S4 E3 - What If You’re Not Broken? Anxiety, Shame & Permission to Be Yourself
```html Welcome back to Autism, ADHD and Us Three. In Season 4, Episode 3, Jenny is joined by Jen Bunting, the Sensitive Child Whisperer, who supports sensitive and neurodivergent children and their families through her CalmTalk method. This conversation starts with anxiety, but quickly becomes something bigger: what happens when you spend years experiencing things intensely without having the language to explain why. Jen shares what it was like growing up with anxiety that showed up physically as tummy aches, illness and overwhelm, while the adults around her struggled to understand what was happening. Jenny shares her own experience of debilitating anxiety after leaving Scotland for university at 18, and they explore how frightening it can be when your body is screaming that something is wrong but nobody, including you, understands what it means. They also talk about the beliefs that can form underneath those experiences: I’m weird. I’m broken. There’s something wrong with me. I should be able to cope with this. And then comes the really juicy bit: what if you stopped making yourself do things simply because that’s how people are “supposed” to do them? From Jen deciding that supermarkets aren’t worth the sensory and emotional cost, to Jenny questioning why the fuck she was Marie Kondo-folding everybody else’s T-shirts when nobody else cared, this episode is about permission slips, people pleasing, masking, shame and learning to spend your limited energy on the things that actually matter to you. They also explore how these beliefs begin in childhood, why behaviour often makes more sense when adults look beneath the surface, and how parents can help sensitive and neurodivergent children feel safer being exactly who they are. Jen explains the thinking behind her CalmTalk method, her work with parents and practitioners, her children’s book Just As You Are, and the new book she is writing about beliefs, shame, masking and helping children develop a stronger sense that they are okay as they are. Sometimes understanding your neurodivergence isn’t about discovering what you need to fix. It’s about realising you were never supposed to be living everybody else’s version of your life in the first place. Useful links 💜 Jen on Instagram: @thehighlysensitivechild 🌿 CalmTalk: https://calmtalkmethod.com ✨ Audhdistically Me: https://audhdistically.me 📱 Jenny on Instagram: @audhdisticallyme Keywords autism, ADHD, AuDHD, neurodivergence, late diagnosis, anxiety, childhood anxiety, sensory overwhelm, shame, masking, people pleasing, core beliefs, self acceptance, unmasking, nervous system safety, neurodivergent children, neuroaffirming parenting, burnout, authenticity, CalmTalk method, Jen Bunting, Sensitive Child Whisperer, Autism ADHD and Us Three, Audhdistically Me, Jenny Lucas ```