# Masking, Over-Functioning and the Shame That Keeps You Stuck Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/you-are-not-a-frog-345034/masking-over-functioning-and-the-shame-that-keeps-you-stuck Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/you-are-not-a-frog-345034/masking-over-functioning-and-the-shame-that-keeps-you-stuck.md Podcast: [You Are Not A Frog](https://stenobird.com/podcast/you-are-not-a-frog-345034) Published: 2026-06-15T23:00:00+00:00 Episode link: http://youarenotafrog.com/325 Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/e2c93c23-e156-497e-958c-867fe92acac5.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/you-are-not-a-frog-345034/episodes/masking-over-functioning-and-the-shame-that-keeps-you-stuck Duration seconds: 4105 ## Resource If you've always felt like everyone else got an unwritten handbook about how to behave at work - and you've had to figure it out yourself, one interaction at a time - this episode is for you. This week, Rachel’s in conversation with Kirstie Pickles: vet, autistic ADHD professional, and EDI advocate. Kirstie was diagnosed as an adult - after years of masking in a high-stakes clinical role, performing competence while running on empty underneath. We talk about: What masking really costs - not just after one hard day, but across a career Neurodivergent burnout: why it is different from regular burnout, and why the usual advice doesn't work The shame of late diagnosis - and what it means to finally have a name for it What colleagues and leaders can do to make workplaces work for everyone You don't need a diagnosis to recognise yourself here. A lot of us in high-achieving, high-pressure roles have neurodivergent traits we have never had a name for. We just learned to mask through it. Our ingrained programming tells us to keep performing, keep adapting, keep looking like we're coping fine. But that performance has a cost - and it will affect your next decision, and the one after that. Different is not defective. πŸŽ™οΈ Listen to the full podcast: http://youarenotafrog.com/episodes/324 πŸ“© Join 20,000 professionals: https://youarenotafrog.com/welcome/ 🐸 Get more episodes and resources by joining FrogXtra Mentioned in this episode: 🌞 [FREE DOWNLOAD] Summer Recharge Checklist for Doctors 🟦 Permission to Thrive ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/you-are-not-a-frog-345034/episodes/masking-over-functioning-and-the-shame-that-keeps-you-stuck/transcription-requests` β€” Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/you-are-not-a-frog-345034/masking-over-functioning-and-the-shame-that-keeps-you-stuck.md` β€” Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.