Hello,
Friends,
And welcome back to another episode of The Pod.
This time,
I'm introducing you to Thomas Wilson,
And I really appreciated the conversation this week.
We dive heavily into autism,
Neurodiversity,
What it looks like to be different than the surrounding culture,
The surrounding society,
From those who kind of,
You know,
Want everyone to be one standard and not have one iota of difference.
It was a tough conversation and painful for me to hear,
But I also think I needed to hear it because,
You know,
I am someone who doesn't like bullies.
For anyone who's listened to this podcast for any length of time,
You know this about me.
And,
You know,
Thomas really brought it home to me what it's like to be neurodiverse in a country that really isn't set up to help those who have,
You know,
A different way of processing the world or a different way of integrating the world.
So it was just,
All in all,
A really profound conversation.
Thomas grew up in Manchester,
New Hampshire,
And,
You know,
He had mental health struggles,
And he alludes to a catastrophic incident that happened when he was a kid.
And you know,
He'd already been classified as a prodigy by then.
And so after this incident that was so traumatizing,
He was kind of left alone.
And Thomas did not really receive the support that he needed.
But as with all stories,
You know,
Thomas emerged triumphant.
It took a long time.
It took Thomas understanding what his strengths were.
And it took him understanding that he could bring beauty and he could bring incredible experiences and stories to those who are neurodiverse,
To those who are autistic,
To those who interpret this world differently than the rest of us.
But his miracle story hit me hard because we can all be of service at any time to any single person out there that we encounter.
And Thomas is doing it for a whole community.
So I hope you enjoy meeting him,
But I especially hope you enjoy our conversation.
So when I actually started to accept,
Because I've had a lifelong struggle with liking myself,
With accepting myself,
With let alone trying to love myself,
That is still a daily struggle for me.
I had to undo pessimism.
I had to undo self-hatred.
I had to undo a negative self-talk.
To this day,
When people ask me for meetings,
The first thing that comes to my mind is,
Oh,
My gosh,
Am I going to lose someone or is someone going to fire me or all this stuff just based on all the trauma?
So I could tell so many stories,
But I am going to kind of narrow down to one theme for the sake of time.
So one of the things that I'm a big proponent of,
Other than the arts and advocacy and things,
Is a strength-based mindset.
I love the idea of supporting and educating people based off their strengths.
And if someone's listening and going,
How are you going to confront someone in that?
A strength-based mindset is not just about saying only good things.
It's also about building off from negative situations in a positive and loving mindset and helping people accept their flaws so they can be better.
And so when I started applying this to a lot of people,
And I can talk about myself here in a moment,
But in particular,
Youth and adults,
So often the people that I run into or I work with,
One of the first things that I hear from them is I apologize or I'm sorry for doing a certain behavior.
And it can be as simple as accidentally interrupting.
It can be as simple as asking a question or standing next to me.
And so when I really started exemplifying the strength-based mindset,
And trust me,
I am not perfect at this.
I may seem rational and calm.
I'm definitely not rational and calm all the time.
When I started exemplifying this and providing it for people,
I noticed,
One,
There was a really loving change in people's mindset.
Pride started developing.
Comfort with who they are started developing.
More and more people started talking about what I did.
People started acknowledging that they could thrive outside of school.
I've met many,
Many adults.
I met hundreds and hundreds of people and introduced them to D&D,
Dungeons and Dragons.
But at its core,
It's really been forming this community built off the idea that everyone can thrive.
And I've seen that in kids who are excited and willing to share stories.
I've seen that in people rolling dice.
I've seen that by sharing my story on podcasts and on stages.
And so that in and of itself,
I think,
Is beautiful and wonderful.
But at the core,
When someone leaves those spaces and they are able to carry themselves into the rest of their life and thrive,
That's amazing,
Let alone on the scale in which I've seen it.
Now,
I said I'd touch on myself.
So when I actually started to accept,
Because I've had a lifelong struggle with liking myself,
With accepting myself,
With let alone trying to love myself,
That is still a daily struggle for me.
I had to undo pessimism.
I had to undo self-hatred.
I had to undo a negative self-talk.
To this day,
When people ask me for meetings,
The first thing that comes to my mind is,
Oh,
My gosh,
Am I going to lose someone or is someone going to fire me or all this stuff just based on all the trauma?
But when I really started seeing my talents,
My strengths,
My ability to thrive,
I also started to like myself.
And that is magical.
That is wonderful for me.
And when I started seeing that I was able to give myself genuine compliments,
When I didn't immediately direct people to a different mindset,
When they complimented me,
That was miraculous.
That was undoing over 30 years of abuse,
Trauma,
Neglect,
Exploitation,
Self-hatred.
And that's part of the reason why I love my work,
Is it reminds me every day to care for people,
But to also care for myself and continue my wellness and my healing for myself,
Which many people have said,
But also so the people around me can thrive.
I hope you enjoyed this podcast and I hope you enjoyed meeting Thomas,
Who is making the world better and shinier for those in the neurodiverse community,
But also,
By extension,
For the rest of us.
You know,
I love a good story.
And so anyone that is facilitating stories or magic or miracles or anything that has to do with using imagination and play in this world to include everyone else,
Man,
I am all in.
So the work that Thomas is doing spoke directly and speaks directly to my heart.
Please do remember that ratings and reviews are so needed and I love them.
Wherever you listen,
If you could maybe write a little review or leave a rating,
I'd be ever so grateful.
Thank you for listening.
And here's my one request.
Be like Thomas.
See the need in your community and then have a brainstorming session to fill it.
How can you be someone's angel?
How can you be someone that brings beauty to others?
How can you step into the breach and facilitate belonging,
Community,
Amazingness,
Whatever that looks like?
I mean,
I know we're all so busy and we're all like running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
But still,
Still,
Please think about seeing the need.
I mean,
In fact,
I don't give you a choice.
See the need and then figure out how to fill it.
So that's yeah,
That's my Be Like Thomas ask this week.
I can't wait to see you this weekend for another episode of the pod.
Until then,
I hope you have a beautiful few days and you're enjoying these August summer days.
And with that,
I'll see you so very soon.
