ADHD & the Holidays: Why This Season Feels So Hard

The holidays can be joyful, but for many ADHD and neurodiverse people, they can also be overwhelming and emotionally draining. In this episode of Walking the Neurodiversity Path, Coty Walker explores why the holiday season often intensifies overstimulation, disrupted routines, people-pleasing, boundary challenges, executive function struggles, impulsive spending, and rejection sensitivity. Through personal reflection and lived experience, Coty reframes these challenges as neurological realities, not personal failures. This conversation is an invitation to release perfection, honor your capacity, and approach the season with more awareness, self-compassion, and choice. If the holidays feel harder than they “should,” this episode reminds you that you’re not broken, and you’re not alone.