We were handed the five-day workweek the same way we were handed a lot of things. Not as a design choice. Just as the way things are. And then we blamed ourselves for not being able to sustain a normal work schedule. But what if the schedule was the problem — not us?

In this episode:

• Why you might need more support for some work — and what that's actually telling you
• What it feels like when work finally fits (and why that contrast is real data)
• How to start reading your nervous system's signals as clues, not failure
• Why exhaustion after work may not be about how hard you worked — but about how misaligned the structure was

Connect With Adria:

• Get your free Unmasking Menu
• AuDHD Coaching with Adria
• @iamadriasophia

Wish you had a reminder of what sparked? Full episode guides at AuDHDSparks.com.

You may have looked up PDA – Pervasive Drive for Autonomy or Pathological Demand Avoidance. Read about explosive refusals, screaming matches, visible behavior that clears rooms. And closed the tab.

Because you comply. You finish. You handle things. Yet a directive from someone you respect sends your nervous system into full crisis. An uninvited task takes down an entire day. You want to do the thing and you're in revolt about it — simultaneously.

PDA has another presentation, a masked one. And it might look a lot more like you.

In this episode:

• Why being looked at can trigger a threat response
• The way AuDHD masking and PDA create a loop that loads more onto the people who hide it best
• How internalized PDA is real and underrepresented — because it was never looked for, not because it's rare

Connect With Adria:

• Get your free Unmasking Menu
• AuDHD Coaching with Adria
• @iamadriasophia

Wish you had a reminder of what sparked? Full episode guides at AuDHDSparks.com.

Some of us grew up watching other women – in our family, in the world around us – who asked for things or were clear about their needs get called difficult. Demanding. Too much. And we learned fast: don't be like them. So we performed fine. Said yes when we meant no. Hid how much things actually cost us.

But what if the women in our lineages who got that label were actually onto something?

In this episode:

• The word "difficult" and what it's really punishing
• Why invisible work doesn't show up on the to-do list
• The three ways we learned to hide our needs
• What it looks like when someone finally just... sees your needs as real
• Why staying resourced isn't weakness — it's how you stay in the fight

Connect With Adria:

• Get your free Unmasking Menu
• AuDHD Coaching with Adria
• @iamadriasophia

Wish you had a reminder of what sparked? Full episode guides at AuDHDSparks.com.