An Atypical Life

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I’m not sharing because I have all of the answers.I’m sharing because sometimes honesty is the only thing I have capacit...
20/08/2026

I’m not sharing because I have all of the answers.

I’m sharing because sometimes honesty is the only thing I have capacity for.

Professional knowledge doesn’t make us immune to overwhelm, and knowing what we need doesn’t mean we always have the capacity to give it to ourselves.

The last few months have been tough. And if all you did today was survive, thats enough. 🤍

12/08/2026

We laugh and joke about it in this instance - but it’s also incredibly frustrating and embarrassing when you’re an intelligent, normally articulate professional who can forget her words mid-sentence and suddenly find herself in a freeze state 😓

Sometimes it looks like laughing.
Sometimes it looks like losing your train of thought.
Sometimes it’s staring blankly at someone while your brain desperately searches for the words you know are in there.

And sometimes, the laughter is how we move through the discomfort of knowing that other people are waiting for our brain to come back online.

I can speak confidently in front of a room, run businesses, support families through complex situations and explain complicated concepts for a living; and still completely lose access to language in the middle of a sentence.

That’s one of the hidden realities of neurodivergence: capability isn’t always consistently accessible.

It doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m talking about.
It doesn’t mean I wasn’t prepared.
It doesn’t mean I’m not intelligent or professional.

It means my brain sometimes freezes, overloads or drops the tab I was using - and having safe people beside me, like Chelsea, means I can laugh, reset and try again without shame. 💛

11/08/2026

Best practice early intervention says therapy should happen in the child’s natural environments and usually the families home - allowing opportunities to model to caregivers supports and strategies.

I’m not against this, and often will attend my own clients homes at their request - but it didn’t work for our family.

For us - home is home. Home is our safe place to unwind, unmask and regulate.

Having therapists and coordinators come to the home where we had to “work”, be clothed 😅 (IYKYK!), engage for a long period of time without the option of leaving, and feel like we had to present a certain way, took a whole lot more energy than the outcome achieved.

Our home environment has changed a lot over the years to adapt to our families individual and changing needs, from quiet spaces, big movement equipment, flexible dining arrangements, communication systems - but it is our safe space 😇 where as a family we connect, relax, recharge and are free to just be, authentically.

Our kids give a lot of energy to their daily routines and activities outside of the home, but they can do so a little more easily knowing there is a safe base to come back to. 💛

Many people say come as you are…but sometimes what they really mean is:“Come as you are, as long as you still participat...
07/08/2026

Many people say come as you are…but sometimes what they really mean is:

“Come as you are, as long as you still participate in the ways we expect”

- As long as you communicate the way we expect.

- As long as you remain socially available.

- As long as your absence doesn’t inconvenience anyone.

- As long as your disability experience is one we recognise and understand.

For many disability families, exclusion isn’t always someone explicitly saying:

“You don’t belong here.”

It can be much quieter than that.

It’s the assumptions made when you stop showing up.

The conversations that happen about you instead of with you.

The invitations that slowly disappear.

The interpretation of reduced capacity as disinterest, negativity or rudeness.

The expectation that if something is wrong, you owe everyone an explanation.

When sometimes the reality is simply:

We have a lot going on.

Our capacity is going towards our children, our homes, our health, navigating systems, keeping jobs, attending appointments, advocating and doing the things that genuinely need to happen.

And no, sometimes we don’t want to talk about it.

But we also don’t have capacity to talk about everything else.

That isn’t rejection.

It isn’t necessarily isolation.

Sometimes it’s capacity management.

Perhaps genuine inclusion means becoming more comfortable with people participating differently.

Believing someone when they say they don’t have capacity.

Not requiring disclosure before offering understanding.

Not creating stories to explain someone’s absence.

And continuing to leave the door open — without making someone prove how much they wanted to be there.

Because belonging shouldn’t depend on our ability to perform participation. 💛

01/08/2026

It is a Spacey Saturday today 🚀 how cool are the new play scene add ons for Possum Play Couch 🤗 these are such a well used and favourite of all of the kids in our house and our Happy Hub building!

We’re excited to test out the cafe setup next! ☕️

26/07/2026

Standing in front of a room full of incredible women today, sharing a very different - much more personal - story, felt equal parts terrifying and freeing.

The Pilbara Women in Business Network event opened up a conversation about what it means to navigate business (and life) when you’re wired differently.

For years, I’ve built purpose-driven businesses to fill gaps in our community that looked successful and sustainable from the outside.

These days, I’m much more interested in building a life that doesn’t ask me to become someone else in order to succeed.

One that’s designed around my values, my capacity, and the way my brain actually works

One where I don’t have to mask.
One where I don’t have to explain why I work differently.
One where I don’t have to leave parts of myself at the door just to belong.

Because maybe that’s what success really looks like. 💛

Thank you Pilbara Women in Business Network for bringing together a great group of women, and a fantastic morning, for a great topic of discussion.

25/07/2026

Lately, I’ve been quietly unsubscribing. From conversations that drain me. From spaces that expect us to compromise who we are. From relationships that make life heavier instead of lighter.

Life is already hard enough. I, try hard, everyday. And this neurodivergent brain already carries enough.

The constant processing. The justice sensitivity. The moral injury. The “mama bear” instinct that never really switches off.

Now, I’m choosing people and places who bring us peace, not pressure - so that we can make space for actually living and enjoying the small moments in life.

24/07/2026

These memories on repeat 🏄🏼💛 ☀️

Ocean Heroes

18/07/2026

This page isn’t about having it all figured out.

It’s about sharing the beautiful, messy, funny, challenging reality of raising a neurodivergent family, navigating a world not necessarily built for us, and creating a version of “normal” that actually fits our little fam.

We know our little corner of the internet won’t be for everyone - and that’s okay.

But if you’ve ever felt a little different, a little misunderstood, or like you’re creating your own path too, we’d love to have you here.

Welcome to our wonderfully atypical little world. 🤍

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Perth, WA

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