Imagine for a moment you are one of the fortunate ones who makes it to the wizened stage of life, sitting in a rocking chair, sipping your favourite tipple, gently reflect on the years gone by. What will be the highlights, your favourite memories your regrets?   That is what should be driving you. Those moments you can never get back. The time with your children and loved ones, the experiences you always promised yourself but kept putting off. The idea that our lives are a finite, fragile...

These days, I’m often asked in coaching sessions whether getting a diagnosis would help. As part of the conversation, a follow up concern frequently voiced by neurodivergent clients is:  “I don’t want to be labelled”. Labels are useful because they tell us what something is and how to relate to it. We use labels for the most part because they simplify life for us. An object labelled as chair tells us we can sit on it, a bottle labelled poison warns us away.  People use labels too, Glastonbury...

For most of my life I didn’t know I was autistic. I was social, (relatively) high-functioning and female, which means I didn’t fit the stereotype. I have high empathy and like to think that I read people well. So when a friend, who was studying how autism presents in girls, showed me a list of traits, it felt like I had been struck by lightning. I ticked nearly every box. My traits are subtle, and therefore they can be easy to miss. Over time, I’ve learned how they show up; from stimming...