As it’s the 1st of October, I wanted to spend a bit of time reviewing, reflecting and thinking about where I am.

I really enjoy dictating and creating content. I’m not sure what my younger self would have thought if somebody had told me that, in my 40s, I would be sitting in my office, or even sitting in a bedroom, dictating articles and ideas into my phone.

When I think back to school, I remember being given my first laptop with IBM speech recognition. I had to read words into it just to try to get the dictation working, and even then it rarely worked properly.

Of course, I was sitting in a noisy classroom with a little flimsy microphone with two jack sockets, one for the headphones and one for the microphone.

Today, I have more computing power in my phone and in the cloud than I could ever have imagined back then.

Technology has changed enormously.

But some of the challenges haven’t disappeared.

When you’re neurodiverse, there can be differences and difficulties that you deal with every single day. Not being able to decode words as easily. Not reading as quickly as everyone else. Struggling with spelling. Losing your train of thought. Becoming frustrated when something that appears simple to somebody else feels incredibly difficult to you.

Then sometimes another layer develops around that.

You become overwhelmed. You become stressed. Anxiety creeps in. Your confidence changes. Your mental health becomes part of the picture.

That outer shell can sometimes become just as difficult as the original difference itself.

It’s been over a year since some life-changing events happened for me personally, and nearly five years since another huge change happened within our family.

October is always an interesting month.

We have Dyslexia Awareness Week, Dyslexia Awareness Month, Baby Loss Awareness Week, half term, family memories and everything else that life brings.

And somehow, there are now only three months left of 2026.

That makes you stop and think.

Getting back in front of the camera

If you’ve watched the video at the top of this article, you’ll also have seen me doing something that still isn’t particularly comfortable for me.

Video.

I’m still not a massive fan of recording myself.

Maybe part of that is because I still don’t feel completely well.

Behind the scenes, I still have difficult days. There are days when getting out of bed is difficult. There are days when I have to stop. There are days when things simply don’t happen.

That is one of the reasons I created something I call Permission to Park.

Sometimes you have to give yourself permission to park something.

Not give up.

Not abandon it.

Just recognise that today might not be the right day for it.

That is becoming an important part of the way I think about understanding ourselves. Understanding what we can do, what we need, when we need support and when we simply need to stop.

Starting to build again

At the beginning of September, I started another journey around developing my personal brand again.

Over the last few weeks, the amount I’ve been able to create, develop and explore has been incredible.

Artificial intelligence has moved unbelievably quickly, and for somebody like me, the possibilities around accessibility, creativity, communication and turning ideas into something tangible are fascinating.

But as I sit here writing this article and reviewing where I am, I also have to be realistic.

Am I where I thought I would be in life?

No.

Am I in a better place than I thought I would be?

Yes.

Do I hope I’ll be in an even better place by the end of October?

Absolutely.

Will there probably be difficult moments this month?

Yes.

Will something potentially knock me backwards?

Probably.

That is life.

What I want to concentrate on during October is the positive movement. Taking opportunities when they appear, continuing to learn and allowing myself to grow personally as well as professionally.

For me, that means:

• taking opportunities rather than automatically finding reasons not to;
• continuing to rebuild my confidence;
• accepting that some days will be more productive than others;
• giving myself permission to park things when I need to;
• continuing to challenge some of my own barriers; and
• remembering that moving forward doesn’t always mean moving quickly.

The perception of other people

One of the hardest barriers can be our perception of what other people think about us.

How do people perceive me?

Is that perception positive?

Is it negative?

Have I done something wrong?

Do they like what I’m doing?

For many neurodiverse people, that negative voice can become incredibly loud.

It certainly has for me.

Many years ago, I found criticism and negativity extremely difficult. I still find it difficult today, but I understand it better than I did.

There is a moment from Harry Potter that has stayed with me for years. Dumbledore says something to Hagrid along the lines that if he wanted universal approval, he would have to stay in his office forever.

That idea has always stuck with me.

Because, in many ways, that was where I had ended up.

Not literally all the time, but emotionally.

For quite a while, I had stopped putting my head above the parapet.

Now I’m slowly starting to peek my head outside the office again.

A very different Dyslexia Awareness Week

Next week is Dyslexia Awareness Week.

This time last year, I was in a very different place.

I was depressed. I didn’t really have anything planned. I wasn’t particularly visible and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next.

It wasn’t until towards the end of October that the original idea for See Differently. started developing.

What that idea was then and what it is becoming now are two very different things.

Today, See Differently. is developing into a Visionary Studio built around business, education and life.

Where will it eventually go?

I don’t completely know.

And perhaps I don’t need to know yet.

The most important thing for me is that I want to share knowledge, experience and understanding. I want to create things that provide genuine value and hopefully help people understand themselves, their businesses, education and the world around them differently.

Of course, I also need to make a living.

I’m doing that through consultancy work that I genuinely enjoy, alongside developing new ideas, resources, frameworks and opportunities.

Building anything is difficult.

Rebuilding yourself while you’re doing it can be even harder.

Keep moving forward

One thing I keep coming back to is the idea of moving forward.

Despite our differences.

Despite difficult mental health days.

Despite setbacks.

Despite other people’s perceptions.

Despite the plans that don’t quite work.

Moving forward doesn’t mean that every single day has to be successful.

Some days you might move forward a mile.

Some days you might move forward an inch.

Some days the achievement might simply be staying where you are rather than moving backwards.

And occasionally, you might need permission to park.

But there will also be days when you realise just how far you’ve already come.

That is what I’m taking into October.

More understanding.

More opportunities.

More personal growth.

And continuing to move forward.

If you want to stay connected, have a look at the new See Differently. website and follow what I’m building over the next few months.

And if something I’ve talked about here connects with where you are at the moment and you’d like to have a conversation, you can book a free discovery call with me:

https://arransmith.co.uk/discovery-call/

Different perspectives. Stronger understanding.

First published on LinkedIn.

Arran SmithaslsmithEdit Profile