510 | Asexuality, Grief, and Community - with Emily Karp

This week, Eric is joined by Emily Karp! Emily is a 33-year-old entrepreneur, asexuality activist, and fan-work creator! She embraced her ADHD around age 30 and quit her tedious job to become self-employed as a funeral celebrant and memorial slideshow editor who crafts personalized funerals and celebration-of-life events for non-religious individuals. Emily went through the ADHD reWired coaching program in spring of 2021 and became a peer mentor in 2022. Emily is also one of the authors of the book Ace and Aro Journeys: A Guide to Embracing your Asexual or Aromantic Identity, and is a lead organizer of the Washington DC Metro Area Ace and Aro meetup group! Learn more about Emily at griefpictured.com! (click here!) Questions/Topics: [00:01:39] Introducing Emily [00:02:41] Diving into the start of Emily's ADHD journey [00:03:37] The stakes of getting an ADHD diagnosis [00:04:47] Life as an administrative professional before treatments [00:08:47] Burnout, becoming an entrepreneur, sleep struggles, and coaching [00:10:30] The "why" behind becoming a non-religious Funeral Celebrant [00:13:24] Helping others grieve and heal, family estrangements, memorial gatherings, and closure [00:17:17] Grief to acceptance with ADHD [00:24:07] The basics of asexuality and aromantics [00:26:04] Nuances of ace relationships, significant others, attraction, and more [00:28:25] Physical desire, libido, and other statistics in the asexual community [00:30:44] A discussion on dysfunction, orientation, sexual trauma, and gatekeeping [00:33:20] ADHD and neurodivergence in the Ace community [00:42:07] The positive impact of community and relationships [00:45:01] Emily's facilitated sessions in the ADHD reWired community spaces [00:46:54] Sharing more wins [00:48:43] Emily's work, website, and closing thoughts Resources & Honorable Mentions: Podcast: Aceterpretations (click here!) Website: TAAAP - The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project @ taaap.org (click here!) Book: Ace and Aro Journeys: A Guide to Embracing Your Asexual or Aromantic Identity (on Goodreads) Want to go to CHADD this year? Go to chadd.org to learn more! (click here!) 🌟 Have you heard about our Adult Study Hall Community? Go to adultstudyhall.com to join our ADHD-friendly body-doubling community! 🌟 Interested in group coaching and want to take your ADHD management to the next level? Go to coachingrewired.com to get all the up-to-date information on the upcoming season of ADHD reWired's award-winning Coaching & Accountability groups!