Clarity Compass Blog

Not in a dramatic, movie-moment kind of way. More like… I ran out of energy to keep auditioning for normal. I was tired of being the before-version of myself. Tired of waking up and immediately scanning my own life like a crime scene: What did I do wrong yesterday? What’s the missing piece? What book, what course, what “practice” will finally make me a person who can cope like everyone else seems to cope. Piles of stacked hardback books My self-help shelf (spilled over onto t

There’s a quiet pressure that follows a lot of neurodivergent kids and adults: try harder, be more normal, blend in. It sounds helpful. It isn’t. I stopped treating my child like a problem to solve, and started treating them like a person to understand. The message hiding underneath “Try harder” A lot of neurodivergent kids grow up hearing the same message in a thousand different ways: try harder, act normal, be quiet, don’t stand out. Sometimes it’s said with love. Sometimes

Parenting a neurodivergent child is a beautiful, intense, emotional, joyful, confusing, exhausting journey, and if you’re neurodivergent too, that journey can feel like living inside a blender . But one of the most powerful tools I’ve learned, not from a book, not from an expert, but from lived experience is this: the simple act of pausing changes everything. What do I mean by pause ? I mean those tiny breaks in the day where you give your nervous system a moment to settle,

When we got his diagnosis in 2020, in the height of COVID, I thought I was learning how to support my autistic son, but somewhere along the way, I started learning about me too. When your child experiences the world differently, you don’t just adjust routines, buy all the books or read new research. You start questioning your assumptions about success, behaviour, motivation, and even what it means to be “doing okay.” I used to measure days by what we got done. Now I notice h

My Short 5-Step Process to Regulation

If someone had told me that the most powerful thing I could do for my health and my child’s wellbeing was to simply pause , I probably would’ve laughed, exhausted, juggling schedules, appointments, therapies, meals, and emotional waves, not to mention the holidays are coming up. But somewhere on this winding neurodivergent parenting journey, I learned that the pauses are not “gaps” or “wasted time.” They are necessary breaths  that reset our nervous systems, protect our healt

TLDR: The autonomic nervous system controls many automatic body functions that keep us alive and healthy. It has two parts: the sympathetic system, which prepares the body for action, and the parasympathetic system, which helps the body relax. The left and right sides of the brain and nervous system have different roles, with the right side linked more to the sympathetic "fight & flight" system and the left side to the parasympathetic "rest & digest" system. Understanding the

TLDR: The vagus nerve is having its moment in pop culture, and I am happy about that. It is one of the most important yet often overlooked parts of our nervous system. Many scientific studies show it plays a crucial role in regulating many bodily functions and has a significant impact on our overall health and brain function. For those of us feeling stressed or overwhelmed, understanding how this nerve works and how to tone it can offer practical ways to improve well-being. J