Something Shiny: ADHD!

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 chaos (and why the crash is inevitable)

  • What happens to your inner critic when you lose your feedback loops—and why it gets so vicious

  • How to recognize when your brain is begging you to stop asking it to do too much (before you completely crash)

  • Why hating routine while desperately needing it is the most brutal ADHD paradox

  • The one tiny shift that can pull you out of the spiral when everything feels impossible
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Wait—What's That? Here are some of the terms mentioned in this episode explained:

Here are some of the terms and people mentioned in this episode explained:

Neurospicy: ADHD/neurodivergent community slang for having a brain that works differently. A playful, lighter way to say neurodivergent—because sometimes you need to be able to laugh at your beautiful, chaotic brain.

Break in Routine: When your daily structure gets disrupted and suddenly you realize you were using that routine to survive all along. For ADHD brains, losing structure can be destabilizing even when you thought you hated having it in the first place.

Paradox: The ADHD experience of hating routine while absolutely needing it to function. You resist structure until it's gone, and then everything falls apart—which is exactly what makes it so brutal.

Feedback Loop: External validation or confirmation that helps you know you're on the right track. Without it, ADHD brains often default to the harshest possible self-judgment—like "you've made the worst decision" even when you probably made a fine decision.

Deflated Balloon: The crash that comes after days of crisis mode. The superhuman energy is gone, you can't finish sentences, and everything feels impossible. It's the inevitable comedown after running on pure adrenaline.

Mushy: When your brain feels foggy, slow, and unable to process normally. Not broken—just begging you to stop asking it to do too much. Sometimes mushy is your brain's way of protecting you.

Bobby: Isabelle's husband and co-producer of the podcast. When she mentions he suggested recording this episode, it's part of why you're hearing this raw, real-time account of ADHD in crisis—the kind of messy, honest moment that might help you feel less alone in your own chaos.

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💬 How does YOUR ADHD show up when chaos hits? Superhuman for 48 hours then can't finish a sentence? Let us know by leaving a comment on Spotify! We want to hear your crisis stories.

🎧 Follow Something Shiny: ADHD for more conversations that help you understand your ADHD and remind you—you were never too much.

What is Something Shiny: ADHD!?

How many times have you tried to understand ADHD...and were left feeling more misunderstood? We get it and we're here to help you build a shiny new relationship with ADHD. We are two therapists (David Kessler & Isabelle Richards) who not only work with people with ADHD, but we also have ADHD ourselves and have been where you are. Every other week on Something Shiny, you'll hear (real) vulnerable conversations, truth bombs from the world of psychology, and have WHOA moments that leave you feeling seen, understood, and...dare we say...knowing you are something shiny, just as you are.

Something Shiny: ADHD
When Your ADHD Brain Crashes After Crisis (And the Reframe That Changes Everything)
Special Drop Date: Friday, January 30, 2026

*this episode transcription was auto-generated and might contain errors


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ISABELLE RICHARDS: [00:00:00] Hello. I'm Isabelle. She, her, hers,

DAVID KESSLER: and I'm David. He, him, his,

ISABELLE RICHARDS: and we're two therapists with A DHD, who sit down to have some chats about A DHD. We can promise we'll stay on topic or be professional or even remotely mature, but we can promise that you'll end up looking at you or your loved one's, beautiful neurodivergent brain in a shiny new way.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: This is not a therapy session. This is something shiny.

DAVID KESSLER: I love it. Do you like it? Uh, that's amazing. And can this just be the intro you saying that and me freaking out about how amazing it's Yeah. You tapping your voice. That, that

ISABELLE RICHARDS: could be, that could be our

DAVID KESSLER: first intro. That's so good.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: So without further ado, welcome to something Shiny.

DAVID KESSLER: I'm David, I.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: Well, hey everybody, this [00:01:00] is Isabelle. Um, we got a little something special for you today on the Something Shiny podcast. So we will resume our amazing conversation with Jesse Sanchez, president of the Neurodiversity Alliance next week, as well as some amazing lineup of, um, episodes and, uh, things got a little derailed because, uh, I don't know if you're among the millions and millions of humans who happen to be residing.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: Across the United States. At this moment, we are in like a snowstorm, ice storm, polar vortex kind of situation. So what does this mean? Well, this means, this means, okay, so just to give you a visual, so we're in Nashville, Tennessee and it is really beautiful here. If you could see what I see right now outside my window, you would see like.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: Legit. Every [00:02:00] single plant flower power line is just covered in crystal ice right now. It's beautiful. It looks like something out of the movie Frozen, which my kiddos have enjoyed looking at. The problem is that it's been several days now without power, and it's a little like eerily silent, and then you hear a Greek, Greek, Greek, and then half a tree falls.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: Like for real all over into power lines, little small like boops explosions while the, when the power was still running. So it's been a journey of a couple of days of this. I am, maybe you hear me? I'm shivering. Um, we do have a fireplace and we're figuring things out so we're safe everybody. No, no worries.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: We are very, very fortunate. Um, my heart goes out to. So many, like we've already found ourselves helping neighbors, having [00:03:00] neighbors save our asses. So many times this week so far, we hope you all are doing the same and staying warm. But the thing I wanted to talk about, um, well of course this threw a wrench in the gear in that without reliable internet connection and such, a lot of the software and things we use to produce the show, we just can't.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: Like do a lot of it very well, and so fingers crossed power will be back on soon, but A DHD and this kind of natural disaster, okay, is, is it really a disaster? I don't know. It's more like nature plus climate change plus life. Anyway. Meets human fragility and the illusion of, uh, stability. Oh my gosh, I'm ranting.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: I'm just like by myself in my kids' room right now, trying to get warm by the sun. Okay, so A DHD, this is what you see. You see, uh, even with my meds, I am extra scattered. I feel really [00:04:00] restless and really off. Um, I legit. Completely like the break in routine and the need to survive like so overloaded everything.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: And it's like for a day or so, like I feel like I was supercharged. Like I was able to lift a generator. I didn't know I could, you know, like it was very much like, okay, I got this. This is no problem. Right? Because it's almost like everything is important. So it's so easy to get everything done. But now days in, I feel like a deflated balloon.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: Um, I have, I can't like finish a sentence. We're sleeping well, thank goodness. I'll cozied and bundled up by the fire, but, um, I think, I mean, I've taken my method stuff, but like I have, you can laugh at this. This is such a, such a like, oh wow. I can't, but like we, we haven't really figured out how to boil water well over the fire.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: So like coffee and tea are just very weak, I guess. [00:05:00] So I don't know if I've been like, overdoing it 'cause I just, I get, I, I feel extra snappy. I feel like everything is scary and when I get this scared, I think I just get kind of mad and I just. Walk around like, and my first instinct is to, you know, kind of snap or yell or just be not a nice person.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: So I had to like almost take myself away and sit down and go like, what is happening? And my first instinct, honestly, and maybe you all can relate to this, but I feel like no matter how much work I do on myself, there is never a moment. Where my first instinct isn't just to beat myself inside senseless.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: Like I'm the worst, I'm the worst mom. I, you know, I make the, I make bad decisions. I can't do this. You know, it's like, it just, it's like there's times I can't even name how much I loath my, myself, and my [00:06:00] mind and my brain and my sweet, sweet, neuro spicy self. And I hate to say that 'cause that's not. What I'm about.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: And that's not even what this podcast is about. And it's also, but it's also real. So it is kind of what it's about. And I had this moment just now, I was sitting there going like, oh my gosh, like, what are we gonna do? Power's still not on, we're trying to, 'cause it's, it's just staying really cold. So really it's just like trying to figure out how to keep ourselves really warm and stuff.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: Keep the kids from losing their minds, being cooped up in a, in a place where they're just warm enough, where they're like, everything's fine. And their parents are like, calm, but kind of freaking out on the inside all the time. Um, and you're like, well, why didn't you go to a hotel or something? And I'm like, well, we have, for one, we have a very large dog and a fish.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: And you may laugh, but like they are members of the family. We cannot abandon them. They would not. Yeah. And and point is, is a lot of the hotels that would've [00:07:00] taken even a large dog, the power went out there too. So it's like, might as well stay where we have food. Yeah. Point is, is like you go through all these strategies, you go through all these problem solvings, and then there's always a moment where it feels like you've made the worst decision or the best decision.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: And I guess the thing that just kills me is sometimes it's like with an absence of feedback or like a feedback loop. My inner mind is so mean to me and I, I don't know. So I sat down. I had this moment and I just had this thought. I was like, okay, you know what? Like I am so grateful. I'm so grateful. I have the kind of brain that can like problem solve and do so much in a day.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: Maybe I can also be grateful as much as I'm like, cringing. Honestly, but maybe I can be grateful that sometimes my brain does sify as it currently is. Not because it, it's doing anything wrong, but because maybe I'm asking it to do too [00:08:00] much. So like that's my cue. You know, I'm gonna observe this, and then I'm gonna use that as my Q2.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: Just kind of cozy up and maybe just look at some old magazines I found we've been using to help light fires. I can draw something, you know, I don't know. Like I don't have to fight to survive all the time, even when I feel like I'm fighting to survive. Oh, the thing we wanna test out too is um, if you go on Spotify where we post this podcast, you can leave comments and.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: We would love to hear from you all, like how your A DHD gets extra funtastic and great and scary and awesome in all the ways when faced with kind of like extraordinary circumstances like this, but also, you know, extraordinary circumstances in general. I get, I guess it's the thing where it's like, I hate routine, but I have to have it, and it's such a fricking paradox.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: Like legit [00:09:00] today. Even just getting up and I mean, honestly, this was Bobby's doing. He was like, just go and record something. And we started to brainstorm and I instantly felt so different with just a little bit of sense of purpose. Like a little sense of like, oh, maybe even one thing I do today will help someone even when my brain is mush.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: Maybe it's like the thing David always talks about where it's like you gain self-esteem by serving others. Huh. Okay. I gotta think on this. David, I miss you. We can't. Easily connect right now because of said outages and such. Um, but yeah, don't worry. Um, he, he will definitely be back. We will be back. We have so many great episodes waiting.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: Um, we're hoping you all are safe and warm and looking out for each other and just sending lots and lots of. Um, lukewarm hot cocoa energy. Wait, that's awful. I don't wanna put that in the world. Standing [00:10:00] really toasty. Very toasty, yummy marshmallow, uh, vegan marshmallow. Delicious cocoa energy away. And, uh, we'll be back to regularly scheduled programming soon.

ISABELLE RICHARDS: And yeah, leave your comments on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you. Bye.