Latest / Thick No More / Expelled. Addicted. World Record Holder. | Andy Stone's ADHD Journey
Transcript
- 0:00Hi everybody, welcome back to Thick No More.
- 0:02Today I'm joined by someone who truly redefines resilience.
- 0:07Gentlemen by the name of Andy Stone.
- 0:10From being expelled from school battling addiction to becoming a
- 0:13Guinness World Record holder for completing 70 half Ironman
- 0:18triathlons, try saying that in 75 days.
- 0:22Andy's story is nothing short of extraordinary.
- 0:25But it's not just about physical endurance.
- 0:27And he's also an ADHD peer mentor, a speaker, an advocate
- 0:33for turning struggle into strength.
- 0:35I'm so excited to dig into his journey and the lessons that we
- 0:39can all learn about resilience, focus, and more importantly,
- 0:42hope. Andy, welcome to the podcast.
- 0:46Jason, thank you for having me mate.
- 0:48I really really appreciate you you inviting me on.
- 0:51Now, you're welcome. So listen, I asked this question
- 0:54to everybody and it's the same question that I always start
- 0:58with. If you walked into a room and a
- 1:00theme tube started playing every time, what would your song be,
- 1:04my friend? Well, it's a difficult one that
- 1:06it defends which which under you get, but I would definitely say
- 1:12top of my list is Keep Your Head Up by Ben Howard.
- 1:16Wow, I don't know that song. I'm going to have to dig that
- 1:19one out, mate. OK, interesting.
- 1:22What for what particular reason? It's the lyrics.
- 1:26So for me, it's kind of been such a journey of sort of
- 1:31difficulties into kind of being able to get on with my life and
- 1:35have self kind of pride and it it really sort of resonates with
- 1:42with kind of that journey that I've been through.
- 1:45Yeah. OK.
- 1:46So that's a really good place for us to to start then I guess.
- 1:49So take us back to at time of my life, I don't like talking about
- 1:55school years talking talk. Tell me about growing up with
- 1:58ADHD, learning differences that you encountered things that you
- 2:04know you came across during those school years you thought,
- 2:06you know, am IA bit different here?
- 2:08What's kind of going on? Yeah, so sort of primary school
- 2:13years were fairly standard, really.
- 2:16I was just a very sort of boisterous boy.
- 2:20I've was always just scrapping in the playground, you know, all
- 2:23against Stoney. And I used to be able to win,
- 2:26you know, and I was very physically capable of classroom
- 2:33stuff. Was always kind of Joey average.
- 2:35But then making it to high school, so from 11-12 years old,
- 2:40and there was this link for me between ultra processed food and
- 2:44and hyperactivity and disobedience and frustration.
- 2:48And mom and dad did everything they could to shield me from it.
- 2:50But then of course, you get to high school is you get a bit of
- 2:53pocket money, you can go to the local shop, talk shop, whatever.
- 2:56And all of a sudden I'm eating all this crap at school.
- 2:58And there was just a huge link between difficulty in the
- 3:03classroom, frustration playing up, and it just started to just
- 3:09progress. And I became the class clown,
- 3:11the class joker, trying to hide behind humor to get away from
- 3:15being in trouble. It turns out it's really
- 3:17difficult to make teachers laugh.
- 3:20Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been there mate.
- 3:23I know all about it, I really do.
- 3:26It's became increasingly difficult, constantly kicked out
- 3:31the room, said to see the head teacher, you know, stand outside
- 3:35the staff room, all of these kind of things just to Get Me
- 3:38Out of the, the, the classroom environment.
- 3:41And ultimately it just didn't work.
- 3:43And I got expelled from, from the school I was at.
- 3:46I then went to a grammar school, a private school, mum and dad, I
- 3:49think we mortgaged the house to pay the fees, Smaller classes,
- 3:52better opportunities, more potential, all of that good
- 3:55stuff. But of course it was just
- 3:57exactly the same environment. The teachers in the 90s still
- 4:01weren't clued up and they're not clued up now, particularly in my
- 4:04experience regarding neurodiversity.
- 4:07And I'd had a dyslexia and an ADHD diagnosis at this point and
- 4:13short of get just sticking on Ritalin, there was very little
- 4:16else that came beneficially came along with the diagnosis.
- 4:23I just continue to be very, very frustrated and difficult and
- 4:27rebellious the older I've got. You know, I was quite a big guy
- 4:29at 16. I was playing a lot of rugby and
- 4:32they just couldn't have me in the room.
- 4:34So expelled from the grammar, they allowed me to take my GCS
- 4:38ES. Things were getting very
- 4:39difficult at home. Mum and Dad were incredibly
- 4:42frustrated. They were doing everything they
- 4:43could for me. Mum and Dad were brilliant.
- 4:45But again, there was no, my kids got ADHD, what do I do now
- 4:49classes they could go to. And so things were just very,
- 4:53very difficult and actually ended up leaving home at the
- 4:55time of my exams. So I was very unsettled in a lot
- 5:00of areas of my life. So yeah, things were difficult,
- 5:04man. And then discovered, you know,
- 5:06661617 nightclubs, pubs, bars, alcohol, weed, speed, ecstasy,
- 5:15cocaine, magic mushrooms, all these things started to come
- 5:20into my life, which I thought was like a rite of passage
- 5:22coming of age. But I was actually discovering
- 5:25lots of substances to help me escape the difficulty I was
- 5:28going through. Yeah, that's heartbreaking me,
- 5:32honestly. I I mean, I spoke to you briefly
- 5:37before we came on in the last couple of weeks.
- 5:39They've been traumatic stories from people, but that that is
- 5:44that is that is another level. You mentioned addiction there
- 5:48and battling that. Obviously we know about the
- 5:50expulsions as well. But think thing, that thing that
- 5:54astounds me whenever I look at your profile and I see your name
- 5:57pop up, you know, you've got that thing there saying Guinness
- 6:00World Record holder. So to tell me then what was,
- 6:03what was the turning point from you entering to a dark space or
- 6:08a dark place, whatever you want to call it, and realizing, OK,
- 6:14this is this is, this is, this is the direction I'm going to go
- 6:16in. What turned that?
- 6:17What created that turning point? A good question.
- 6:20So I kind of progressed through my 20's.
- 6:23The drug stopped but the alcohol continued.
- 6:28Having ADHD I find it very very difficult to have a full time
- 6:31long term job. So I was just going from job to
- 6:34job to job to job, getting more and more and more frustrated,
- 6:37questioning more and more with no answers.
- 6:40It was, it wasn't all bad, you know, I'm not saying I was like
- 6:44an absolute sort of doom and gloom, Behold the time.
- 6:47But it was getting more frustrating.
- 6:49So by the time I was in my 30s, I got divorced and then living
- 6:53on my own and isolating and my alcohol abuse went up.
- 6:57The cocaine came back to what, my alcohol dosage.
- 7:01And so then my mum and dad sat me down, thought you need rehab.
- 7:07And that was the point that I thought, you know what, what
- 7:11have I got to lose? I'm a bloke in his 30s.
- 7:15I was living on my own. I couldn't hold a job down.
- 7:18Long term sick note from the doctor.
- 7:20I was on Citalopram, which is an SSRI, Ritalin for ADHD, Valium
- 7:25to help calm me, alcohol and cocaine.
- 7:29It's like I just had no chance of knowing what today was doing
- 7:34What? And so, yeah, I had nothing to
- 7:37lose. So when I went and it was that
- 7:39point that I, I was like, OK, I can re evaluate things here and
- 7:43did came off everything. So I'm now completely squeaky
- 7:47clean of illicit unmedicated drugs, alcohol, got a couple of
- 7:53years sobriety in me and got all my aspirations back.
- 7:56Is that right? OK, what we're going to do?
- 7:58And I've gone from like, I've got no misses, no kids, no
- 8:01house, no belongings, no nothing.
- 8:03Oh my God, where was Andy to hang on a minute?
- 8:05I've got no mortgage, no pets, no kids, no partner.
- 8:10What what am I doing 1st? And I was able to just flick the
- 8:13psychology of it and just started this whole new life with
- 8:18new aspirations, new goals. And I still had a massive box to
- 8:23tick regarding achievement, personal achievement.
- 8:28I've still have now like professional and financial.
- 8:31To be fair, I've still, you know, we live in modern society.
- 8:35So off I went and I think, well, you know, COVID was very, very
- 8:39difficult. I nearly relapsed actually
- 8:41during Cove, during lockdown, the whole kind of second
- 8:43lockdown, I was, Oh my God, I completely stagnated.
- 8:46For an ADHD to have that kind of level of stagnation is
- 8:49incredibly difficult. So we jumped up the, the, the,
- 8:55the triathlon challenge, which is half Iron Man to 70.3 miles.
- 9:00So OK, let's try and do 70 of them in 70 days.
- 9:02And it would have been a double Guinness World Record had I ever
- 9:06achieved the 70 and 70. And, and yeah, off I went.
- 9:10And it was just that being able to get that bit between my teeth
- 9:14and actually, OK, because it was a question.
- 9:16OK well instead of banging my head against the wall trying to
- 9:18do what I'm bad at and getting frustrated and not comparing to
- 9:23my peers since school and my brother and my ex-wife and my
- 9:27mates who are all having kids and mortgages and getting bogged
- 9:30down with all of that frustration.
- 9:32It's like OK stop a SEC what are you good at?
- 9:36And triathlon was one of the things sport generally and.
- 9:42You mentioned rugby earlier, didn't you?
- 9:44The sporting aspect is probably already there, you just didn't
- 9:47realize it I guess because of everything else you were
- 9:49surrounded by. Yeah, 100%.
- 9:51So this the, the illicit drugs in my teens was at the exact
- 9:55same time that rugby was going really well.
- 9:57You know, I made regional trials and there was England scouts
- 10:00having a word with me and, and it could have gone somewhere,
- 10:02but I discovered drugs and nightclub unfortunately.
- 10:05But the the point being that yes, sport was having a positive
- 10:09impact on me in my teens and and I went unfortunately went down
- 10:14the other Rd. but yeah, so it's like pulling it back.
- 10:16OK, well, I was good at sport. Let's try sport.
- 10:19And then yeah, man, given ADHD the right project and I did
- 10:23something no one else in the world has ever done before.
- 10:26How do you in your mindset then, how do you sort of mentally
- 10:32prepare for something like that? I mean, I've never done anything
- 10:37like that. And I, you know, you, you, you
- 10:41mentioned flicking a switch there, you know, is there, is
- 10:45there a part of you that thought, right, I need to do
- 10:48this first because obviously triathlons are made-up of, of
- 10:51multiple events, right? So how, how do you, how do you,
- 10:55how do you prepare for that? What did you need to go through
- 10:57to get to get yourself and your body and your mind ready like
- 10:59that? Yeah, that's, that's a good
- 11:01question as well. So we kind of broke it down
- 11:03South, right. OK, so that's the main event.
- 11:05707070 is the main event at this point.
- 11:08I struggled to run 6 miles or 10K like that's that's where I
- 11:12was at. I could get around without
- 11:14stopping, but you know, I needed time.
- 11:17So we decided on about 18 months and jeez, first thing I did was
- 11:2517 Sprint triathlons and 17 days, which is 17 miles and then
- 11:30continued. Just just.
- 11:32Oh, just yeah. I trained a few more months and
- 11:36then did 35 Olympic distance in 35 days and then trained over
- 11:40the winter and then hit the April and with the goal of doing
- 11:45707070. So I just arrived on the start
- 11:47line and gave him my best shot. But As for the mental sort of
- 11:50preparation, yeah, that's a really good question.
- 11:56So because it was playing to my strength and it was exciting
- 11:59and, and, and it did just ignite that sort of spark in me to
- 12:04really want to achieve something.
- 12:05It was perfect timing really, because I, like I said, I still
- 12:10had that box to take us like, OK, here is the opportunity.
- 12:14My partner Sally, she was on board.
- 12:17In fact, she was absolutely integral to a lot of the admin
- 12:20side. So I had a team, it was the
- 12:23other thing and I'll come on to a sort of parents in that a
- 12:27little bit late if you want me to, but point was that it was
- 12:32the right time, the right challenge and it was I allowed
- 12:39it to consume me. It was my hyper focus and it was
- 12:43incredibly positive. So yes, it was difficult and
- 12:47stressful and arduous and needed resilience and a positive
- 12:52mindset and determination and all this good stuff, but it was
- 12:59the correct thing for me and off I went.
- 13:02And so you sort of see all these celebrities that have done
- 13:04really well with neurodiversity and, and, and, and particularly
- 13:08it's like, you know, once an ADHD or neurodivergent find
- 13:16their thing, I believe that we are absolutely unstoppable.
- 13:20Now I agree you said a couple of things that that just like
- 13:25clicked from a conversation last week as well.
- 13:29You mentioned your partner there.
- 13:31I think we've ADHD as well. If you've got someone to keep
- 13:35the focus for you, it allows you to be you.
- 13:38And you mentioned, you know, your partner Sally helped you
- 13:41out, so she was probably doing with all the stuff, all the
- 13:44administration stuff, which you'd have probably had to doubt
- 13:47deal with yourself. And I reckon if you'd have got
- 13:49all that to deal with on top of the training, I probably
- 13:54question whether you would have done as well because I think ADH
- 13:58people, you just mentioned it that, you know, we hear the word
- 14:00superpower and this, that near the you're dead right.
- 14:04I, I think the drive and the focus for you was right.
- 14:07That's what I've got to do. That's the end goal.
- 14:10That's all I need to focus on. I don't need to worry about
- 14:13anything else. You've got people around me who
- 14:15are doing that for me and I make that that's on.
- 14:17But an unbelievable achievement to go from.
- 14:22You know, we're in a similar age bracket and, and you know, to,
- 14:26to go from those dark days to doing that is nothing short of,
- 14:30of miraculous. And it's all credit to you, my
- 14:32friend. Honestly, hands down, it's
- 14:36unbelievable. Thanks, mate.
- 14:37Yeah, your ADHD is, is it, is it highlighted anything else for
- 14:42you? And, you know, is it, like I
- 14:44said, we mentioned the word superpower.
- 14:47Did it, did it 'cause like struggle with, with helping you
- 14:51or did it cause a success at the Guinness World Record?
- 14:53Didn't you know what part of that you know, was it the focus
- 14:57mainly that helped from the ADHD or is there anything else that
- 15:01that came into play you think that that really drove you on?
- 15:06Yeah, I think there's definitely the the hormonal side of it,
- 15:09which is where I believe that I can't understand it to the
- 15:13primary school kids that I go and see that the superpower
- 15:16aspect of it is the hormonal side, which can be absolutely,
- 15:21absolutely detrimental when you don't understand it and get it
- 15:23right. But when you can able to
- 15:25understand it and utilize it, that's what got me to the finish
- 15:30line. And and that's, that's what I'm
- 15:32now trying to really sort of get people with ADHD or even
- 15:37neurotypicals who want to understand this.
- 15:40The disorder is just how hormonal it is.
- 15:44Like I can hold my hand up, apologize to Ladkind all over
- 15:47the world and say I was the guy that just thought, oh, women are
- 15:50hormonal once a month. And that's the about the extent
- 15:53of my knowledge of hormones a few years ago.
- 15:56Turns out I'm one of the most hormonal people I know.
- 16:00And so that either can get you really frustrated and drunk, or
- 16:06you can learn about it, utilize it, fully understand it, accept
- 16:10it and set Guinness World Records with it.
- 16:12And so it is the the ADHD was the root of that.
- 16:18And I think the stuff that I learned.
- 16:25In sorry, sort of done some research and there's some stuff
- 16:28they're talking about 6 pillars of health.
- 16:32Tell, tell me, tell, tell everyone that's listening, you
- 16:35know, just for your, for your information.
- 16:39We get, we get a lot of parents listening.
- 16:43We get a lot of young adults listening.
- 16:44And I think really it'd be really good for them to you to
- 16:48give them an insight into these six pillars and talk about some
- 16:53of the work you do in the schools.
- 16:54I think it'd be fantastic to understand a bit about that
- 16:56mate. Yeah, no problem.
- 16:57So I am very, I'm an advocate for healthy living, for
- 17:01lifestyle choices, for trying to do everything right in the world
- 17:05that is trying to sell us so much, so much refined, toxic, if
- 17:13you like, for want of a better word, things to consume.
- 17:18It's I am trying to be the guy that is just trying to make
- 17:22people aware of exactly what it is that they're consuming on so
- 17:25many levels. So for an ADHD, let's say you go
- 17:28for a diagnosis and there's a score spectrum.
- 17:30And let's say in order to get a diagnosis, you need to score 25
- 17:35with the Q&A that they will give you anything over that, then
- 17:38yes, you have the disorder. Now let's say you score 60.
- 17:42Now is that your true ADHD score?
- 17:46Or is that being, are you, are you getting a higher score due
- 17:49to your lifestyle decision making?
- 17:51So are you looking at screens for over 3 hours a day?
- 17:54Are you consuming over 20% of your diet as ultra processed
- 17:59food? Are you with the wrong people?
- 18:01Are you living your life in a nocturnal, unhealthy manner?
- 18:06So if you if the answer to those questions is yes, then the
- 18:10chances are your score will be higher and as such, let's
- 18:13reverse that. So my 6 pillars of health are
- 18:16exercise and nutrition, sleep, community, de stressing and
- 18:22circadian rhythm. And so if you can live as
- 18:25healthy as possible with those things on a daily basis, then
- 18:31potentially your ADHD score could reduce now.
- 18:35Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's where I'm coming from.
- 18:38So if the symptoms of disorder are causing you to have
- 18:41difficulties in your life. So for me it was school, it was
- 18:45academia, it was work. I've had 64 jobs in 28 years.
- 18:50So just sustaining long term employment, finances, all of
- 18:55these things that are so integral to having a
- 18:58straightforward healthy life in society.
- 19:00Now they are in my, in my personal opinion, made easier by
- 19:09healthy living. And so I was then the guy that
- 19:11tried to push that envelope as far as I possibly could.
- 19:15And so then that's where the challenge of the, of the, the
- 19:18triathlons came from. So OK, well, I've, I've learned
- 19:20all about this stuff now how do I sort of put my flag in the
- 19:23ground and say, this is what you can achieve if you get these
- 19:26things right? And that's what I was able to go
- 19:30on and do. So there is a medicated side
- 19:33which can also bring that ADHD score down.
- 19:35And there's ADHD meds are incredibly good at what they do.
- 19:40They reckon that if you have a headache and you have a
- 19:42paracetamol for the correct dosage for your body type and
- 19:46size, there's a one in 16 chance that that pill will get rid of
- 19:51your headache. For ADHD stimulant medication
- 19:54that can be as high as one in two people.
- 19:57It's incredibly good at what it does.
- 20:00But it's incredibly strong, so long term use, you're going to
- 20:04need a higher dose. What's it doing to your liver
- 20:06and kidneys and anything else? So I am promoting healthy living
- 20:13as a coping strategy to not only have the cure aspects of when
- 20:23you're going through difficult times on a day-to-day basis,
- 20:26let's try and eat healthy, let's do exercise, let's have healthy
- 20:31coping strategies, but also it's prevention.
- 20:36And so let's try not to get into those difficult places on a
- 20:40day-to-day basis in the 1st place.
- 20:44And so then for me, that's, that's kind of what I'm
- 20:47promoting. It's prevention cure through
- 20:49healthy life choices. That's amazing mate.
- 20:53Before we talk, I want to dig a bit deeper into that, but just a
- 20:56question that's kind of popped into my head.
- 20:58Obviously you're now on this positive journey.
- 21:00So how does Andy these days deal with setbacks, you know,
- 21:03mentally and physically? How do you take yourself, you
- 21:08know, old dandy, we know what old Andy would have done.
- 21:10What does What does New Andy do these days?
- 21:12Yeah, that's a really good question.
- 21:15Put your money where your mouth is.
- 21:18Yeah. So, yeah, but old Andy would
- 21:20have just drunk and got very high, very drunk and tried to
- 21:24run away from it on, stick his head in the sand and feel worse
- 21:26the next day. New Andy it.
- 21:29Like I say, I do everything I can.
- 21:31But yes, inevitably, absolutely inevitably, the hormonal ebbs
- 21:35and flows and swings are going to happen to me until the day I
- 21:39die. And so that's the nature of the
- 21:41beast. So one, it's been a case of
- 21:44knowing that. So when I do have a high psych,
- 21:48great, OK, super productive, but then inevitably the dopamine
- 21:51crash then comes after that. And when I'm in that, through
- 21:54that crash, that dip, call it what you want, it's then having
- 21:59the knowledge of, OK, well, instant gratification stuff is
- 22:01great. You might feel better initially,
- 22:04but then it's the delayed gratification stuff that no one
- 22:07wants to do. Like this is like where I found
- 22:09one's familiar with David Goggins.
- 22:10He is the master of delayed gratification, gratification.
- 22:14And so it is things like cold water, it is like eating healthy
- 22:18food, doing exercise, the stuff that you don't really want to
- 22:22do. You know, I'm selling healthy
- 22:24living. Everyone wants healthy living,
- 22:25but no one can be bothered to do it because it's delayed
- 22:28gratification. So there's there's two things
- 22:31there really. There's one is trying to have as
- 22:35better as best self knowledge and awareness as you possibly
- 22:39can on a neurological and behavioural level.
- 22:44But then there's 2 is actually doing the right things that you
- 22:50that you don't want to do, but you know that they're going to
- 22:53work going to the gym and not just going to the gym and
- 22:56sitting and looking at your phone on the pack deck.
- 22:58I mean, going to the gym and actually working hard and trying
- 23:02to then help with these bringing the happy hormones back in a
- 23:07healthy way. But then finally there's the
- 23:10kind of mindfulness side of it where it's like, OK, I feel like
- 23:14crap, this is how I'm supposed to feel right now.
- 23:20I am completely clean. I'm squeaky clean of all
- 23:25substances. I eat healthily, I do cold
- 23:27water, I do calisthenics, I do yoga, I do cardio, I do heavy
- 23:33lifting HIT sessions, I do everything I possibly can.
- 23:37But still, it's the knowledge that this is just a bad day and
- 23:44this is how I feel. And there's no need to compound
- 23:49low dopamine, low motivation, frustration.
- 23:54There's no need to compound that inevitable feeling and sensation
- 23:59with stress. There's no point piling on
- 24:02cortisol in an adrenaline because it's like, it's like
- 24:06when you get a cold, a common cold, you feel like crap or
- 24:09dopamine dip, you feel like crap.
- 24:12And when you have a cold, you don't get angry about it.
- 24:15You think, OK, I'm going to feel like crap for a couple of days
- 24:17and I'll be out the other side. That's a really good way of
- 24:19putting it. Yeah, so why?
- 24:21So the inevitability of getting another cold and the
- 24:24inevitability of having a dopamine dip, Don't compound it
- 24:28with stress and doing your own head in.
- 24:30Just accept that that's how you feel that day and really try and
- 24:33just stay in a good headspace. But you know, just feel a bit
- 24:38meh. Yeah, I guess it kind of comes
- 24:41down to understanding your body and how you mentally feel on
- 24:45that, on that given moment. I guess I spoke to someone spoke
- 24:49to someone about six months ago and their coping mechanism is
- 24:54dealing with half a day at a time.
- 24:57She used to say to me, if I could get through to lunchtime
- 25:01without feeling and she used to put her fingers in the air and
- 25:04go feeling that way, then I'm good.
- 25:07Then I've made it through the morning and then I deal with the
- 25:10afternoon. And, and what you're kind of
- 25:11saying there is similar. Really.
- 25:14It's dealing with it a day at a time, managing it and doing the
- 25:18right things to make sure that you know, should it come back
- 25:21and, and, and give you a nudge, you're there, you know what to
- 25:24expect and you now to cope with it.
- 25:26So when you, when you, when you're doing your mentoring them
- 25:28with with other people, what kind of what's the one thing you
- 25:33want them to know, I guess. Yeah, so I aside, I've written
- 25:38an 8 part program and that's kind of what I take people
- 25:40through. It's something that I've
- 25:42distilled down into eight parts. I feel it's it's really punchy
- 25:45and all the information in it is exactly the information has
- 25:50helped me. And so the first two sessions I
- 25:53think people take the most from and that's brain anatomy, brain
- 25:59chemistry, sort of real basic one O 1 stuff.
- 26:03And then session 2 is your kind of hormones, dopamine and going
- 26:08through everything, going through neurotypicals, going
- 26:12through a neurodivergence. What is the actual difference on
- 26:16an anatomical level? And that's, I believe what
- 26:21people really, really sort of appreciate hearing because no
- 26:24one in the UKI don't know about anywhere else in the world, but
- 26:27even with a private or NHS diagnosis, nobody takes you
- 26:32through that stuff. And so I'm having people coming
- 26:35to me and, you know, blissfully, and I've got a diagnosis, I'm on
- 26:39Ritalin, I'm on this strong medication for it.
- 26:41And they've all gone to your head.
- 26:43What is ADHD? And people can't answer that.
- 26:47And they've just been told by a professional that they've got it
- 26:50and said that that in a nutshell, the real nuts and
- 26:54bolts of the condition in the first two sessions, I believe is
- 26:58what people really, really like to to.
- 26:59Hear that's amazing mate. When I wrap this up I'm going to
- 27:02get I'm going to get you to to speak out your information so
- 27:05people can get out get in touch with you because you're dead
- 27:08right it's 4 letters and if you don't know what those 4 letters
- 27:12mean and what it means to you personally and individually how
- 27:14it affects you, then how are you going to deal with it But you
- 27:17mentioned a cold you get a cold what do you do?
- 27:19You get a tissue, you get some Vicks, whatever it might be,
- 27:22that's how you deal with it, you know, And every, I think, I
- 27:26think what it's not, it doesn't frustrate me, but I question it
- 27:30sometimes that we just break it down as a word, whether it be
- 27:35dyslexia, ADHD to practice or whatever it might be autism, we
- 27:38just, we give it a word, we give it a label.
- 27:40And that's what this podcast is about.
- 27:43But we don't dig deep enough into it how it affects you
- 27:45individually. It's labeled and it's
- 27:49frustrating. So you you're on this podcast
- 27:52now you know what it's called? It's called fit No more.
- 27:53What does that mean to you personally?
- 27:55I think don't live in ignorance. I think it means just find out
- 28:00about yourself, who what makes you take, what makes you take in
- 28:04a good way, in a bad way, whether the frustrations come,
- 28:07whether the misunderstandings, where are the gaps in yourself
- 28:10knowledge. And I've had to go out and find
- 28:12all that stuff out, but it's taken me from this place of drug
- 28:16and alcohol riddled frustration, depression, self loathing to
- 28:22nothing. There is nothing perfect, but
- 28:24it's taken me. It's taken me to Guinness World
- 28:26Records and and moving on with life and and being really happy
- 28:31in my own skin. Amazing though.
- 28:34So before we close off a final question then.
- 28:41If you've been written off, there's someone.
- 28:42If there's someone listening now, which I know there will be,
- 28:44if there's someone listening feels like they've been written
- 28:46off, give them. Give them a bit of advice mate.
- 28:49Yeah, absolutely. So you know, I was written off
- 28:52at school, I was expelled from two of them.
- 28:54I was written off from over 5060 jobs and I whether that be by
- 29:00other people or by myself, there is 100% the help out there.
- 29:05Addiction or neurodiversity. I've come through both.
- 29:09And I'm here to tell you that I'm a walking talking example of
- 29:12being able to thrive after having the diagnosis.
- 29:17You know, it's, it's, it's all down to you.
- 29:20It is 100% down to you. You can get the help.
- 29:23You can find the team, the individuals, the, the podcast,
- 29:26the audio books, but you've got to go out there and find them.
- 29:30So it's time to stop a second, take stock, find out where the
- 29:36help is and getting your ass off the sofa, out of bed, wherever
- 29:40it is and just going and doing it.
- 29:43Put in the hard yard and some days a hard man.
- 29:47But you're never too old. There's a guy in his 70s, a
- 29:50British guy has just set the world record for single handedly
- 29:55rowing across the Atlantic. There's a bloke in his 70s in a
- 29:59boat on his own for months on end and he did 3300 miles of
- 30:02rowing. So that yes, it's sporting or
- 30:06find your thing. It could be arts, it could be
- 30:09music, it could be languages, it could be dance, it could be
- 30:12whatever. It is tapping into it.
- 30:14It's tapping. Into it, yeah, and.
- 30:16Do what you are good at, whatever that thing is, and just
- 30:21go and run with it because you never know what it's going to
- 30:24take in our case. I, I think it's really important
- 30:27that we, if someone wants to get in touch, you mate, I want to
- 30:30send people and I've said this to everyone that's been on a
- 30:32podcast. I want to send people straight
- 30:34to you. Thank you mate for the.
- 30:36Privacy thing. How can they get in touch?
- 30:39You mate. So Instagram.
- 30:41ADHD mentor Andy, I have a website, andy-stone.com.
- 30:47I'm also on LinkedIn. So you have a rummage for me
- 30:50through through, through the Andy Stone list.
- 30:53But yeah, please, please get in touch.
- 30:56I'm here. First session is first
- 30:57consultation is always free of charge.
- 31:00So just come and have a chat and yeah, I'd love to be able to
- 31:03help under you are. Without doubt a legend my
- 31:07friend, and I cannot thank you for giving me 30 minutes of your
- 31:11time to come on here. I really recommend.
- 31:14Anybody has a chat with you? What you've done personally,
- 31:19mentally and physically is is nothing short of incredible,
- 31:22mate. I wish you all the best of luck.
- 31:24And yeah, if anybody wants to get in touch with Andy, please
- 31:28do. But thanks so much for coming on
- 31:30talking today, Andy. It's been amazing.
- 31:32Oh, Jason, thank you, mate. Thank.
- 31:33You so much for the invite and lovely to to chat.
- 31:37Thanks. Thanks a lot.