A Year of Substacking in an Insane Year

what a week

Photo by Kelly Common on Unsplash

The Long Climb is one year old today!

BUT WHO CARES. DID YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK?

My brain is absolutely spinning. It is hard to believe that it was only a week or so ago that the Tangerine Shitlord got shot at (by a white male Republican with a gun, surprise surprise) and had to strap a maxi pad onto his ear while he trotted out his Vice Presidential pick, who is like the first AI/human hybrid if their only training module was the Red Pill subreddit, the Joe Rogan Experience, and the scenes from The Handmaid’s Tale that had no women in them. I was feeling nothing but existential despair and was definitely looking at real estate in Costa Rica.

Now? I was on a Zoom call to start volunteering to try and elect our first woman president. AGAIN. It’s like reverse engineered 2016. Frankly, I am here for it. Kamala wasn’t my first choice in the 2020 primary, but she definitely wasn’t my last, and the fact that the Democrats actually got their shit together and agreed that this is the journey is unreal. What a ride.

Anyway!

I had written more stuff, but we all have so much to DO now, so I will just say this:

Thank you to each and every one of you who has supported my work over the past year, and for all the incredible, inspiring writing I have had the privilege of reading.

When I started this thing, I had no idea what I was doing. Spoiler alert: I still have no idea what I am doing. I am really grateful to have found an online space that doesn’t make me want to walk into the sea, and one that will let me empty the contents of my brain onto a blank page. Writing is so often shouting into a dark cave and waiting for the echoes. Hearing those echoes back has been so healing for me. I am in a much better place, and while meds and therapy have done some of the heavy lifting, I think community and creativity is the best medicine of all.

I’ll be more back to my regular subjects and things when my brain settles back into my skull from this crazy whiplash. Election season is a special ADHD nightmare so I am sure my posts are going to be a mixture of My Usual and panicked screams on the never ending and very not fun roller coaster we have been on. Hunker down, grab onto a friend, and…

Elder Millennials may know what this is from

To celebrate a year on Substack, I am offering a yearly subscription at 25% off until 8/31 — and that is your price forever! You will never pay more!

You can also do a monthly sub for $5/month. Most of my writing is not paywalled, keeping in my mission of accessible information, but I also believe in supporting artists and writers where you can. The money I make here helps me to afford fun things like books, supplies, sound equipment, etc.

If you are new to my Substack, welcome! I’m glad you are here. I put together a little round up of my posts - some widely read, some I just like, and some that fit my mission of talking about neurodivergence. If you like any of these, please like and/or share, as that is how I build my readership.

Thank you all again. You rock.

You Should Have Left the Light On

This is, by far, my most read post. It got thousands of views and I got over a hundred new subscribers. I wrote about my estrangement from my mother, the details of which I had only confided in trusted friends, and I remain awed by the response. I am proud of myself for writing it. Since putting this out in the world, I’ve come to a peace about this subject that I wasn’t sure I would ever have. I will always hate that it came to this, but I am terrible grateful to be on the other side of it now. This helped me to really feel like I can move forward, even if I’ll always wish things could have been different.

A Sort of Coming Out

My sexuality and my identity as a queer person (I STILL hesitate typing it! Still!) was another thing I was scared to write about. Since publishing this piece, I have started to identify more freely and I realize that I need more queer community in my life. I’m figuring out how to do that still, but hey, better late than never!

Not Quite a Superpower

This one was all about how my ADHD and my creativity are related, and I push back against the idea of ADHD as “superpower”. Remind me I still have a post somewhere in draft about how the term “neurospicy” makes me want to die…

Flipping the Bird

I quit Twitter/X and have barely looked at it in a year. I wrote about how it is bad for our brains, especially folks with ADHD.

How RSD Shaped My Life

This is where I talk about Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria - which most people with ADHD have - and how it affected me. I still struggle with it sometimes.