Sonia Ponzo

Outset isn’t magic.
But it’s kind.
And sometimes that’s all you need to begin.

If this feels familiar, I see you.
And if you want support, I’d love to talk.
DMs are open.

Three weeks later, we spoke again.
He was smiling. His posture had changed.
He had a routine again - and he felt like himself again.

Sometimes you just need something (or someone) to make starting over feel safe.

But he gave @outsetwellness.bsky.social a shot.
Not to perform. Not to fix himself.
Just to see if a gentler way back was possible.

He’d gone 16 months without movement. Not even walks.
He was in deep startup mode - his body forgotten, his energy gone.

He told me: “I just didn’t want to even walk.”

The guilt creeps in.
So does the fear:
“What if I’m not good at anything anymore?”
“What if this body isn’t mine anymore?”

That’s exactly where Yash was.

Now, the thought of exercising doesn’t feel hopeful.
It feels… heavy.
Like one more thing you “should” be doing.
One more thing you’re not getting right.

You used to move your body more. You know it helped.
More focus. More energy. A sense of control, even when life felt chaotic.

But you let it slip.
Not all at once - just little by little, until it felt too far gone.

Your work stress is piling up.
Maybe there’s a deadline. Maybe a side project turned into a full-time hustle.

Maybe you’re trying to get something off the ground - and it’s all on you.

I want to tell you a story.
One you might know a little too well.

🧵

#buildinpublic

This, right there, is poetry.

Magical.

The best thing I've ever read in a long time.

Cook and grow stuff. But mainly cook and eat stuff.

Me: “We have an hour before the podcast. What should we do?”

Brain: “Dye your hair a colour you’ve never tried before.”

Me: “Perfect.”

My inner monologue is Pinkie and the Brain - if Pinkie was frozen by executive dysfunction for 59 mins and Brain used the last one to burn it all down.

#ADHD

It’s not about discipline, it’s about attunement.

DMs open if this feels like something you’ve been missing.

@outsetwellness.bsky.social is built differently.
We help you catch the moment before the moment - the window where movement is still possible.

Especially with ADHD - your body often knows first.
But most tools ignore the signal.
They wait for the breakdown before helping you move.

But stress doesn’t start as a thought.
It starts in your chest.
Your jaw.
Your breath.
The way the world suddenly feels too much.

Most mental health tools treat the problem like it lives in your head.

Cognitive strategies. Behavioural nudges. Lists, labels, logic.

You don’t need another hack, habit tracker, or motivational reel.
You need to remember you have a body.

🧵

#buildinpublic #ADHD

An important lesson from Jean-Luc Picard that I’m still sharing all these years later.

What’s something that actually helps your ADHD - but the world makes harder than it needs to be?
👇

That moment reminded me exactly why I built @outsetwellness.bsky.social

Because people with ADHD don’t need more motivation.

We need systems that stop getting in the way.

That work with our brain - not against it.

We end up feeling broken, dramatic, misunderstood…

When really, the world just wasn’t designed for us.

Most systems weren’t built with our brains in mind.

And when you live with ADHD, even the smallest disruptions to your self-regulation feel like sabotage.

Now, I get it.
It’s not a tragedy. You move on, find the track elsewhere, get on with your day.

But it stuck with me - because it’s such a clear example of something deeper.

Then Spotify just… blocked me from repeating it.

No warning or explanation.

A couple of days ago, I was listening to the same song on Spotify. On repeat, for hours - an admittedly unhealthy amount of times.

But it was helping me regulate, helping me find my bearings.

Ever feel like the world just isn’t built for your ADHD brain?

Even the things that help us cope… somehow get taken away.

🧵

#buildinpublic #ADHD

If you’re building in this space - or working with people who struggle with movement - I’d love to talk.

This problem is too important to solve in isolation.

📩 DMs open.

🪴https://www.outsetwellness.com/

Motivation isn’t the problem.
It’s the systems that expect you to function like a machine - instead of the messy, inconsistent, brilliant human you are.

This is the gap I’ve spent the last decade trying to understand - first in science, then in digital health, and now at @outsetwellness.bsky.social .

We’re not building tools for people who are already doing fine.
We’re building for people who need support before they’re ready.