June in the Quiet ADHD Club
Dealing with super sensitivity (RSD), Body-doubling and more
New to the Quiet ADHD Club and not sure what it’s all about?
Essentially, the Quiet ADHD Club is an online space where introverted, sensitive, empathetic women in their midlife who have, or think they have, ADHD can find understanding, guidance, support and connection.
To find out more have a read of this post ⬇️
Hi quiet you,
Welcome to a new month in the Quiet ADHD Club
The first day of the month means a new topic for us to explore in the Club and this one might be the juiciest yet.
Something that pretty much all ADHDers (and many other neurodivergents too) experience is a super sensitivity to criticism and rejection, know as Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria.
One sentence, one word, a look, a tone of voice can be enough to make us feel like the worst person, instantly withdrawing into ourselves or flying into a rage. Even if we just think we’re being criticised it’s enough to provoke a strong visceral and debilitating reaction.
It can be the hardest ADHD feature to deal with because it happens so quickly it feels completely out of our control, and because it feels so. utterly. unbearable.
RSD is something I’ve struggled with my whole life, I just didn’t know that’s what it was. Understanding more about RSD has helped me to deal with it and given me some of the compassion I lacked in the past (anyone else get told off for being too sensitive?).
Which is why we’re tacking it head on in our monthly Exploration for June.
Dealing with our super sensitivity to criticism aka Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria
The Exploration is divided into two parts – in Part 1 we look at why we’re so incredibly sensitive to criticism, real or perceived, and the term for it – Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD).
Then in Part 2 we explore a range of strategies to deal with an attack (because it does feel like an onslaught) of RSD in the moment it’s happening, as well as what we can do to reduce the severity of our experience of RSD in the future.
As always the topic is available for you to read or listen to, whichever you prefer.
This is such a significant feature of our ADHD I can’t wait for you to dive in to this topic.
Click below to find the Explorations section where both parts of this topic live.
*Access all areas*
Don’t forget paid members get access to EVERYTHING in the Quiet ADHD Club – the Explorations, Accountability threads, Body-doubling sessions, Q&As, Bonuses incl a free course.
When I email you
I usually publish posts/emails on Mondays and Thursdays (because this first day of the month is a Sunday I won’t message tomorrow). If your inbox is feeling overwhelming you can choose to switch off emails and instead read posts on the Substack app or website.
To switch off emails:
Go to the Substack website and click on your image in the bottom left corner of the screen. Then, click on Settings in the pop-up menu and scroll down to Notifications. Open Newsletter Delivery and select ‘Prefer app’ to NOT be sent emails.
😊🙂 Tuesday’s Body-doubling
Join us for our Zoom session 10-11am on Tuesday 3 June and make progress on something that you’ve been putting off, the link for paid members is below.
June in the Quiet ADHD Club:
The lowdown on what’s happening this month:
Dealing with our super sensitivity to criticism aka Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria Exploration – a deep dive into explanation and practical action, find both parts here
Accountability thread – on Mondays, you’ll find it in the Chat
Body-doubling sessions – 10-11am on Tuesdays and 2-3pm on Thursdays (UK times)
Q&A – submit your questions for the Q&A
Personal post from me – what would you like me to write about?
Join me for Body-doubling Tuesday 3 June
Our first Body-doubling session of the month is happening on Tuesday. Join me and other Quiet ADHD Club members on Zoom at 10am UK time for an hour.
Carrying out a task in the presence of others has been shown to make it easier to get the task done than trying alone. That includes doing something lovely for yourself as well as work or household chores.