# Rock & Roll, ADHD, and Anxiety with Musician Harley Olivia

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/inside-mental-health-432530/rock-roll-adhd-and-anxiety-with-musician-harley-olivia
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/inside-mental-health-432530/rock-roll-adhd-and-anxiety-with-musician-harley-olivia.md
Podcast: [Inside Mental Health](https://stenobird.com/podcast/inside-mental-health-432530)
Published: 2025-11-13T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://psychcentral.com/blog/podcast-rock-roll-adhd-and-anxiety-with-musician-harley-olivia/
Audio file: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/RVOHE4150889442.mp3?updated=1762447446
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/inside-mental-health-432530/episodes/rock-roll-adhd-and-anxiety-with-musician-harley-olivia
Duration seconds: 1920

## Resource

What happens when a neurodivergent flight attendant trades jet lag for guitar riffs and finds better mental health in the process? In this inspiring and wildly relatable episode, Canadian alt-rock singer-songwriter Harley Olivia joins Gabe Howard to share how embracing her creativity helped her manage ADHD, anxiety, and depression, and why ignoring your passions could make your mental health worse. From performing onstage to coping with social anxiety, Harley opens up about how she feels singing “rewired” her nervous system, why creative expression can be therapeutic, and how she finally gave herself permission to pursue music full-time, even when the world told her she was “making a mistake” (a song lyric and a true story!). Listener takeaways: why ignoring your creativity can worsen ADHD and depression the truth behind the “tortured artist” myth practical ways to channel anxiety into creative energy Whether you’re an aspiring artist, a mental health advocate, or simply trying to reconnect with what fuels you, this conversation will leave you inspired to follow your calling — no matter how unconventional it seems. “When I wrote that song, that was right before I finally made the leap to quit the airline and really focus on my music. Things sort of came to a head at that point of the most depressed, the most anxious, the most chaotic. I feel so bad for my family because I'm like, should I quit? I don't know, should I quit? They’re like, just quit! You want to! Make the decision! But the hardest thing about quitting was, like you were saying, leaving that stability. It's not like I was jumping into an already established music career.” ~Harley Olivia Our guest, Harley Olivia, is a neurodivergent, Toronto-based alt-rock artist crafting an energetic blend of rock and pop…

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## Transcript

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