“On the human spectrum” with Katherine May


“Trust your gut instinct, rather than the instincts of other people who don’t understand you.” – Katherine May

Katherine May is a writer, the author of many books including the New York Times bestseller Wintering, and most recently Electricity of Every Living Thing; and a teacher and mentor. She lives with her husband, son, dog and two cats, and is one of those inspirational/crazy people who swims in the depths of winter. We had a heartwarming conversation about the many shades of life, creativity, neurodivergence, mental health, and the value of simply being human.

Episode Notes

Things we talked about:

  • Allowing ourselves to feel good when things actually go well
  • The synchronicity of things happening when they’re supposed to (and when you’re ready)
  • Defining success for ourselves (and it’s not always what we assume it might be)
  • How lockdown taught Katherine to create her own “sense of safety” following the success of her book, by creating courses to shore up her income
  • Finding ways to own your own story, message and brand
  • How Katherine’s approach to Instagram evolved from “sharing pictures” to “telling stories”
  • Katherine’s experience of coming back from “an anxious pattern of behaviour” around social media
  • The quiet activism in the premise of Katherine’s book,Wintering, which is all about periods of life in which we feel cut off from the rest of the world
  • Not always having to be “on” and “up.” As Katherine says, “The vision of us being always up discounts useful wonderful things like thinking, reflecting…”
  • How we’ve all learned things about ourselves during lockdown, and the way our priorities (and what we are willing to accept) have changed
  • Being diagnosed as autistic, quite late in life, allowed Katherine to make the personal changes she needed: “How to meet my own needs, rather than how to solve me”
  • The experience of living life as a neurodivergent person
  • Finding your right people online (if you lose followers after sharing your true self, then you’ve lost the right followers – you don’t want them)
  • And this piece of wisdom from Katherine, for anyone who identifies with our “neurodivergent” conversation: “Your identification is yours. It doesn’t need the approval of a doctor or your mum.”
  • The Insta Retreat– My tell all, best selling course for Instagram creatives and business owners.

Where to find Katherine online:

Books we mention in this episode:

Where to find Sara