You're Not Lazy, You're Exhausted

ADHD, AI & Productivity Shame with Orla Fitz

I had never been good at yoga.

And it wasn’t for the lack of trying; attending classes, fumbling through flows, forcing myself into poses I could never really enjoy.

But I was always the one in the class who was struggling.

The stressed one, the slow one. The one sneaking glances around the room, wondering if everyone else could tell how bad I was at this.

So when I booked a private yoga session, it wasn’t because I loved yoga. It was because I hated how I felt in those classes; awkward, ashamed, wrong. I wanted to finally “get good” at it.

But my wise teacher had other ideas.

I told her about my experiences, about how I never really ‘got’ yoga, and how I had only ever known it as another kind of workout; another way to fix my body. Another test of endurance, willpower, discipline.

I could see her wheels turning as she listened. And then she said, “I think you might like Yin Yoga.”

I had no idea what that was.

She led me through a practice & introduced me to Reclined Goddess Pose. As she instructed me to lie back against a bolster, she kept adding support; pillows, towels, blankets, blocks, until my entire body was held.

Until I felt weightless.

And then, something unexpected happened.

I felt…guilty.

It felt too easy.

I wasn’t doing anything.
I wasn’t earning anything.
I was just lying there, fully supported, fully held.

I told her this, and she smiled, amused.

“That’s the practice,” she said. “Letting yourself be supported.”

Mind. Blown.

I had spent a lifetime believing that ease was cheating. That if something wasn’t hard, it didn’t count. That struggle was proof of effort and effort was proof of worth.

And here was a whole practice, an entire philosophy, telling me the opposite.

Let yourself be supported. Use the props. Use the tools. It’s not cheating. It’s how you stay in the pose.

And that’s what I’m talking about in this week’s podcast with my guest

Orla Fitz

of

Unruly Assets

.

Orla was diagnosed with ADHD during the pandemic, on the back having birthed her second child.

We unpack the hidden labour of ADHD, executive dysfunction, the myth of laziness & how assistive technologies (like AI) can level the playing field for neurodivergent minds.

Because what if ease isn’t cheating?

What if it’s just… support?

Let us know what you think in the comments!

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