Inside the Pickle Jar: Connecting with the Spectrum

Welcome to ‘Inside the Pickle Jar,’ the only podcast where being in a pickle is a good thing! It’s your go-to audio feast for all things neurodivergent. We’re like the crunchy dill to your sandwich, adding flavor to the way you see the world. Each episode, we’ll dive headfirst into the kaleidoscope of neurodivergent life. Are you neurodivergent, or just neurocurious? A partner in crime to someone who marches to the beat of their own drum? Or maybe you’re a boss trying to decode the enigma of inclusive leadership? Buckle up, because this podcast is the Rosetta Stone for cracking the code of neurodiversity. Join us for expert chit-chats, heartwarming tales, and pro tips that are more useful than a Swiss Army knife. ‘Inside the Pickle Jar’ is here to jazz up your journey to stronger connections, one episode at a time. So, tune in and turn up the volume while we transform the way you perceive neurodiversity and unlock the potential in every unique mind.

Inside the Pickle Jar: Connecting with the Spectrum is a education podcast hosted by Tonya Weaver, with 108 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Tonya Weaver hosts Inside the Pickle Jar: Connecting with the Spectrum, a education show with 108 episodes published.

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  Episode #108

  A Letter to My Younger AuDHD Self - and maybe yours

  Sep 23, 202610 minS3

  This is the one I saved for last. Because I think it is the most important one. We have talked about the things we do that look weird but make complete sense. We have talked about the friendship thing and why connection is so hard and so intense for our brains. Today I want to do something different. I want to write a letter. To the younger version of you. The one who was figuring all of this out without a map. Without language. Without anyone who could tell her what was actually happening in her brain. This is what we wish someone had said to us earlier. In this letter: The exhaustion is real and it has a name Your intensity is not a flaw, it is a gift for the right people The unspoken rules were never obvious to everyone Your brain has superpowers too It is okay to not know who you are yet You were always going to be okay And one more thing: Something big is coming October 1. The Weird Girls Club is redefining new year, and we are spending a full year doing something together. Listen to the end to find out what. JOIN THE WEIRD GIRLS CLUB The Weird Girls Club is for AuDHD women who are done pretending and ready to be known exactly as they are. Weird Girls Club – Inside the Pickle Jar SOMETHING BIG IS COMING OCTOBER 1 Starting October 1 the Weird Girls Club is spending a full year reading Make Your Creative Dreams Real by SARK...month by month, week by week, micro-movement by micro-movement. Go order the book now so you have it in your hands before we begin. Make Your Creative Dreams Real by SARK, available on Amazon and wherever books are sold. Here is the Amazon link: https://a.co/d/02f7oWpp (it is NOT an affiliate link. I make $0 on the purchase. I just wanted to make is easy for you to find.) FREE RESOURCE Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain A free guide that does the explaining for you. https://www.insidethepicklejar.com THIS IS EPISODE 108 — THE END OF THE FIRST WEIRD GIRLS CLUB SERIES Episode 106: The Things We Do That Look Weird But Make Complete Sense https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/2378499/episodes/19725412-the-things-we-do-that-look-weird-but-make-complete-sense Episode 107: The Friendship Thing https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/2378499/episodes/19762550-the-friendship-thing-why-it-s-so-hard The Weird Girls Club series continues October 1 with something bigger than we have done before. Subscribe so you do not miss it. CONNECT WITH TONYA Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com Get "4 Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain" (free): https://www.insidethepicklejar.com Join the Pen Pal Club: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com/the-jar/ ️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethepicklejar_ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidethepicklejar_ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver IF THIS EPISODE RESONATED Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with the younger woman in your life who needs to hear that she was never too much. She needs to find the jar. Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar. #InsideThePickleJar #WeirdGirlsClub #Neurodivergent #ADHD #Autism #AuDHD #LetterToMyYoungerSelf #NDCommunity #PickleFriends #NeurodivergentWomen #YouWereNeverTooMuch #LateIDiagnosis #October1 #SARK #CreativeDreams Support the show

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  Episode #107

  The Friendship Thing: Why It's So Hard

  Sep 16, 202616 minS3

  Nobody tells you that friendship is supposed to feel this hard. You watch other people make friends effortlessly, at work, at parties, in class, and you wonder what you are missing. What the unwritten rulebook says that everyone else seems to have already read. And then when you do find someone who gets it, really gets it, you love them with your whole heart and excellent memory and complete devotion. And sometimes that is too much for the person receiving it. And you learn, slowly and painfully, to turn it down. This episode is about all of it. The making. The losing. The loving too hard. And why none of it means you are broken. In this episode: • Why making friends is genuinely harder for AuDHD brains and what is actually happening neurologically • The specific ways we lose friendships without ever understanding what went wrong • Time blindness and the friendship gap - why silence reads as indifference when it is anything but • What it means to love with the full force of an AuDHD heart • Why the right people will not ask you to turn it down • What the Weird Girls Club is for JOIN THE WEIRD GIRLS CLUB The Weird Girls Club is for AuDHD women who are done pretending and ready to be known exactly as they are. Weird Girls Club – Inside the Pickle Jar FREE RESOURCE Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain DOWNLOAD Previous episode: Episode 106 — The Things We Do That Look Weird But Make Complete Sense LINK FIND ME Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com ️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethepicklejar_ Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/tonya_weaver_coach TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar. Hashtags: #InsideThePickleJar #WeirdGirlsClub #Neurodivergent #ADHD #Autism #AuDHD #TheFriendshipThing #NDCommunity #PickleFriends #NeurodivergentWomen #YouAreNotTooMuch #LateIDiagnosis Support the show

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  Episode #106

  The Things We Do That Look Weird But Make Complete Sense

  Sep 9, 202613 minS3

  Welcome to the Weird Girls Club. This is a new series inside Inside the Pickle Jar for the woman who has always felt a little too much, a little too intense, a little too different. The one who figured out early that certain parts of herself needed to stay hidden in order to belong. The one who is done pretending. We are starting with the things we do that look weird from the outside but make complete and total sense once you understand how our brains actually work. The stimming that everyone told you to stop. The conversations you rehearse in your head before you have them. The same outfit worn until it is genuinely unwearable. The same meal eaten for three weeks straight until you suddenly cannot stand it. You are not weird. You are wired differently. And there is a jar full of people who do exactly what you do. In this episode: What stimming actually is and why stopping it makes focus worse, not better Why scripting conversations in advance is adaptive and resourceful, not anxious The nervous system logic behind wearing the same outfit and eating the same meal on repeat Why these things are not flaws — they are your brain being extremely smart about conserving its resources An introduction to the Weird Girls Club and what it is for JOIN THE WEIRD GIRLS CLUB The Weird Girls Club is officially open. It is the community for AuDHD women who are done pretending and ready to be known exactly as they are. Weird Girls Club – Inside the Pickle Jar FREE RESOURCE If there is someone in your life who still thinks the things you do are weird rather than wired, I made something that might help explain it. Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain A free guide that does the explaining for you. https://www.insidethepicklejar.com THIS IS EPISODE 106 Starting our third year. One hundred and six episodes. Thank you for being here for every single one of them. The jar exists because you kept showing up. And so do we. MORE FROM THE WEIRD GIRLS CLUB SERIES This is the first episode in the Weird Girls Club series. More coming soon: The Friendship Thing - why making and keeping friends is so much harder than anyone realizes What We Wish Someone Had Said to Us Earlier - a letter to the younger version of you Subscribe so you do not miss them. CONNECT WITH TONYA Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com Get "4 Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain" (free): https://www.insidethepicklejar.com Join the Pen Pal Club: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com/the-jar/ ️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethepicklejar_ Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/tonya_weaver_coach TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver IF THIS EPISODE RESONATED Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a woman in your life who has always felt a little too much. She needs to find the jar. Reviews help other neurodivergent adults find us. Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar. #InsideThePickleJar #WeirdGirlsClub #Neurodivergent #ADHD #Autism #AuDHD #NDCommunity #PickleFriends #NeurodivergentWomen #Stimming #Scripting #NeurodivergentLife #YouAreNotWeird #LateIDiagnosis #Episode106 Support the show

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  Episode #105

  Meet Eleanor - The Focus Sprite (and your attention to detail gifts)

  Sep 2, 202613 minS3

  Meet Eleanor. She is bright blue, she has three eyes, and she sees absolutely everything. Eleanor is the Focus Sprite, the last character in the Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood, and she represents something that I think is one of the most misunderstood experiences in the neurodivergent world. Not a deficit of attention. A deficit of attention filtering. Eleanor is not failing to pay attention. She is paying attention to everything simultaneously, all the time, without being able to easily decide what matters and what does not. She is the reason you notice things other people miss. The reason sensory environments cost so much. The reason certain spaces feel impossible and certain others feel like home. And the reason your brain, when it is in the right conditions, sees connections and patterns that genuinely extraordinary minds are built to see. This is also a milestone episode. Inside the Pickle Jar is entering its third year. And I want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has been in this space, who has shared these episodes, who has told someone else that they finally found the language they were looking for. The jar exists because you kept showing up. And I am so glad you are here. In this episode: Meet Eleanor, the Focus Sprite - the sixth and final character in the Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood What distractibility actually is - and why attention filtering is a more accurate description than attention deficit What it costs to live in a brain that processes everything consciously The gift Eleanor carries - pattern recognition, perceptiveness, and a kind of intelligence the world has not always known what to do with A milestone moment - Inside the Pickle Jar enters its third year FREE RESOURCE If there is someone in your life who still thinks your distractibility is a choice or a lack of effort, I made something that might help explain what is actually happening. Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain A free guide that does the explaining for you. https://www.insidethepicklejar.com MEET THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD Now that Eleanor has joined the jar, all six characters are here: Emily - The Time Blindness Goblin Lily - The Executive Function Gremlin Rosie - The Stress Monster Millie - The Hyperfocus Dragon Eleanor - The Focus Sprite Little T - The Inner Child Archivist Stickers and trading cards for the neighborhood are available in the shop at insidethepicklejar.com MISSED PREVIOUS EPISODES? Episode 6: Meet Emily — The Time Blindness Goblin https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19588342-meet-emily-the-time-blindness-goblin-and-why-it-s-not-your-fault-you-re-late Episode 7: Meet Lily — The Executive Function Gremlin https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19621364-you-re-not-lazy-meet-lily-the-executive-function-gremlin Episode 8: Meet Rosie — The Stress Monster https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19654247-meet-rosie-the-stress-monster-and-why-you-need-rest Episode 9: Meet Millie — The Hyperfocus Dragon https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19688213-meet-millie-the-hyperfocus-dragon-and-how-to-use-your-super-power THREE YEARS IN THE JAR This episode marks the beginning of Inside the Pickle Jar's third year. Thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing these episodes. Thank you for telling someone else that they finally found the language they were looking for. The jar exists because you kept showing up. CONNECT WITH TONYA Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com Get "4 Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain" (free): https://www.insidethepicklejar.com Join the Pen Pal Club: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com/the-jar/ ️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethepicklejar_ Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/tonya_weaver_coach TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver IF THIS EPISODE RESONATED Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who has ever been told they are not paying attention when really they are paying attention to everything. Reviews help other neurodivergent adults find the jar. Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar. #InsideThePickleJar #Neurodivergent #ADHD #Autism #AuDHD #Eleanor #FocusSprite #NDCommunity #PickleFriends #NeurodivergentLife #AttentionFiltering #ThirdYear #WeirdGirlsClub #NeurodivergentWomen Support the show

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  Episode #104

  Meet Millie - The Hyperfocus Dragon (and how to use your super power)

  Aug 26, 202614 minS2

  Meet Millie. She is soft, lavender, and long, with iridescent silver spines and a glittering tail. And she has been lying in wait in your brain, probably since childhood, ready to lock onto something magnificent and not let go for five hours. Millie is the Hyperfocus Dragon. And she is the character I want you to stop apologizing for. If you have ever lost an entire afternoon to something you love, not because you were avoiding something else, not because you were being irresponsible, but because your brain locked in and the rest of the world simply ceased to exist...Millie was there. That was not a flaw. That was a dragon doing exactly what she was built to do. In this episode we talk about what hyperfocus actually is, why it is one of the most extraordinary features of the AuDHD brain, how to work with Millie rather than against her, and how Tonya personally manages her own hyperfocus so it works for her life rather than running it. In this episode: Meet Millie, the Hyperfocus Dragon, the fourth character in the Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood What hyperfocus actually is and what is happening neurologically when Millie locks in The gift inside what everyone called a problem, why this is a genuine superpower The honest complication when Millie arrives uninvited on the wrong thing at the wrong time What actually helps and working with Millie intentionally rather than being run by her Personal examples from Tonya on how she manages her own hyperfocus in real life FREE RESOURCE If there is someone in your life who cannot understand why you can spend five hours on one thing and cannot start another — I made something that might help explain it. Four Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain A free guide that does the explaining for you. https://www.insidethepicklejar.com MILLIE'S STICKER Millie has a sticker in the Inside the Pickle Jar shop. She is soft purple with iridescent wings and she belongs wherever you do your deepest work. Start your collection at insidethepicklejar.com MISSED PREVIOUS EPISODES? Episode 6: Meet Emily - The Time Blindness Goblin https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19588342-meet-emily-the-time-blindness-goblin-and-why-it-s-not-your-fault-you-re-late Episode 7: Meet Lily - The Executive Function Gremlin https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19621364-you-re-not-lazy-meet-lily-the-executive-function-gremlin Episode 8: Meet Rosie - The Stress Monster https://www.buzzsprout.com/2378499/episodes/19654247-meet-rosie-the-stress-monster-and-why-you-need-rest Emily explains why you are always late. Lily explains why you cannot start. Rosie explains why you are exhausted before anything has even happened. Millie explains why you lost five hours to something magnificent and feel absolutely no regret about it. MEET THE REST OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD The Inside the Pickle Jar neighborhood has six characters, each one representing a real part of the neurodivergent experience: Emily - The Time Blindness Goblin Lily - The Executive Function Gremlin Rosie - The Stress Monster Millie - The Hyperfocus Dragon Eleanor - The Focus Sprite Little T - The Inner Child Archivist One more character episode coming next. Subscribe so you do not miss her. CONNECT WITH TONYA Grab something from the shop: https://shop.insidethepicklejar.com Get "4 Things I Need the People in My Life to Know About My Brain" (free): https://www.insidethepicklejar.com Join the Pen Pal Club: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com/the-jar/ ️ Website: https://www.insidethepicklejar.com & https://www.risingtidecoaching.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethepicklejar_ Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/tonya_weaver_coach TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/tonyaweaver606 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmweaver IF THIS EPISODE RESONATED Please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who has ever been told they have a problem with focus when really they just have a dragon. Reviews help other neurodivergent adults find the jar. Be gentle with yourself, pickle friend. I'll see you next time inside the jar. #InsideThePickleJar #Neurodivergent #ADHD #Autism #AuDHD #Hyperfocus #HyperfocusDragon #NDCommunity #PickleFriends #NeurodivergentLife #FlowState #Millie #LateIDiagnosis #NeurodivergentWomen Support the show

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