Lockdown is Life
2020-03-31T20:16:07+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Attitude, Autistic, Change, Die Happy, Faith, Fear, Happiness, intention, Takiwātanga, Uncategorized, World Domination|Tags: Autistic, happiness, language, lockdown|4 Comments
Disclaimer: Staying home saves lives. Do what you need to do to get through this: for some people that will mean cleaning, for some that will mean creating, and for some that will mean sleeping, eating, or gaming. There’s no [...]
The Other Side
2020-01-21T16:07:53+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Uncategorized|0 Comments
You say yes; then you figure it out. Because when you know, just know, that you’re making a difference, it stops becoming a choice. Fear doesn’t get to be a reason to say no. The door opens; you go [...]
Welcome to Shutdown
2020-04-22T14:39:29+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Autistic|Tags: Autistic, Shutdown, Takiwātanga|4 Comments
The last time this happened, I lost a summer. The longest was nine months or so. At least I have a word for it now. Before my diagnosis, I thought of it as me being “weak/useless/wrecking everything” (ha, I [...]
Counting Down to APAC19
2020-04-22T14:38:39+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Autistic, conference, Faith, Fear, Fizzy, Public Speaking, Takiwātanga, Thank you|0 Comments
Counting down to the Asia Pacific Autism Conference🌱 I'm juggling the last deadlines and projects before we leave. The mission now? Memorise my speech, and forget everything else - forget that the 1800 strong conference is sold out, forget [...]
Does This Candy Make Me Look Autistic?
2020-04-22T14:38:57+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Faith, jellybeans, The Jelly Bean Crisis, Uncategorized|Tags: candy, diagnosis, The Jelly Bean Crisis|1 Comment
22 April is Jellybean Day. Any excuse to talk candy! A friend sent me an article about a late-diagnosed Autistic, and this part jumped out at me: "Emma's childhood was marked by odd behaviours that concerned her mother, but were dismissed [...]
It’s World Autism Month!
2019-04-04T22:16:47+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Autistic, Make a Difference, Uncategorized|Tags: Autism, Takiwātanga, Tip|0 Comments
It's kind of silly because we're Autistic every month, but kind of awesome because it puts a (red or gold) light on - even just for 30 days. Here's my tip: you can't tell who's who by looking. Autism isn't [...]
Diagnosis for Grown Ups (Maybe)
2019-02-28T21:09:21+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Anatomy of, Autistic, Change, Die Happy, how to do anything, intention, Takiwātanga, Why|Tags: diagnosis, doctor, know yourself, quiz, Takiwātanga|1 Comment
Alarms are going off. Maybe someone says something and you brush it off. At first. Maybe you see a character that resonates, read a book that clicks. Maybe it's someone else's diagnosis. A friend. A family member. Your child. So, [...]
Shiny
2018-12-30T21:10:18+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Change, Faith, Fizzy, Thank you|Tags: shiny|0 Comments
Have you seen it? In the shops, in the streets, on the screens? Everything is so. Bloody. Shiny. Don't get me wrong - it's beautiful. Mesmerising. Twinkling. But exhausting. I've been out more than usual the last month or so [...]
Autistic girls in the wild
2018-11-30T09:24:23+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Anatomy of, Jawbreaker, Powers, Uncategorized|Tags: Autism, Out, Takiwātanga|0 Comments
The autistic female. If she makes eye contact, connects socially, and -shock horror- smiles; how do you spot her? When I was diagnosed, I started reading everything. Stories, studies, stats. The word 'autism' made me flinch, I had very little understanding of what [...]
The Right Answer
2018-11-08T18:43:01+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Fear, Public Speaking|Tags: Overwhelm, Questions, Truth, Weird|0 Comments
How are you? Really? I'm currently a million things and I've now got less than two seconds to decipher which one you want. This on top of knowing that I can only tell the truth, and I need to protect [...]
Catch fire
2018-10-16T20:55:56+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Attitude, goals, Motivation, Uncategorized|Tags: Kick Ass, Motivation, Shutdown|0 Comments
Here's the thing about being sick, shutdown, out of action, or otherwise forcibly paused; it sets you on fire. On fire to be, do, or have anything. Who knows how long you've got until the next time? So, you have to [...]
Why can’t it just be about the skating?
2018-09-12T23:34:51+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Army, Cake, Change, Feel Good, Happiness, Honesty, intention, Uncategorized, World Domination|Tags: be happy, people stuff, Skating, the game|0 Comments
This line in I, Tonya so perfectly describes for me the frustration of being judged by your ability to fit in, rather than your ability to do the work. In the scene, Tonya is frustrated at being blocked for success in [...]
Guest Blog
2018-12-30T20:34:57+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Guest post, Happiness, jellybeans, The Jelly Bean Crisis|Tags: choices, Guest Post, Jelly Beans, Winegums|0 Comments
I'm guest posting over at Shelley Workinger's blog, But What Are They Eating? Confession time: The original candy in The Jelly Bean Crisis wasn't jellybeans. I changed the candy to jellybeans to tailor the book to my American agent / audience. [...]
Words, fire, sound (or something else?)
2018-08-29T22:54:05+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Art, Dream, Uncategorized|Tags: art, choices, medium, wiritng|0 Comments
For me, being an artist is a kind of crushing necessity. There's no quenching it, no dealing with it. It's never over; it just is. Like dreaming, like breathing. It has to be. It's not logical - this making something [...]
The edge of everything
2018-08-22T20:46:33+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Army, Faith, Happiness, Make a Difference, Thank you, Win-Win-Win-Win|Tags: Change, Strategy, Thank you|0 Comments
Ohhh, guys I had such a beautiful meeting. The kind where we all got teary and goosebumpy. The kind where we laughed and clicked and made plans to change the world. Perfect timing, synchronicity, serendipity.This is what happens when you put [...]
Awesomeness as Side Effect
2018-08-07T20:59:37+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Kryptonite, Uncategorized|Tags: Side Effect, Strategy|0 Comments
I never say I can’t. Not never never. But hardly ever. Really, what is ‘can’t’? Physically cannot? But I can. Emotionally cannot? But I can. I believe anything is possible. There is no can’t. (But should I?) Last week I [...]
The After.
2018-07-29T13:10:46+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Change, Fear, Public Speaking, TEDx, Thank you|Tags: Brave, Change, Kick Ass, Make a Difference, Public Speaking, TEDx, Thank you|0 Comments
I'm coming out of the haze. I'm sleeping hard and often, I'm sick. I'm scared and I'm proud. That. Actually. Happened. That thing where I spoke at a sold out TEDx event and people laughed and they cried. Where I got [...]
Brave is the New Black
2018-07-22T22:38:26+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Change, Public Speaking|Tags: Change, Die Happy, Make a Difference, Public Speaking, TEDx|0 Comments
Hi guys. I’ve been heading towards this for a while. Little bits of me breaking loose and rooting down. It’s going to be hard. And scary. And public. But it’s also important. And necessary. Suddenly I get it: I made it. I’m a grown up [...]
Squeeze out every sparkle
2017-02-20T10:07:11+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Inspiring, Make a Difference, Public Speaking, Thank you|Tags: business, Inspire, Thank you|0 Comments
I wanted to write a quick FB post thanking (some of!) the women in my life for International Women’s Day. Then it got longer and longer. And longer. And hatched into a blog post. So I'm here! (Probably a sign [...]
Wip It Good
2018-07-22T22:37:08+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: WIP, writing|Tags: goals, WIP, writing|0 Comments
November 1. For me, this month isn't about one particular WIP (Work In Progress). I'm using it as an opportunity to take stock, catch up, and get clear on what's next. I have -literally- a cupoard full of scraps and [...]
Come for the Giggles, Stay for the Ists.
2018-07-22T22:36:26+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Change, how to do anything|Tags: Change, how to do anything, Inspiring, Intention, Joy, Kick Ass, Make a Difference, Powers, Superhero|0 Comments
Here's the story: A Nobel Prize winning scientist commented that "Three things happen when they [women] are in the lab: you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticise them they cry.” Now, [...]
All The Things.
2017-02-20T10:29:42+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Uncategorized|0 Comments
What do you want? Oh sure, you want love, health, money, jelly tip chocolate. All The Things. But what is it that you want deep down, waaay under the infinity pool and the USB heated slippers? Dig around. There's a [...]
The Point
2017-02-20T10:36:12+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Uncategorized|0 Comments
Okay, so I'm at the end. Two months into the one month challenge (ha). For me, it's been good to have some structure around blogging. I still struggle with the point. Time is precious, and writing time is super precious. [...]
Hope on Ice
2017-02-20T10:38:15+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Uncategorized|0 Comments
It was a bad day. The kind of bad that you order ice cream at the Drive Thru. For lunch. And then you can't taste it anyway, because your brain is all choppy and churny from the badness of the [...]
Travelling Light
2017-02-20T10:32:58+12:00By Jolene Stockman|Categories: Uncategorized|0 Comments
Pieces of me travel through my books. I realised this the first time I saw a foreign language review. The reader was from Istanbul in Turkey and she even loved the book (thank you, Goggle translate!). It is absolutely a [...]