In 2024, I completed two big passion projects: publishing the ADHD Success Planner and successfully completing Everesting 29029 on Stratton Mountain in Vermont. The facts, briefly.

I wrote the ADHD Success Planner: Your Simple Guide to Boost Productivity with Less Stress because I want all folks with ADHD to know that better planning and prioritizing is possible - and it starts with thinking of it as self-care. This was my first ebook and I love it.

I climbed my Everest of 29,029 feet on Stratton in about 30 hours (including breaks). It totaled 17 trips up, each 1.3 miles long, and nearly 2000 vertical feet.

I am so proud of these accomplishments. I put tons of energy, focus and hard work into both. While they were very different in nature, they share some common threads.

First, meaningful goals require hard work, perseverance, and resilience. We all know this, but it still deserves saying out loud! For the Everesting challenge, I followed a pretty grueling 20-week training plan. At times, it was a real slog, including several 8-hour hikes and endless stair-climbing sessions at Planet Fitness. Writing the Success Planner was a different kind of slog. The ebook reads simply and cleanly because I incorporated A LOT of feedback—first from early readers and then from ADHDers who test-drove the system for me.

Second, community support deserves a shout out. The community support I had while writing and editing (over and over!) the ADHD Success Planner was vital to its success, and my sanity. And Everesting 29029 also had a vibrant online community throughout the training process that built connection. During the event itself, the volunteers were incredible cheerleaders and caretakers, and the climbers genuinely supported one another’s success. Even a solo event like this one feels like a team sport when you think about it.

Third, and most importantly, both of these passion projects align with purpose. As someone with an adult ADHD diagnosis, I am on a mission to spread the word that planning and prioritizing can be easier and are acts of self-care. I care deeply that ADHDers don’t feel judged when trying a new tool. I worked hard for that spirit to permeate this ebook.

Climbing Stratton demonstrated my evolving relationship with fitness and exercise. I’m intentional about finding new fitness challenges that suit me at this stage in life. There are so many options for health, vibrancy and engagement. I want women of all ages to know and live into that realization in ways that make sense for them. Exercise is probably the most important tool we have for improving both physical and mental health. It is profound self-care.

Writing this blog reminds me that self-care is the common thread running through both of my 2024 passion projects. Whether it was climbing 29029 feet or creating a tool to help ADHDers, both were about purpose, passion and well-being—not just for me, but for others, too. I’m inspired to carry this mindset into whatever comes next.