← Notes from Nici

you were not empty. you were foggy.

for weeks my ideas disappeared into nothing. here's what the fog was actually telling me — and the one thing i'm doing differently now.

"a scrapbook-style journal page titled 'field notes, 01/07/2026' with folder tabs labelled 'the fog notes,' 'next step,' and 'honesty.' a sticky note reads 'fog is not failure, it's data' next to a polaroid of nici laughing outdoors. below, a cassette tape labelled 'summer mix '26 with gaz' sits beside a polaroid of feet up on a boat rail at sunset, clipped together with a binder clip holding a strip of beach photos. a barcode-style 'nici' label and the text 'unbarrier.me' sit at the bottom, with the line: 'i'm nici — dyslexic, adhd, and not interested in pretending otherwise. unbarrier is where the fog, the wins, and the in-between get written down honestly.'"

i had an idea. and then it disappeared into the abyss.

that's not a metaphor. that's what it's actually felt like for weeks. i'd sit at my desk, something would spark, and by the time i reached for it — gone. nothing to hold. no thread to pull.

i thought i was failing.

i wasn't. my body and brain were asking for different conditions, and i wasn't listening.

here's what i noticed, once i finally stopped and looked:

i'm adhd. i'm also perimenopausal. and i think those two things are sitting on top of each other right now, not fighting for space but blurring into one fog.

so i'm trying a rule: if i feel blank at the desk, i don't force the desk. i move first. i speak first. i capture first.

and a second rule, harder to hold: fog is not failure. it's data. my system needs lower friction, more cues, more movement, fewer open loops.

the ideas were never gone. they came back the second i gave my body room to find them.

the other thing this fog surfaced — quieter, but it matters more.

i've been hiding because i didn't feel worthy. waiting to feel ready before i showed up. shrinking instead of asking.

the words that landed hardest, when i finally let them:

you are good enough. you are able. stop this self-sabotage of confidence.

i need to climb the ladder of others — mentors, networks, people willing to open a door. and i need to leave the ladder down for the people coming after me. that's not two separate jobs. it's the same one.

so — less waiting. more visible. more asking.

if any of this sounds like your own fog, your own vanishing ideas, your own quiet hiding — there's a room for that. loop breakers meets every tuesday. no performing required. come as you are.

[book a spot / find loop breakers →]