Show Notes

Guest:

Lindsay Guentzel

• twitter.com/lindsayguentzel
• instagram.com/lindsayguentzel
• Refocused Podcast

Sponsor:

• Sunsama

Links and show notes:

• Refocused, Together podcast
• Cleanup app
• The Good Wife
• Andor

Transcript

Lindsay Guentzel: So much of my, those really formative years of being a young girl and being a teen, I was bullied and I was picked on and I can see these phases in life where like my self-esteem and my confidence was being built up and then someone came along and squashed it.​

Jesse J. Anderson: Hey, my name is Jesse J. Anderson, host of the ADHD Nerds podcast. The show where we talk about living with ADHD, and have some fun along the way.

This is episode 15 and today I'm talking with Lindsay Guentzel. Lindsay is an award-winning, albeit job-hopping, TV and radio journalist and producer. Since her own diagnosis in early 2021, Lindsay has made ADHD her latest hyperfocus and hosts the Refocused podcast. Today, we talk about her experience working in media and entertainment with ADHD, as well as how to cope when reality doesn't line up with our intentions and our expectations. You're not going to want to miss it.

But first I'd like to thank our sponsor Sunsama. Sunsama is the daily planner for your work. You can plan a stress-free workday by pulling together your tasks, emails, and calendars into one place. Prioritize your work day by day and set reasonable goals for what you want to accomplish. You can try Sunsama for free by going to adhdnerds.com/sunsama and that's S U N S A M A. They have a free 14 day trial with no credit card required. Now let's get to the show. Lindsay, I am so excited to, uh, talk to you, uh, today. Thanks for being here.

Lindsay Guentzel: Thanks for having.

Jesse J. Anderson: having me. Absolutely. So I always love to start the show. Kinda going into your ADHD, uh, diagnosis, uh, story or your origin story. Like where, when did you find out and what did that look like?

Lindsay Guentzel: Well, it's shocking that I didn't find out before January of 2021 because all the signs were there for a very, very, very long time. In fact, one of my dearest friends teaches second grade, and after I went through the process and was kind of talking about it, she did the. I thought you knew, you know, and I was like, I didn't, You could have said something, but, uh, so it goes back to January of 2021.

Like a lot of people during the pandemic, I was unemployed, so the place I was working was shut down. In, you know, whenever March of 2020 and reopened and shut down and all of that good stuff. And I was just sitting at home and I thank my lucky stars that the impulsivity in the moment when I saw a tweet come up that talked about, um, gifted and talented kids and it really just being like, uh, a future of undiagnosed ADHD.

And the thread that was started, I was reading these tweets and. The, the manic behavior took over, and hindsight being what it is, is such a great gift. But in the moment, because I had been unemployed, I had insurance through the state of Minnesota, which was actually really good insurance, and I called without even thinking about it.

I didn't think about what it would cost. I didn't think about what, you know, what was even gonna be covered. I just was like, I have insurance. I'm gonna do this. And I called and I remember being, I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to say. And like the woman, the woman picked up and was like, Hi, it's the appointment line.

Like how can I help you? And I said, I think I'd like to talk to somebody about ADHD. And she was like, All right. And just like went into it. And the craziest part is, I had my first appointment later that afternoon. And yeah, well, you know, in that setting it was with a nurse practitioner who we went through, you know, the, the depression form, the anxiety form, which are always so much fun to fill out.

You feel really good about yourself when you're doing it It's like, how many times in the last two weeks have you felt absolutely crummy and you. So often this is terrible. But long story short, at the end of our meeting with one another, she suggested that I speak to a psychologist or a psychiatrist. I, I think a psychologist because a psychiatrist could prescribe medication.

But in this, this setup, I had to go see a psychologist and then go back to my primary care provider to get medication. And so that happened in all kind of the span of like four weeks. Yeah.

Jesse J. Anderson: Wow. That's a pretty quick turnaround

Lindsay Guentzel: I, Well, I feel like I was ahead of the curve because I have heard from people since then and I continue to hear from people, and I'm sure you were in the same boat of people who the pandemic and how things have changed in healthcare and the influx of people who are all of a sudden wherever they are in life are asking questions and.

It's, I mean, I feel really blessed, knock on wood that my scenario went well. I hope that things improve it. I'm sure it's incredibly frustrating for the people who call and they're like, Oh, it's nine months. And, you know, and I think the, the comparison that I make with a parent, So imagine you have a kid and you wanna get them into, you know, be assessed.

And if they have ADHD, a nine month wait is a school year. Your child is not. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, that was kind of the start of, of this new hyper focus in life and, and here we are.

Jesse J. Anderson: Yeah. So what was it like actually, what was your experience growing up? And so you didn't know you had this, but I imagine like things maybe you know, felt a little different for you than other people. Or maybe you weren't aware, but you were having struggles. What did that look like for.

Lindsay Guentzel: It's really interesting. So I'm actually the youngest of four girls and there is an age gap between all of us. So the sister that I'm closest to in age is six years older than me. So when I was in elementary school, she was in middle school and then when I was in middle school, she was in high school.

And Kate, I love her, but she's very Type A, she's very organized. She was a great student and I came in behind her and everyone. You are not sisters like . It is not, there is not a connection besides, we look at very much alike, you know, the, the genetics are there physically, but the rest of it, it was, it was very hard.

And knowing what I know now and looking back, you know, the anxiety started really young. Second grade, it's so, it's so silly. So my next door neighbor, who was my best friend, was in a different class and she was coming back from like outdoor time or something and I had gone to the bathroom and I got this great idea. I was gonna hide in her locker and jump out and scare her, which is like such a kid thing to do.

Like it's goofy and you're trying to be fun. And someone went and told the teacher like, Lindsay's hiding in Nicole's locker. And I, I can like envision being in this locker and thinking I'm so clever and funny and like it's just gonna be a hoot. And the teacher opened up the locker door and she was upset and,

I held shame from that moment into my late twenties. And I can see the snowball, the avalanche effect of those moments of feeling like a failure, of feeling bad, of feeling like I was a troublemaker, which was not the case. And, as an adult, not too long ago, I was actually in Nashville on a girls' trip, so my two best friends and I went on a girls' trip and we went to a karaoke bar and there's a sign on the wall that says, no swearing.

We didn't see the sign. We cracked a joke, dropped some words that would not have fit the sign, and we got reprimanded. And I had like a physical reaction to. Being a bad person to getting in trouble. And my friends all just, they were like, Oh my gosh, I can't believe we got yelled at for that. And it was like an hour later and they were like, Are you okay?

And I was like, I can't shake this. I am spiraling right now. And. It was such a di dichotomy from the person I was in public. I was very outgoing. I was very talkative, very talkative. In fact, I just spoke with someone yesterday who talked about being bullied for talking about themselves a lot as a teen girl, and I was like, Hey, that is, So much of my, those really formative years of being a young girl and being a teen, I was bullied and I was picked on and I can see these phases in life where like my self-esteem and my confidence was being built up and then someone came along and squashed it.

You know, I'm in the midst of this podcast project right now, which we'll get to later, but one of the young women that I interviewed, just big personality, so over the top, so delightful. Like one of those people that you just wanna be around and, I kept thinking throughout our conversation, I'm so glad someone didn't get to you.

Because I look back and I think of what was possible for me, and I think of all the people I let take that away from me at different points in life, and that is really hard. But everything I think was fine. You know, in the quotes, fine until, until I left high school and went to college and that's when the wheels fell off.

That's when there were. Shiny objects on the way to class. You know, I I, I went from a, a smaller high school where there was structure and I was involved in everything. So my days ran from the time school started until, you know, I was, I danced at a studio and we were the oldest class most of the time. So I would be dancing from seven to 10:00 PM and that was the day, you know, 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM Monday through Friday, events on the weekends, getting your homework done, being involved in all these activities and. I got to college and there was so much freedom and there was no one to make sure that I went to class and I got distracted and I didn't know what I wanted to be doing. I didn't know what I was even interested in. And as things got progressively worse, I got more ashamed and more sad and more broken, and so then I hid those things.

I'm really good at white lies at lies that aren't gonna affect anyone, but all of those white lies when they pile up on top of one another, become pretty destructive. And you know, it's just been kind of that cycle of, of seeing those habits over and over again, and that's really probably what I look back on the most with.

The most regret is like all of those things that would have been different, those experiences that would have been different had I known.

Jesse J. Anderson: Yeah. There's, uh, there's so, so much you talked about there that I wanted to, uh, dive into a little bit. Um, you talked about the, your experience like hiding in the locker and you're expecting it to be this like, great, joyful thing. Um, and wow, that, that like, uh, hit me deep. Cause I feel like so often as a child, like I had.

These great kind of fun intentions for something, and then like the reality just never like, seemed to connect. And I never knew why. It was like, why does this keep happening? And when it, and that feeling is so like, Dark and like deep is like, so like how it's so difficult I think to like reconcile that idea of like, I thought this was gonna be so great.

And it's so much like the opposite. It just like cut cuts you so deep. And then kinda like you say, like you hang onto that for so long and I think part of the reason you hang onto it for so long, There's not an explanation. Like there's no, like, I don't even understand what went wrong. I just know that I thought I was doing like the right thing.

I had these great intentions and I thought I was gonna do something that was gonna be so fun and it went wrong. I don't even know what to do with that. Like I just feel like something's broken and where do I go from here? Like what, how there's no, like looking back and seeing what I could have done differently.

Cause it's like, I don't even know, Like it seemed like I was. All the right things to have this fun experience and it just didn't, uh, turn out that way.

Lindsay Guentzel: Right, And then you feel ashamed about it. as a kid, when you feel like you're the bad person or you've, you know, you're in trouble, you aren't going home and confiding in people about that because you are expecting the same reaction from them. and there was just a lot of that. There was a lot of stuff that happened that was really traumatic that I just held onto and didn't tell anyone.

And then, you know, as an adult, when you realize what it is and you kind of have that moment of, Okay, my, my observation and my feelings in that moment were legitimate and. I need to open up about it. I mean, there's things that I've now told my mom as an adult and she's like, You were doing all of that, like dealing with that on your own?

And I was like, Yeah. And it was awful. . It was awful.

Jesse J. Anderson: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that reminds me, I feel I've, I don't think I've ever told this to anyone before, but I remember at some point, it might have been in high school or something, something like that. I remember looking back at like, photos of me as a kid and I'm like, Man, I look so happy. But I don't remember feeling happy.

I remember, I remember feeling as a kid, like that shame and like feeling bad all the time and just feeling like I wasn't living up and I wasn't, I wasn't hitting the mark and I didn't know why, but I was looking back and it just, I was masking. I had no idea what I was doing. I was just putting up this front cuz like every picture, I just looked like the happiest kid in the world and it just wasn't my reality.

Um, yeah, it was so kind of, I, I've had that same experience of like talking to my parents and they had no idea so much of this like, kind of really like, it's so, um, so early on that that started to show up where it's like something's wrong and I don't know what to do about it. And it's really, it's just so much weight for a kid to kind of deal with.

And then you just carry that for the rest of your life, or for like, for so long. Like it's just like this constant weight of like having to deal with this really heavy thing and not having any sort of, uh, explanation about it.

Like you said, the other thing, like the white lies, Oh my gosh, I've told like a million lies in my life.

Just like trying to, like you said, like the white lies, where it feels like it's like this doesn't really harm anybody, but it kind of like helps cover my, my shame or it helps like explain something that I can't explain. Like I don't have a way to explain what's really going on that, oh, my brain just doesn't work that way or just didn't do the thing that obviously you and I talking about it know that it should have done the thing, but my brain didn't and I don't have a way to explain that.

So I'll just make up some excuse like some, something that'll kind of, uh, cover that up. And yeah, I've definitely relate with doing that a lot. And it just sort of building up and then some point like, Oh no, there's too many, and they sort of like start to conflict with each other. And now I have a real problem that I don't really know how to escape.

Scape.

Lindsay Guentzel: Yes. A thousand percent, yes. I had a situation as an adult, so in my twenties it was like, uh, there were like maybe six of us, uh, six of my girlfriends. We were gonna go to like a beer dabbler, and I put myself in charge of getting the tickets. Why? Because I felt like I had to, because that was the person I was.

I was the one who did that and I forgot, I forgot to order the tickets and it sold out and I, I did confess this, I think last summer, so like over 10 years later in the moment of realizing the event that I told my friends, I got us tickets to, I can't believe I'm admitting this, the shame and the overwhelm.

Owning it to them and just being like, I messed up and I didn't get the tickets. This is on me. I'm so sorry. Like they would've understood. Sure, they probably would've been disappointed, but they were my friends and I couldn't even in that moment have that relationship and, I went a very white lie roundabout way to get us tickets where I essentially emailed the organizer and I played dumb.

Like I had gone in to order the tickets and I thought I had ordered them, but now there's no receipt and I don't know where the tickets are, and I.

Jesse J. Anderson: I,

Lindsay Guentzel: I got us tickets, but the stress that I put myself through to get them because I couldn't disappoint, and my friends were like, Okay. Like, Come what? What? And you're, And I think there's a part of it where people hear that and they're like, Oh I'm, that's kind of impressive.

And you're like, Yeah, it's impressive if you do it like once. But when I was doing it consistently in life, like going above and beyond to cover up these. Mistakes that I was the one internalizing, you know, like people make mistakes. So like last week my car didn't start and I had to cancel TV and I was beside myself because that to me is just like a, how do you get past that?

You've disappointed people. They were relying on you Now this TV show, and I get it. I work in the industry. I'm a producer. I know exactly. That happens. It happens all the time. TV connections don't work and. Things happen, or you know, power goes out, there are hiccups in everything. And I was like, spiraling, spiraling.

And I had been talking myself off the ledge. Fast forward like two days later, found out I had covid. So now I can say to myself, The car not starting was preventing me from having to email the entire TV station and tell them that I expose them to covid. So sometimes it's about reframing, but it's hard to get to that point.

Jesse J. Anderson: Yeah, for sure. Um, so you mentioned being a producer, and it's so interesting, like I've noticed, you know, uh, talking about ADHD online, you start to notice. people from different industries that kind of follow you and people. So you kind of get a little bit of an understanding of like, Oh, it really seems, you know, like one that's really obvious, like, oh, there's a lot of musicians and actors that have ADHD like that.

I see that time and time again. And another thing kind of related with that, just sort of like, In the like, entertainment, uh, industry. I think part of it being, um, and not necessarily entertainment, but like media in general and just something, I think people at the a ADHD are often drawn to crisis roles and a lot of that is kind of like in the crisis, like every day almost can feel like a crisis in that sort of environment.

And yeah. I'd love to just sort of hear your perspective, like what it's like in that world and like what drew you to it and Yeah. All of that

Lindsay Guentzel: Well, what drew me to it is I wanted to be an entertainer. I still do. I just wasn't given actual skills to be an entertainer. Like I, I dance, but I'm not like a great dancer. I sing, but I'm not a great singer. Like, but I love very ADHD. I love to be the center of attention when it feels right. You know, when you.

On your game, and you just, you're with your people. And again, college was a disaster for me. I, I don't have an undergrad, but I got my foot in the door at a TV station. You know, I went in, This is, oh gosh, uh, like. Like 2010, like the Erin Andrews was just coming on the scene as like a sideline reporter. I loved sports.

I still love sports. I wanted to do that. And so I worked my way up. I was working for Fox Sports North here in Twin Cities. I worked for Major League Baseball and you know how they're like, don't, don't meet your idols. Like, don't work for your favorite teams or your favorite Cuz it just, it, it, it's an overload.

You know, you're like, oh, all the things that. Bad about this are around me all the time,

Jesse J. Anderson: Right.

Lindsay Guentzel: and I do work well under pressure. I love a crisis. I love breaking news. I hate saying that cuz it makes me sound like I'm just waiting for a disaster to hit. But that's where I thrive. It's like, all right, this is happening.

What are we doing? You know, I directed a show. I don't even know when it was, and I can't even tell you what the breaking news stories were, but we had like big things happening in the Twin Cities all at once and we were jumping from, you know, it was a live, a live show on Minnesota Public Radio. So under the umbrella of like the public radio family.

Uh, fun fact for anyone who does listen to public radio. Public radio was started here in Minnesota. So we, uh, yeah, we don't like to let anyone not know that, as I tell you. But it was just like, All right, we're gonna go to you and we're gonna go to you. And you're, you know, managing all of these things and the adrenaline is there and then, you know, the show stops and you're just like, Oh, you, you know, like you shut down.

Jesse J. Anderson: Uh huh.

Lindsay Guentzel: Yeah and it, you know, it's just been, it's kind of been one of those industries where, you get your foot in the door. My sister's a theater actor here in the Twin Cities, and we kind of talk, It's like you're always auditioning for what's next, and when people come calling, you're like, You want me? It's like the, It's the best part of it for someone with ADHD because it's like filling up your cup.

You're like, Oh, you, you wanna work with me? You like me, You think I'm good at this? Oh, okay. And at the opposite end of. Terrible for somebody with ADHD is that you're always focusing on the one person who's yelling the loudest about how much they don't like you. And so it's this like very, very careful balance.

So yeah, I've, I've done everything. I started in sports, then I moved into more sports. Then I did like a music drive time show, which I had never done. I, I had never even wanted to work in radio, which is very funny now that I work in radio. Host a podcast. It just wasn't my thing. I really thought I was going to be the next Erin Andrews.

And then I worked in news, so there was breaking news and politics and then I did food and I actually was thinking about this the other night. Like I had no, like on, on air experience. From like the food side of things. So if you ever watch a TV show or like a news channel and someone comes on and does a cooking segment, that's what I do.

And everyone's like, Why do you do that? And I was like, Cuz I love it.

The challenge of cooking a meal in four minutes on TV so people can understand it, sign me up and yeah. so now the ADHD diagnosis makes complete and total sense.

Jesse J. Anderson: right? Yeah, for sure. Um, cool. So you mentioned, you know, that you also host a podcast now, and I'd love to kind of talk about the project you did. Uh, this episode is coming, probably gonna be coming out in November, but in October. October is ADHD Awareness Month. Um, and you took on quite a challenge.

Why don't you tell me a little bit about what that project was and what that looked like?

Lindsay Guentzel: Oh man. Again, hindsight is a gift when you have ADHD, so, We launched a podcast in May called Refocused, and it's a collaboration, uh, between me, a newly diagnosed person who has ADHD and has a journalist. You know, I've been working as a journalist for a very long time, and ADHD Online, which is a telemedicine healthcare company that's based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

And they had been toying around with the idea of launching a podcast for a long time, and. Wanted a podcast and it has been just a really great fit. Fast forward to July. I wish I had written down exactly the moment that I was like, Yes, we're gonna do this. I got the idea that I wanted to release one episode every day in the month of October for ADHD Awareness Month, essentially telling a different person's story.

For 31 days. So 31 stories. In 31 days, we actually went over the 31 because of course, you know, there's a line you set as someone with ADHD. It doesn't matter if if it needs to end, you just, you just blow past it and it, it, it was a lot.

It was. More work than I ever expected because I'm a perfectionist.

Jesse J. Anderson: Mm.

Lindsay Guentzel: But I will say there were a lot of really amazing realizations that came with it. Right around day 10 or 11, before I found out I had Covid, I had this moment where, where I said to myself, You know, I'm making myself, physically ill and uncomfortable trying to make these episodes Perfect.

If there is ever an audience to give yourself a little leeway and grace with, it's an audience of people with ADHD, you know, it's kind of like you, you just sit back and, and in my head I'm going, you know, I've had six months of connecting with a lot of the listeners and connecting with the people we interviewed like yourself.

And in my head I'm going, there's not one of them who would be okay. What I'm doing to myself. There's not one of them who would go, Yeah, no, you gotta do that. You gotta get this done. And so it was that moment where I went,

Jesse J. Anderson: went, okay,

Lindsay Guentzel: All of the illusions of grandeur I had about this project about, you know, I had, I was like, I'm envisioning myself sitting at the table with Gail King on CBS mornings.

Like, I'm gonna just, it is going to be the thing that everyone talks about. And I think that that is such a problem for us with ADHD, is we get an idea and it is so great, and when it is not an immediate success. Oh. All that work and everything. And so I had to change the narrative and that to me was probably the biggest takeaway in that moment of going, You're gonna end this project and be so disappointed unless you change the way you're thinking about it right now.

Jesse J. Anderson: Awesome. Well I think, uh, I had a great time on the Project with you doing that episode, and we'll link that in the show notes so people can check that. cause that was super fun and I think it's really what, what is really cool is now you kind of have this.

I dunno, this asset, like it's something to like, people go check out. I've, there's 31 days of all these awesome interviews and I think, uh, the ones I've listened to, I haven't listened to them all because there's one literally every single day. But the ones I have listened to have all been really great.

And I think that, uh, it's similar to this show. It's the sort of thing that there's so much value in just hearing other people's story and what they've, uh, been able to kind of. Uh, achieve with ADHD, but also just like understand about themselves and forgiving themselves and just all of that kind of like validation of hearing, uh, what other people have gone through.

And knowing that you aren't alone, because growing up you feel so. I mean, for me, I felt so weird and different and alone and like there's something wrong with me and nobody else, like everyone else is fine, and something about me is just wrong. And so I always love like, yeah, like the podcast that you've done and other ones just like hearing other people's story and knowing like, There's so many other people that have gone through this experience, and it's so encouraging and validating to, uh, hear that from other people.

So yeah, highly recommend people, uh, check out that project, uh, the, and we will put that in the show notes so people can check it out. Uh, this I think is a great time to switch to shiny objects. Um, and so I love the sh to end the show talking about shiny objects, just sharing some of the things that you've found kinda interesting lately, or hobbies that you maybe want to share with other listeners.

So what is. Shiny object.

Lindsay Guentzel: Well, my shiny object, I, I have two. The first is, so I'm one of those people when I'm working, I have to have something in the background noise. It's, I'm not watching it. And so I re-watch shows all the time. Like if I'm working from home, the TV is on, there is something playing. And I know it's probably like the worst advice, but that's just how it, it works for me.

So I'm actually re-watching The Good Wife, which I watched, you know, when it came out. I've never re-watched it, but I, I, one of these days I was like, god, people with ADHD, we re-watched the same things a lot and I realized it's because I don't have to pay attention. I, I kind of know what's happening.

Jesse J. Anderson: Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Guentzel: And so the moments I do pay attention, don't feel like, you know, I don't have to stay tuned because I've watched it already anyway.

So I'm rewatching the Good Wife, which I love. And the second shiny object is actually an app called Cleanup and.

Actually, you are the first person in our episode that we talked about, um, when I interviewed you, you for refocused together that mentioned like the digital clutter. Like we always thought, you know, we're the generation that we had paper clutter as kids and now we have digital clutter. And that is always my, I'm gonna, I'm gonna.

Today I'm gonna organize today. All my photos are gonna get organized. And anyway, so it's this app that just like makes it really easy to delete stuff off your phone. the thing is, is that it costs money. So I keep. Having to set reminders. So I'm like, Okay, I paid for it for this week. I'm gonna go through every time I have a, you know, 10 minutes of downtime and I just clean things off of it and then I cancel it, but it's still on my phone.

And then I just, the next time my phone fills up, which will probably be, you know, like 10 days from now, I'll go back in and buy it again for one more week and then I do it again. And it's just been a nice, like, I feel like I have spent so much time going, Okay, select, select, select, select, select, delete, and then you're like, There are 7,000 of these to do and this just, it is a time saver.

Jesse J. Anderson: Right. Awesome. That's, uh, cool. We'll put that in the show notes so people can, uh, check that out as well. Um, I think the thing you talk about of, uh, with watching the show, kind of like re reruns of something you've seen before. Uh, we talked about that a couple episodes, uh, back, uh, with Micah Sergeant talking about how it seems like, uh, a lot of times people with ADHD, it's like our brain.

Needs more stuff to do. It's like we have two parts of our brain. It's like one that we want to focus on the thing we want to do, and the other part is just like, I, you just need, you need to keep me busy. It's almost, it's almost like, um, my kids will be like, Dad, I'm bored. Like there's like part of my brain that's like saying that same, like, I'm bored.

You gotta gimme something to do. And so maybe that's putting like TV on in the background, which is a sort of thing that does not sound helpful to people that are neurotypical. Like that sounds super distract. But for me, like, I need that, or I need music, or I need something else kind of going on. Um, yeah, so I, I love that recommendation.

I haven't actually seen that show and I've heard good things about it. The Good Wife. So that

Lindsay Guentzel: It's good procedural.

Jesse J. Anderson: Yeah, that might be one. Uh, I check out it's, I've heard good things about it before and we're coming up to the end of some of the other shows my wife and I are watching, so that's actually, I was gonna recommend one of the shows we are watching right now, which, uh, I'm a big, uh, Star Wars nerd.

And some of the stuff lately that's come out has been somewhat hit or miss. It's, uh, controversial. I'm not gonna talk about which movies I've loved and which ones I haven't. Um, but some of them, I'll just say some of the things and the shows as well have been a little bit hit, hit or miss. Uh, but the latest show, uh, Andor, highly, highly recommended, I really love this show.

Um, it's really sort of connecting. The feeling I had, like as a kid, like, you know, 20 some odd years ago when I would read some of the like Star Wars books, and it just feels like it's this other corner of the, you know, the universe of Star Wars. It's like this other corner story that doesn't have, you know, like there's no Jedi, there's no Darth Vader, there's none of all the like, signature things that are in most Star Wars things.

And so because of that there's not like, You know, like fan service, like little winks at the camera with like, Oh, here's this thing, you know, and here's that thing. You know, It's just like a really good, almost like a World War II kind of show movie kind of thing that just happens to be set. In the Star Wars world, uh, the Star Wars universe, galaxy, however you want to say that, and I've really been loving it.

The writing is some of the best writing, um, not just Star Wars, just like some of the best writing in tv. I think they've been really, uh, crushing it. So if you, if you are one of those people that have enjoyed Star Wars, but maybe fell off after seeing some things that didn't connect, I highly recommend, uh, Andor, it's a really great show.

Um, and with that, I just want to, uh, thank you so much for being here, Lindsay. Uh, this has been such a great conversation. Um, and yeah, how can people, uh, follow you and find out sort of the things you're doing and where can they go to find like the podcast and all of that?

Lindsay Guentzel: So the podcast is on every podcast, streaming service, whatever you're listening to. It's called Refocused Uh, and you can find out more by visiting my website, which is lindsayguentzel.com or going to adhdonline.com/refocused. All of the stuff we're creating is kind of shared in both those spots. And then I'm just on social.

It's my name @lindsayguentzel and @refocusedpod. I need to be better about being consistent on social media. It's hard. It is so hard, but, uh, you get to meet cool people and connect with them like you, and that's the great stuff. And so you gotta just kinda not let the other stuff get, get to you.

Jesse J. Anderson: Awesome. Thank you so much for being here. This was a wonderful conversation. thanks again.

Lindsay Guentzel: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

Jesse J. Anderson: That's our show, thank you so much for listening. I especially want to thank our VIP patrons, Alex Magaña, Charise Carlson, Dan Ott, Jessica Cherry DePaul, Luce Carter, Richard Stephens, and Todd Barnett.

Your support helps make it possible for me to do the work that I do.

Also if you're one of those VIP patrons and I'm pronouncing your name wrong, please let me know.

If you want to support the show, you can go to patreon.com/jessej or you can also help the show by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or the podcast player of your choice. Full show notes and transcripts are available at adhdnerds.com.