Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast LATE BLOOMERS

Usually on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox talk about what's hard about having an ADHD or autistic brain. This week they flip it: ten things each of them genuinely envies about the other's.

Rox would give anything for Rich's ability to follow IKEA instructions, find the car in a Tesco car park and keep a perfect credit score. Rich envies Rox's endless ideas, her 400% excitement over a Crocs bag, and a delusion so strong it becomes reality, which is how they ended up with a body doubling app, bestselling books and a house five minutes from his daughter.

It gets real too, as Rox admits that at almost 42 she's never felt like a functioning adult. Funny, sweet, and a reminder that the other brain in the house isn't just the problem. Sometimes it's the answer.

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Are you working a job you love—or staying in one that’s slowly making you miserable? This week, Rich and Rox dig through their entire career histories: first jobs, bad bosses, promotions, burnout, quitting, career pivots, failed dreams and the strange ways neurodivergence shaped what work did and didn’t suit them. Rox talks about going from thriving in fast-paced service jobs to feeling completely out of her depth in a graduate accountancy role, before eventually leaving banking for music; Rich reflects on spending 20 years at Barclays, the managers who shaped him and what finally made him change direction. 

It’s really about career shame, starting again and the idea that job-hopping, quitting or getting it wrong doesn’t mean you’ve failed—you might just be collecting the pieces that eventually lead you somewhere that fits.   

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CHAPTERS  
00:00 The Career Graveyard  
01:24 Rich’s first job at Sainsbury’s  
03:52 Rox starts “Helping Hands”  
06:06 Rox’s first proper job  
09:27 Rich becomes a manager at 19  
13:27 Why ADHD can make interviews easier than the actual job  
14:49 “Something was missing in me”  
16:06 “You need to go home”  
18:59 Rox moves into banking  
21:28 Mixing up BUY and SELL on a trading floor  
22:32 Loop Earplugs  
23:22 Rich’s life at Barclays during the credit crisis  
25:22 The bosses you never forget  
27:55 Rox starts writing songs  
29:21 Leaving the bank for music  
30:33 The record label collapses  
33:30 Starting again in Amsterdam  
34:31 The beginning of ADHD Love  
35:13 What old jobs still teach you  
37:47 “Every wrong turn was actually a right turn”  
38:55 Why messy career paths are completely normal  
39:45 Rich’s forgotten childhood dream  
42:10 Final thoughts

Are you tired all the time, even when it feels like you haven’t done much? This week, Rich and Rox unpack ten everyday things that can drain their neurodivergent batteries: masking, disrupted sleep, sensory overload, basic self-care, hyperfocus, social hangovers and the effort of feeling everything so intensely. Rich reflects on the exhaustion of pretending all day at the bank and why losing his routine has made looking after himself harder; Rox explains why everyday tasks rarely feel automatic, her brain switches on the moment she wakes up and an exciting plan can become an exhausting commitment.

It’s really about the effort other people don’t see, recognising when you’re running on empty and giving yourself permission to rest. Along the way, there’s a dispute over bedroom boundaries, an unexpectedly deep dive into golf balls and a shared decision that the next activity should probably be a nap.

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Your partner turns up late to a date. Red flag, or ADHD? They correct every tiny detail in your stories. Red flag, or autism? This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox play Red Flag or Neurodivergent, working through ten dating behaviours the internet loves to call toxic and asking what's really going on underneath.

Most of it comes straight from their own relationship. Rox has forgotten their anniversary more than once (one year she apologised with a song on TikTok) and used to go eight hours without a text during songwriting sessions. Rich shuts down mid-argument, corrects her stories because "I don't need to be right, I just need it to be right", and admits he's disgustingly neutral when she's venting about someone who's upset her. They also get honest about a recent wobble where Rox felt Rich didn't fancy her anymore, and how one awkward conversation fixed it.

The takeaway: neurodivergence explains a lot, but it doesn't excuse everything. A partner who listens, talks and adapts is the real green flag.

Get our book THE CHERRY TREE THEORY
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Listen to the audiobook
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This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox sit the Great Adulting Test: 20 questions pulled from Reddit and the internet about what actually makes someone a functional adult, with producer Max keeping score.

Rox lost her licence in her 20s for running red lights, thinks "important mail" means her skincare deliveries, and has 350 unread WhatsApp chats. Rich has never paid a bill late in his life but will not do small talk with strangers, full stop. Neither of them knows their bank balance within £100, and nobody can agree who actually booked the dentist.

It's ADHD vs autism at its most petty, and one of them wins comfortably. Keep score at home and let us know in the comments.

Get our book THE CHERRY TREE THEORY
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Listen to the audiobook
https://linktr.ee/CHERRY.TREE.AUDIOBOOK

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Shame doesn’t say you did something bad. It says you are bad—and that belief can quietly ruin your whole life. This week, Rich and Rox confront ten things they’ve struggled to forgive themselves for, including addiction, debt, divorce, executive dysfunction, parenting mistakes and feeling like they’d wasted their lives.

Rich shares the darkest consequences of his gambling addiction, while Rox opens up about the shame of being unable to manage basic tasks and believing she couldn’t trust herself. It’s raw, occasionally brutal and somehow still funny—because your worst mistake doesn’t have to become your entire identity.

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CHAPTERS
00:00 The difference between shame and guilt
01:38 “I can’t let anybody see how I live”
03:03 “What’s that smell?”
05:03 “My mistakes are unforgivable”
05:50 Rich’s gambling addiction
07:30 Why everyone needs a redemption story
08:13 “I’ve wasted my life”
11:02 “I’ve failed in relationships”
14:03 “I’m a terrible friend”
16:06 Loop Earplugs
17:08 “Why don’t I want to be touched?”
18:40 “I can’t trust myself”
21:27 Being an emotionally unavailable father
23:23 “I’m scared I’m a bad parent”
26:13 Shame about autistic sensitivities
27:41 Final thoughts

You might take the mask off after work—but are you actually taking it off at home? This week, Rich and Rox expose ten ways ADHD and autistic people can still perform around the people they trust most, from saying “I’m fine” and agreeing to plans you secretly dread to hiding sensory overwhelm, exhaustion and chaos.

They talk fake facial expressions, panic-cleaning, apologising for moods that have nothing to do with you and why “I’ll do it later” often means something completely different. It turns out feeling safe enough to be honest can involve more awkward conversations—and fewer forced cuddles.

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The ADHD brain can generate approximately 900 brilliant ideas before breakfast. Finishing one of them is where things get complicated. This week, Rich and Rox share ten ways to harness ADHD creativity without losing the plot, abandoning the project or accidentally bankrupting yourself.

They talk hyperfocus, impossible goals, “dopamine dollars,” building the team your brain is missing and why confidence comes after you start—not before. Rox also discovers she may have leaked the title of another album, which rather proves one of the points.

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CHAPTERS
00:00 ADHD and creativity
02:18 When lightning strikes, run towards it
06:07 Make the goal feel impossible
08:43 Don’t spend your dopamine dollars
10:35 Rox accidentally leaks another album
11:27 Keep your creative project shiny
13:17 Nobody starts confident
15:16 Loop Earplugs
16:22 Build the team your brain is missing
20:54 Don’t become your own bottleneck
23:29 Don’t make permanent decisions in temporary emotions
25:59 Market like you don’t have ADHD
29:45 Don’t bankrupt yourself
33:07 Final thoughts

For years, Rich and Rox told everyone they were "the couple that never argued." Not true anymore. They argue all the time now, they're just better at it. This week they're breaking down exactly how to argue well so it doesn't end in a break-up, using a real recent row of theirs as the case study, plus a few cringe lessons from watching The Ultimatum.

If you're in a relationship, this is the episode you need. Rich and Rox talk through the five rules that stop an argument turning into a breakup: why screaming shuts down all communication, why you can't demand your partner love you the way you love them, why trying to "win" an argument means you've already lost, why calling out your own bullshit disarms a row faster than anything else, and the biggest one, learning to translate what your partner actually means instead of just what they're saying. They also redo one of their worst arguments live, so you can hear exactly what it should have sounded like the first time.

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This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are throwing out the social rulebook and writing their own. Twenty new rules for a world built for ADHD and autistic brains instead of against them — because eye contact shouldn't be mandatory, small talk shouldn't be the default, and nobody should have to lie about liking a haircut.

From compulsory name badges (because nobody with ADHD can remember a name five seconds after hearing it) to abolishing dress codes, banning greetings cards, and introducing a visible social battery indicator so you never again have to mask through a conversation you don't have the capacity for. This episode covers the unspoken rules that make everyday socialising exhausting for neurodivergent people, and what a world built around executive dysfunction, sensory overwhelm, and direct communication could actually look like. Rich and Rox debate arrival windows instead of start times, why "how are you" should be legally binding, why last-minute plans should just be called plans, and why friendship should be measured by depth, not by how often you text back.

If you're ADHD, autistic, AuDHD, or just someone who's ever felt like the current social contract wasn't written with your brain in mind, this is the episode where two neurodivergent adults finally say the quiet part out loud.

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This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox go through ten weirdly specific things that turned out to be ADHD in disguise. Bendy joints, dopamine dressing, owning 12 water bottles for no reason, and not being able to sleep with a ticking clock in the room.

Rox breaks down why she can't tell she's hungry until she's shaking, why a slice of cheese counts as dinner, and why she's started roughly 100 businesses and finished none of them. Rich points out the parts Rox doesn't notice herself doing, including the inner monologue that occasionally becomes an outer monologue in public.

If you've spent your whole life thinking you were just "a bit weird," this one might explain a lot.

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This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox sit down with Dr. Jolene Brighten to talk about something nobody's telling ADHD women — perimenopause doesn't wait until you're 50, and for a lot of you it's already started.

They get into why ADHD women hit perimenopause about a decade earlier than everyone thinks, why doctors keep saying you're "too young" for what your body's already going through, and why you can end up with twice the symptoms and half the answers. Rox also opens up about a period last year that felt like a full breakdown, and what it took to actually find out why.

Grab Dr. Brighten's new book, ADHD & Women: drbrighten.com/adhdandwomen

More from Dr. Brighten:
Website: www.drbrighten.com
Instagram: instagram.com/drjolenebrighten
TikTok: tiktok.com/@drjolenebrighten
Threads: threads.net/@drjolenebrighten

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This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox break down the six types of memory — and why ADHD and autism hit almost every single one in opposite directions.

ADHD struggles hardest with working memory and prospective memory, described as writing on a whiteboard while someone else actively wipes it. But it can come with genuinely excellent semantic and procedural memory, the kind that makes songwriting easier than cleaning the kitchen. Autism runs almost the reverse: strong working, prospective, semantic and episodic memory, but real struggles holding onto the emotion behind a memory, even the painful ones.

They also get into why autistic memory relies entirely on a calm nervous system, and Rox's actual advice if you've got ADHD: assume you have no memory at all, and externalise everything.

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This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are laying down the ten commandments for surviving a world that wasn't built for your brain. No cards, no notes — Rox is running the whole manifesto from memory, which given the memory episode is a bold choice.

Protect your energy like it's gold, master the art of strategic masking, stop apologising for existing, and stop trying to be neurotypical — you'll burn out whilst failing. Plus the coffee-in-bed morning routine they both refuse to let anyone derail, and why being the only "normal" one in your friend group is actually the first warning sign.

If you're exhausted from pretending to be like them, this one's your permission slip to stop.

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This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are asking the question nobody wants to answer honestly — who's actually more empathetic, ADHD or autism? Spoiler: everyone's had it backwards.

They break down the three types of empathy nobody talks about, why Rich's empathy sometimes tips into full-blown overwhelm, and why the "autistic people don't feel empathy" myth needs to die. Rox also drops one of the most quietly devastating stories either of them has shared on the show.

If you've ever wondered whether you're actually empathetic or just anxious and pretending, this one's for you.

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This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are taking apart five pieces of relationship advice everyone treats as gospel — and explaining why they fall apart completely when one or both of you is neurodivergent.

"If they wanted to, they would." "Never go to bed angry." "They should just know." Rox explains why her memory has nothing to do with how much she loves Rich, Rich makes the case for going to bed mid-argument, and the dishwasher gets stacked twice. There's also a birthday story that nearly ends in a domestic.

If you've ever been told your relationship is doing it wrong, this one's for you.

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This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are doing something different. Ten neurodivergent hot takes, controversial questions, and genuinely unpopular opinions — and they're trying really hard not to get cancelled in the process.

Is masking always bad? Is self-diagnosis valid? Is the autism spectrum too big? They go there. All of it. And they don't always agree.

Fair warning — some of these will make you uncomfortable. That's kind of the point...

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This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are getting into RSD — rejection sensitivity dysphoria. The thing that's been quietly ruining lives for decades and most people don't even know it has a name.

If you've ever spiralled over a text that says "we need to chat," catastrophised before walking on stage, or spent years replaying every embarrassing moment you've ever had, this one's for you. 

Rich brings the therapy science, Rox brings the Reddit, and between them they've got 10 tips that actually help.

It gets honest. It gets funny. And it might just explain a lot.

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Rich and Rox are going there this week. If your sex life has taken a hit since an ADHD diagnosis, or you've always wondered why intimacy feels so much harder than it should. This one is for you.

They're breaking down the four big reasons ADHD kills your sex life: the shame spiral that starts with a messy bedroom, the brain that never switches off, the energy that's completely gone by the end of the day, and the resentment that quietly builds between partners. And then they're giving you the four fixes that actually work.

No toxic positivity. No generic relationship advice. Just Rich and Rox being honest about what's gone wrong for them and what's actually helped.

Fair warning — it gets real. But it ends in a good place.

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This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich has had enough of autism misconceptions, so Rich and Rox are going through the top ten myths one by one and busting them wide open. Rich didn't know what was coming. That's kind of the point.

From "autistic people can't feel empathy" to "sensory issues are just being difficult" to the big one — is autism being overdiagnosed — this episode covers a lot of ground. Rich talks about what it actually feels like to have emotions on the inside that nobody can see on the outside, why flip flops are genuinely the enemy, and why the label "high functioning" needs to go in the bin.

If you've ever had to explain your autism to someone who thinks they already know what it looks like, this one's for you. And remember if you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person...

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This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are sharing the ADHD hacks that actually work — not the "just set an alarm" nonsense, the real ones. Ten tried and tested strategies pulled straight from their actual life together.

From setting timers in seconds instead of minutes, to the lesser of two evils trick, body doubling, and why buying a nice water bottle is genuinely a productivity hack — this one is packed. Rox also admits she still doesn't notice when Rich is using the hacks on her. Which honestly says it all.

If your brain makes every task feel like a mountain, this episode is for you.

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Rich and Rox are doing something different this week.Rich and Rox are doing something different this week. Instead of talking about the hard stuff, they're talking about the good stuff — the 10 strengths and superpowers that come with a neurodivergent brain.

They've each picked five for the other one, and honestly some of them will surprise you. From hyperfocus and pattern recognition to crisis calm and deep empathy, this episode is a reminder that your brain isn't just a problem to manage.

Fair warning though — they're not pretending it's all sunshine. If you're in the thick of it right now, they see you. But if you're ready to hear the other side, this one's worth your time.

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Rich and Rox are back in the Reddit hole.Rich and Rox are back in the Reddit hole. This week it's 20 ways ADHD brains chase dopamine, and Rox sits through every single one like a woman being personally investigated.

Research spirals that end in never booking the holiday, new hobbies that become your entire personality for three weeks, starting a fresh business to avoid doing anything on the current one. All of it is here, all of it is too real.

Score yourself in the comments. Rox got 20 out of 20 and is soooo fine about it...

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You've just been diagnosed with ADHD or autism — now what? In this episode, Rich and Rox walk through the 10 emotional stages of life after a late diagnosis: the surreal moment everything starts to make sense, the relief-and-grief whiplash, the identity crisis (what's me vs. what's neurodivergent?), and the painful truth that a diagnosis doesn't fix you — and can even make things worse before it gets better.

The episode lands where their work always does: how to move from "what's wrong with me?" to self-understanding, and rebuild a life that works with your brain.

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This week, Rich shares 10 “weird” things he always thought were just part of his personality… that actually turned out to be autism.

From struggling with eye contact to leaving parties early, needing space, and even things like rubbing his feet together — we break down the small, everyday behaviours that didn’t seem like anything at the time, but make a lot more sense now.

It’s a funny, honest, and really accessible conversation about what autism can actually look like in real life. Whether you’re diagnosed, questioning, or just trying to understand someone you love — this one might help you see things a little differently.

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It's neurotype warfare, mop in hand. Rox (ADHD) and Rich (autism) go ten rounds on how they actually clean — from anxiety-fuelled 20-minute panic tidies to methodical "do not make a mess" warnings issued two days in advance. Expect dog wipes used on kitchen counters, sitting on the floor reading old birthday cards instead of cleaning, and at least one threat of being attacked with your own laundry.

Producer Max judges. Vibes decide. It ends, inevitably, in rock paper scissors.

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In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rox opens up about her perimenopause journey — from her very first symptoms at to recently starting HRT. She talks honestly about the brain fog that felt like being underwater, the exhaustion nothing could fix, and the moment she was convinced her life was over.

They unpack why perimenopause hits ADHD women harder, why nobody warned us this was coming, and the year Rox left her HRT unopened in the cupboard out of fear. Plus the male doctor who tried to talk her out of taking it.

Then comes the turnaround. Eight weeks into HRT, Rox describes getting her life back — her sleep, her energy, her confidence, her creativity. If you've been feeling weird in your body and wondering what's wrong with you, this one is for you.

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This week, we’re talking about THE ADHD DIET — 10 simple, evidence-backed ways that what you eat can actually impact your ADHD symptoms. From protein and blood sugar to hydration, vitamins and ultra-processed food, we break down the changes that can make the biggest difference (without overcomplicating it).

But… in true LATE BLOOMERS fashion, we’re not exactly smashing it. From Monster-for-breakfast confessions to scoring ourselves a very questionable 3/10, this episode is as real as it gets. Because knowing what helps and actually doing it are two very different things.

If you’ve ever struggled with energy crashes, sugar cravings, or just feeding yourself consistently — this one’s for you. Start small, pick one or two things, and see what happens. No perfection, no pressure… just progress.

For years, I misunderstood the person I love. I thought silence meant disconnection. I thought bluntness was rudeness. I thought a lack of reaction meant a lack of care. I didn’t realise I was filtering everything through my own lens… and getting it completely wrong.

In this episode, we break down 10 behaviours that are often misunderstood in autism — from shutdowns and needing plans, to missing hints and showing love differently. What I once saw as rejection, control, or distance… was actually overwhelm, honesty, and care.

This changed our relationship. Less blame, more understanding. Less shame, more compassion. If you’ve ever felt confused, hurt, or unsure how to read someone you love — this one might change everything.

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This week, it’s ADHD vs Autism: Work Edition… but make it a full-blown competition.

Rich vs Rox go head to head through deadlines, meetings, burnout, vague instructions and more — with Max judging each round and deciding who wins.

It’s chaotic. It’s competitive. It makes absolutely no sense at times.

Will logic win? Will vibes win?
 And most importantly… will this format survive?

In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox are calling time on the idea that you’re “behind.” From failed careers to addiction, debt, and starting again in their late 30s and 40s, they break down why everything you’ve been through might actually be your biggest advantage.

They share 10 powerful reasons why starting late hits different — from resilience and self-awareness to having nothing left to prove and everything left to gain. It’s honest, a bit chaotic, and full of moments that will make you rethink your entire timeline.

If you feel like you’ve missed your chance, this is your reminder: you haven’t. You’re not late. You’re in your comeback era.

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In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox dive into one of the most important (and uncomfortable) skills you’ll ever learn — boundaries. If you’ve ever said yes when you meant no, felt responsible for everyone else’s emotions, or ended up burnt out from being “too nice,” this one is for you.

They break down the signs of weak boundaries, why people pleasing feels like kindness, and why setting boundaries can feel so physically and emotionally difficult — especially for ADHD and highly empathetic brains. Expect honest stories, tough truths, and a few moments that might hit a little too close to home.

Most importantly, they show you how to start building boundaries in a way that actually works. Simple, practical, and real. Because you’re not selfish for protecting your energy — you’re finally taking your life back.

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This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox get brutally honest about money — from £40,000 of debt, unpaid bills, and having the electricity cut off, to finally building a life that feels stable and safe. This isn’t financial advice from experts who’ve always had it together — it’s from people who’ve lived the chaos and found a way out.

Instead of trying to “fix” themselves, they share the 10 rules that actually work for ADHD brains — rules built on honesty, not discipline. From banning credit cards to automating everything, this episode flips traditional money advice on its head and shows how to protect yourself from your own patterns.

It’s raw, funny, and genuinely life-changing. If you’ve ever felt ashamed of your finances, stuck in cycles of overspending, or convinced you’re “just bad with money” — this episode will show you a completely different way forward.

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Why does small talk feel so awkward? Why is eye contact so confusing? And why does honesty sometimes get labelled as “rude”? In this episode, Rox and Rich unpack the invisible social rulebook that everyone seems to follow… except no one ever actually explains it.

Together they break down 10 unwritten social rules – from small talk and eye contact to reading between the lines, texting expectations, and the pressure to “be polite.” They explore why these rules often feel confusing, exhausting, or even completely illogical for ADHD and autistic people.

If you’ve ever felt like socialising is a game everyone else somehow learned the rules to, this episode will make you feel seen. Rox and Rich challenge the idea that neurodivergent people are “bad at social skills” and ask a bigger question: what if the rules themselves are the problem?

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Why does autism crave routine… while ADHD resists it? In this episode, we unpack the tension between structure and novelty — from airport plans and to-do lists to brushing your teeth and avoiding life via a “productive” bath. One brain feels safe with certainty. The other feels trapped by it.

We talk about autistic anxiety, ADHD dopamine, executive dysfunction, and the shame of not sticking to routines — especially when you desperately want to.

Most importantly, we share what’s actually helped us: anchors instead of strict schedules, flexibility inside structure, and how to build a life that works for both brains. 💛

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Does the world ever feel too loud, too bright, or just… too much? In this episode, we’re diving into sensory overload from both the ADHD and autistic perspective. From squeaky pens and big lights to food textures, shouty music, and sweaty feet (yes, really), we share the everyday things that send our nervous systems into meltdown.

We also talk about masking, diagnosis, and what happens when you finally give yourself permission to stop forcing your way through discomfort. Why do certain sounds or textures feel physically painful? Why does everything suddenly feel more intense after diagnosis? And how do these sensory struggles impact your work, relationships, and mental health?

Most importantly, we explore how understanding your sensory needs can change your life — and your relationships. Because once you know what overwhelms you, you can start building a calmer, safer, more neurodivergent-friendly world around you. 💛

In this episode, we’re breaking down the 5 neurodivergent love languages — and no, they’re not about flowers or candlelit dinners. For ADHD and autistic brains, real romance often looks like doing the dishes, booking appointments, or taking the hard stuff off your partner’s plate. 

We talk about handling life admin, decoding confusing social situations, supporting each other’s special interests, and why creating calm (yes, including a clean kitchen) can be more powerful than chemistry. It’s practical, honest, and surprisingly life-changing.

We also share our favourite: building a “weird world” together. A relationship where you don’t have to mask, pretend, or fit in — just feel safe, understood, and loved exactly as you are. 💛

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In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox take on people pleasing head-on and introduce 10 real-life challenges designed to interrupt the habits that keep you putting everyone else first. They talk honestly about how people pleasing shows up day to day — over-explaining, apologising unnecessarily, saying yes when you mean no, and managing other people’s emotions at your own expense.

They walk through the discomfort that comes with breaking these patterns, including the guilt, anxiety, and fear of being seen as rude, selfish, or difficult. Rich and Rox share personal examples of how deeply ingrained these behaviours are, where they came from, and why “being nice” often costs far more than we realise.

This episode isn’t about becoming cold or uncaring — it’s about learning to tolerate discomfort, stop abandoning yourself, and practice choosing your needs without justification. If you’re exhausted from overgiving, overthinking, and constantly putting yourself last, this is your rehab.

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In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox talk about what it really means to unlearn normal after growing up ADHD and autistic in a world built around rules that were never designed for their brains. 

They reflect on the expectations they were taught to follow — around discipline, behaviour, productivity, emotional control, and “trying harder” — and how those rules quietly shaped their sense of self.They break down the rules they internalised growing up: being told to sit still, cope quietly, make eye contact, push through discomfort, and behave “appropriately.” Rules that were framed as character-building, but instead led to masking, shame, burnout, and the belief that something was fundamentally wrong with them.

This episode is about recognising those rules for what they were, questioning whether they ever deserved authority in the first place, and beginning the process of letting them go. Not to become someone new — but to finally stop forcing themselves to be someone they were never meant to be.

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In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rox talks openly about going into burnout for the second time — and how this one crept up after things were finally going well. After launching the podcast, releasing her debut album, touring, writing a children’s book, running ADHD Love, and stacking her diary with self-imposed deadlines, she explains how momentum turned into pressure and rest slowly disappeared.

Rox and Rich unpack the warning signs she ignored along the way: telling herself she was “just tired,” flooding the bathroom twice by leaving the tap on, and pushing through weeks with no gaps at all. When they finally stopped and went on holiday, the burnout fully hit. Rox describes crying every day, feeling overwhelming shame, and experiencing burnout as a deadening of the spirit — where the world no longer looks blue, just grey.

Things intensify when Rox has to go on tour alone, terrified she won’t be able to do her job. She shares how she survived by switching into performance mode, crashing afterwards, and slowly realising that burnout didn’t come from failure — it came from pushing too hard for too long. This episode is an honest look at ADHD burnout, self-imposed pressure, and the real cost of always pushing through.

In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox talk honestly about what actually happens after you’re diagnosed autistic or ADHD. The relief. The grief. The anger. The validation. The spiral. The moments where your entire past suddenly makes sense — and the moments where that realisation hurts like hell.

They walk through the five emotional stages many people experience after a late diagnosis, from the initial shock of finding out, to replaying your childhood with new eyes, to questioning your identity, relationships, and every label you’ve ever been given. This is about the unmasking that follows, the confusion of not knowing who you are without survival mode, and the slow process of learning to meet yourself with compassion instead of shame.

This episode is for anyone who thought a diagnosis would bring instant peace — and instead found themselves grieving, reprocessing, and rebuilding. If you’re somewhere in the aftershock, this conversation will help you feel less alone and a little more grounded in what comes next.

In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox open up about what it really takes to become a content creator when you’re starting from nothing. No shortcuts. No overnight success. Just the uncomfortable, unglamorous truth they learned by doing it the hard way.

They talk about posting into the void, embracing cringe, being seen by friends and family, consistency when no one is watching, and why most people quit long before anything works. Rich and Rox share how they built momentum by showing up repeatedly, learning in public, and focusing on connection rather than perfection.

This episode breaks down what actually matters when starting online, why your first content will probably be bad (and why that’s normal), how to think long-term instead of chasing quick wins, and how to keep going when growth feels painfully slow.

If you want to become a content creator but feel stuck, embarrassed, or overwhelmed by where to begin, this episode gives you a realistic starting point and the confidence to press post anyway.

This week on LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox finally talk about the moment everything shifted. Rich has been diagnosed autistic as an adult.

For the first time, they break down what the diagnosis unlocked. All the years Rich was called rude, blunt, quiet or detached. All the childhood rituals and intense interests that made perfect sense in hindsight. All the internal emotions he felt but never showed on his face. All the moments Rox misread him, thinking he was miserable, uninterested or distant. And the strange relief of finally having language for traits that were there the whole time, hiding in plain sight.

From masking to overwhelm to years of being misunderstood, this is an honest, funny and emotional look at what adult autism really feels like when you finally get the answers you’ve been missing.

New year energy hits different when you have a neurodivergent brain. In this first LATE BLOOMERS episode of 2026, Rich and Rox pull apart everything that makes traditional New Year’s resolutions confusing, overwhelming or downright impossible for ADHD and neurodivergent people.

From sensory based habits to special interest powered routines to making goals that won’t burn you out by February, this is the alternative guide to building a life that actually works for your brain.

Packed with honesty, humour and practical tools, this episode will help you understand why you have struggled in past years and give you realistic strategies to make this one feel different.

If you want a gentler happier more sustainable approach to the new year, this one is for you.

In this deeply personal Christmas episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rich sits down with Rox—aka “the Grinch”—to unpack the real story behind her decades-long struggle with Christmas. What starts as a festive chat quickly becomes an honest, emotional journey through grief, trauma, family estrangement, alcoholism, shock, and the impossible pressure to feel joyful when your whole world has collapsed.

Rox opens up about losing her mum and grandad within days of each other, navigating her dad’s long-term affair, spending Christmases alone in a basement flat with cider and a microwave dinner, the years of numbing, running, self-injury, and trying—and failing—to hold it all together. She also shares the complicated love of still wanting your dad, the devastation of being blocked, and the strange relief that comes when a door finally closes.

But this isn’t just darkness. Rich and Rox trace the long road back: therapy breakthroughs, sobriety, chosen family, stepchildren, new traditions (including the legendary New Year’s Eve Fairy), and the slow, unexpected return of seasonal joy.

If you find Christmas overwhelming, lonely, painful, or loaded with memories you can’t hold by yourself, this episode is for you.

In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox dive into the biggest flops, failures, and f*ck-ups of their lives — the ones that embarrassed them, humbled them, shaped them, and ultimately set them on the path they’re on today.

Rich talks about giving up a near-pro golf trajectory at 15, two divorces by 32, and the gambling addiction that wiped out everything he had — and the gratitude and perspective that came on the other side of it. Rox shares the pain of taking down her first single after it “flopped,” the unopened post, the money chaos, and the shame stories she carried for years before learning to ask for help.

Together they explore how these moments cracked them open, forced accountability, and led to therapy, sobriety, self-awareness, and the life they’re living now.

It’s honest, hilarious, and painfully relatable — a reminder that everyone’s got failures, but it’s what you do with them that turns your life around.

In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox open up the vault on the beliefs we were 100% convinced were true… and turned out to be absolute delusion. From teenage confidence that made no sense, to “I can definitely handle this” addiction logic, to dating fantasies, career myths, people-pleasing lies, and the stories we told ourselves just to survive — we unpack the wild, hilarious, and sometimes heartbreaking things we genuinely believed.

It’s raw, it’s ridiculous, it’s shockingly relatable — and it’s a reminder that being wrong about your life doesn’t make you a failure. It makes you human. And very often, it makes you free.

If you’ve ever looked back at an old version of yourself and thought, “Oh God… I really believed that?” — this one is for you.

In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox dive into the ten ridiculous, chaotic, painfully relatable ways neurodivergent brains wreck an entire night — often before we’ve even made it to bed.

From doomscrolling and anxious overthinking to sofa naps, Netflix loops, gaming, temperature drama, rumination spirals, and that dreaded “big day tomorrow” insomnia, they break down why bedtime always feels like a boss level we can’t beat.

It’s funny, honest, and deeply familiar to anyone whose brain refuses to shut up at night. A comfort episode for every neurodivergent night owl who is trying their best — and still ends up wide awake at 2:47am wondering how the hell this keeps happening.

In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox dive into the weirdly specific joys that light up neurodivergent brains. From the thrill of a forgotten parcel delivery to the bliss of a fresh pair of socks, they explore the tiny, random, wonderful things that hit like pure dopamine.

They cover everything from candle aisles, bookshop wandering, escape rooms, snack obsessions, and “main character” music-video walks, to productivity highs, cosy rituals, and the deep comfort of doing things with your people.

Along the way, they unpack the differences between Rox’s ADHD dopamine-chasing chaos and Rich’s autistic joy in structure, ritual, and sensory delight. It’s a warm, funny, deeply relatable tour through the little moments that make neurodivergent life feel magical, meaningful, and sometimes absolutely unhinged — in the best way.

In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox finally talk about unmasking — pretending to be someone you’re not, pretending to be neurotypical, pretending you’re fine, and pretending you don’t have needs. Rich shares how his old mask looked like being the “life and soul of the party,” hyper-masculine and always social, while Rox talks about hiding chaos, messy flats, people-pleasing, fawning, and lying about things like lateness out of shame.

They explore why neurodivergent people mask — to fit in, avoid rejection, and feel acceptable — and the cost of it: exhaustion, anxiety, overwhelm, and relationships where the real you is never seen. Rich and Rox share personal moments of overstimulation, needing quiet rooms, crying, mouldy cups, chaotic homes, and acting through fear of being “caught out.”

They also talk about how unmasking takes time, feels awkward, and starts with small truths shared with the safest person. And even though it’s scary, they show why it leads to more connection, more honesty, and finally being known for who you really are.

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