Different Is Better: Your Personal Invitation to NeuroDiversion 25
An invitation to the inaugural NeuroDiversion gathering (March 27-29, 2025)
Dear friends and readers,
NeuroDiversion is coming up in just one month! Iâve been working on it nearly full-time, and I canât wait to welcome everyone who makes the trip. But since Iâve had my head in the details for a while, I recently realized that I might not have explained the big-picture goal very well. Sorry about that!
An example of what I mean: I recently got a note from a reader who made me think, wow, I need to explain this thing a bit better. They basically wondered if the event was a good fit for them. Specifically, they said:
âIâm a bit older than what I imagine as your typical reader, and Iâm also not sure Iâm âneurodivergentâ, although Iâve certainly been wondering lately, especially after reading about adult ADHD. Do you think this is something I should come to?â
And itâs not just this person: Iâve heard from a bunch of people who like the concept when they hear about itâbut donât know if they should attend. They have questions like:
- What if Iâm older (or younger) than everyone else?
- What Iâm not neurodivergent (or just not sure)?
- What if I have OCD or dyslexia or something else non-ADHD?
- What if I have social anxiety and donât like being around big groups?
- What if I want to send my autistic teenager, and possibly attend with them?
(And many more⌠these are just a few situations weâve encountered.)
Well, here is the thing. We are building something very new here. Itâs a team effort with many people involved, almost all of whom are volunteering their time just like me. I donât want it to just be good; I want it to be amazing and transformative for everyone involved.
So if youâre reading this and wondering: am I invited? Yes, you are! Iâm sorry if I havenât come to your house with a personal invitation. (Honestly, I wish I could do that, because I would.)
âĄď¸Â Visit neurodiversion.org
(Or keep reading for more infoâŚ)
NeuroDiversion 25: Selected Programming
Want to be inspired? Hear from keynote speakers including Jessica McCabe, Cassandra Aarssen, Dr. Brandi Walker, Shira Gill, and more.
Want to learn? We have breakout sessions on two dozen topics including:
- Reducing Social Anxiety
- How Your Brainâs Executive Function Profile Impacts Quality of Life
- Unlocking the Puzzle of ADHD Relationships
- Sensory Alchemy: Writing With Presence
- Rewiring Health + Fitness
- Parenting Neurodivergent Kids
Many of these sessions are taught by therapists and other mental health professionals. Others are taught by authors and educatorsâall people who have real-world experience in these topics, and who teach from both traditional and non-traditional perspectives.
Education is a big part of the three days, but it will also be FUN. Among other activities:
- Weâre planning to screen the worldwide debut of this film about women with ADHD.
- Weâll have a Neurodivergent Creatorâs panel featuring Jesse J. Anderson, Trina Haynes, and several others.
- There will be 30+ meetups on all sorts of topics and interestsâand if you donât find one thatâs perfect for you, you can host your own.
Last but not least, it will be extra-special because itâs the first time anyoneâs done anything like this ⌠and YOU can be part of the inaugural gathering.
For those who arenât local to Austin (Iâm not either): I know that traveling to another city is costly and time-consuming. There are other things you could be doing. But it will be worth it! The team and I are very excited about everything weâve been planning behind the scenes.
âĄď¸Â Visit neurodiversion.org
Ideal Reader of A Year of Mental Health
When I started writing this newsletter last year, I wrote a post about my ideal reader. A brief selection:
You are doing well in some ways and not-so-well in others.
You are frustrated. And also eager!
You want something differentâa change in your life, or perhaps more than one change.
You know there is something great you can do, become, achieve, or experience. But what is it? And how do you find it? And what do you do about all of the life pressures standing in the way?
You worry about how you spend your time.
You feel like thereâs something you should be doing, but youâre not always sure what it is. You want to stop scrolling all the time. You want to find what matters and do more of it.
You are strongâand you struggle. These two points co-exist.
Also within you, a sense of insecurity causes you to second-guess yourself. You have ideas but donât always follow-through.
You worry about what other people think of you. Then you get mad at yourself for worrying about it. But you still worry.
Sometimes you get stuck. You donât feel like doing anything at all! You just want to give up and do whatever energy-depleting activities you gravitate toward.
Because you have this tendency, you might think youâre lazy. (Spoiler: most likely youâre not actually lazy. Instead of being good at being lazy, you are good at negative self-talk. Executive functions, like task initiation and planning, may also be difficult.)
Sometimes, you feel misunderstood, maybe even by the people close to you.
If you identify with any of those qualities (there are more in the post), youâll feel right at home at NeuroDiversion. And weâll help! Not because you need to âfixâ everything about your life, but because you want things to be better than they currently are.
A big part of the experience will be getting to know other people who think like you, or who have similar frustrations (AND superpowers) and who have found their own unique ways of getting through life.
So thatâs the event is about, and YES you are invited. Please come. If thereâs anything you need to know that would make it easier for you to commit, send our volunteer team a note (team @ neurodiversion.org) and theyâll get right back to you. đĽ°
Waking Up at Night with Ideas
One of the guiding forces of my life has been paying attention to ideas that wonât leave me alone. The principle is: not all of our âcrazyâ ideas are worth doing, but one way to tell the good from the bad is by how much time they take up in your brain.
When I started The Art of Non-Conformity in 2008, I thought about it every day for six months. I couldnât not do it. The same thing happened with deciding to visit every country in the world, traveling to meet my readers in all 50 states, and several other ideas that simultaneously felt intimidating and compelling.
Of course, not every idea that sticks with you becomes a huge successâthatâs not really the point. Itâs more that these are ideas worth pursuing. Theyâre worth investing in, in following up on, and giving everything you can to them.
As you might guess, I feel this way about NeuroDiversion, to the point where Iâm working on it more than anything else right now, and also taking a big financial risk on it. (Events are expensive! This is not a moneymaking project, and 100% of the ticket sales go toward costs.)
To be clear, if youâre planning to be there, I donât think you should come just because itâs one of my crazy ideas. You should come because it will be good for you. Iâm just noting that I take it very seriously and will be doing everything I can to support the community that comes out of it.