What if the thing you were told was wrong… was actually the key?

I know it’s been a little quiet over here lately. Social media has been low on my priority list, and keeping up with my lovely community has definitely been a challenge.

These past few months, I’ve been deep in continued training. I’ve been finishing my certification in ADHD life coaching, expanding my background in nutrition to include an additional certification in functional nutrition (more to come on that), managing all things family, and integrating all of it into something I care deeply about: how we actually live inside our brains when we’re trying to learn, function, direct our attention and grow.

That work pulled me into something called cognitive ergonomics. It’s a new and emerging paradigm shift in how we understand and support neurodivergent brains.

And honestly? I can’t overstate what it’s done for me. It completely transformed how I understand ADHD.

It's the study of how people interact with the tasks, tools and environments around them and how those interactions affect how we think, learn and make decisions.

It asks a question I can’t stop thinking about:

How can we design our approach to thinking so that our brains don’t have to work harder than they need to?

Essentially, it's all about “How do we make it easy?” 

That easy button? Total fantasy.

If it were real, I’d wear it out by 9 am. 

Honestly, the number of times I’d hit it in a single day would be… well, pretty impressive. 

Ha! - apologizing for the ‘Dad Joke’, but it's awfully close to Father's Day and my husband is the KING of these!

But seriously, that mind-shift changes everything. 

It’s not about working harder. It’s about designing smarter. 

Building around your brain instead of shaming it.

Which brings me to what I saw again with one of my clients this week.

There’s a moment I watch unfold in almost every session. 

A pause. 

A sharp inhale. 

The nervous system lets go. 

And someone says: “Wait… the thing I always got in trouble for? That might actually be how I learn best?”

Yes. Exactly that.

This week it was a high-school student who realized her need to talk things through, the very thing she’s spent years feeling ashamed of, isn’t a distraction. 

It’s not a workaround. It’s the system. Her system.

Talking out loud is how her brain organizes. How she processes, remembers, regulates and makes meaning.

It’s not just her.

Talking out loud is a legitimate cognitive strategy. It’s called externalizing cognitive load.

When we speak our thoughts, whether to a coach, a phone, a friend, in the shower, or in an empty room, we make room in our working memory. We shift the task from the inside to the outside of our mind. We slow the spiral. It moves from invisible to tangible. 

It moves to the real life version of ourselves. 

We feel safer. 

Talking is not a failure to pay attention. It is a way of directing it.

But we don’t teach that. 

We silence it. 

Especially in students who are already burning out trying to “try harder.” 

We ask them to learn in a system that punishes the very tools their brains are trying to use.

This week, we rewrote the rules.

We didn’t double down on effort. We redesigned the environment.

We built a study system that supports the actual brain doing the work.

This is what it looked like for my client:

This is not about doing more. It’s about designing better.

Because real learning doesn’t happen when the brain is bracing. It happens when it feels safe. 

Safe to speak. 

Safe to pause. 

Safe to be how it is.

So to every parent, teacher, student, general human being, and all those who think this may not apply to them: 

Start looking again at the strategies we were told were wrong. 

Start listening for the patterns underneath the “disruptions.” 

Start building systems that feel like exhaling, not enduring.

Because when we stop trying to change the brain and start building around it, that’s when everything shifts for the better (and sometimes with a big, huge smile)!

Wishing softness, self-acceptance and sleep to all the students out there prepping for exams. And maybe a balanced snack, too.

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Curious about nutrition for your family?

If you’re looking for support with your family’s health goals regarding mental health, ADHD or fostering a healthy relationship with food, feel free to book in a FREE assessment call so we can chat to see if Holistic Nutrition is a good fit for your family!

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Amy Jones

BA Hons, B Ed, OCT, RHN, CNE, CFNP

Certified Functional Nutrition Practitioner

Certified ADHD Coach

Ontario Certified Teacher

Canadian School of Natural Nutrition Instructor

Agent for Cognitive Ergonomics (ACEs)

Care-Informed & HAES®-Aligned Practitioner

Metabolic Balance® Coach