LATE BLOOMERS

You might take the mask off after work—but are you actually taking it off at home? This week, Rich and Rox expose ten ways ADHD and autistic people can still perform around the people they trust most, from saying “I’m fine” and agreeing to plans you secretly dread to hiding sensory overwhelm, exhaustion and chaos. They talk fake facial expressions, panic-cleaning, apologising for moods that have nothing to do with you and why “I’ll do it later” often means something completely different. It turns out feeling safe enough to be honest can involve more awkward conversations—and fewer forced cuddles. 20% off Loop Earplugs: ⁠ https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

The ADHD brain can generate approximately 900 brilliant ideas before breakfast. Finishing one of them is where things get complicated. This week, Rich and Rox share ten ways to harness ADHD creativity without losing the plot, abandoning the project or accidentally bankrupting yourself. They talk hyperfocus, impossible goals, “dopamine dollars,” building the team your brain is missing and why confidence comes after you start—not before. Rox also discovers she may have leaked the title of another album, which rather proves one of the points. 20% off Loop Earplugs: ⁠ https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove CHAPTERS 00:00 ADHD and creativity 02:18 When lightning strikes, run towards it 06:07 Make the goal feel impossible 08:43 Don’t spend your dopamine dollars 10:35 Rox accidentally leaks another album 11:27 Keep your creative project shiny 13:17 Nobody starts confident 15:16 Loop Earplugs 16:22 Build the team your brain is missing 20:54 Don’t become your own bottleneck 23:29 Don’t make permanent decisions in temporary emotions 25:59 Market like you don’t have ADHD 29:45 Don’t bankrupt yourself 33:07 Final thoughts

For years, Rich and Rox told everyone they were "the couple that never argued." Not true anymore. They argue all the time now, they're just better at it. This week they're breaking down exactly how to argue well so it doesn't end in a break-up, using a real recent row of theirs as the case study, plus a few cringe lessons from watching The Ultimatum. If you're in a relationship, this is the episode you need. Rich and Rox talk through the five rules that stop an argument turning into a breakup: why screaming shuts down all communication, why you can't demand your partner love you the way you love them, why trying to "win" an argument means you've already lost, why calling out your own bullshit disarms a row faster than anything else, and the biggest one, learning to translate what your partner actually means instead of just what they're saying. They also redo one of their worst arguments live, so you can hear exactly what it should have sounded like the first time. 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are throwing out the social rulebook and writing their own. Twenty new rules for a world built for ADHD and autistic brains instead of against them — because eye contact shouldn't be mandatory, small talk shouldn't be the default, and nobody should have to lie about liking a haircut. From compulsory name badges (because nobody with ADHD can remember a name five seconds after hearing it) to abolishing dress codes, banning greetings cards, and introducing a visible social battery indicator so you never again have to mask through a conversation you don't have the capacity for. This episode covers the unspoken rules that make everyday socialising exhausting for neurodivergent people, and what a world built around executive dysfunction, sensory overwhelm, and direct communication could actually look like. Rich and Rox debate arrival windows instead of start times, why "how are you" should be legally binding, why last-minute plans should just be called plans, and why friendship should be measured by depth, not by how often you text back. If you're ADHD, autistic, AuDHD, or just someone who's ever felt like the current social contract wasn't written with your brain in mind, this is the episode where two neurodivergent adults finally say the quiet part out loud. 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox go through ten weirdly specific things that turned out to be ADHD in disguise. Bendy joints, dopamine dressing, owning 12 water bottles for no reason, and not being able to sleep with a ticking clock in the room. Rox breaks down why she can't tell she's hungry until she's shaking, why a slice of cheese counts as dinner, and why she's started roughly 100 businesses and finished none of them. Rich points out the parts Rox doesn't notice herself doing, including the inner monologue that occasionally becomes an outer monologue in public. If you've spent your whole life thinking you were just "a bit weird," this one might explain a lot. 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox sit down with Dr. Jolene Brighten to talk about something nobody's telling ADHD women — perimenopause doesn't wait until you're 50, and for a lot of you it's already started. They get into why ADHD women hit perimenopause about a decade earlier than everyone thinks, why doctors keep saying you're "too young" for what your body's already going through, and why you can end up with twice the symptoms and half the answers. Rox also opens up about a period last year that felt like a full breakdown, and what it took to actually find out why. Grab Dr. Brighten's new book, ADHD & Women: drbrighten.com/adhdandwomen More from Dr. Brighten: Website: www.drbrighten.com Instagram: instagram.com/drjolenebrighten TikTok: tiktok.com/@drjolenebrighten Threads: threads.net/@drjolenebrighten 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox break down the six types of memory — and why ADHD and autism hit almost every single one in opposite directions. ADHD struggles hardest with working memory and prospective memory, described as writing on a whiteboard while someone else actively wipes it. But it can come with genuinely excellent semantic and procedural memory, the kind that makes songwriting easier than cleaning the kitchen. Autism runs almost the reverse: strong working, prospective, semantic and episodic memory, but real struggles holding onto the emotion behind a memory, even the painful ones. They also get into why autistic memory relies entirely on a calm nervous system, and Rox's actual advice if you've got ADHD: assume you have no memory at all, and externalise everything. 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are laying down the ten commandments for surviving a world that wasn't built for your brain. No cards, no notes — Rox is running the whole manifesto from memory, which given the memory episode is a bold choice. Protect your energy like it's gold, master the art of strategic masking, stop apologising for existing, and stop trying to be neurotypical — you'll burn out whilst failing. Plus the coffee-in-bed morning routine they both refuse to let anyone derail, and why being the only "normal" one in your friend group is actually the first warning sign. If you're exhausted from pretending to be like them, this one's your permission slip to stop. 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are asking the question nobody wants to answer honestly — who's actually more empathetic, ADHD or autism? Spoiler: everyone's had it backwards. They break down the three types of empathy nobody talks about, why Rich's empathy sometimes tips into full-blown overwhelm, and why the "autistic people don't feel empathy" myth needs to die. Rox also drops one of the most quietly devastating stories either of them has shared on the show. If you've ever wondered whether you're actually empathetic or just anxious and pretending, this one's for you. 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are taking apart five pieces of relationship advice everyone treats as gospel — and explaining why they fall apart completely when one or both of you is neurodivergent. "If they wanted to, they would." "Never go to bed angry." "They should just know." Rox explains why her memory has nothing to do with how much she loves Rich, Rich makes the case for going to bed mid-argument, and the dishwasher gets stacked twice. There's also a birthday story that nearly ends in a domestic. If you've ever been told your relationship is doing it wrong, this one's for you. 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are doing something different. Ten neurodivergent hot takes, controversial questions, and genuinely unpopular opinions — and they're trying really hard not to get cancelled in the process. Is masking always bad? Is self-diagnosis valid? Is the autism spectrum too big? They go there. All of it. And they don't always agree. Fair warning — some of these will make you uncomfortable. That's kind of the point... 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are getting into RSD — rejection sensitivity dysphoria. The thing that's been quietly ruining lives for decades and most people don't even know it has a name. If you've ever spiralled over a text that says "we need to chat," catastrophised before walking on stage, or spent years replaying every embarrassing moment you've ever had, this one's for you. Rich brings the therapy science, Rox brings the Reddit, and between them they've got 10 tips that actually help. It gets honest. It gets funny. And it might just explain a lot. 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

Rich and Rox are going there this week. If your sex life has taken a hit since an ADHD diagnosis, or you've always wondered why intimacy feels so much harder than it should. This one is for you. They're breaking down the four big reasons ADHD kills your sex life: the shame spiral that starts with a messy bedroom, the brain that never switches off, the energy that's completely gone by the end of the day, and the resentment that quietly builds between partners. And then they're giving you the four fixes that actually work. No toxic positivity. No generic relationship advice. Just Rich and Rox being honest about what's gone wrong for them and what's actually helped. Fair warning — it gets real. But it ends in a good place. 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich has had enough of autism misconceptions, so Rich and Rox are going through the top ten myths one by one and busting them wide open. Rich didn't know what was coming. That's kind of the point. From "autistic people can't feel empathy" to "sensory issues are just being difficult" to the big one — is autism being overdiagnosed — this episode covers a lot of ground. Rich talks about what it actually feels like to have emotions on the inside that nobody can see on the outside, why flip flops are genuinely the enemy, and why the label "high functioning" needs to go in the bin. If you've ever had to explain your autism to someone who thinks they already know what it looks like, this one's for you. And remember if you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person... 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are sharing the ADHD hacks that actually work — not the "just set an alarm" nonsense, the real ones. Ten tried and tested strategies pulled straight from their actual life together. From setting timers in seconds instead of minutes, to the lesser of two evils trick, body doubling, and why buying a nice water bottle is genuinely a productivity hack — this one is packed. Rox also admits she still doesn't notice when Rich is using the hacks on her. Which honestly says it all. If your brain makes every task feel like a mountain, this episode is for you. 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

Rich and Rox are doing something different this week.Rich and Rox are doing something different this week. Instead of talking about the hard stuff, they're talking about the good stuff — the 10 strengths and superpowers that come with a neurodivergent brain. They've each picked five for the other one, and honestly some of them will surprise you. From hyperfocus and pattern recognition to crisis calm and deep empathy, this episode is a reminder that your brain isn't just a problem to manage. Fair warning though — they're not pretending it's all sunshine. If you're in the thick of it right now, they see you. But if you're ready to hear the other side, this one's worth your time. 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

Rich and Rox are back in the Reddit hole.Rich and Rox are back in the Reddit hole. This week it's 20 ways ADHD brains chase dopamine, and Rox sits through every single one like a woman being personally investigated. Research spirals that end in never booking the holiday, new hobbies that become your entire personality for three weeks, starting a fresh business to avoid doing anything on the current one. All of it is here, all of it is too real. Score yourself in the comments. Rox got 20 out of 20 and is soooo fine about it... 20% off Loop Earplugs: https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove

You've just been diagnosed with ADHD or autism — now what? In this episode, Rich and Rox walk through the 10 emotional stages of life after a late diagnosis: the surreal moment everything starts to make sense, the relief-and-grief whiplash, the identity crisis (what's me vs. what's neurodivergent?), and the painful truth that a diagnosis doesn't fix you — and can even make things worse before it gets better. The episode lands where their work always does: how to move from "what's wrong with me?" to self-understanding, and rebuild a life that works with your brain. 20% off Loop Earplugs: ⁠ https://www.loopearplugs.com/adhdlove ⁠

This week, Rich shares 10 “weird” things he always thought were just part of his personality… that actually turned out to be autism. From struggling with eye contact to leaving parties early, needing space, and even things like rubbing his feet together — we break down the small, everyday behaviours that didn’t seem like anything at the time, but make a lot more sense now. It’s a funny, honest, and really accessible conversation about what autism can actually look like in real life. Whether you’re diagnosed, questioning, or just trying to understand someone you love — this one might help you see things a little differently. 20% off Loop Earplugs: ⁠ https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/lp-adhdlove ⁠

It's neurotype warfare, mop in hand. Rox (ADHD) and Rich (autism) go ten rounds on how they actually clean — from anxiety-fuelled 20-minute panic tidies to methodical "do not make a mess" warnings issued two days in advance. Expect dog wipes used on kitchen counters, sitting on the floor reading old birthday cards instead of cleaning, and at least one threat of being attacked with your own laundry. Producer Max judges. Vibes decide. It ends, inevitably, in rock paper scissors. 20% off Loop Earplugs: ⁠ https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/lp-adhdlove ⁠