Here's my ACTUAL first made-for-YouTube video, filmed back in February (2024.)

Like my other videos so far, it's not very good. Luckily, I learned early that YouTube favors quantity over quality while new YouTubers are getting their feet wet.

So do what you can but don't hold off on posting consistently and frequently in the very early days because you think it's not good enough. (Ahem, fellow perfectionists…;)

Taking the first step doing anything new is realllllly difficult, which is why I figured I'd share it now as another early example of "showing up messy" when you're first starting out.

In fact, that's the way it's supposed to be, I just learned...just show up, get lots of practice with getting started for all sorts of things you've been avoiding/procrastinating but WANT to do, and keep learning and improving bit by bit each day as you move forward.

This way, you'll have something to measure yourself against. If you don't record your progress objectively in some way -- and you're at all like me (aware-but-struggling perfectionist) -- you probably won't notice/acknowledge/appreciate just how far you've come & won't know when to stop and celebrate the small wins/progress along the way to that huge goal you've set.

So just try not to skip/avoid/hide the messy parts...that's just going to slow you down and get you stuck. They're all authentic, important parts of your journey toward something you really want and deserve.

Hey, I'm Allison: late 40-something mom to 3, married 23 years, former corporate financial newsroom writer/editor since 1999. (I was laid off in 2023.)

I started a new copywriting, copyediting and proofreading business in 2024 in hopes of replace my 6-figure income (preferably before the shit hits the fan) by helping like-hearted business owners make more money doing what makes them happy & aligned. I'm in the midst of fully embracing my identity as a "creative" and "creator," some of many things I've been masking (hiding) from myself and others since I was in college.

I was officially diagnosed with combination-type ADHD and began treatment (research, therapy, meds) at 47; I'm learning sooooo many new things about myself & my unique brain every day. I've also been managing anxiety, depression, and OCD for several decades and am committed to doing my small part to help normalize how we talk and think about mental health by sharing my own experiences, especially now I'm on an ambitious new entrepreneurial track.

Experiences and topics I'll be sharing and exploring out loud and honestly in my very early days here on YT include:
ADHD symptoms in adult women
Early video creation on YouTube
Showing up messy and learning as you go
Challenging perfectionism in content creation
Making and sharing videos for real-time emotional and verbal processing while modeling and normalizing open and honest talk about mental health
Experiencing ADHD as an adult
Gen X Mom
Replacing a 6-figure income fast
Executive functioning / executive malfunctioning
ADHD symptoms in adult women
Being a new business owner
Starting a new business
Perfectionism in business
Neuropsychological evaluation
Emotional dysregulation
Masking
Burnout
Low self-esteem
YouTube video course
Arlan Hamilton
Jenna Kutcher
Alex Cattoni
learning YouTube
Pass it on
hyperactive mind in adult ADHD
OCD
weekly therapy
identifying and combating perfectionism
anxiety
depression
high-functioning depression
social anxiety
generalized anxiety disorder
persistent depressive disorder
mood dysregulation
bipolar disorder vs adhd mood swings
what triggered my OCD
pregnancy / being pregnant
hypervigilance
prenatal OCD and anxiety
postnatal OCD and anxiety
OCD and anxiety and depression in motherhood / parenthood
ADHD in motherhood / parenthood
YouTube video ADHD education
personal storytelling
showing up as-is
Therapy mental health awareness month
YouTube video goals
Mental health struggle vs superpower
Anxiety PDD
High-functioning depression
OCD prenatal
OCD and anxiety postnatal
OCD and anxiety
late-diagnosis ADHD
good grades
Late-diagnosed ADHD in women
Adult women with ADHD motherhood anxiety
Parenthood mental health problems
stress from weight of responsibility as a mother / parent
undiagnosed childhood ADHD
Hair-twirling
missed ADHD diagnosis
masking neurodivergence
neurodivergent
Strategic career choices
Perimenopause
Health anxiety
Neurodivergence vs neurological problem
being "too much"
ADHD focus vs tangents
methylphenidate
caffeine sensitivity
self-medication
medication dosage trial
Medication tweaking
Stimulant medications
ADHD medication and treatment
parenting a child with ADHD
hyperactivity brain vs body (adult vs child)
anxiety depression cycle up n down
mood dysregulation
Black and white thinking all or nothing
mood swings disorder
ADHD vs bipolar diagnosis