A Solo Person's Guide to ADHD
A Solo Person’s Guide to ADHD is a podcast for adults with ADHD who are doing life without a built-in support system — no partner, no shared mental load, no automatic second brain.
If you’re single, living alone, or functionally solo, ADHD hits differently.
There’s no one reminding you to grab the thing, finish the form, or notice when you’re overwhelmed. Executive dysfunction doesn’t show up as chaos — it shows up as quiet overload, decision paralysis, and the constant feeling that something is wrong, even when you can’t explain what.
This podcast isn’t about productivity hacks, motivation, or “finally getting your life together.”
It’s about understanding what’s actually happening — where ADHD, solo living, and modern life collide — and learning how to build external support, structure, and safety on purpose.
Hosted by Christine Dunning, a master certified life coach, musician, and late-diagnosed adult with ADHD, each episode offers reflection, language, and practical reframes to help you:
- stop blaming yourself for systems that were never designed for solo brains
- identify problems earlier, before burnout sets in
- build structures that work with ADHD instead of against it
You’re not broken.
You’re not behind.
You’re doing too much alone — and this podcast exists to name that, clearly and honestly.
Want to connect? Find me on my website: www.twocatscoaching.com or email me at christine@twocatscoaching.com
A Solo Person's Guide to ADHD
The Life I Didn’t Live: Grieving Unfulfilled Dreams (ADHD Edition)
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Host: Christine Dunning, Master Certified Life Coach & founder of Two Cats Coaching
Guest: Stacy Collins, hospice chaplain & fellow late-diagnosed ADHDer
Not all grief follows a funeral. Sometimes it shows up as a quiet ache for the life you didn’t get to live—children you didn’t have, a career that didn’t land, a relationship that never fit, an identity that never fully had space. For many late-diagnosed ADHD adults (especially women), naming these losses is an act of self-compassion—not bitterness.
What We Cover
- Dream grief 101: Mourning the imagined life vs. accepting the real one
- ADHD & regret: indecision, impulsivity, comparison traps, and the shame spiral
- Child-free/childless stories: ambivalence, choosing differently, and finding meaning without parenting
- Career pivots & identities: opera dreams, teaching careers, and redefining success
- Late diagnosis reflections: re-reading your past through an ADHD lens (RSD, impulsivity, masking)
- Health & aging losses: surgeries, changing abilities, and letting go with grace
- Community/societal grief: collective shocks, safety, and unresolved grief in public life
- From “what if” to “what now”: making room for the life that’s here and still coming
Gentle Reframes & Practices
- Name it: “This is grief.” Use language to reduce shame and invite care.
- Permission > perfection: You’ll do grief the way you do grief.
- Feelings → values: Ask, “What did that dream represent?” (belonging, freedom, creativity) and meet the value in new ways.
- Tiny rituals: Write a goodbye letter to an old dream; light a candle; plant something; mark the transition.
- Future-self check-in: “What brings peace/joy/meaning now?”
Favorite Lines
“Naming these losses is an act of self-compassion, not bitterness.”
“Let go of the life you thought you’d have to make room for the life that’s yet to come.”
Series Roadmap
Episode 13: Wait, Is This Grief?
Episode 14: Why Goodbye Doesn’t Come Easily (Loved Ones & Hospice)
Episode 15: The Quiet Ones Hurt the Most (Pet Grief)
Episode 16: The Life I Didn’t Live (Grieving Lost Dreams) ← you’re here
Episode 17: Rituals & Real Talk (ADHD-Friendly Grief Rituals)
Resources & Support
- U.S. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (24/7)
- 911 for emergencies
- Local mental-health providers and ADHD-informed therapists
Disclaimer
This podcast is for education and support. It is not medical or mental-health advice. If you’re struggling to function or feel unsafe, please seek professional help (U.S.: 988 or 911).
Connect
- Website & show hub: TwoCatsCoaching.com
- IG/FB: @TwoCatsCoaching
- Freebies? Click here
- Please subscribe, rate, and share if this helps you. 💛
