Beany Brain: loving our jumping-bean brains!

Welcome to this issue of the Beany Brain! I hope today’s newsletter will bounce us up as we contemplate the upsides and challenges of being neurodivergent, a little beauty, some creativity, and just general yeehawesomeness.

Table of Contents

• Beany Brain: loving our jumping-bean brains!

  • Welcome to this issue of the Beany Brain! I hope t …

• Traveling While ND

  • Ha Ha Haiku

  • What’s in a Name

    • Yeehawesome!

    • Quote of the Week

  • Wonderful Wednesday

  • Today’s Beany-full Summary:

Traveling While ND

I can’t snap my fingers and not be neurodivergent, so it looks like traveling while ND is inevitable if I need to travel!

This long-haul trip I was prepared.

Fidget toys:

Fidget rings:

To be honest, what helped me most this time was recognizing…

That interoception issues are something I deal with on a daily basis, whether at home or flying around the world.

And for me, they are more pronounced when I’m away from my own familiar environment.

Dr. Emma Goodall says:

For autistic people, interoception can be delayed or confused.

Dr. Goodall goes on:

For me personally, this can mean that I forget to drink water for a while, or not realize that I’m hungry until I’m shaky or angry, or even not know how I feel if someone says something nice and complimentary or even nasty to me.

When traveling, I can be sitting on a plane for 14 hours at a stretch and feel extremely horrible but not able to put my finger on why.

So this trip I continually checked in with myself because I now know that interoception can be a problem.

Basic things that helped me:

• having hand lotion ready

• putting on chapstick a lot

• brushing my teeth a couple times

• drinking water frequently

• standing and stretching (as much as is possible in cattle class)

• watching movies that I knew would be enjoyable for me and not movies that I think I should watch because they’re in the zeitgeist or educational or classic

• wearing enough layers (I tend to get cold on long hauls)

• working on recognizing and accepting how I was feeling in the moment (catastrophizing? feelings of doom? feelings of joy because of the beautiful blue hair ornaments in the Korean Air flight attendants’ hair? feelings of gratefulness that I was with my family?)

Interoception might always be a problem for me. But at least now I know that it is. I know what it is. And I know what to do about it.

I’ve come a long way, baby.

Literally and figuratively.

Ha Ha Haiku

A funny haiku for you every week in every newsletter, whether it’s one of my own or one I curate for you. HA. Ha. Haiku.

What’s in a Name

I remember faces really well. In school I used to remember what each of my classmates wore every day and how often they wore those outfits.

But if I don’t speak a name for a little while, you can forget it.

I do.

In college, I was the president of a volunteer group—when we came back after being gone for the summer, I couldn’t remember who the vice president was or any of the other folks in the leadership (we’d just been elected before the end of the previous semester). (It would’ve helped if I’d written it down.)

When I was teaching full time, I’d be out for the summers and come back and not remember the other teachers’ names.

Now we’re back in the UK for a little while, and even before we returned I was already stressing that I’d be forgetting names here (church, volunteer group, and creative writing group).

I don’t know exactly why I so easily forget names, but it is stressful.

I’ve gotten to the point now where I can blame age or perimenopause. I’m also at the point where I just say sorry, I’ve forgotten your name, can you please tell me again. And I don’t care (as much) what people think about me as I used to.

But actually, from what I’ve read, this is a common experience for many autistic and ADHD people.

Maybe it’s sensory overwhelm in the moment.

Working memory issues as well.

Whatever the reason, it’s really annoying.

I just can’t name why.

Yeehawesome!

Yeehawesome! is a happy-brain roundup in each issue of Beany Brain. What’s happening that’s good in brain land? What’s bringing me joy?

1. See that lovely matcha black-bean chiffon cake above? My friend made it with rice flour and soy milk for me so that I could have it. A cake all for me with ingredients I can eat. I felt very loved. And it was delicious.

2. This study shows that hairdressers are having conversations about climate change with their clients and creating a positive influence and change.

3. Woody Brown is a non-speaking 28-year-old autistic man who dealt with being infantilized for many years, but now is a celebrated novelist. I can’t wait to read his book.

Quote of the Week

Beany Brownie Points and Extra Bonus Funniness

Wonderful Wednesday

Wonderful Wednesday was a day once a year in college when they would suddenly and surprisingly call off all classes and we’d play all day. The cafeteria provided special fun food and we’d do stuff outside like slip ‘n slides and jello wrestling in sumo suits. This segment of Beany Brain is dedicated to that memory of silliness and fun—no words, just a photo from the week that I’ve taken or found that reminds me to let the joy in. Since Beany Brain is published on Wednesday every week (at least, Wednesday in Japan), I hope you enjoy this Wonderful Wednesday.

Today’s Beany-full Summary:

• Interoception issues might be a problem for autistic people, and maybe especially when away from our home environment.

• Some neurodivergent people have trouble forgetting people’s names.

• Go forth in Beany joy. What will help you feel yeehawesome this week?

Thank you for reading this installment of Beany Brain! You’re very welcome to hop on by any old time.

If you’re enjoying Beany Brain, please share with a friend or seventeen at www.beanybrain.com. Cheers big time!