We had the pleasure of hearing from Tahirah Yasin, a qualified psychotherapist with dyslexia. Diagnosed late in life, she had a negative view of dyslexia, which impacted her self-esteem, productivity, and happiness.
In this talk, we chat about strategies Tahirah implements with herself and her clients. She takes us on a journey through her life and transition to a more healthy relationship with her dyslexia.
We had several key takeaways and enjoyed some personal stories from Natalie and Tahirah (If you are a Hive Member, you can find the recording in our resource vault). Today we will give a brief overview of Tahirah's main points!
Making the mental shift from negative to positive: Learning about dyslexia and what the actual lived experience is like for you (not what the books say) will give you a more realistic sense of yourself.
Challenge v. Strength: Focusing on seeing and accepting both the strengths and the challenges of dyslexia. Most dyslexics see the difficulties that dyslexia creates but do not accept them. Accepting dyslexic struggles allows you to accept your strengths and create a more balanced mental state.
Trust the Process: More importantly, trust in yourself. There is a core instinctive part of each dyslexic that keeps on pushing forward even when things feel impossible.
Find Balance: Years of dyslexia create overcompensation and expectation of what prepared looks like that are out of balance with others. We often go into situations thinking we are going to be crap or underprepared, but the reality is we are often more than fine.
Pace yourself: Know that you will have to go at your own pace in everything you do. Whenever you struggle with how slow a task is taking, remind yourself I can only go as fast as I can, and try to move past the frustration with yourself.
The first version is not the last: You will repeatedly fail or not meet your expectations. That is normal (for everyone), rely on your dyslexic determination, and you will succeed.
Practice getting over it: Do you make a mistake and find yourself dwelling on it for days? Talk to yourself, and remind yourself that you will get over it. At first, it might take a long time to move on from the mistake, but the more you practice, the better you will get a letting go.
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