62: Bless Your ADHD Heart with Landon Bryant
If you are a Southerner, you know we have unique words, phrases, and expressions that are not understood by people who aren’t from around here. My guest today is doing his part to educate the world about all things Southern as the content creator behind his hilarious social media accounts on Instagram and TikTok. Landon Bryant is a Laurel, MS, native whose Southern roots go deep; he is an art educator by profession–and he is learning to navigate life with ADHD. Join us to hear more from Landon!
Show Highlights:
● An introduction to the Southern words “piddlin’” and “putterin’”---and what they mean
● How Landon was diagnosed with ADHD as a college student and finally received helpful accommodations
● Why Landon feels that being an art teacher is the perfect profession for someone like him
● Why mental health issues carry a heavy stigma in the South, especially in rural areas where the church is the dominant force in the community
● Highlights of Landon’s book, Bless Your Heart, “a beautiful guide to life down here” (Set to publish in early 2025)
● How conversations and comments about ”fixin’ to” were how Landon got started on social media
● How Landon’s wife, with a special education background, helps him in the writing process
● How Landon is learning and growing on his writing journey by capitalizing on focused moments of inspiration
● Accommodations that help him the most: lists, alarms, Google calendar, batching
Resources and Links:
Connect with Landon: TikTok and Instagram
Connect with KC: Website, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook
Get KC’s book, How to Keep House While Drowning
We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: www.strugglecare.com/promo-codes.
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KC 0:05
Hello you sentient ball of stardust. Welcome to Struggle Care. I'm your host, Kc Davis And I am here today with content creator, Landon Bryant. Hello, Landon.
Landon 0:15
Hey, I'm so glad to be here with you.
KC 0:17
If you don't know Landon, he is the brains behind the hilarious account where he goes over all things southern. I'm gonna play you guys in a little example here. Sam
Landon 0:28
Hill is that well, I'll tell you because that isn't minced oath, which is a euphemism list just because I was just pedaling today. And I got to wonder and who in the Sam Hill is Sam Hill, nobody's ever explained to me who Sam Hill is I had to look into it had to see about it. And what I found was shocking. Sam Hill is maxed out. So let's manifestos when we take words. And we change them just a little bit. So they sound different so that they're not ugly words, so that they're not cuss words, say you can say him around your mom and them. And Sam Hill is not necessarily an actual person, Sam Hill is a replacement for devil or hail to urge we're not supposed to be saying we want to conjure up the devil by saying what the devil is that as teetering on the edge. And if you use hail appropriately as a customer, so we are left with what in the Sam Hill is that? And that is amidst? Gosh,
KC 1:23
I'm trying so hard. Not that I'm playing it. So you have these like delightful videos where you talk about all things Southern, especially like linguistic things. And I think my favorite one is where you talked about pitlane tell us what peddlin is?
Landon 1:38
Well, pitlane. And I guess when you talk about why we haven't talked about pidilite It's because I said peddlin in a video. And there's people all around the world that like comment on the things and there was somebody from the United Kingdom said that that meant like pee in the heart. And I was like, we have got to discuss this and make sure you set this straight. So because I said I was piddling in my garden, and they were like, there's so many questions like, why were you paying in your garden? I was like, Oh, absolutely, it was. Caitlin peddlin is just when you're doing the things around your house that are fun to do, but they're not necessary. They're like little tasks that are just giving you joy. I think the best example of pitlane is like well like taking care of your plants or like a hummingbird feeder like making sure it's okay worried about the hummingbirds, all that kind of behavior. pitlane is my best self honestly.
KC 2:23
I love it. See my home. We were puttering out in a bid lender very close. And my husband laughs at me a lot. You know, I'm from the south. But now that he knows that where he's like you do in your pattern you pattern around. I'm like, Yeah, I'm puttering around my house. Absolutely.
Landon 2:35
But there's not a better day than a puttering around.
KC 2:39
I mean, it's so great. It is specific. And what's funny is like, we're going to talk about ADHD but like puttering around the house is very, very close to me in my ADHD heart.
Landon 2:50
It is because it's like freedom to do whatever thought comes in your brain. You go do that on a puttering around. You just go
KC 2:56
for it. Yeah. And just my little projects, my little projects. That's what hecalls it a little project.
Landon 3:01
Exactly. Exactly.
KC 3:03
And you know, what's funny is it's like puttering around the house is never doing the thing like powder and or pillar. It's never the things that are like high priority. It's never like doing the laundry. Exactly.
Landon 3:12
That's not pitlane because that's the thing that you have to do if that's a chore. Bitcoin is not necessarily chores, they can be jobs, but it's not necessarily like
KC 3:23
dreadful tasks. Yeah, and it's not a hobby. Like it's not a thing that's totally unnecessary. Like, honestly, you're one of the burfi there's like the perfect one, like Oh, put them out Yeah, refill the birdfeeder refill
Landon 3:33
the birdfeeder. If there's a lot of looking out the window on a pitlane day and check in on thing, making your round. So to say,
KC 3:42
making your rounds just puttering around. Yeah, it's so funny, because, you know, your platform to me is so funny as someone who is from the south, and I'm from Houston, born in Dallas, and a lot of people are split between whether or not I have a southern accent, it really comes down to whether or not you are like from the city or you're from rural because I'm from the city. So it's not as pronounced as everybody else. But also it comes down to how in proximity I am to another southern person, because like it gets very obvious when I'm talking to somebody else. That's exactly
Landon 4:18
and it's even such a scale here. Like when I first started doing these things, where I am, I'm not nearly the most country accent at all. It's the country versus City accent you know, like there's so much more country accents available. So when people were like your accent, I was like, What are you talking about? I mean, like I'm be real, I get it, but it's just was surprising to me because I'm definitely not in the more country of speakers that I'm personally around so I don't know. I was like for a while I was like there's no accent I have no idea what. No concept.
KC 4:51
I did a video one time where I like purposefully did like a very southern Texas drawl. And somebody got offended. did and they were like, you know, I hate that. You know, people use a southern well first of all, they accused me of using an Appalachian accent and it wasn't it was a Texan accent, but they couldn't hear the difference. And so they said, you know, it's really not okay to use an Appalachian accent when you're just trying to mimic someone that stupid like, we already have people that think we're stupid and that and like, valid point, like, you shouldn't just like do a country accent when you're trying to imply that somebody's stupid. And so I responded to them. And I was like, first of all, it's not Appalachian. So that's a Texas accent. I am Texan. And I like to lean into it. Why don't want people to know that I you know, I'm doing a bit and it's not about being stupid. It's about having the audacity like, that was the point of the video.
Landon 5:39
Yes, definitely.
KC 5:42
I am a southerner. Like, my mom always laughs Like, my mom has a little bit of an accent, but my whole life anytime I'm mimicking her. I always like purposely give her like the most southern drawl because I'll be like, Casey, that is not fair. She's like, I don't sound like that's like, doesn't matter. It's like, anytime you're talking about someone else. It's like, you use the accent.
Landon 6:04
It feels good. It feels right. It does the feels a little bit better. I
KC 6:08
love it. So okay, but we're not just here to talk about South. We're here talking about ADHD. And you are someone who was diagnosed late in life, but not as late as some of us. So tell me about when you got diagnosed. So
Landon 6:20
I was a bully, like 2122 age I had. So I was very successful all through high school. Definitely the signs were there. Like, I loved every retainer, every pair of glasses, anything that needed to be somewhere and it wasn't there, it was gone. You know, like, there were obviously situations, which drove my mom and dad to the whole top. But I was still successful academically. And I mean, I was challenged through high school, but I had such structure set up because my parents were just so like, on top of everything, they were the typical, like what you see on Leave It to Beaver type of a show. And so everything was there and set up. So I had a homework time and had a study time. And there was practice this and practice that. So it all was worked out from the moment that I got out onto my own, immediately, like done, like not doing that right now. We'll do that later, I had never had to really like do the time management skills myself. And I'm so grateful to my parents for basically making me set out so well. But it also was like a thing. So when I got to college, I had to learn all those skills for myself how to take care of management, which was not a whole thing. But I was very good at so I bounced around from school to school, and then finally got treatment, and was very successful almost immediately, like after like the parent graduated within a year after that. And I had gone to three other schools. Before I finally got to the last bill that was out. And the last thing I was studying in it, it also was with ADHD, you have so many different interests. I went started in architecture school, went to nursing school. And then I finally graduated with a history degree.
KC 7:50
Oh my god, I love it. I did the same thing. I started with a philosophy degree. And then I switched to meteorology. And then the math was too hard. So I went to Oh, what did I do after that? I can't remember. But I ended up with a theater degree.
Landon 8:02
Exactly. It was like, I literally looked at my transcript. I was like, How can I graduate like I've got practically what I do in history was the thing that I had the shortest path to it. Definitely not the easiest, because there's a lot of writing. And I learned, it turns out, I'm so grateful for my street degree, which people will be like, liberal arts degrees, blah, blah, blah. But y'all, I learned so much and extra degree, like I learned about bias and how to search for it. And it opened up a whole world of academics to me. And it was the first time I was really successful in academics at a college level. So it was just, I had a great time, I had a great time getting that last degree that now don't do anything with the sides, like know that stuff. And it set me up for you know, we have to filter through a lot today. And that helped me look for what is the bias in this scenario, which has been very valuable.
KC 8:49
And part of what happened after you got your diagnosis what you actually finally got accommodations in college. Right?
Landon 8:55
Exactly. Immediately, I immediately got accommodations. And that was a struggle for me because I you know, there's a whole thing to accept that you might need an accommodation when I don't view myself as needing anything from anybody but that was the thing that did it for me. I got the accommodations I needed like some notes at the end, just a skeleton of outline of what was said. So I could go back and fill in stuff that I needed to do. They just end awareness on my professors part as to like help him stay in line you know, like they knew if I was like not paying attention, maybe I didn't get that part and the professors that I had were really great about it as well. But I got the end didn't like I didn't realize that taking the time constraints on stuff would be such a relief on like testing and stuff I didn't realize that I had that type of anxiety going into those types of things is just was a strange. I learned so much in the time period by being helped. I didn't even need though that I needed that help. And it was really transformative for me. I was really successful and then had a whole career for the past 10 years and now I'm doing this though
KC 10:01
Well, it's interesting, you bring up career and I feel like a lot of people with ADHD, we have that same thing where we have that wandering interest where we're interested in one thing. And then another thing and another thing, it's hard to commit. And I think it's hard to think about what careers would be like most forgiving for like having an ADHD brain or like, play most to the strengths. And so tell me a little bit about, you know, like that 10 year career and what that looked like in having ADHD.
Landon 10:26
Well, I ended up in education, my wife was in education for like, five years before I got into it. And she was already under specialist degree as far as it goes. So I had been listening to like about education for a while, and it basically just fell right into it. But I fell into the very best place. It was an art school, Public School of the Arts, and they teach academics using art. And I was like, done, that's me. I'm all over that and, and the art teacher there. And it was just super, if you have ADHD, and you're looking for something to do, I highly recommend being an art teacher, because first of all, you teach four year olds through sixth graders, that alone in itself, that the range of those things is an adventure, every single moment of the day, there's not a dull moment, and there's always something new. And second of all, the content was so different. And the way that they taught there, just appealed to me so much as somebody with ADHD because they would teach like, each week, I would be assigned to a different grade, and go teach whatever they learned academically using the visual art lesson. So we would make an art lesson out of it. And it was just so cool. And so exciting. And every day was very different. There was a new challenge, like a new thing to get ready for the next musical to prep for so just like really fed my interest, Bob, everything was so different every time. So it still was exciting. I was into that. I honestly imagine what they'll do in that first semester. So long, but then this happened some. And that's what I'm doing now. But he's got two young kids. It's very fun. So
KC 11:48
you're from Mississippi. And let's talk a little bit about the influence that Southern culture has when it comes to mental health and mental health access. Because there is, I mean, I think that there's stigma everywhere. But there certainly is like a pretty heavy, specific stigma in the South. That I think adds to it.
Landon 12:12
Definitely. And I think that has a lot to do with moss story, because especially somebody who was sort of successful in elementary school in high school, that definitely meant there was like nothing wrong, right. But it is just it the world is so big now than what it used to be used to be such a small world and communities are so small grown up is such a smaller space and mental health was when you're in religious communities, like without it, almost seen as like a weakness. And there's this whole concept of that you should pray about it, like go pray about it wouldn't be what you would be told if you were seeking, like, nobody directly said that to me, you know, but that is the general attitude about mental health because it was misunderstood at the time. Now, those same people understand it a lot better. So it's a whole different place than it was. And we all like grew together in this whole situation. But it's almost like things like that could be seen just just something that you should handle with your relationship with the church and with the Lord. You know. And so that's how it turns into kind of a stigma. And so people don't seek out that kind of help, they will seek out like, help from the church. But that was, it was such a different time period. And now, that was when the community was so small, even like you couldn't call long distance city over because it was a different area code like it's a small, that's not a big community at all. So the moment it opened up things pretty rapidly. But yeah, growing up, it was a different attitude towards mental health. For sure.
KC 13:34
When I think even with like the access that we have today, what I noticed is like, because I always lived in big cities, but I always had family that lived in small cities, or like small towns, and like being in a big city is very different than like the rural areas. I'm sure that's true everywhere. But in a lot of rural areas in the South. It's still the case that like the main social engagement is the church. Like that's the main that's like the hub of your life and your community. And you're right, like it was like what like I go to let's go talk to the pastor, right. Like, that's where you got that mental health advice. And certainly some churches are better at it than others, right?
Landon 14:16
It's the whole thing with community that you now hear that voice is the community or you don't even have to, it's just that that was the whole community was the church at the time period, then pretty much like where you went to church with your group of people and there was a really big influence. So it's a different it's a totally different thing. Now,
KC 14:31
I saw this Tik Tok the other day, and it was a couple walking down the street in New York. And they were taking up probably a little over half of the sidewalk and they were filming a tic tock video, you know what I'm talking about. There's this girl that's walking the other direction and just shoulder checks the girl and she's like, Oh, and the comment section was so interesting because everyone was divided on like, who they thought was being rude. And like a lot of people were like, Oh my gosh, like she should have said Excuse Use me like, you can't just like body check someone like she didn't even say excuse me. And then other people were like, Why are they walking that way? Like they're taking up more than their side of that, like, they're the rude ones like she was justified. And I had this thought when I saw that, like, how much that illustrates, like the difference between northern and southern idea of politeness and manners, and courtesy, because I have this theory that people in the Northeast thought that the rude people were the ones that were taking up too much of the sidewalk, because they're used to living in these compact cities where, like, people don't just drive ever, like, you have to learn how to share space with a lot of people. And so like, it's fucking rude to take up more than you're like, look how many people are trying to move. And I genuinely think that the people who thought that the other girl was rude, who like must have been from the south, because down here, we don't have to navigate that many people in a smaller space. And so like, our manners are all about verbal manners. Excuse me, thank you, bless your heart, like all of that.
Landon 16:08
I agree. And also, it's like not aggressive, aggressive, like, you would never physically bump into somebody to teach them a lesson here. That would be like so extreme. But I feel like people probably related to that too. But also get out of the sidewalk. Because how I felt about it, like off the sidewalk, don't bump into people, but also get out of people's way. Oh,
KC 16:26
I totally thought that they were the rude ones, mostly because of like, what they were doing and where they were not like I totally so like, I agree objectively, that the ones taken it up, were rude. But I just thought it was so interesting. Because like, we're so spread out down here. We don't there's not that many people on the sidewalks here, like so we don't grow up learning how to be that aware of like, you know, not taking up too much space and other people need to move and other people are going places and people are going to work and all that. And so like all of our stuff is like thank you and oh, have a nice day. Like it's all very Yeah. And like, let me get the door for you. Like that's our types of courtesy.
Landon 17:02
I have the funniest situation in our town right now. It's because of this very situation. Like, okay, four way stops was never that was never going to work with us. Because everybody's like, you go, No, you go, No, you go. Now we've got like a whole standoff. And they really had them in the past that they like really emphasized now and they redid downtown a little bit and with roundabouts. And it is a complete mess, because people were getting better at it. But that's not for Southerners. Because we want you to go first and the whole deal is yielding. Like, that's the whole deal is like you go new yield. And everybody's full stop that the roundup like full stop, because it's like you go first. That's the whole attitude to a fault. Yeah,
KC 17:41
and like, we're very big about like smiling to people when we see them in public strangers, and this, that and the other. And I heard someone say one time Yeah, the way the finger wave that, like they described being I think they were in New York, and there was a girl that had a seizure in a donut shop. And she would like it was like the perfect example of like the kindness of New Yorkers, because like, nobody stopped what they were doing. But as they stepped over her, they'd be like, here's an afghan, you'll be alright, there's somebody, it's like, I'm like butchering the story, because I can't remember exactly what it was. But it was like, the kindness is in the like, I'm not going to take up too much space on the sidewalk, the kindness is in the like, you know, let me hand you something that you need. It's like this very practical exchange. Whereas for us, the kindness is in the smiling and the talking. And like, it's this, this sort of, like sweetness that in the dance around things, which like, we can definitely also be rude in that way. But I just thought that was funny. It speaks
Landon 18:43
to the private versus public, like, the whole idea down here, like there, I think is the gift, you gave them the courtesy of the privacy of that moment, a little bit while taking care of them, you know, whereas here, we're gonna, like, be very loud about it, and everybody will know, in that kind of a way. Alright,
KC 18:59
so back to your journey with ADHD, you now do content creation 100% of the time, and you also are writing a book, tell me about the book.
Landon 19:07
Yes, I'm writing a voice called bless your heart, we net which is what you know, is very nuanced, but it's just gonna be a very fun, like, I'm trying to make it very beautiful Guide to Life down here and in a way that if you're from here, it's going to be hilarious to you the things that are southern that we don't notice that I I mean, this whole account was just blown my mind the things that we do that are specifically Southern and so it's fun from that aspect. There'll be there'll be there's gonna be like fun little glossaries and dictionaries and explanations of terms. But if you're not from the south, you'll learn a lot about all this nonsense that we're talking about, from a perspective, somebody from here so I think it's got something for everybody and it should be really fun. I'm really excited about I'm having a great time writing it like it's such a great it's depressing me writing it. They're like, I've just been surprised that I just took off in March and so like every day I wake up in talking to you as as breath, but writing the book and the interior journey has just been like a roller coaster. This surprised me so much the whole all of this. I
KC 20:03
want to talk about that in regards to ADHD too. But I don't want to lose this thought, which is you mentioned, like we don't even realize the things that we do. And like, so as someone from a big city, I always thought that I wasn't that influenced by Southern culture, because you know, we're in the big city. Now I have an accent with me. And I will never forget the time that somebody was like, poking fun at how southern say, I'm fixing to go to the store. And wait, this is the best. And I swear to you, I thought, what they were poking fun at was that we were dropping the G from fixing, like how we say I'm walking a mountain. So I was like, Yeah, we do do that. Like we dropped the G a lot. And someone had to tell me like, No, it's the fixing part. That's not what that word means. I was like, What do you mean it like I'm fixing to go to the store. I'm about to go. I'm fixing to go. And then I was like, Wait, that isn't what that word means.
Landon 20:59
The same dirt is exactly the same. That's what my account is because of that exact conversation. Like it was fixed into that did it I was telling a story about something else on Instagram before I blew up. And I said fix into in the story. And there was so many comments of people being like, what is fixed into? What do you mean, I was like, I had a whole existential crisis about like, what would you say instead of fixed into like, what is the phrase because they're like, I couldn't even figure out like what it was that would possibly replace fixed into because that is what you're fixing to do, like, not another way to express that. Yeah.
KC 21:31
And it's not even about to because like, I'm not about to I'm not like sitting here and then I'm going to like I am fixing to like I'm getting ready to Yeah, exactly,
Landon 21:41
exactly. It indicates preparation of some sort. That's so funny.
KC 21:46
And it's not even like physical preparation. Like I can be sitting at the table and be like, Hey, I'm fixing to go to the store. What do you need?
Landon 21:54
Exactly? This whole thing? That's what started this account. That's like, literally the first discussion I think I did where I was, like, let's discuss six into, and then it turned into the discussion, because that blew my mind. But things like that happen all the time. I'm constantly surprised by what is Southern and what is not southern. And also still surprised that I have an accent.
KC 22:11
have you covered? Now we're cooking with a well, gee, no,
Landon 22:14
I don't think I have covered now we're cooking with Aussie. It's every day. And I just add it to this list that I have on my phone, on the reminders. Anytime somebody says something like that, and I'll put it in there done. I'm going to have to give you credit for that when that start button. Now we're cooking with all your heart that so much and and you don't even think and it's all too Did you notice that it's not oil at all. Even though I
KC 22:36
say oil and every other context
Landon 22:40
that happens to it comes in and out. Bold peanuts did did a number on people. When I said bold peanut, they were like Excuse me? What do you mean by bold? And then also what a bold being? That sounds like a way nobody knows what bold peanuts are? Wow. So the content just creates itself.
KC 22:57
Right? So how are you finding writing a book? Well, having ADHD,
Landon 23:01
I've learned a lot about myself this whole years. And fortunately, my wife is was a specialist in instruction and curriculum specialists. And she's taught in special education. So her whole deal has been like making sure to get the right accommodations. So she knows how to motivate me if I need the motivation. She also knows how to help me structure the day a little bit. And so that's basically whatever a lot on I need deadline is the thing I've learned the most like it, there's got to be deadline. If there's not a deadline, it doesn't exist to me like it was this right before. And then you're not going to get the most quality work. So you know, chopping it up. And like I can't just be like your manuscript is due in March, then great. We'll start February, the last week of February, that won't work, right. So I've got to chop it up. It's little things like that I'm learning. I'm also having to let go of the just to like, go go go all the time. And like want to be doing something and all the time. So I'm having to like learn to not be guilty about like not sitting down and writing all the time or not making content. So there's two sides to the whole thing. It's just a matter of making yourself do it. Are you doing it too much. And you know, we hyper focus on stuff. So I can like really lose a day to whatever figuring it out everyday basically, is what I say about the book, but he's setting the structure of his heart. That's difficult. That's one of the challenges of this whole thing is when and where
KC 24:15
you start putter in that pattern and then like where'd the day go? We'll transition
Landon 24:18
into doing that from doing this like, whole thing. This is gonna sound so dumb to some people, but like, where are you going to sit? Start writing the book? What's the vibe that that area is the whole thing and then like you get distracted by moving something from that chair and this pile and that's what it is every day. So I finally got it down to where like this is where you sit for filming videos just sit right here like don't go anywhere. This is it. You don't have to question. So like that's taken a lot of the stress of the day for me, but it's just building strategies, building things every day to get better at it.
KC 24:58
I also like thought When I before I wrote a book, I thought that like authors, like when you think like, okay, that's their job I had in my head like, so they wake up, they sit down at a table, they write for eight hours, and then they put it away. And then it's like, that's what they do. And then when I started following other authors that would talk about how like, erratic when they were writing in the times we're in, like, for me, I've got kids in school. So like, I have to make it happen at certain times. But I didn't appreciate that they'd be like, yeah, sometimes like, for a week, I don't write, and then all of a sudden, I write for three days straight. And then sometimes I write for an hour, and then sometimes it's 10 minutes. And sometimes it's eight hours. And some of those that made me relax a little bit because like, you can't turn on the tap with ADHD, like you can't make yourself think of it. Even if I could force myself to sit down and put my fingers on the keyboard. I can't force my mind to like, get into a flow state and think of ideas.
Landon 25:51
Related to that so much Jack's actually like blowing my mind right now, that's part of this, because I have these discussions, right? I mean, there's so many layers to what I have to say about that. But I had these discussions, right. And every day, and I have a giant list of topics, there's so many topics that when I hear those topics, like cooking with all, I have a million thoughts about what I could say in those moments. But when I sit down to Record later on, I might not be able to talk about oil. And that's for real, that's not you know, like, it has to be at the right moment for that topic. That's why I have such a long list. And that's really the challenge of it for me is finding the moment that is the tap into that that is going to allow me to do my best work. Because when you're trying to force it, it just is a whole different ballgame. And like, I feel like it's pretty evident even in the work that I've done. Like I don't know, when I was like, not in the headspace to be doing that right then. But I had to because I like dropped out very best to be very consistent with it, which is just so strange for me to be consistent with anything. But I've somehow been consistent with this like everyday since anyway, is that such a challenge. And it's the challenge with writing as well. And then what you said about it than going in spurts. There's a part of me that I think learned, I learned to make sure I did this at the right time, make sure I do this the right way, a long time ago, to make sure everything was right. Because ADHD, you will forget to think you're not do the thing. And the erratic pneus of that makes me so nervous than I am. When I think about it that way I want it to be a package up like this is when you write this is when you you'd go get a cabin for a month in the woods. And that's where you write your, you know, be so structured with it. But isn't that at all, and I'm having to learn to work in that world and grow that way. It's a different thing entirely than what I've been doing for the past decade. And it's very fascinating.
KC 27:32
Yeah, there's this extra layer of like, I didn't do enough today, I didn't do enough to it's like you can't let like you have to like kind of lean what is there's no like formula. Like you have to lean into the flow and the natural like rhythm of inspiration enough to like, get the good ideas and strike while the iron is hot, and all that kind of stuff. But you can't have that extra existential terror of like I didn't do I haven't done anything today. I only did for 10 minutes today. Okay, I did it for eight, you know, I did it for eight hours, why can't I do it again, like that, like, that makes it worse. And so like trying to get that off, and sort of like respect the flow, and contend with the fact that like, you can't wait forever on the flow. Like, you got to figure out how to like make the like, encourage the flow? Because like there are deadlines.
Landon 28:18
Exactly. It's the whole thing. It's an add on just like wonder if people have the solution to it somewhere. And, you know, it baffles me that people, like I get genuinely baffled at people that are able to like be so structured about it. Like it's really something that if I ever feel less than I do genuinely like wish I was able to do that. I think it's like a superpower that people have, but I definitely don't have it. So I have to turn this into the superpower. Like the moment that I am hyper focused to capitalize on those and go with it that way. But it's just such a journey, because now there's so much information on ADHD out there, but there just wasn't this all the time. So anytime you learn something new, it's like, Wow, that really has affected my life this whole time, I had no idea that it was like not math, failure and math. Well, there's a lot of guilt that comes with it that you have to shake off as well.
KC 29:07
So the last thing I want to ask you is like, you know, there's a lot of resources out there for like, work accommodations, and you talked a little bit about school accommodations, but now that you find yourself working for yourself at home and even I mean like even I've talked about like accommodations for care tasks, but there's this weird sort of like in between like, just existing right like especially as like a one man show like try to be a creative like what accommodations do you put now provide for yourself that you realize you need? That
Landon 29:35
is such it just existing is is difficult. It's like that difficult? Well, fortunately, again, I have my wife, and she is a painter. So that fits in to her being able to help me out through things but just having that list that keeps going and the combinations that I'm using the most are alarms alarms very, very much always like try to ask for like a Google calendar invite for meetings so that I know when they are because at Tom's on into ADHD and it's a disaster. Like I cannot I have no idea like what time you're talking about. And I will. And then honestly, like, I got really good at being improv in the moment like, because I missed so many meetings, get the notification that it's right now and he had to get go. And so I've gotten better at like just knowing what I'm talking about all this, because it got a pay, who knows, they're calling next I really was for a while I got that way. Now I'm getting better about asking for Google invites. Because just the leap between you saying it and me putting it in my phone is such a large
KC 30:33
task leap for me, some detail will get messed up.
Landon 30:37
I don't know. So that Google invite is just so helpful for me if it's arrived in the calendar, so the little things like that, but I'm learning what ones I can do. And it's things like, I want to get better at batch filming. So I'm trying to like, learn how to go just record record record and not finishing get going. I don't know, just little, little tiny things, just maximizing the flow, if you figure that
KC 30:59
out, is a secret sauce, because I have recognized for a long time that there are so many creators out there that do it that way. And they sit down and they bash record. And I'm like, I can't sit down and make myself talk about anything, I have to be doing something and then all sudden somebody says something, I'm like, I have something to say and then I have to write then I have to record it right then like I can't figure out and I know my life would be better if I could batch it. But I can't. Exactly
Landon 31:19
because that's what I had to talk about. I just talked about it. That was the thing that I want to talk about right now. I don't want to talk about anything else. That's what I'm talking about. The whole thing, and in
KC 31:29
the amount of times that I've been like, oh, I have something to say about that. But I'll get to it later. And then I come back and I'm like, what was it I was gonna say? I can't I can't make it sound good. It back
Landon 31:37
the struggle with list every day. It's like, all these things were moments of a huge inspiration. But are they right now, who could tell you I could never know. So
KC 31:45
if you don't get into the flow, when you get it, it may not come back. No
Landon 31:49
surprise every day. But one day, it might come back that it's there on the list.
KC 31:54
And I feel like I have had to try really hard to sort of like create a life that allows for that as much as possible. I mean, like not everything can but at least like giving myself permission to do it when I can do it.
Landon 32:07
Exactly. And when you're not doing it enjoy the moment. I'm trying to tell myself that all the time. Like if I'm sitting here worried about it when I'm not doing it and I'm wasting the time that I could be enjoying something else, you know, it's a whole thing. I'm telling these things to myself every day, every single day away. Because also I didn't mean to do this. This is not something that I never imagined not teaching. I was going to teach all the time. So this whole thing is just brand new in a different world. The money thing is different. It's a whole situation. So it's just a new world and I'm trying my very best to like stop and pause and remember that enjoy the moment take it in and but I'm ready to go to the next thing all the way.
KC 32:44
Well, thank you so much for your time and this lovely conversation and when did your book come out?
Landon 32:49
March 2025. I'm
KC 32:50
so nice. Okay, we will look out or I will look out for it. I don't know why I say we all the time. I think I listened to so many podcasts of people that have like teams and CO hosts so they just say we sort of somebody's that sounds like more professional but there's no one else. Anyways, Landon, thank you so much and I have a great rest of your day.
Landon 33:07
Thank you so much.