A powerful conversation with ADHD & Alchemy founder Paula Hirst about meditation, hormones, and turning chaos into calm.
SUMMARY:
What happens when your hormones riot, your ADHD brain is loud as hell, and everyone tells you to “just relax”?
This week on ADHD Peri Punks, hosts Sarah and Chrissy sit down with Paula Hirst, founder of ADHD & Alchemy, to talk about meditation, menopause, and making peace with a brain that never shuts up.
Paula is a UK-born coach-in-training now living in Dubai who specializes in helping professional women—diagnosed or not—navigate ADHD, emotional sensitivity, and the constant “not enough” soundtrack playing in their heads. With a background in hypnosis, guided meditation, manifestation, and life coaching, she brings both science and soul to her work, helping women turn ADHD into a strength instead of a shame spiral.
In this funny, grounding, and deeply empowering conversation, Paula opens up about:
🧠 Her late-diagnosis ADHD story — and why self-acceptance hit harder than the label itself.
🔥 How meditation became her anchor in chaos (and why it’s not about “sitting still”).
🌡️ The “WTF” moments of early perimenopause — from emotional whiplash to hormonal gaslighting.
💪 Advocating for yourself in medical systems that still dismiss women’s pain, mood, and intuition.
🌍 Navigating ADHD and mental health as a Black woman living abroad, and what it means to hold space for yourself in systems not built for you.
✨ The transformative power of slowing down, listening inward, and unlearning perfectionism.
This episode is for anyone who’s ever said “meditation isn’t for me” — and for every woman who’s ever been told she’s too emotional, too sensitive, or too much. Paula’s story proves that sensitivity isn’t weakness; it’s wisdom.
And yes, there’s plenty of laughter, rage, and the usual ADHD Peri Punks chaos—because transformation doesn’t have to be tidy.
🎧 Listen now and learn how to turn your overwhelm into alchemy, your sensitivity into strength, and your hot flashes into holy fire.
KEY WORDS
Paula Hirst, ADHD and Alchemy, ADHD Peri Punks, ADHD women, ADHD and menopause, ADHD meditation, ADHD perimenopause, ADHD burnout, ADHD and hormones, neurodivergent women, ADHD mindfulness, ADHD midlife women, meditation for ADHD, ADHD and emotional sensitivity, ADHD and self-esteem, perimenopause symptoms, ADHD and identity, neurodivergent mental health, menopause mental health, ADHD coaching women, ADHD empowerment, ADHD podcast, Black ADHD Women, People of Color Perimenopause, Neurodivergent Black Women