Did you watch the DNC last week?
Did you see Gus Walz jump to his feet, applauding his heart out, tears streaming down his face, bursting with pride as he yelled, “That’s my Dad!”
Right away, I knew there was something different about him.
I turned to my husband:
“Is Walz’s son neurodivergent?”
Yep! “As a teen, he was diagnosed with nonverbal learning disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety,” says the Washington Post.
In that moment, I felt afraid for Gus.
Would people make fun of him?
Was it safe for him to be “that emotional”?
Would he get in trouble?
It was actually very revealing to me about MYSELF, about my own anxieties about showing my unmasked emotions.
Sure enough, some people DID make fun of Gus. But A TON of other people were delighted by him! What a pleasure to see a kid so openly, emotionally proud of his dad! How wonderful that nobody told him to sit down! The entire stadium roared with joy.
Here’s something I very much want us to understand about our ADHD:
Our unmasked neurodiversity makes this world better.
In a world of incels, Andrew Tate, “alpha males”, and toxic masculinity…
Gus Walz showed us a vision of loving male emotional expression. He redefined acceptable emotional expression for teenage boys, for all of us.
That’s the entire point of “neurodiversity”.
Diversities of all kinds make us STRONGER.
It’s BETTER to have all kinds of voices in the room, from all kinds of people, with all kinds of different brains.
There may be environments in your life where it’s not okay for you to disclose your ADHD.
But unmasking is different from disclosing.
Where can you begin to unmask?
If you’re ready for help with revealing YOUR true self, YOUR true feelings, book a Discovery Call with me. I help women with this all the time.
Warmly,
Emma