Backpacking Through ADHD

Becoming Understood: What’s Really Happening Beneath ADHD Behaviors

In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, Tera sits down with clinical psychologist and behavior analyst Dr. Katrina Ostmeyer for a powerful conversation about what’s really happening underneath ADHD behaviors.
Together, they explore emotional regulation, the nervous system, perfectionism, masking, and the difference between defiance and dysregulation—especially in children who don’t yet have the words to explain what they’re feeling.
Tera also shares personal parenting moments with Grayson, including a recent experience on the baseball field that left her questioning how parents are supposed to respond when behavior looks intentional on the outside, but feels like something deeper underneath.
Dr. Katrina brings both professional expertise and lived experience as a parent of two neurodivergent children, creating a conversation that feels grounded, validating, and deeply human.
This episode is for:
Parents trying to understand what’s underneath big reactions
Women navigating ADHD and emotional overwhelm later in life
Anyone who has ever felt misunderstood in their struggles
Because sometimes behavior isn’t about defiance.
Sometimes it’s a nervous system asking for support.
To learn more about Dr. Katrina Ostmeyer and Beyond the Individual, including virtual services, visit:www.beyondtheindividual.com
Song of the Episode: “Human” – Christina Perri
If this episode resonated with you, please follow, review, and share Backpacking Through ADHD with someone who might need this conversation too.
 

Becoming a Friend: Repair after the Impulse

In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, we’re talking about something that happens fast, often, and sometimes leaves a mark we don’t know how to fix: what happens after the impulse.
This conversation is especially for ADHD kids who have ever had a moment they wish they could take back… and for the parents and caregivers helping guide them through it.
When emotions move faster than words, ADHD kids can react before they fully process what they’re feeling. But this episode isn’t about shame, blame, or “fixing” behavior. It’s about teaching something deeper: repair.
Because friendship isn’t built on getting it right all the time. It’s built on noticing, reconnecting, and learning how to come back after hard moments.
Throughout the episode, Tera shares practical language kids can use, ways parents can model repair at home, and gentle reminders that ADHD kids are not “bad friends” — they are learning a more complex version of friendship rooted in emotional awareness, empathy, and resilience.
This episode is also deeply personal. Although Grayson isn’t joining Tera for this conversation, the episode is written for him knowing he’ll listen someday — making it feel like a heartfelt letter to him and to every child learning how to navigate connection, mistakes, and belonging.
Song of the Episode: Brave — Sara Bareilles
Because bravery isn’t always loud. Sometimes bravery is saying, “I’m sorry.” Sometimes it’s asking, “Can I try that again?” And sometimes bravery is simply choosing to come back into the moment after wishing you could run away from it.
If this episode resonates with you, please follow, review, and share Backpacking Through ADHD with someone who may need this reminder today.
Keep going. Keep practicing. Keep becoming.

Becoming Regulated: When Your Nervous System Runs the Meeting

In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, Tera explores what happens when the body is carrying more than anyone can see. Becoming Regulated: When Your Nervous System Runs the Meeting is a conversation for women with ADHD who look composed on the outside but know how much effort it takes to stay steady underneath.
Tera reflects on the difference between functioning and feeling regulated, the invisible load so many women carry into work, motherhood, relationships, and leadership, and the quiet ways nervous system overload can shape how we think, react, and move through the world. She also shares a personal reflection on what it means to feel safe in your body, the power of being deeply known, and why regulation is less about becoming less emotional and more about becoming more honest about what support looks like in this season of life.
This episode is especially for women navigating ADHD in midlife, where hormones, emotional labor, and changing capacity can make old systems stop working the way they used to. If you’ve been wondering why everything feels heavier than it once did, this conversation is for you.
Follow, share, and leave a review if this episode speaks to you. It helps more listeners find the podcast and join the journey.
Here is a slightly shorter Podbean version too, in case you want something tighter:
In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, Tera explores the quiet kind of overload that hides inside competence. Becoming Regulated: When Your Nervous System Runs the Meeting is for women with ADHD who are still functioning, still showing up, and still wondering why everything feels harder in their body than it used to.
This episode unpacks the difference between composure and regulation, the invisible load women carry into work and home, and the impact of ADHD, midlife, hormones, and emotional labor on the nervous system. It is a grounded, honest conversation about support, self-trust, and what it means to build a life that feels more sustainable from the inside out.

Becoming a Weather Reporter: Naming Feelings Without Shame

In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, we’re talking about what it means to help kids name their feelings without shame.
So many ADHD kids feel things deeply and quickly, but when the words don’t come fast enough, what gets noticed first is the behavior. The tone. The tears. The shutdown. The frustration. This episode explores a gentler way in by thinking about feelings like weather.
What if instead of expecting kids to explain everything perfectly, we helped them notice whether they feel stormy, foggy, sunny, rainy, or mixed?
I was originally planning to record this episode with Grayson, but he decided he didn’t want to join me this week, and honestly, that became part of the message too. Kids are allowed to have preferences. They are allowed to tell the truth about what they feel. And honoring that matters.
This conversation is for the child with big feelings and for the parent trying to respond with understanding before shame gets there first. We talk about emotional language, after-school meltdowns, fairness, repair after hard moments, and why feelings are not failures. They are part of becoming.
If you’ve ever wanted a simpler, more compassionate way to help your child talk about what’s happening inside, this episode is for you.
 

Becoming Lighter: The Energy Reset Zone

If your home feels like a constant restart, you’re not failing—you’re carrying too much.
In this quarter’s Becoming Lighter collaboration, I’m joined by Treenah Kight for a simple, permission-based conversation about reclaiming energy in real life. We’re talking about the Energy Reset Zone: one small, intentional space that helps reduce decision fatigue, lower the mental load, and create a softer landing when ADHD life gets loud.
This isn’t about a perfect house. It’s about nervous system support. It’s about fewer “where did I put that?” moments, fewer unfinished loops staring at you, and more ease returning to your day.
In this episode, we explore how to choose the right zone for your real life, how to give it one clear purpose, and how to use it as a repeatable reset—without shame, without all-or-nothing thinking, and without turning it into another thing you “should” be doing.
If you’ve been feeling scattered, overstimulated, or stuck in reaction mode, this episode is your reminder: you’re allowed to set some of it down. You’re allowed to create support. You’re allowed to begin again.
Song of the Episode: Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine
Follow Backpacking Through ADHD so you don’t miss the next step on the trail, and if this episode helps you, I’d be so grateful if you’d leave a review—it’s one of the biggest ways you can help other families and women find this community.
 
 
 

Becoming Unmasked: Belonging Without Performing

What if the version of you everyone praises is also the version that’s wearing you out?
In this episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, Tera talks about unmasking from a very real place—not as someone who has it all figured out, but as someone who’s been high-functioning for a long time and is starting to feel the weight of it. When you’re the capable one, the dependable one, the one who “gets it done,” it can be hard to admit how much effort it takes to look that put together.
This conversation is about the desire to unmask. The longing to stop performing your way through your own life. The exhaustion that comes from perfectionism, overthinking, over-preparing, and carrying an invisible second job: managing how you’re perceived.
You’ll hear a grounded, honest look at:
What masking looks like for high-achieving women with ADHD
Why it can feel so risky to be real, even when you want to be
What belonging actually means when you’re used to earning your place
Small, practical ways to begin unmasking without blowing up your life
Song of the Episode: “Unwritten” — Natasha Bedingfield
 

Becoming Brave at School

Becoming Brave at School is about the kind of courage ADHD kids practice every day, even when no one calls it brave. In this episode, Grayson joins me as we talk about what school bravery really looks like: starting when your brain feels stuck, coming back after a hard moment, repairing when things go sideways, and telling the truth when it would be easier to hide.
One thing teachers have praised in Grayson for years is his honesty. No matter the situation, no matter the answer, he tells the truth. And in a school environment that can feel loud, fast, and demanding, honesty isn’t just “good behavior.” It’s self-trust. It’s regulation. It’s a brave nervous system choosing connection over fear.
If school has felt heavy for your child lately, this episode is a reminder that struggling doesn’t mean failing. It means they’re practicing skills. It means they’re becoming.
Song of the Episode: King of the Lost Boys by Sara Bareilles
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Becoming

After almost two months of space, reflection, and quiet intention, a new season begins.
In this first episode of 2026, Tera introduces Becoming — a year-long exploration of identity across generations. What does it mean to become who you are as a child navigating ADHD? What does it mean to become who you’re meant to be as a woman rediscovering herself later in life?
This season is not about fixing.It’s not about optimizing.It’s not about performing.
It’s about becoming.
In this episode, Tera shares:
• Why she intentionally stepped back before starting 2026• The difference between reinvention and revelation• Why some creative ideas feel electric in theory but heavy in practice• Letting go of what no longer fits (including the weekly photo pressure)• Why songs — not hats — will anchor the emotional tone this year• And what it means to evolve without abandoning yourself
As someone who loves creativity and momentum, Tera opens up about the tension between inspiration and sustainability — and why noticing that tension is growth, not failure.
The Song of the Episode is The Story by Brandi Carlile — a reminder that who we become is shaped by where we’ve been.
This year, each month will hold two conversations:One speaking directly to the ADHD child.One speaking to the woman rediscovering herself.
And each quarter, a conversation about becoming lighter — in our homes, in our habits, and in what we choose to carry forward.
We are not starting over.
We are becoming.
Follow, subscribe, and join the journey as Backpacking Through ADHD steps into a new season — one rooted in identity, growth, and choosing what we carry.

Episode 50: The Year of Reflection

2025 was my reflection year, the year Backpacking Through ADHD began, the year I found my voice, and the year everything changed.
In this special season finale, I’m closing out my very first year of the podcast by looking back on the journey that shaped it all. I reflect on why I started this show, what I learned about ADHD in myself and my son, how my parenting evolved, and how this community grew into something far bigger than I ever imagined.
This episode is honest, emotional, funny, and deeply personal. I talk about the realities of producing a weekly podcast while navigating ADHD, parenting, and life — and why, while I’m not going anywhere, 2026 may look a little different as I think intentionally about sustainability and alignment for the future.
And for the first time ever, I’m joined by my husband for a powerful closing conversation. Together, we reflect on what this year looked like behind the scenes, parenting an ADHD child, supporting each other through growth, and walking this trail as a family.
This episode is a thank-you.A reflection.A full-circle moment.
Thank you for being part of my first year on the trail.I can’t wait to see where we go next.
Listen now and keep backpacking through ADHD with me.

Episode 49: Joy, Dopamine and December

December can feel magical… and completely exhausting — especially for ADHD brains.
In this cozy, fireside-style episode of Backpacking Through ADHD, Tera Greenwood slows things down and gently explores why the end of the year hits ADHD adults and kids so hard. From the dopamine chase and burnout cycle to emotional overload and decision fatigue, this episode offers compassion, understanding, and practical ways to find real joy — not the forced, performative kind.
Together, we talk about:
Why December is uniquely overstimulating for ADHD brains
The dopamine spikes and crashes that leave us exhausted
How ADHD burnout shows up at the end of the year
What “micro-joys” actually are — and why they work
Simple ways to support ADHD kids when everything feels “too much”
Letting go of perfection and embracing softness, rest, and connection
This episode isn’t about doing more.It’s about noticing small sparks of joy, regulating your nervous system, and reminding yourself that you don’t have to earn rest or happiness.