Divergent Thrivers: Recent Episodes
Robyn Dippenaar
The Divergent Thrivers Podcast is the go-to place for autistic individuals who are committed to being the very best version of their authentic selves. For those who are ready to choose themselves and know that they are meant to thrive in this life, not just survive. Host, Robyn Dippenaar, is a late-diagnosed autistic woman with a passion for mindset. Prior to her diagnosis, she spent her 20's lacking identity, people-pleasing and masking to the point of regular burnout and deteriorated mental health. She has experienced first-hand that striving for a neurotypical existance is just not the answer to a fulfilled life on the spectrum. Join her each week as she guides you through the work of solidifying your self-worth, building unbreakable confidence and mastering your mindset to start unapologetically living the life you truly desire.
Rejection is something that we face a lot as autistic women.
The social and communication struggles that we have leave us vulnerable to a ton of rejection - Whether it's losing friends and not understanding why or being criticized for having done something "wrong" according to neurotypical standards.
Being so often misunderstood, it is crucial that we learn strategies for how to handle rejection and this episode is all about understanding how we can empower ourselves to do just that.
In this episode, I talk about another area of rigid thinking that may be sabotaging you on your road to achieving your goals.
As human beings we are wired to seek connection with others and so it is no wonder it can feel so important for us to fit in and to be accepted by others.
As autistic women, so many of us spend our lives struggling with our self-identity and because we often don't know where and with whom we fit, we try to fit anywhere just to satisfy this need for connection.
This leaves us feeling stuck, uninspired and living a life we don’t truly want to be living.
But imagine you just didn’t care…
I mean, genuinely didn’t care what others think of you…
Who would you choose to be and what would you really be doing with your life?
In this episode I reveal the REAL reason you care so much what others think of you and how you can start to work towards freeing yourself of the opinions of others.
Let's face it, building new habits is tough for most people, but it is a necessary skill to learn if we want to make positive changes in our lives.
Despite what you may believe up until now, there is nothing wrong with you if you struggle to change your behaviour, in fact our brains are simply wired in a way that makes it incredibly difficult to do so.
Our problem with forming new habits lies not in our potential to change, but rather in our understanding of how we need to approach this change in order to give ourselves and our brains a fair chance at succeeding.
In this episode, I touch on why it is so difficult to form new habits and I share my top 6 realistic and actionable tips to start building habits that will actually stick.
Do you consider yourself an ambitous person? Do you have big dreams and aspirations for your life?
Same.
But how does one know the difference between true, intrinsic ambition and a need for external validation?
How do we know as autistic people, if our ambition is a part of our true, authentic selves or just a part of our masked selves?
In this episode, I share with you a simple and powerful question you can ask yourself to figure this out.
Getting an autism diagnosis later in life, whether you are self-identified or have been through a formal assessment, comes with a lot of emotions.
Emotions that can feel overwhelming, intense, unpleasant and confusing.
In this episode I share with you the emotions that have stood out to me in my own late-diagnosis journey, namely relief, forgiveness, grief, anger and self-doubt. I dive into what I believe to be the underlying cause of these emotions and I also share some thought-work strategies to help you with processing and working through your own late-diagnosis emotions.
Have you ever tried to work on your mindset and improve the way you think about things but see no changes in your life or the way that you feel?
You might be unknowingly setting yourself up for failure by not understanding the fundamentals of what it takes to change your mind.
In this episode, I share with you what it really means and what it really takes to build a strong mindset.
Autistic rigid thinking can leave us feeling stuck and unable to move forward. These 'states of stuckness' can sometimes be constructive and sometimes they can be unconstructive.
In this episode, I talk about two specific types of rigid thinking, namely perfectionism and resistance to change. I talk about not only the limiting side of rigid thinking but also how you can actually use your rigid thinking to your advantage.
I also talk about how to distinguish a constructive state of stuckness from a negative state of stuckness and how to navigate both of these kinds of situations to guide yourself to the best outcome for you.
Welcome to Thriving Her Way. The Podcast where we talk everything mindset through the lens of autism. This is the show for the autistic woman who is ready to take control of her life, step into her full potential and start living HER version of happiness.
Join me each Wednesday for a new episode.
Do you consider yourself an ambitous person? Do you have big dreams and aspirations for your life?
Same.
But how does one know the difference between true, intrinsic ambition and a need for external validation?
How do we know as autistic people, if our ambition is a part of our true, authentic selves or just a part of our masked selves?
In this episode, I share with you a simple and powerful question you can ask yourself to figure this out.
Getting an autism diagnosis later in life, whether you are self-identified or have been through a formal assessment, comes with a lot of emotions.
Emotions that can feel overwhelming, intense, unpleasant and confusing.
In this episode I share with you the emotions that have stood out to me in my own late-diagnosis journey, namely relief, forgiveness, grief, anger and self-doubt. I dive into what I believe to be the underlying cause of these emotions and I also share some thought-work strategies to help you with processing and working through your own late-diagnosis emotions.
Getting an autism diagnosis later in life, whether you are self-identified or have been through a formal assessment, comes with a lot of emotions.
Emotions that can feel overwhelming, intense, unpleasant and confusing.
In this episode I share with you the emotions that have stood out to me in my own late-diagnosis journey, namely relief, forgiveness, grief, anger and self-doubt. I dive into what I believe to be the underlying cause of these emotions and I also share some thought-work strategies to help you with processing and working through your own late-diagnosis emotions.
Let's face it, building habits is tough for anyone, but is a necessary skill to learn if we want to make positive changes in our lives. Despite what you may believe until now, there is nothing wrong with you if you struggle to change your behaviours, in fact our brains are simply wired in a way that makes it incredibly difficult to do so.
Our problem with forming new habits lies not in our potential to change, but rather in our understanding of how we need to approach this change in order to give ourselves and our brains a fair chance at succeeding.
In this episode, I touch on why it is so difficult to form new habits and I share my 6 realistic and actionable tips to start building habits that will actually stick. Although I speak mostly in the context of building the habit to exercise, these tips are transferable to any habit you might want to build.
I recommend taking notes for this one!
As human beings we naturally crave connection with others and so we spend a lot of time working on our external relationships, oftentimes at the expense of the relationship we have with ourselves.
As autistic people, a lot of us spend our lives struggling with our self-identity and because we often don't know where and with whom we fit, we try to fit anywhere in order to satisfy this need for connection.
Where does this leave us? Why is self-relationship so important to living a happy and fulfilled life? Why is it so hard to prioritize ourselves the same way we prioritize other people? Listen to find out the answers to these and more questions on the topic.
(Note: Apologies for the sound quality around 24min. The neighbours decided to start drilling.)
Self-care is something that is spoken about a lot these days. The importance of taking time to do things that make you happy and preserve your mental health. Maybe for you it's going for walks in nature, reading a book or listening to music.
But really, at it's core, real self-care is not so much about what we do as humans to recover from the stresses of daily life, but more about what we do to prevent having to recover so often.
In this episode I want to talk about some of the important things we as autistic people need to prioritize on a daily basis in order to take care of ourselves, manage our energy. prevent autistic burnout and protect our mental health.
What important autistic self-care tips have I left out? Let me know!
Unmasking is a personal journey for each of us in the autistic community.
In this episode I share with you my own unmasking journey from where it started two years prior to my diagnosis and how it changed and continues to progress post-diagnosis.
I also share my most recent communication struggles at work and how it has lead me to re-think my personal perception of autistic masking.
Is masking perhaps more of a balancing act rather than something purely bad or purely good? Where do we draw the line? When is masking necessary and when does it become harmful?
This episode is all about quitting - That feeling that you aren't good enough to make positive changes and achieve the things you really want in life.
I talk about another area of rigid thinking that could possibly be sagotaging you on your road to achieving your goals.
I also talk about the importance of self-trust when it comes to building the foundations for more flexibility and less anxiety in your daily life.
In this episode we discuss what mindset really is, what it truly means to build a strong mindset and why it's important to do so for good mental health. (Spoiler alert, it's not just about thinking positive. )
In order to go from survival mode to to thriving mode, we need to understand what we are aiming for.
What exactly does it mean to THRIVE? It might not be what you think... We unpack this definition in episode 2.
Autistic rigid thinking can leave us feeling stuck and unable to move forward. In this episode we talk about two types of rigid thinking, namely perfectionistic thinking and fear of change. I share a bit about my struggles with perfectionistic thinking in launching this podcast and I also share some simple tips and tricks to help you to move forward when you feel stuck in rigid thinking . We also discuss the positives of rigid thinking (yes, it's not always bad.)
Coming Soon!
The ASD Unstoppable Podcast will be launching in the coming weeks.
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