant to our podcast topic today. And yeah. We'll tell you about the topic in a second, but first I wanted to talk about chamomile tea. So basically, chamomile, the It's like flower that's yellow in the middle and then there's white petals around it. They're quite small little flowers. the actual scientific is a name that I can't pronounce very well, but I will try my best, ⁓ which is ⁓ Matricaria chamomilia. like that. But there's basically two different types of chamomile. One is the German chamomile and one is the Roman chamomile. many people the German chamomile. It's ⁓ a plant grows a bit taller than the Roman chamomile and is a bit more potent, a bit stronger.
Jesse: potent you mean like when it comes to the relaxing effects that chamomile tends to have?
Tassi: Yeah, so the properties, like you said, and also the flavor. the flavor of chamomile tea is there's a little bit of bitterness, but also some sweetness and it's ⁓ quite tasting, I'd say. ⁓ But you go to the shops and try it for yourself. I definitely recommend and I'm not a and we're not prescribing any kinds of health benefits here, but
Jesse: Mm-hmm.
Tassi: don't want to get involved in that, but chamomile has a lot of health associations which relaxing properties. It can help help with sleep in general. aids digestion and helps with cramps, gas all digestion related things. It can soothe inflammation for the skin as well. don't only have drink it as tea, obviously there's creams and it also regulates the blood sugar. So yeah, feel free to do your own research and yeah.
Jesse: Thank you. Thank you for that in-depth description on chamomile. And I just want to also second our disclaimer. We are not doctors. If you want to go and explore chamomile more, please and advise with your personal practitioner or before drinking too much chamomile. But all in all, I know it helps me sometimes kind of go to sleep. So, yeah, thank you for that, Tassi.
Tassi: Talking about the doctor thing, I heard that if you have hay fever, not necessarily the best tea to drink.
Jesse: yeah, I can actually second that. remember during April to March, end of March to May is horrible for me when it comes to allergies. That's a whole other topic. But back what we wanted to talk about today, which has something to do with chamomile. is the topic of ADHD and resting. And I find this a very interesting topic for ⁓ reasons. ⁓ is that resting each person, I think, is quite different. And there's a lot of this idea about what resting should be. Particularly people say, to be healthy or, yeah, you need to know how to rest. You need to know how to stop and pause. It is important to rest, don't get me wrong, but it is also very, very vague, that whole idea between resting and what is resting for each person. Particularly with ADHD, I know for myself and people I've worked with that this idea of pausing or stopping or sitting down or just lying down and doing nothing, it actually can cause a lot of stress. And that itself can be quite counterproductive to the idea of resting. And I think before we go into these ideas, Tasi, you and there's basically there's some different types of actual resting out there, ⁓
Tassi: ⁓ yeah, so I basically found this concept or this idea from this doctor physician whose name I also can't pronounce very well. So called Sandra Dalton if you're interested. basically she came with these seven types of rest. ⁓ a lot of people think resting is lying down and doing nothing, putting your feet up, not moving, taking bath, doing a face mask, stuff like that. But actually can also look more active. There's different kinds of rest. Like I said, these ⁓ seven types she classified, which I'm just going to briefly go into. So there's physical rest, there's mental rest, ⁓ sensory rest, rest, social rest. creative rest and spiritual rest.
Jesse: Mm-hmm.
Tassi: I'm gonna do a bit of a deep dive into these but also not too deep.
Jesse: Medium deep, medium deep, like a... of the kids pool.
Tassi: yes, about level of deepness. ⁓ So rest is the of the body as it says in the name. And that could like lying down, ⁓ having a nap, doing some light stretching yoga, something that helps the body relax and calm down. And then there's mental rest, which is to do with cognitive. load and attention so I guess we can definitely relate with that one but it's all about not having to think as anymore and to have problem solve all the time
Jesse: So it's like really shutting down the brain, it doesn't necessarily mean you have to stop thinking. You can like shut it down with like something else. Zone out.
Tassi: Yeah, it's like, guess about, I don't know how to describe it like properly, but I guess it's about this hard thinking where you really have to use your brain power that could be like mentally exhausting.
Jesse: story in my life.
Tassi: then there's sensory rest, which I think we all can relate to very closely as well, which ⁓ to do with maybe stepping back from environments that a bit overwhelming, like if they're loud ⁓ or very or... Yeah, just overwhelming spaces ⁓ to basically put in a more calm environment.
Jesse: Yeah.
Tassi: that's maybe less noisy or less bright or there's like some lighting that would be a way of resting with.
Jesse: With your sensors, yeah, which I just want to also throw in here for it's very common amongst ADHD and also the autistic spectrum to have very strong reactions to the sensory like lighting and sounds and stuff.
Tassi: Yeah, for sure, for sure. Definitely. And yeah, also, I was looking into this and I guess it's also helpful if you are in an environment that's very quiet and calm all the time that maybe you also seek the sensory stimulation. So I guess it's about balance having enough sensory input, but also not too much.
Jesse: Look, that's interesting. just wondering, I don't know if it would consider us a restful, but let's say if you are in too calm a place and you're getting restless from being in such a common boring place, like I know as a kid or most kids, you're in class and it's super and then you're getting restless and then you go outside and you start playing with all the noise and all the craziness and that actually rejuvenates you. So I'm wondering if that would also be considered some type of rest, would you say?
Tassi: Yeah, I mean, I'm not an expert, but I think think that makes a lot of sense. Like, I guess it's about experiencing the senses you need in a balanced way. So yeah, fourth, is emotional rest. And I guess that ties into masking as well. The emotional rest is about just being able to let go and have your emotions flow and to process your emotions and to not have to hide yourself. I guess the type of emotional rest could be being around people that you can be yourself around.
Jesse: yeah, we can just express yourself however you want. If it's a loved one or good friend or a video game
Tassi: Yes. ⁓
Jesse: or your cat. Okay, emotional.
Tassi: And the fifth one would be social rest, could look like time alone, quality time on your own. yeah, so you've been socializing a lot to step back and spend some time with yourself, but like the ⁓ one, if spend a lot of time on your own, maybe it's gonna be helpful for you to go out and spend time with someone as well. we're at number six now. Yes. six is creative ⁓ I definitely feel this is big one for me as well because, especially as people with ADHD, we tend to be quite creative people, but I also think we often second-guess ourselves or can be quite judgmental of.
Jesse: I see, out of seven, right? Mm-hmm.
Tassi: what we produce and I'm definitely that kind of a person. So I feel like I really have to express this creative energy in me, but I also constantly think it's not very good. that's one I need to work on because it's quite healing, I think.
Jesse: Well, it's interesting because what I'm hearing from one side is that you have a creative side. So there's a certain amount if you can allow yourself to get to this place of creating, you can feel like it's resting and you get into this some kind of maybe meditative, meditative states. On the other hand, I'm hearing you might need a rest from this part of you, which is pushing yourself to be a perfectionist around what you're creating. So maybe part of that kind of rest is actually not doing it and being okay with it.
Tassi: Yeah, yeah. mean, I think it looks different for everyone. yeah, myself personally, I feel like I actually have to do more of the creative rest. But if a creative person that maybe even has a creative job, taking a rest doing these creative things doing a different kind of creative activity could be quite helpful and relaxing.
Jesse: Mm-hmm.
Tassi: And now we're at the last one. The last one is spiritual rest. So that's all about something that's more than just yourself, something that gives you meaning, which whether you have a religion or meditation or spiritual practice just or philosophy, just something that makes you feel like there's more to life than than yourself, I guess.
Jesse: it's kind of like you're getting out of your own head and then looking at the bigger picture kind of thing and taking off some of their sense of responsibility.
Tassi: Yeah,
Jesse: Yeah, yeah, no, it's really interesting. because I mean, we just went through a lot. So I'm going to see if I wrote it all down properly. We said we had the physical one. Then we had the forgot the second one. The third one was emotional.
Tassi: The second one was mental. The third one was sensory.
Jesse: Physical, mental, sensory, emotional, social, creative, and spiritual. All right. I did. I also wrote it down a bit. learned I have to write it down quickly because otherwise it's like, but really interesting, you know, and I know it might be a lot if you're listening to this, like to go over so many different types, but when we break it down and we see there's a lot more.
Tassi: Yes, you listened well in class. ⁓
Jesse: that's going on, it's not like, just need to rest. Like, if you break it down, there's already these seven categories, but inside each category, ⁓ start speaking about it, there's different kinds of the creative rest I want to create and be in my own zone doing that. On the other hand, I want to rest from this idea that I need to be creating all the time, And I think it's a lot of people, particularly with ADHD, who can be creative. and maybe have this pressure we put on ourself, you know? And when I was thinking about rest, I find that I rest a lot in less conventional ways. So for me, ⁓ lying down, as I mentioned before, it might not very restful because my mind is and looking for to solve whatever problems. So a lot of the time, Not always, but a lot of the time. I go to sleep like watching cartoons. So I watch something, something maybe I've seen a million times, like old Simpson episodes or something to kind of like zone out in bed, like half listening, half falling asleep because it distracts my mind, And everyone tells you how unhealthy it is, how no, you should stop watching things two hours ahead before you go to bed and close your eyes. I find that for me in most cases, that's probably, it's usually the best way to go to bed because my mind is just naturally thinking that way. And I'm actually, I'm okay with that. And so ⁓ I just wanted to put that out there because there's a lot of ideas in general, how you're supposed to And society us usually this is the right way. This is the wrong way. and for many people, works that way, but I think it's just important also to put out there that in the end, like we are the expert of our own life and we all have these systems that we've been doing. I think rest is really important. but the stress people put on themselves and society puts on you to rest. think is counterproductive because. I hear all the time things like, ⁓ yeah, I just need to stop and I need to rest more. Why? And what does that mean? Maybe you're pressuring yourself to do something that's overloading you or you're going towards a burnout. And that's for sure. You need to maybe pause that. But if you're not specific also what you're doing and what you need to rest from and what you need to stop doing, it's very vague and you can really miss the mark, I think, and lead into a lot of this expectations of ourselves to act in a way which might not even be helping. if that makes sense.
Tassi: Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. go back to your cartoon thing, I always listen to something to to sleep.
Jesse: to? I'm curious. Do you have like a specific?
Tassi: usually just some kind of YouTube videos or podcasts or something where someone's talking about like a long topic, nothing intense,
Jesse: Nice, so it's finding the not too stimulating.
Tassi: Yeah, a little bit but not too much.
Jesse: Yeah, so that helps you, like, do you just do it when you fall asleep or do you also use it for other types of rest?
Tassi: Oh, yeah, actually I do. I feel like this is something that's a bit conflicted with me because I feel like I do consume too much media, but I prefer longer form content, which I feel like I do benefit from. I like to learn about random topics and I find it quite restful to have videos on in the background or a podcast and do housework. do something else, run around, walk around, that can be quite restful. And definitely a lot more restful than just sitting down and watching a video. would actually not be restful for me, I'd say, to sit down for too long without cleaning or doing something.
Jesse: you need to be active. So for you to rest physically is actually doing stuff in many cases.
Tassi: Yes.
Jesse: active, cleaning the house. Well, I know also, yeah, movement, exercise is known to really kind of calm And I think it's interesting because actually reframing it as rest, even though it's actually the opposite of physically stopping and resting.
Tassi: Yeah, there's definitely, a lot of research out there that probably have heard about, like exercising, calming the mind, for people with ADHD and helping with focus.
Jesse: yeah, the exercise I know can really help but also understanding that a lot of these ideas from society, ⁓ they don't on ADHD brain, and I was just talking also with someone, there's many different kinds of meditation. For some people it works to stop and close your eyes. I think it's also important to know how to that on a basic level. It's less about just closing your eyes and, you know, transcending into the stars and becoming one with the Ja universe, but actually practicing resetting your focus. So that can be beneficial, but I would say when it comes to more like deep diving, I meditate better on a dance floor sometimes where you're like with some music, So there's that movement or even when I'm at the gym or doing some other things or, even sitting with my eyes closed, but listening to music and doing this kind of music meditation stuff. So I think it's really individual and I think it's really important that you find what works for you, you know, understand that everyone's advice, you everyone has a lot of advice and it usually comes hopefully from a good place. But it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to work on your own brain or work on who you are. understanding that I think is a key element because many cases we try to force ourselves. I need to rest. I just need to stop and rest. and you find yourself on the beach bored to hell and you're wondering what's wrong with me. I should be enjoying this more, you know? And then you started getting into that whole loop. I should be, I should be, I need to, and you know, and lot of it's just based on other people's ideas and not what actually works for you.
Tassi: Yep.
Jesse: That's my advice, though. I should follow
Tassi: I like I've also benefited from meditation in moment when I do do it, but I find it really hard to stick with it. I guess it's my perfectionism ⁓ of feeling I have to do this every day now. This is my entire personality. But I guess more helpful is having that as something to come back to when you need it. But me personally, if I have this mindset of I'm going to meditate every day and I forget to do it once or I don't do it once, I'm never doing it again. So that's where I went wrong in the past. So I hope I can meditate a bit more. But let's see.
Jesse: can to that. that's why with have my technique is the absolute bare minimum. So with meditation, I ⁓ two minutes a day, two minutes. You can do two minutes. And the bar was like, My eyes are closed two minutes. And then ⁓ if I was ambitious, I would do four minutes, like a little bit more, because I know if I now meditate 10 minutes one day. I'm gonna be the next day, I'm gonna feel like this is never, I'm never ever gonna be able to do 10 minutes again. And it's gonna totally discourage me. And that way I'm never gonna, and I stopped doing it.
Tassi: Yeah, that's a very good tip. Like, I also heard you do with cartoons?
Jesse: over here, I see how much I do tend to watch cartoons a lot. But for defense, it's old cartoons that I've already seen a million times usually. So I do yoga. I needed to ever since I hit 30 plus my back started saying, yeah, Jesse, you have to start doing yoga every day or you're going to be screwed. You know, so ⁓ I am actually I get quite bored quickly with yoga. but I needed to do it physically. I do is I take my phone and I put on like a YouTube yoga with And then I opened my computer and I watched something while I'm doing the yoga to keep my brain stimulated enough. And this is how I found this like a compromise. to do yoga every single day, I do the 10 minute upper back yoga with Adrienne yoga. Maybe I'll put it over here, the link, because highly recommended. yeah. And then ⁓ I'm feeling ambitious, I do another one. But the idea is I do it every day and I can watch something because doing the yoga itself ⁓ be so boring. I would keep pushing it off which would lead to me not actually doing the yoga. And if you ask anyone, any yogis, that's super taboo, right? You have to be centered. The whole thing about yoga is being with yourself. It's true for most people, but the idea is my back physically needs the yoga. So it's better to cartoons or watch whatever while I'm doing the yoga and do it as opposed to breathing into it. And then when I'm feeling like I don't have the motivation to do it, then just stopping it. So I think that also feeds back into this idea of understanding what works for you also the rest wise, You know, what makes you rest. Just like, I more or less it's watching something or playing video games or there are times when I do like to be quiet and be with myself, but it's, ⁓ know, we've been doing this our whole lives. You know, and I think that's... Trying to listen to other people's experiences of what you should be doing, it usually doesn't work out too well for my experience.
Tassi: I actually think like you just said, we do know, how to rest. think I know how to rest to the point I would like to. Like, I know some things, but I definitely feel like I could, could be a bit more rested. So I feel like researching this episode has been quite helpful in, in figuring out some.
Jesse: Mmm.
Tassi: some ways I can more restful, I guess.
Jesse: I see. Well, I mean, I'm curious now, like, okay, so when you were researching maybe the seven different types of rest, Was there anything else that you found in particularly like insightful regarding your quest for rest?
Tassi: ⁓ my quest for rest. I think I resonated with all of them in a way. I think the social rest for sure. also definitely the sensory rest. I feel like I experience way too much overload a lot of the time. So I've actually started to create like a ⁓ space myself for this sensory rest. And I have this lamp that has like some nice lights and it's a moving light. And I have like a box with like fidget toys and I have a weighted blanket and I have a bean bag like the which is like really fluffy and it feels nice. And I have a an essential oil diffuser, I tried to create this space to make it more easy to do sensory rest.
Jesse: it sounds like you already have like a whole system more or less.
Tassi: a way. Maybe my perfectionist self is thinking I could do better, but I guess ⁓ do have things thought out to a point.
Jesse: I mean, it's interesting because also what you mentioned about the perfectionism, I can so to that. And a lot of it is that I need to do it the right way. I need to be resting now the right way. Or it's the weekend. I need to stop. And there's a lot of all these concepts about like the work life balance, you're supposed to stop work and do something else. all these things that we talked about, they're definitely important, but a lot of the idea about how you be doing it, I think, it's programmed inside us based on the society, which is also, I mean, ironically based on productivity. toxic productivity and it's also telling you when to rest and when not to rest and what's the right way to do it. So I keep reminding myself that because a lot of these things seep into how we should be doing things and that leads into the perfectionism. And I can really relate to this. I should be resting now. I got to stop everything. I need to take a break and then forcing myself to do something which doesn't actually help.
Tassi: Yeah, I guess it's either you're resting too much or not enough because I guess either you have to work a certain amount so that you deserve the rest or are resting too much. No, resting too little. ⁓ I for myself, for example, I have worked very hard and very much and I feel like I have heard from certain sides, ⁓ you have to rest more. And I ⁓ resonate with that. do have to rest more at certain points, also I guess the type of rest that I feel like is recommended is maybe not not what would be the most beneficial.
Jesse: Yeah, and I think also, you know, it takes a bit of diving into why you're doing something in order to understand the rest. If you are working on something and you become like obsessive or you have to do it better and better if you're working on a job and you can't get yourself out of it. So that could be a moment where you have to say, stop. I had this with one of my put out this little music video last last week and found myself three o'clock in the morning trying to do the subtitles and I was like. I started getting like zombie, but I couldn't get myself out of it. You know, when you get into this, it's kind of a hyper focus, but it's like, uh, where you feel like you're, you're, you're running on empty, but you still like kind of the zombie on the other side. Sometimes when I'm editing the actual thing and I'm really into it and you find yourself six hours and you know, you probably should be doing something else, but you're actually enjoying the process of it. So I find sometimes that's a good time to actually stick in it.
Tassi: Yeah, like, kind of getting into a flow state that you were talking about, that can definitely be a way of relaxing because you're not having to like overthink things. I guess it's kind of like a brain rest, a mental rest, because you're just flowing. I guess it's also creative. ⁓
Jesse: I was gonna say like the creative that I could connect to what you said about that.
Tassi: Yeah, but I just want to bring things in again because we've been talking a lot. ⁓ I just thinking maybe we could talk about a couple more ideas for relaxing or tips for relaxing and rests that you ⁓ you or maybe have helped your clients or people you have worked with or yourself.
Jesse: I do. I can share a few things, but again, it's just coming back to the fact that come back to whatever works for you. And I'll give you an example. My grandma, rest her soul, she was one of the most ADHD people I have ever met in my life. ⁓ She was all over, jumping around, on phone, you start talking her and then she'd be talking on the phone to someone else. Really sweet. She never stopped. She slept. every night in a chair sitting up in front of a 50 inch screen with CNN blasting over there. And she'd sleep about four hours a night. And then she'd wake up and she'd be drinking coffee. And for her, the idea of lying down, she hated it. She hated it. She had a bed with really nice ⁓ And always slept in this really comfy, lazy boy chair. I think that's they're called.
Tassi: Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean,
Jesse: And for her that was resting and she would go we'd go out we go to eat we come back we'd rest a bit she watched TV she did you know, but part of it was she was always active in her resting and that's what worked for her and know, and For me as I mentioned sometimes resting is like zoning out but then watching cartoons or actually diving into something that shuts off my mind finding actually what works for you. I think it's crucial because in the end As I said, like if you don't tailor things to your own brain, even if it's the best idea, it's usually not gonna work. And not only that, it usually sits on some underlying belief that I should be doing this better.
Tassi: Yeah, definitely. guess the main takeaway this podcast, like you said, like figure out what works for you and try ⁓ things and see how you feel. I've got more tips though, if you want to try it out, take it or leave if it works for you. But something that has worked for me I find it hard to actually do the executive function thing of having to take the step of resting. So for this year, I've made a little envelope with pieces of paper in it with different kinds of rest activities so that if I know, okay, I feel like I have to rest that I can just take one of the piece of paper, piece of paper. So I don't have to like overthink, okay, what restful activity am I doing now? I just take one of the pieces of paper and it's a bit like a game. What rest activity will I get?
Jesse: It's like it's like a basically a bingo style or like you take out which kind of rest
Tassi: Yeah, I guess it's kind of like a raffle. Like I just get whatever rest I pull out. then also I did this. I found this term which is called, what was it called again? Something with green. Green time. like the opposite of screen time in a way, which we probably all do a little bit too much. But green time is basically the time you spend outside. And especially for ADHD, can be really helpful to be in nature. it's been associated with so many benefits like sleep and feeling calm to be in nature around trees. so if you can, I guess, step in outdoors, for me, personally has been helpful too, step outside the door going to the park can put me in a different headspace so
Jesse: Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for sharing it as you know, while you're saying that I think it I'm redefining what rest is in my mind. And after this talk also, and I see now rest is something that recharges you. And it can be either walking for instance, or it could be like, we go out with friends and being around people who you feel comfortable with and unmasking. You know, whatever is going to charge batteries in whatever form, I think that's a good way to look at it because That way you can also feel it on yourself. You know what mean? I really like how this doctor... What was her name? Do you remember?
Tassi: let me just go on my notes. Sorry. I'm very bad with names. ⁓ me too, me too.
Jesse: I don't ⁓ notice.
Tassi: Dr. Saundra Dalton Smith.
Jesse: Sandra Dalton Smith. First all, doctor, thank you very much. I just want to maybe encourage people, any of you who have been listening to this, if you connected any of these kind of rests, physical, mental, sensory, emotional, creative, social, spiritual, throw it in the comments. I'm assuming we'll have comments on that wherever this is going be. A place, yeah, what maybe a type of rest that you're particularly good at or type of rest that you want to be practicing. I'm I'm curious to hear your own experiences and maybe it shapes you. yeah, all in all though, I think if rest is really around this idea of recharging yourself, if you're putting pressure on yourself that you have to be resting and it's draining your battery, the thought of trying to rest. Maybe just stopping to do that might also be restful.
Tassi: Easier said than done, but good luck!
Jesse: Totally. Yeah, just stop thinking and actually all those things that are bothering you, just don't let it bother you.
Tassi: maybe writing it down and journaling about it could help with those thoughts.
Jesse: Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's a whole other I think I love journaling, but I hate doing it. So that's a whole other
Tassi: It's a love-hate for me as well. I have been at my best journaling, but then I also stopped journaling for months and months. I think this proves that we have a lot of topics that we can still into and we're just at the tip of the iceberg.
Jesse: I think it's good and I think on Tassi, I mean, this might be a good time to kind of close I really enjoyed this experience of having a first podcast over here. As we mentioned, if there's anything that stood out for you, you liked, you didn't like, we'd love to hear about it. I'm really curious, yeah, what was meaningful for good or for bad of anything we said. thank you for listening if you got to hear and see you in the next podcast.
Tassi: yeah, and I guess this is kind of mandatory. ⁓ Maybe give us a ⁓ or something? Like and subscribe so we can stay in touch. yeah, like Jesse said, I really hope to hear some of your perspectives. ⁓
Jesse: ⁓ yeah, like and subscribe. Share this with someone who a problem resting, we can also say.
Tassi: ⁓ yeah, do that advertising. Well, we'll see you soon. ⁓ you for listening. You the last word, ⁓
Jesse: Yeah, yeah. And remember, stay I would have to think of a good rest.
Tassi: god.
Jesse: Rest is the best. Or what I say, the restful. You should probably think of a better ending than this.
Tassi: No, this is great,
Jesse: stay restful bye.
