I think the best way to live a long healthy life is to find healthy strategies that fit your needs. As someone who has ADHD things as simple as grocery shopping and cooking can feel really overwhelming and sometimes my brain just refuses to engage. Additionally, people who are unmedicated with ADHD tend to over eat due to the reduced amount of dopamine in our brains. In the last year I have put time into researching healthy eating strategies for people like me. This includes buying more frozen fruits and veggies, because while I know fresh is better, inevitably fresh food goes bad in my house. I have also learned that enjoyable exercise can look different for me. My mood is not always consistent, and certainly does not stick to a schedule. Instead I like to provide several time slots in my week that I can exercise in, and day of determine if that is the mood I am. This kind of structured flexibility works well for me, in a way that constantly scheduled exercise never did. In order for me to live a healthy life I needed to accept that the strategies that served neuro-typical people wouldn't serve me, and to release any shame in that. Health for each person looks different, and the journey to discovering what strategies lead to the healthiest you is an important journey to embark on.

One thing I am very proud of is my journey with ADHD. I have personally known I had ADHD since middle school, but this was brushed away by parents due to my academic success. Unfortunately this means I struggled with many things that people with undiagnosed and diagnosed ADHD do including: self doubt, emotional regulation issues, sensory issues, sleep difficulty, over eating, compulsive behaviors, anxiety, impaired executive functioning, and depression from not being able to function as expected. For a long time I felt so overwhelmed by all that my ADHD caused me and my inability to address it. As an adult I have been able to pursue ADHD treatment. What used to be such a barrier to me has become beautiful as I have access to resources. I have learned tactics that work for me, even when they look different from what most people do. I have learned what motivates my brain, and how to capitalize on that to get work done. I finally have the words to explain to others my experience. I now love most of the ways ADHD works in my brain, and have the knowledge and strategies to address the less appealing parts. Best of all I get to share my story with others and offer a less stigmatized version of ADHD can look like.

I have always felt compelled to serve the community I am. My goals center around using my gifts for the betterment of others around me. I would like to work at a nonprofit that focuses on policy advocacy and community organization. I am committed deeply to the community I live in, and want to be able to uplift those around me. I currently live an intentional neighborhood centered around accessibility for people of all abilities, and I would like to work in ways that continue to benefit my neighbors. Concrete interests I have are research in intersectionality between disability and other personal identifiers and how that effects quality of life. This includes looking at earning potential, social opportunities, incarceration rates, and educational attainment. I believe there is a version of American Society that can me more accessible to people of all abilities and that pushing towards this could great reduce poverty, homelessness, and incarceration rates.

One impact I hope to have on the world is the concrete uplifting of those around me. As I interact daily with people of diverse lived experiences I hold the knowledge that we each come to the table with varying strengths and needs. I hope to be someone who can hold these and connect those who can provide the resources they have in excess directly to someone who needs it. I want to constantly be using my connections to help people see how many doors are open to them and help them cross the threshold when they are ready. In my personal work I have been coming to terms with the fact that you can't want something more for someone than they do. I want my impact to be marked by the fact that I was always someone ready to work alongside someone when they were ready to do the work as well. I want to be remembered as someone who was a constant mirror to people of all that they could be, and a reliable resource to those who wanted to make a change in their lives.

My dream life is one in which I am deeply entrenched in my community and am working with other community leaders to provide dynamic solutions to real time issues. I would be surrounded by diverse individuals that continuously push me to consider intersectionality when proposing solutions, and who can give first person accounts to real life issues that aid in developing solutions with the population as opposed to for a population. In my life I want to be constantly learning. There is such diversity in life experience in this nation and globally. I want to spend my time getting to know diverse populations to deepen my understanding of the greater human experience. I also have a deep interest in a wide range of studies, and want to live a life that gives me the time to explore each of these whether they be ecology or theology. I want my life to drive me to see the inherent connectedness between all aspects of life, and to help me better understand my impact on the world and those around me. In broadening my perceived jurisdiction in this world, I will be better equipped to respond with compassion to all those who I come across.

One lesson I have learned about personal finance is the importance of creating a realistic budget. I have learned that when budget making the most important thing to do is factor in your bills. After removing the cost of bills from your monthly income I use data I have collected from previous months to create an expected spending amount for different categories in my life. If I find that these expected spending amounts with exceed my expected income for the month I then look at categories I could save in and think of ways to reduce spending. The best strategy I have found for budgeting is to get specific in the categories of spending. As opposed to having a large general "shopping" budget, each month I allocate money into more distinct categories. This way I know that I won't over spend on clothing leaving no space in my budget to purchase necessary hygiene products, or gifts for celebrations I may be attending that month. In getting especially detailed in my spending categories I am more about to see where I am over spending, and what categories in my life I can cut back on to make the largest impact on my savings.