When Your ADHD Brain Crashes After Crisis (And the Reframe That Changes Everything)

About this episode

Isabelle Richards discusses the ADHD crisis cycle and shares a transformative reframe during a chaotic power outage.

Ever notice how ADHD makes you crave chaos...until the chaos actually arrives and your brain completely shorts out? This week, co-host Isabelle Richards is living that paradox in real time. We're dropping this episode on Friday instead of our usual every-other-Wednesday schedule because Nashville is currently frozen solid and Isabelle is flying solo, recording from her phone in her kids' bedroom during a 6-day power outage and ice storm. She gets brutally honest about the ADHD crisis cycle: the superhuman first 48 hours, the inevitable crash that follows, and why—even after all the work, all the podcasting, all the self-compassion practice—her first instinct is still to absolutely destroy herself on the inside. If you've ever felt like a superhero one day and a deflated balloon the next, this one's for you. Isabelle shares the reframe that changed everything: what if your scattered brain isn't broken—it's actually trying to protect you? And here's the twist: the thing that pulled her out of the spiral was recording this very episode. Sometimes serving others is how we save ourselves. Here's what's coming your way: Why ADHD brains can be superhuman in the first 24-48 hours of…

People in this episode

Host: Isabelle Richards

Topics covered

• ADHD
• crisis cycle
• mental health
• self-compassion
• chaos
• inner critic

Keywords

• ADHD
• chaos
• mental health
• self-compassion
• inner critic
• crisis cycle
• routine

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Nashville

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