🎙️ Episode 10

Title: “Nothing’s Wrong, But Also Everything’s… Meh”

Tagline: When you’re tired, foggy, post-dentist, and stuck in a vibe called “Ugh.”

🎵 [imaginary intro music: soft hum, a yawn, the gentle rattle of a half-empty pill organizer]

Hi. I’m Angela. Queen of Focus-ish.

And today’s episode?

Not a productivity moment.

Not a breakthrough.

This one’s about the foggy middle.

The space between “doing” and “napping,”

Between “I have so many ideas” and “what’s the point?”

Between post-dentist exhaustion and existential ‘meh.’

You ever have those days?

Where technically nothing is wrong…

But your brain is full of cotton and your heart is, like, soggy toast?

Yeah. That’s where I am.

🛋️ The Soft Couch Spiral

I had errands. I had appointments. I had intentions.

But now I’m on the couch.

Mentally listing things I could do.

Emotionally rejecting all of them.

So I made a little list of what I can do from this exact state:

• Breathe and stare at the ceiling
  
  
• Record a podcast with a blanket on my head
  
  
• Tell the squirrels to shush
  
  
• Cry a little, if that feels good
  
  
• Whisper “tomorrow counts too”
  
  

🧠 This is Still Part of the Spiral

I used to think being unfocused meant I was failing.

Now I know: it just means I’m… human.

Hormonal. Tired. Processing.

This isn’t off track.

It’s part of the spiral.

It’s the rest stop on the way to something else.

And just because I’m not jazzed up and label-making doesn’t mean I’m not doing something real right now.

🎯 Today’s Tiny Win

I didn’t skip this feeling.

I made it into an episode.

I turned “meh” into magic.

Maybe not glittery magic.

More like… cozy sock, heating pad, “I’m still here” magic.

🎵 [squirrel whispering “nap nap nap”]

Subscribe to Doom Piles & Distractions.

Next episode: I label my vitamins and accidentally find a new belief system.

You never know.

Until then —

Take your meds.

Lie down if you need to.

And know that even in the “meh,”

You are still magnificent.

🐿️✨

Learn more, rest more, or just scroll at AngelaDiCarlo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🎙️ Episode 9

I Tried to Sort My Craft Supplies… and Accidentally Started a Business
Glue guns, glitter, and the moment I realized I needed a podcast….

🎵 [Imaginary Intro music: xylophone + label maker clicks + squirrel chatter + faint startup chime]

Hi. I’m Angela. Queen of Focus-ish.
And let me tell you about the time…
I tried to sort my craft supplies
and accidentally created this entire podcast.

✂️ It started with a label.

Just one.
A sweet little label that said:

“Glitter (All Types)”

And suddenly I was pulling out every bin, basket, tote, drawer, and mystery shoebox I had ever lovingly shoved art supplies into.

• Beads that weren’t even mine from my hubby’s ex that I should donate to someone who wants them
  
  
• Raw Wool from Cody’s Waldorf School that I saved in case one day I would read the instructions printed on a carbon copier
  
  
• Ribbon scraps from gifts I saved to regift on a present one day
  
  
• And enough clear packaging tape to get me through any forseeable tape issue
  
  

The deeper I went, the more intense it got.
Because this wasn’t just a cleaning spiral.
This was a creative inventory meltdown.

🧠 And then it hit me.

There was a moment.
A glorious, chaotic moment, where I was sitting on the floor, covered in felt triangles, holding a glue gun in one hand and a tiny pom-pom in the other, when I heard myself say out loud:

“Honestly… someone should start a podcast about this.”

And then I froze.
Because I realized…

“WAIT. I’M SOMEONE.”

💡 The ADHD Flashpoint

Suddenly my brain lit up like a craft store fire sale.

I started scribbling:

• Episode titles
  
  
• Jokes
  
  
• Character voices (Snacky, I see you)
  
  
• A whole squirrel-themed emotional support universe
  
  
• A tagline: Chaos. Closets. Closures.
  
  

And then I asked the most dangerous question an ADHD person with a Cricut machine can ask:

“Should I make this official?”

Flash-forward two hours:
I’m registering a domain.
I'm sketching out logos on the back of an expired Michaels coupon.
I’m halfway into writing a 3-season arc and wondering if I need merch.

Do I need an LLC?
Yes. Probably.
Do I know what I’m doing?
No. But I do have a Canva account and three kinds of glitter paper.

🎨 The Breakthrough

I thought I was organizing my supplies.
But what I was really doing?
Was sorting through dreams I’d put on pause.

This podcast was never just a project.
It was a permission slip.
A way to turn my spirals into stories.
And my doom piles… into punchlines.

🎵 [Soft music swells: upbeat, quirky, slightly triumphant]

So if you're sitting in a sea of yarn and googly eyes…
If you’ve ever started cleaning and ended up building a brand…

You’re in the right place.

Subscribe to Doom Piles & Distractions.
Next episode: We plan for the new season called Swag Spirals where we dig through endless boxes of burner swag one pendant at a time.

Until then:
Dream out loud.
Label the glitter.
And if inspiration strikes mid-sort… register the domain before your brain forgets.

🐿️✨
Learn more or join the squirrel squad at AngelaDiCarlo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🎙️ Episode 8

Title: “Do Four Guitars Make Me a Musician or Just Sentimental?”

The ADHD art spiral, brought to you by keyboards and one tiny violin.

🎵 [Imaginary intro music: Ukulele strum → record scratch → grand piano flourish → squirrel squeak → whimsical music box fade-out]

Hi. I’m Angela. Queen of Focus-ish.

And I have… a confession.

I currently own:

• 4 guitars
• 2 ukuleles
• 1 baby violin
• 5 keyboards
  (collected from friends, family, and possibly a neighborhood yard sale where I blacked out emotionally and woke up with a Yamaha under my arm)

Now before you judge me — know this:
I am not a minimalist.
I am an emotional curator.
I don’t collect clutter.
I collect versions of myself I’m not ready to let go of.

🎤 Every Instrument Is a Portal

• One guitar was from my friend Bobby when he passed. This guitar was the closest thing to actualize my singer songwriter career during my brief stint in Franklin Tennessee.
• One tiny guitar was for bonding with Cody, who strummed one C chord and promptly wandered off to play Minecraft instead of learning Suzuki Method.
• The baby violin? Oh, that was aspirational energy. Inspired by a Pixar movie and three YouTube tutorials of kids who could play concertos by 5.
• And the keyboards? I swear they just… appear. Like piano cats. Needy. Slightly dusty. Occasionally majestic.

They’re not just stuff.
They’re soundtracks to versions of me I miss:

• 🎤 The artist
• 🥁 The brave one
• 🎧 The one who believed music could fix everything (and honestly… maybe it still can)
  
  

🎶 The Music Spiral

One morning, I decided to “tidy up.”
Just move things around. Reclaim space. Vacuum up some glitter.

Instead, I pulled them all out — every instrument.
I laid them across the room like a music museum curated by a very distracted squirrel.
Then I sat in the middle of it all, holding a sparkly guitar pick, crying to a playlist titled:

“Who Even Am I Right Now”

Because in that moment, surrounded by strings and potential…
I remembered I don’t just own music.
I carry it.

Even if I haven’t played in a while.
Even if my guitar is dusty.
Even if I only know four chords and they’re all moody.

🧠 The Real Breakthrough

I don’t need to master all of them.
I don’t need to form a one-woman ADHD folk band.
I just need to remember:

I am still the kind of person who keeps instruments in the house…
just in case a feeling needs a sound.

I made a little shelf for my ukuleles.
I gently dusted the keyboards.
I gave the violin a nod like, “Not today, friend. But someday.”

And that was enough.

🎵Subscribe to Doom Piles & Distractions.

Next episode: I try to sort my craft supplies… and end up applying for an LLC.

Until then:

• Play something
• Even if it’s one note
• Even if you’re rusty
• Even if your squirrel squad covers their ears in tiny headphones
  
  

🐿️✨
Learn more (or find show notes, playlists, and possibly emotional ukulele content) at AngelaDiCarlo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🎙️ Episode 7

Title: “I Cleaned My Car and Found My Personality in the Glove Compartment”

Wristbands, flashbacks, and one rogue AirPod that might still be judging me.

🎵 [Imaginary Intro Music: Car ignition + Squirrel chatter + poppy bass drop]

Hi. I’m Angela. Queen of Focus-ish.
And this week, I made a mistake.

I cleaned… my car.

I know.
That sentence alone is triggering for some of you.
But I wasn’t planning to clean it.
I was just trying to find that one missing power cord.

You know the one — the cord that ONLY fits that one device, and now that device is suddenly the center of your entire workflow.
It was urgent. It was mission critical.
So naturally… I spiraled.

🧽 The Car Spiral Begins:

Under the passenger seat, I found:

• An AirPod (LEFT side, missing since 2022, assumed stolen by squirrels)
• A crunchy receipt from a gas station hot dog I have no memory of eating
• Three wristbands from three different festivals
• A friendship bracelet from a stranger named “Thistle”
• And a light layer of what I hope was glitter, but may have been trail mix dust
  
  

Each item was like a memory grenade.

The wristbands alone sent me down emotional rabbit holes:

• This one? That was from the year I camped too close to the speaker tower at TTITD and journaled through a full identity crisis.
• This one? The time we camped out in the car at Okee with no cell phone signal to call the sitter.
• And this one? Honestly… I have no idea. Could be mine. Could be someone else’s. There’s a mysterious aura on it and I’m not ruling out time travel.
  
  

🎯 The Realization?

Cars are portable doom piles.

Tiny, rolling memory closets filled with lost tech, old snacks, and echoes of our burnout.

But also?
They’re time machines.
They hold moments of music, movement, and full-body meltdowns.

So yes — I vacuumed.
I cried.
I reunited my AirPods.
And I found the dang cord.

And I labeled a pouch “Tech That Deserves Better.”

Because that’s what this was really about:
Giving my past self a little order. A little love. A little air freshener.

🎵 Subscribe to Doom Piles & Distractions.
Next up: I inventory my musical instruments and realize I may be trying to heal my inner child with a ukulele collection.

🐿️✨

Learn more at AngelaDiCarlo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🎙️ Episode 6

Doom Piles: I Organized My Junk Drawer and Accidentally Reinvented My Identity (Episode 6)

Was it just tangled cords… or the tangled truth of who I thought I had to be?

🎵 [Imaginary Opening music: a cheeky pluck of ukulele, followed by a gentle swoosh of drawer-opening SFX]

Hi. I’m Angela. Queen of Focus-ish.
And today… I met myself in a junk drawer.

It started, as most spirals do, with a simple goal:

“Let me just clear out this drawer real quick.”

The drawer in question?
You know the one.

• 6 dead pens
• A coupon that expired in 2020
• 3 random keys that belong to NO DOORS IN THIS HOUSE
• A tape measure
• And a slightly aggressive twisty tie
  
  

So I started pulling things out. And labeling. And grouping.
And then I found… her.

Festival Me.

You know her — she lives in rhinestone pouches. She carries costume glue, extra glitter lashes, and that weird-but-iconic patch you swore you'd sew onto something in 2017.

And suddenly I wasn’t organizing a drawer.
I was reorganizing my identity.

🔄 The Drawer Breakdown

I made little piles:

• Tools I Actually Use
  
• Things I Feel Weirdly Guilty Throwing Away
  
• Dream Fragments in the Form of Safety Pins
  
• Items I Only Use at Burns but Cannot Part With
  
• Emotional Tape (literal and metaphorical)
  
  

And then I had a moment.

I realized this drawer wasn't “junk.”
It was a tiny museum of all the versions of me I’ve been trying to manage.

Organizer Angela.
Sparkle Witch Angela.
“Prepared for Anything” Angela.
And “Why Do I Still Have This Business Card from 2014” Angela.

Each one, still here. In this drawer.
All tangled. All tender.

🎯 Identity Realignment (aka The ADHD Purge Cry™)

So I paused.
And I said: “Hey… thank you.”
To all the selves.
To the drawer.
To the chaos that helped me find what actually matters.

I kept the tape.
I tossed the expired batteries.
I lit a candle and added one single label:

“Essentials & Magic”

Because that's what I am.
That's what YOU are.

We’re not junk.
We’re not chaos.
We’re just layered and luminous and trying our best.

🎵 Subscribe to Doom Piles & Distractions.

Next time, I attempt to clean the car and discover 3-year-old snacks and a long-lost part of my self-worth.

Until then — clean the drawer.
Honor your selves.
And maybe… keep the glitter glue.

🐿️✨

Learn more at AngelaDiCarlo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I Tried to Label My Emotional Baggage and Ended Up Sorting My Inbox from 2011

1,483 unread emails and a therapy breakthrough, all before lunch.

🎵 [Imaginary Theme Music: Sparkle-chaos piano with the sound of a squirrel flipping through manila folders]

Hi. I’m Angela. Queen of Focus-ish.
And today I decided to sort my emotional baggage.

Which obviously meant opening my email inbox.
Because where else would I find unresolved issues, outdated dreams, and 73 conversations I ghosted out of sheer executive dysfunction?

You see, I meant to clean out my downloads folder.
That was the original quest. Just a tiny digital tidy-up.

But then... I saw the inbox.
And my ADHD brain whispered:

“What if there’s a coupon in there from 2014 you still need?”

And so it began.
The Great Spiral of Gmail.

ACT ONE: The Ghosts of Projects Past

I found:

• A pitch deck for a business I almost launched called “Glitter Strategy”
  
  
• Five unanswered emails from someone named Derek (??)
  
  
• A boarding pass from a flight to a festival that quite literally changed my life
  
  
• And a newsletter from 2011 titled “This Is Your Year” — which was bold, considering what happened next
  
  

Reading it all felt like emotional archaeology.
Like digging through layers of my ambition, my avoidance, my deeply aspirational Canva folders.

It wasn’t just an inbox.
It was a museum of almosts.

ACT TWO: Emotional Baggage Claim

So I made a new folder.
I called it:

“Unfinished But Beautiful”

I started dragging emails there. Old collaborations. Kind words. Ideas I never finished — but don’t want to delete.

It’s like giving my past self a soft landing.
Not every dream needs to go in the trash.
Some just need a quiet place to rest.

Then I made a second folder:

“Return to Sender (Not Your Problem Anymore)”

That's where I put the old guilt, the feedback I didn’t ask for, the “just following up” emails from someone trying to sell me a webinar I never wanted.

That folder? That folder healed me.

ACT THREE: Labels, Liberation & Letting Go

Yes, I labeled my emotional baggage.
But I also realized this:

Every old email is proof that I’ve tried.
That I’ve dreamed.
That I’ve been deeply, beautifully alive.

And even if I never reply to 90% of those threads…
I am still worthy.
Still enough.
Still exactly where I’m meant to be.

🎵Subscribe to Doom Piles & Distractions.

Next episode: I organize my junk drawer and end up reinventing my identity.

Until then — bless your inbox.
Bless your ambition.
And bless the parts of you that still believe it’s okay to try again.

🐿️✨

Learn more at AngelaDiCarlo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I Labeled My Shoe Bins and Accidentally Discovered Boundaries:

Footwear, feelings, and the shocking truth about what you actually want in your hallway.

🎵 [Imaginary Theme Music: slightly dramatic string pluck, then twinkly squirrel flourish]

Hi. I’m Angela. Queen of Focus-ish.
And I’m here to tell you about the moment I labeled my shoe bins… and accidentally discovered a boundary I didn’t know I needed.

It started with a hallway.

Specifically, the hallway that had become a lawless frontier of footwear.
There were hiking boots from optimism.
Heels from events I didn’t actually attend.
One glittery sandal I don’t even remember owning.

And I thought to myself: “I’ll just organize this.”
That was the first lie.

Because what actually happened is that I started thinking about who those shoes belonged to.

Not just physically, like “those are my partner’s”, but energetically.
Some of them were shoes I bought for versions of myself I thought I should be.

The chic conference queen.
The Pinterest Burner in mile-high boots maximalist.
The person who wears shoes with laces regularly, like a responsible citizen.

And as I sat there, holding a leopard print boot in one hand and a roll of label tape in the other, I had the weirdest realization:

This hallway needs boundaries.
And so do I.

So I made four bins:

• Me
• Cody
• Other Grown Human (Glen)
• Costumes & Regrets

I labeled them. I lined them up.
And suddenly… I felt taller.
Not just because the heels were off the floor, but because something shifted.

👠 Here’s the truth:

We think clutter is just stuff.
But sometimes, it’s evidence of where we’re saying “yes” when we meant “maybe,”
or “sure” when we meant “NO THANK YOU PLEASE LEAVE YOUR SHOES AT THE DOOR.”

So now, my hallway is clear.
My bins are labeled.
My soul feels… moderately empowered.

And every time someone asks, “Where should I put my shoes?”
I point to the bin.
Smile.
And say:

“That one’s for you. The rest are mine.”

Boundaries. They’re not just for people anymore.
They’re for hallways.
And footwear.
And expectations.

🎵 Subscribe to Doom Piles & Distractions.

Next episode: I try to label my emotional baggage and end up sorting my inbox from 2011.

Until then — protect your space.
Label your bins.
And wear the shoes that feel like you.

🐿️✨

Learn more at AngelaDiCarlo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🎙️ Prequel Episode

What Even Is a Doom Pile?

Spoiler: it’s not trash… it’s delayed decisions, emotional luggage, and at least one hot glue gun.

🎵 [Imaginary Intro music: whimsical, slow build with soft squirrel chatter and the sound of something toppling over]

Hi. I’m Angela. Queen of Focus-ish.
And before we spiral further into this podcast… we need to talk about something important:

Doom piles. Didn’t Organize Only Moved

No, not the kind you see in fantasy shows where a dragon guards a pit of bones.

We’re talking real-life, everyday, lovingly-ignored-but-slightly-judged-by-guests doom piles.

Let me explain.

✨ A Doom Pile. Defined: Didn’t Organize Only Moved

A doom pile is a stack of deferred decisions.
It’s not trash. It’s not clutter. It’s… limbo.

I learned about it on a random Instagram scroll day. The words lit up in my brain as I watched in awe. Didn’t Organize Only Moved. Doom pile. Yes, that’s what I have everywhere.

It’s:

• That bag you brought in from the car but never unpacked
  
  
• That stack of papers labeled “URGENT” in 2019
  
  
• A bunch of objects placed together not because they belong together… but because you couldn’t deal with them separately
  
  

Doom piles are sacred.
They’re where ADHD, perimenopause, and creative brain energy all collide like glitter in a tornado.

🧠 Why We Have Doom Piles (ADHD Edition)

Because ADHD brains often struggle with:

• Object permanence ("If I put it away, will I ever see it again?”)
  
  
• Time blindness ("That was three months ago??")
  
  
• Decision fatigue ("Keep, donate, toss, cry, scream?")
  
  
• And executive dysfunction ("This item now weighs 400 emotional pounds")
  
  

So we pause.
We place.
We promise ourselves:

“I’ll come back to this when I’m in the right headspace.”

Spoiler: that headspace doesn’t exist.

🔥 Why Midlife & Menopause Make It Worse

Because on top of the usual executive overload, now we’re:

• Forgetting why we walked into the room
  
  
• Sweating for no reason
  
  
• Feeling overwhelmed by the memory of a sock
  
  

Hormones? Chaos.
Focus? Fragile.
But doom piles? Oh, they wait. Patiently. Looming. Judgmental. And also… weirdly comforting.

🎨 Why Creative People Are Especially Vulnerable

Because creatives live in loops — not lines.

You make, you tinker, you start five things at once.
You see possibilities, not just objects.

So that pile of fabric scraps and beads and old receipts?
That’s not trash. That’s a multimedia art experiment that might become a gift for a friend named Tinsel.

🌀 And Most Importantly: Doom Piles Are Not Failure

They are proof that you’ve been trying.

You’ve been:

• Parenting
  
  
• Creating
  
  
• Navigating life
  
  
• Mourning old versions of yourself
  
  
• Attempting inbox zero while simultaneously reinventing your identity in the junk drawer
  
  

The doom pile is not your enemy.
It’s your unsorted story.

And this podcast?
It’s a love letter to that story.

🎵 So if you’ve ever had a “pile corner,” a “box of mystery,” or a “drawer of shame”...

You’re not broken.
You’re brilliant.
You’re overdue for a laugh.
And you are so welcome here.

Subscribe to Doom Piles & Distractions.
Next up: I try to find a power cord… and accidentally reorganize the spice cabinet, three closets, and my sense of self.

🐿️✨

Learn more or join the squirrel squad at AngelaDiCarlo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.