Episode 1: Krzysztof Wojtkowski

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Krzysztof Wojtkowski (00:04):

Well, the whole reason I was thinking it'd be received so negatively is probably when I was younger and first diagnosed, it was sort of looked at in a very negative light. And then so because of that, I just stopped telling people or tried to fit in. But I found that as I was doing some reflecting, all my friends are neurodiverse. They're all spicy and they're the best people that I know. And I thought, "You know what? Well, why should I hide? Sure, I'm a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, but shouldn't the round hole be fitting around a square peg?" Well, I'm not going to change who I am to make someone else feel better about themselves. I'm happy in who I am. I'm not a victim. And if you like it, great. If you don't, well, that's okay too.

Anthony Brown (00:57):

Welcome to Beyond Distracted, where we talk with successful people with ADHD, explore the highs and lows of their journey and learn the creative and insightful ways they live their lives in a neurodiverse, friendly way. My name is Anthony Brown.

Meagan Cooke (01:10):

And my name is Meagan Cooke, and we're psychologists with ADHD. We hope our episodes are entertaining and change the conversation around ADHD, but it's no substitute for the real thing. So for personal support, we recommend getting help from a qualified mental health professional.

Anthony Brown (01:32):

Krzysztof Wojtkowski is best known as the winner of Alone Australia season two, where his exceptional crafting skills, mental resilience, and playful spirit set him apart. He has spoken openly about how his ADHD played a meaningful role in his success, fueling his creativity, adaptability, and ability to hyper focus and the lawfulness. In the finale with only three contestants left after more than two months in isolation, Krzysztof endured the punishing cold and lack of food longer than anyone else, ultimately emerging as the champion and taking home the quarter of a million dollar price. Krzysztof, thanks for joining us.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (02:08):

Thanks for having me. Pleasure to meet you guys.

Anthony Brown (02:11):

So as I mentioned before, I'm a big fan of Alone. I guess, what was that experience like for you being left in the wilderness 64 days?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (02:22):

The best camping trip of my life, and it was just the best way to recharge your spoons. Didn't have to deal with anybody. It was great.

Anthony Brown (02:31):

Yeah.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (02:31):

Highly really recommend it. If you get a chance, go camping, spend some time in nature.

Anthony Brown (02:35):

Yeah.

Meagan Cooke (02:36):

Oh my gosh, that's so interesting. Just the way you talk about it being a recharge, where I can imagine a lot of people would actually find that highly stressful and demanding. So really draining and taking a lot of capacity, and you're here telling us that, "Hey, what a way to fill your cup and I felt great at the end of it." I mean, that's amazing.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (02:55):

Yeah. Apart from the lack of food and lack of sleep, if it weren't for that, I'd probably still be out there.

Anthony Brown (03:02):

Yeah, for sure. Just because some people may not be aware of the premise of the show, essentially you get 10 items and then you get dropped off at the middle of the wilderness with no contact, just camera equipment. And the idea is there's 10 people and the last one to make it wins. And yeah, it's such an interesting thing, right, you kind of found it refreshing when I think a lot of people would find that kind of experience pretty tough, to put it, say the least. What parts for you were particularly refreshing?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (03:38):

Just the fact that I could be out in nature. It's where I feel most comfortable. And just not having to deal with people, as bad as that may sound. I very much enjoy my own company, so being out there amongst nature and billion dollar views, I could take my mask off, I could just be myself. It was just comfortable. There was none of the anxiety of society or there was no worries about having to pay bills or anything. It was just comfortable.

Meagan Cooke (04:06):

That's amazing because I feel like you're going straight there to talk about some of those real impacts of ADHD on everyday life, right? And you just mentioned that word masking and that idea of sometimes we don't realize how much of a toll that can take until you're in a situation where you're like, "Hey, I don't actually need to do this anymore because I'm not interacting with everyone." So here you are. Yeah.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (04:30):

[inaudible 00:04:29] more energy. And by taking the mask off, it's like, "Oh, okay, this is me. I can just be myself." And you don't realize how much you do it when you're in society. And then you come home from work and you're just wrecked and exhausted and you haven't had that big of a day, but that's a big part of it, just the entirety of-

Meagan Cooke (04:45):

That's it. That you just feel spent. But let's just pause for a moment and think about what you're saying there. You're like, "I can be in nature completely alone, essentially fighting for my life every day and feel more rested and recharged than the sort of humdrum going to work Monday to Friday," or whatever that might look like for you. I mean, that's crazy, isn't it, when we think about that through that ADHD lens and some of the secondary impacts of ADHD. That's so telling.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (05:14):

I wouldn't exactly call it fighting for my life. I felt pretty safe out there, and I've always enjoyed camping. And growing up, I did a lot of stuff through scouts as well. And some of the activities that we did through scouts were, I'd say, tougher than what we were doing on Alone. So it was just comfortable and the best camp trip of my life.

Meagan Cooke (05:33):

See, I watched the show and I see fighting for my life. That's me totally projecting. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I don't know how I would do what you do."

Anthony Brown (05:40):

I guess sitting at home with a bag of chips, watching someone try to get food, make a fire and a shelter ... But I get the sense of that in the literature around ADHD, there's a lot of talk about the idea of green time being really restorative for focus. And it's a place where people don't need a mask and deal with the humdrum of day-to-day life. And yeah, even personally, I can feel like that nature is a really helpful thing.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (06:07):

100% agree. I try and go camping at least once a month or at least do some sort of activity in the outdoors. Like just this last weekend, I went away with some friends and it was just for the weekend and we got to sit around a campfire in the bush and I came home and come Monday morning, I was feeling refreshed and ready to face the week again. Whereas leading up to it, I was starting to feel a little bit drained and stuff and I needed to get away. And it makes such a huge difference just having that time in nature.

Anthony Brown (06:34):

Yeah, definitely can. And I guess it's interesting to talk about the differences there. One thing I noticed is that, and you've talked about in a couple of interviews since, being really hyper-focused on different things while you're out there, you kind of described that in part as being a double-edged sword.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (06:51):

100% a double-edged sword out there. I think it was definitely played into the advantage because hyper focus on things like making a bit of rope. And I'll start that and before I know it, six or seven hours have passed next thing you know or a week's passed. And whereas back home, if I'm doing something that I'm enjoying, let's say I'm sorting Lego or something, I'll say, "Oh, I'll do this for half an hour or so." Several hours later, it's 2:00 in the morning and I've got work in a few hours like, "Oh, oops."

Meagan Cooke (07:17):

Yeah.

Anthony Brown (07:18):

Yeah, I think we can all relate to that a little bit. Time just flies, right?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (07:22):

Yeah, time doesn't exist.

Anthony Brown (07:25):

Yeah, it really doesn't.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (07:27):

It's now and some other time.

Anthony Brown (07:31):

Yeah. And that's an interesting element to Alone, right? Because when you watch the show, people talk a lot about the passage of time and seeing time pass. And I feel like that can have a toll on people. Whereas I'd imagine with hyper focus, sometimes time would just ... Well, as you said, it doesn't really exist. What was your experience of time like out on Alone?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (07:53):

A little bit weird. When I left the experience, I felt it had only been maybe 12, 15 days. The whole thing's just sort of blurred into one long thing and I was starting to feel a little bit tight towards the end, but it didn't feel like 64 days at all. And I had a little bit of string that I was tying knots into to count for days, and I'd look at it and go, "How is this possible?" It just time ceased to exist. I'd do my morning diaries and things and then only have to go for a couple of minutes, and I thought I'd been sitting there and talking for three or four minutes, and then next thing I realized it's been like 45 minutes and I, "What's happened? Where'd all that time go?"

Meagan Cooke (08:32):

Yeah, isn't that amazing?

Anthony Brown (08:33):

Yeah. And that's interesting, right? Because I would imagine that that could be really beneficial in that situation, right, that time going by so quickly. Do you feel like that kind of impacted the way that you survived on Alone?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (08:49):

I just approached it from a whole just positive perspective. I never thought that I'd win because after meeting the other contestants, they are truly amazing outdoorsy people and I was in awe of them. So for me, it was, I'm going to go on a holiday. I'm just going to enjoy the time that I have there. And waking up in the morning and seeing the beautiful views and everything, it was a gift. The whole thing was just an amazing experience.

Anthony Brown (09:16):

Yeah, it was a particularly beautiful spot that you had as well. Quite a view.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (09:21):

It was a bit too many eels.

Anthony Brown (09:22):

Yeah. Yeah, very few.

Meagan Cooke (09:24):

I was just thinking if I can pull on that hyper focus again, Krzysztof, it's interesting. We often talk about that double-edged sword because a lot of people talk about the hyper-focus as a particular strength of ADHD, and it absolutely can be. But what you are saying is, yeah, in day-to-day life, though, it's problematic. So whether it's, I lost track of time and now I only get three hours sleep before work or I've been buried in this thing and I forgot to eat today. Sometimes the hyper focus, the output of what we might be doing can be great, but we actually miss just meeting those really essential needs and looking after ourselves. It can be really challenging. Yeah.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (10:04):

You just do little things to help yourself along, like grab your phone and set an alarm.

Meagan Cooke (10:10):

Yeah. And that's what I was going to say. What do you find helpful to manage that so that you don't lose track too much?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (10:15):

Well, alarms and lists.

Meagan Cooke (10:15):

So setting an alarm is one? Alarms and lists.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (10:19):

Yeah.

Meagan Cooke (10:19):

Yeah.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (10:20):

Well, literally, I've got Post-it notes all over the place with just little lists of things that I need to get done. And this is for today, this is the priorities, this is the tomorrow priorities.

Anthony Brown (10:30):

I can see that. A little bit kind of like how you were saying that you had a bit of rope that you were kind of knotting to keep track of time. It's like a way of thinking about those things, right? If you've got alarms and lists, they kind of do the same thing for your day-to-day life.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (10:43):

Very much so.

Anthony Brown (10:45):

Yeah. I guess one thing that you talked about, you mentioned that your neurodivergence allows you to think outside the box, come up with creative solution to problems, learn different skills. How do you think that kind of influenced your experience on Alone?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (10:59):

Well, very much I had the special interests for a while, and it's a special interest for generally a few weeks until I move on to the next one. But I've always been a big fan of the outdoors, so I've read heaps of books on just shelter building, just different survival techniques. And it's been my big interest and definitely that's helped because I love my camping, I love going bush. So taking the time and effort to pick up the skills that I need for it. And then I'll put it down and I'll forget about it for a little while and then I'll pick it up again and go, "Oh, I remember this."

Anthony Brown (11:35):

Yeah, I feel like that can be the trend, right, with ADHD. You focus on it for a while, give a break, come back to it, but it's always kind of that kind of underlying kind of interest, that area of interest, which is great.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (11:50):

Pick up a new special hobby, sink several thousand dollars into it for a month or so and then go, "Oh, stuff that."

Meagan Cooke (11:57):

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that sounds so familiar. I love it.

Anthony Brown (12:00):

Yes.

Meagan Cooke (12:01):

Yeah. We were talking about that idea of when that does kick off and it's, what are the ways that you manage it? Because one of the things I try to do just to put the brakes on things is, okay, it's in my shopping cart online, but I have to wait 24 hours to hit purchase. And that's the hard and fast rule that I keep just because when I go deep in something, it's like, yep, I want to drop $1,000 into it. I just want to do it nonstop. I want to find out everything there is to know about it and buy every accessory that might be related to it. And so it's just trying to create those little buffers or brakes for yourself, otherwise it can run away from you sometimes.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (12:36):

Yeah, I wish I could say I had the same discipline, but occasionally I will go, "Oh, this is exciting. Let's just [inaudible 00:12:44] into this."

Meagan Cooke (12:45):

Yeah. Well, I mean, how ADHD is that? Of course you do.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (12:48):

Yeah. And the other thing is you start one project and then halfway through you go, "Hmm, two new projects. Let's start those as well." And then project number one doesn't continue anymore. And then halfway through the next project, you start another three or four. So I've been making a really active point just to keep myself in check and finish things before I start new things. So I'll find this new special interest and I'll go, "Okay, I can't dive into it until I finished X, Y, Z first."

Meagan Cooke (13:13):

Yeah, that's another great example, right, of just trying to apply those brakes or a buffer. How's that been different for you, that finishing a project before moving on to the next one?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (13:25):

It can be difficult at times.

Meagan Cooke (13:29):

Yeah.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (13:29):

Before I learn, I definitely was just jump to the next project, jump to the next project, and there's so many half finished things about the place. But since coming back, I've been making a very active effort not to start something new, even though I think it's going to be exciting and lots of fun, before I finish the first thing that I started, even though it's starting to get boring or it might not be as enjoyable.

Meagan Cooke (13:50):

Yeah, sure. And was that something about your time on Alone that prompted that change or ...

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (13:56):

Yeah, it just took a lot of time to take stock of my life, look at the things that are important to me, look at the things that I'd like to do better or be better in. And one of the things was I noticed that I do tend to start things and not finish them because I'll get distracted with something else and then start something else and then start something else.

Meagan Cooke (14:13):

Yep. Yeah. Oh, it just seems like such a powerful time for you for so many reasons. One of the things with the ADHD brain is actually being able to stop and reflect in the way that you're talking about. But it just sounds like because that place and that green space being in nature, you were feeling calm, relaxed, secure, you were actually able to do that. You sort of created that space in your mind for that reflection. That's wonderful.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (14:40):

I think a big part of it is also that there wasn't any noise.

Meagan Cooke (14:42):

Yeah.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (14:43):

So you had that ... well, I had that opportunity to sit there and reflect.

Meagan Cooke (14:49):

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Anthony Brown (15:18):

It can be a really powerful thing to just give yourself some time to reflect on how life's going, and I think a part of that is picking the place to do it. Yeah, I couldn't think of many more nicer places in the world to do it than where you were.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (15:32):

Towards the end, when I was having difficulty with sleeping, I would've very happily asked for a distraction or something because, okay, generally I'll sleep quite well, but occasionally I'll have a bad night's sleep. And what I'd normally do for that at home is I'll put something on the TV in the background, just add some sort of noise. I can then just focus on, even though I'm trying to focus on it's just the one thing in my head as opposed to 10,000 things, and then before you know I'm asleep in the opening credits of a movie or something.

Anthony Brown (16:00):

Yeah, which is such a common thing that people who are neurodiverse do. And it's like something that kind of flies in the face of a lot of advice people get around sleep, like having something else playing in the background. It's not usually suggested, but it's something that a lot of people find helpful. Because being neurodivergent, and you mentioned that you've had troubles with sleep for your life, if you have that way of dealing with it, are there other things that you've done that have been helpful?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (16:26):

Milk. Milk is really helpful.

Anthony Brown (16:28):

Yeah, it's interesting.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (16:29):

While I was out on Alone on reflection, I had a couple of realizations. I spent the time and ... Sorry, while I was out there, I was having different cravings as the time progressed. And the one thing that I was really craving towards the end of my time was just a milkshake, just a big glass of milk or a milkshake or some ice cream or something with lots of dairy. And the weird reason I think I was craving that is after talking to a doctor is there's an amino acid called tryptophan, which helps regulate sleep that's found in things like milk and fish. And because I wasn't getting any of that, it was contributing to me not sleeping.

Meagan Cooke (17:06):

Yeah. Isn't that interesting?

Anthony Brown (17:11):

Yeah. Because if your body is missing all those vitamins and nutrients, yeah, it does different things like that. So it makes sense that you're having cravings for different things and, yeah, I could see that.

(17:22)One thing I wanted to talk to you about, you mentioned before in some interviews and on the show as well that you hadn't discussed being neurodivergent with many people before the show, not even many of your friends. And then you came out on national TV, which is a really cool and brave thing to do. I saw an interview where you said people have been really supportive, even appreciative of how you came out as neurodivergent and that you had originally had the thought that people knowing would come back at you in a negative way, which I think is something a lot of neurodivergent people tend to grapple with that thought. Can you tell me how you came to the decision to come out about your neurodivergence on Alone, and what the reaction's been like?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (18:04):

Well, the whole reason I was thinking it'd be received so negatively is probably when I was younger and first diagnosed, it was sort of looked at in a very negative light. And then so because I just stopped telling people or tried to fit in. But I found that as I was doing some reflecting, all my friends are neurodiverse. They're all spicy and they're the best people that I know. And I thought, "You know what? Well, why should I hide? Sure, I'm a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, but shouldn't the round hole be fitting around a square peg?" Well, I'm not going to change who I am to make someone else feel better about themselves. I'm happy in who I am. I'm not a victim. And if you like it, great. If you don't, well, that's okay too.

Meagan Cooke (18:50):

That sounds incredibly empowering.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (18:53):

Yeah. And then after I spoke about it, I was all my, well not all, but a lot of friends were just reaching out going, "Thanks. I've got ADHD as well. Loved what you said." Or, "Let's get a beer sometime and talk about this." And then I thought about it and, look, like, yeah, I can sort of see it in a lot of my friends, so I suppose birds of a feather tend to flap together.

Meagan Cooke (19:15):

That's the exact expression that was going through my mind. And this is a conversation we have with numerous people. Someone else described it as a kind of domino effect. They had a later diagnosis in adulthood. And when they disclosed that, then a lot of the people around them went through the assessment process and realized that, "Oh, yeah, we all have it." And it is, it's something about that sense of belonging or understanding or acceptance that comes quite naturally amongst neurodivergent people. So it's not sort of surprising. Yeah, birds have a feather flock together, as you say.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (19:47):

Yeah.

Meagan Cooke (19:47):

Yeah. Do you mind just following on from that? Has that changed in terms of, we were talking earlier about that experience of masking? So has that changed for you since coming off the show and sort of sharing this about yourself?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (20:05):

I think because it's what I've done for so long, I still do mask, but I'm trying to be more active in not masking. But at the same time, I do need to mind what I say because the first thing that comes to my mind is not always the best thing to say out loud. So there is a little bit of just processing my thoughts before I verbalize them.

Meagan Cooke (20:32):

And that's so interesting because a lot of our listeners are people that are newly diagnosed and particularly in adulthood. And so it's like even gaining that insight that you are masking and what masking is and realizing that about yourself, like you said, these are really long-held habits. So even if it's something that you feel more comfortable with and you're ready to take the mask off, it's not just as easy as that decision, is it? It's kind of something that you have to really, really work at or be mindful of every day.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (21:03):

Yeah, because the default mode is masking.

Meagan Cooke (21:05):

100%. Yeah. Default mode is masking. It's what you've done. That's what you said, is I try to make myself that round peg.

Anthony Brown (21:14):

And do you find that there's things that you do to help go off that mask? Like, doing things in particular or just checking with yourself or the awareness of it or ...

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (21:26):

I think checking in with myself has been a big part of it, but just being aware in a moment, if I'm not feeling comfortable about something or if I can see myself sort of slipping into the old ways, I'll stop, check myself and go, "No, this is not okay. I should be myself." And most of the time it works, sometimes I'll forget it, and occasionally I'll really offend people from time to time as well, but let's not talk about that.

Meagan Cooke (21:54):

Yeah. Well, let's talk about that. I think that's a big part of it, isn't it? I think you're in good company. I've certainly had that experience as well, but I think that's a big part of people, so neurotypical people, understanding ADHD and neurodivergence is that sometimes you might say something offensive or say something without thinking, like you said, the first thing that pops into your mind. And it's helping people understand that things work so fast in our minds that we don't always have the breaks and we don't always get to access that other knowledge or those values or things that might change what comes out of our mouth. But generally, I think the hope is that the people you have around you are understanding and accepting of that and you kind of do a take two, right?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (22:42):

And just because it comes as across as offensive, that doesn't mean that the intention was there.

Meagan Cooke (22:49):

Absolutely.

Anthony Brown (22:51):

I think it's one of the reasons why neurodiverse people tend to hang out a fair bit, right? Like, if-

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (22:57):

[inaudible 00:22:58] blunt and everyone's okay.

Anthony Brown (23:00):

Yeah.

Meagan Cooke (23:00):

Basically.

Anthony Brown (23:01):

It's like that assumption of like, "Yeah, I kind of know what you meant." And that goes a long way, right, like not making assumptions about people. Because when you think of it's be a pretty weird expectation to have everyone think and do things the exact same way. So yeah, there's a bit of different.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (23:16):

Pretty boring actually.

Meagan Cooke (23:17):

Yeah.

Anthony Brown (23:18):

Terribly boring.

Meagan Cooke (23:19):

Does it, it sounds incredibly monotonous.

Anthony Brown (23:21):

Yeah. You mentioned your experience being diagnosed when you were with ADHD when you were quite young. And as you kind of said, not really appreciating what being neurodiverse, having ADHD meant, which I think many children don't. You mentioned it's only been in recent years that you've been able to appreciate that your brain works differently. There are strategies and supports that really help. Looking back and based on your experience, is there anything you think that would be really helpful for people to know when supporting a young person who's neurodivergent? What advice would you give?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (23:58):

I think that one of the biggest things is just patience, patience and time to take some understanding and then educate yourself. And I think patience and support are your two biggest things because the last thing, you don't want to tell a child that has ADHD or ASD, that they need to try harder and they need to do better, they need to be more like somebody else because it's crippling. It's the worst thing you can do. It's better to come at a point, we come to them from a point of understanding and just seeing it through ... walk a mile in their shoes and try and see where their understanding is coming from.

Anthony Brown (24:40):

Yeah, totally. And just trying to step into their shoes and be very patient and understanding and just try to be really appreciative and see it from their point of view. I could see that.

Meagan Cooke (24:54):

Yeah, that sounds like great advice. I think it's what you said. It's telling young people that they should try to be more like this or should try to be more like that person, I mean, what's that message we're sending? There's something wrong with you. You need to work hard to be different. So I really, really appreciate that message. It's patience and support and understanding, and then hopefully they start to feel that way about themselves.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (25:18):

Otherwise, they'll just start masking and they'll think there's something wrong with them and yeah ...

Meagan Cooke (25:23):

Yeah. And then they potentially carry that for a lot of their life, right?

Anthony Brown (25:28):

Yeah. And you mentioned, you've talked a bit about masking, you talked a little bit about trying to not get distracted when working on projects, but I guess overall, after your experience with Alone, what have you brought back into your day-to-day life?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (25:42):

I think just a better understanding of who I am and just the happiness in knowing that it's okay to be me.

Meagan Cooke (25:52):

It's incredibly powerful. Yeah.

Anthony Brown (25:55):

Yeah. Yeah. It's a really good realization. So yeah, I guess what's next for you? Do you have any projects or goals or things that you're excited about that you've been working on?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (26:04):

Millions of projects catch me.

Anthony Brown (26:08):

[inaudible 00:26:08] So I'm really interested, what's the-

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (26:10):

The big thing at the moment is I would love to be able to organize a documentary and mountain expedition to the South Pole with a group of other neurodiverse people just to show everyone that, yes, we can do it. We can achieve anything that we put our mind to. So in the process of trying to secure funding for that.

Meagan Cooke (26:31):

Yeah, how exciting.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (26:33):

So fingers crossed it all works out.

Anthony Brown (26:36):

Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, that'd be awesome. I definitely watch that. Yeah, that's exciting. Well, stay tuned for that. Anything else that you've got on your mind that you're working on?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (26:47):

Otherwise, just catching up on a whole lot of stuff. All these projects that are half finished around the house and just trying to finish. I've got a lot of stuff in the garden because I love my time and nature. So anything in the garden, now that the weather's getting nicer. Although, it is Melbourne, if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. And yeah, otherwise, lots of camping. So if you want, you can follow the adventures. I'm on Instagram under forgingadventure and you have to just forge your own adventure and push on. So check that out.

Anthony Brown (27:18):

Yeah, great. Awesome. And I guess, well, what's the best advice about neurodiversity or productivity that you've ever received?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (27:27):

Best advice I've received? Oh, that's a tough one because growing up was a lot of just really negative reinforcement, and it was just the big realization that it's okay to be me was the most profound moment that I had. And it was after that that I'm trying to stop masking, I'm trying to be myself. Yeah, it's okay to be you. That's the big message.

Anthony Brown (27:58):

Yeah. Yeah.

Meagan Cooke (27:59):

That's a great message. And I was going to say, and that one's come from within.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (28:02):

Yeah.

Meagan Cooke (28:03):

Yeah. Incredibly powerful.

Anthony Brown (28:06):

Yeah. And finally, what's one myth about ADHD that you'd like to bust for listens?

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (28:12):

It's an attention deficit. It's totally not a deficit. If anything, it's too much attention. You're focused on 10 things at the one time, noticing things left, right, and center. So while you may seem distracted, it's because that there's so many things going on and you're trying to notice them all.

Anthony Brown (28:32):

Yeah, definitely. It's a terrible name when you think about it, right?

Meagan Cooke (28:34):

It's a terrible name.

Anthony Brown (28:38):

It goes and misleads so many different ways, not necessarily an attention deficit, doesn't always involve hyperactivity and not a disorder. So literally every part of the name is wrong.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (28:51):

Time for a rebrand.

Meagan Cooke (28:52):

Yeah, definitely time for a rebrand.

Anthony Brown (28:54):

Yeah, totally. Well, Krzysztof , it's been really nice chatting with you today, and thanks so much for making the time.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (29:01):

Thanks for the opportunity, guys. I really appreciate it.

Meagan Cooke (29:04):

Oh, absolutely. It's been great listening to your story. And again, I think that's such a powerful message. I hope everyone's taking that away, that it's okay to be me. So thank you for sharing that with us.

Anthony Brown (29:15):

Yeah, thank you.

Krzysztof Wojtkowski (29:15):

Very, very welcome.

Meagan Cooke (29:25):

Enjoyed today's episode, please help us spread the word by liking, subscribing, and sharing on social media. A full transcript of today's episode, along with information about our assessment, therapy, and post-diagnostic services can be found at our website beyond-distracted.com. That's beyond-distracted.com. This podcast is intended for educational purposes. For therapeutic advice, please consult a trained and licensed professional.