In November 2019, I accepted a challenge from two incredible entrepreneurial spirits and friends, Dona Sarkar and Sarah Haggard. After speaking up about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), I was “strongly volunTOLD” that this 40-in-40 challenge would not only help to build my brand and further develop my storytelling abilities, but most importantly, be a great way to give back to the community and raise awareness for mental health and neurodiversity. Now, I truly struggle with the word “disorder”, as each of these so-called disorders give us “abilities” to be successful and have “superpowers” in situations where others may struggle. This challenge would give a rare opportunity to try and educate/change the mindset for folks, as well as increase self-awareness for readers on the journey.
The holidays were coming up. The hustle and bustle was taking over. Would I ever make time to do this challenge? When would I start? Of course I have the persistence to complete the task but am I comfortable being vulnerable to share even more of my existence, some days from the inside out? January 9th was the day that I sat and wrote out a mind map of roughly 50-60 thoughts running through my brain, setting the impostor syndrome to the side!
The challenge over 40 days of sharing:
- Speak up, and teach the “real” sides of ADHD, ODD, GAD, and OCD
- Show vulnerability
- Be human
- Tell. Your. Story.
I decided that sharing on both Twitter and LinkedIn would be the most effective and engaging, and utilizing tools like Buffer would help me orchestrate the challenge while reducing the anxiety and demand of ensuring posts were smoothly published each day.
Below, you will find the entire collection from Twitter over the 40 days (with the full moment here). Let the storytelling begin!
I thank you all for your support, awareness, and engaging conversations during the past 40 days! Your feedback was the driving force that kept me going, even on some of the harder days this year. For me, the main takeaway from this activity is that this is by no means the end of the journey, but the beginning of something wonderful, meant to be shared and drive engagement so that we can all learn from each other.
CG
Configuring Clouds 
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