Build Your Life, But Don’t Lose Your Soul

Nine Books, One Question: Are We Still Human?

This week on Still Here, Still Trying, I’m pulling the camera back on the full Human First book series, releasing June 30. Last week, we started with Believe Her the First Time and the question at the heart of that book: when a woman says her body hurts, do we believe her before she has to prove it? This week, I’m walking through the bigger body of work behind the series and the question underneath all nine books: are we still human? This episode is about the creative burst that followed The Optimist’s Way, the way my ADHD brain moves at night after long workdays, and how AI tools helped me manage the storm without replacing the heart of the work. These books were not written by pushing a button and letting AI spit out something empty. They came from my family, my work, my marriage, my kids, my grief, my hope, my mistakes, my leadership, my creativity, and the rooms I have actually stood in. AI helped me organize the chaos. The soul of the work is mine. I also take a moment to congratulate Sammie on graduating this weekend. Last week’s episode started with her hand in mine. This week, I get to celebrate her walking across a stage, and I could not be prouder of who she is becoming. The Human First series moves through women’s pain, menopause, women leading, men growing up, ADHD, AI, daily survival, hope, leadership, creativity, and the future we are building. The topics are different, but the thread is the same: start with the human being. The episode closes with my song “The Man They Think I Am,” because underneath the books, the work, the leadership, and the creative output is a very human story about trying to become the person people need you to be while still being honest about the quiet fight inside. Find the Human First books and Kindle preorders on my Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Michael-Baker/author/B0F66J8Q6M?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=y90pG&content-id=amzn1.sym.7e190e19-9f6f-4df8-807a-5a7608594741&pd_rd_wg=ZP25J&pd_rd_r=9b2095db-12a0-4d34-a37d-362d9fc8b331&ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true Learn more at www.mikebakerhq.com.

Human First: Believe Her the First Time

Human First: Believe Her the First Time The first book in the Human First series starts with women’s pain, endometriosis, and what love does when belief becomes action. The Human First book series releases July 1, and this episode kicks off the run by going straight to the heart of the first book: Believe Her the First Time: A Father’s Guide to Endometriosis, Pain, and Showing Up When It Matters. Since writing The Optimist’s Way, Mike has been building a new series of books mostly at night, after long and busy workdays, when the house gets quiet and the creative part of his brain still has something to say. These new books grew out of real life: family, healthcare, leadership, ADHD, creativity, AI, women’s health, and the question underneath all of it: what happens when we put the human being back at the center? This first episode begins with women’s pain because that is one of the places where we have failed the Human First test for too long. Mike talks about endometriosis, medical dismissal, fatherhood, marriage, healthcare, and the responsibility men carry when someone they love is hurting. The story starts with his daughter’s hand in his and grows into the deeper message behind the book: belief has to become behavior. This episode is for women who have had to prove pain that should have been taken seriously sooner. It is for dads, husbands, partners, sons, brothers, friends, and healthcare leaders who want to love better, listen sooner, and become more useful when pain changes the room. The episode closes with Mike’s song “Hope in Slow Motion,” a quiet reminder that healing often moves slower than we want, and slow hope still counts. The Human First book series releases July 1. Listen over the next few weeks for sneak peeks, stories behind the books, and giveaways connected to the series. Learn more at www.mikebakerhq.com.

What Are We Doing With the Life We Still Have?

What Are We Doing With the Life We Still Have? Memorial Day, hockey, family, and the ordinary joy we almost miss Episode 51 of Still Here, Still Trying starts at the rink and moves into something much deeper. After a weekend playing in the Inland Northwest Girls Hockey Foundation tournament, Mike Baker reflects on hockey, Memorial Day, family, growing up, grief, gratitude, and the life we still get to live. He played on two teams, shared the ice with his son Jacob, watched girls he has known around the rink for years step into adulthood, and found himself thinking about how fast everybody grows up. The weekend was funny, sore, joyful, and full of life. Then Memorial Day brought the weight. Mike talks about missing his mom, thanking his dad for serving, remembering his grandpas who served in wars and came home, and honoring the families whose loved ones did not. This episode asks a question that cuts through the noise: if we are still here, what are we doing with the life still in our hands? This is a Memorial Day episode, but it is also a reminder to stop sleepwalking through the ordinary moments that matter most. The game. The laugh. The phone call. The drive home. The kids growing up. The parent you wish you could call. The people who served. The people who never came home. The joy we still get to carry. Mike closes the episode with a separate PS segment about his new song, “Don’t Lose Your Smile,” his first fully original song built from scratch. The song began downstairs at the Alaska terminal in the Boise airport while Mike was playing his little Martin travel guitar and talking with Jacob, who was traveling in Portugal. A simple line from that call became the heart of the song. Listen if you need a reminder to stay present, love your people out loud, and stop wasting the life you still get to live. Question for the comments: What ordinary moment are you trying not to rush past right now?

The Middle Has to Move

What Kind of Community Do We Want to Be? Episode 50 of Still Here, Still Trying is about what happens when good people get tired of the noise, step back from public life, and leave the room to the loudest voices. Mike Baker reflects on leadership, local politics, healthcare, Idaho women’s health, and the cost of staying silent when the edges keep pulling communities toward fear and division. This episode is not a partisan rant. It is a call for grounded people to wake up, speak clearly, and stop letting cult-like thinking on both sides replace honesty, character, and real service. Mike also shares what it felt like to run for office, why the ugliness of politics can break good people down, and why he still believes decent leaders are worth supporting. From corruption and loyalty tests to healthcare access and women’s health laws in Idaho, this conversation asks a bigger question: what kind of community are we becoming? If you are tired of outrage, tired of cruelty being treated like courage, tired of corruption getting excused when it benefits the “right” side, and tired of watching good people whisper common sense in private, this episode is for you. The middle has to move. Not with fear. Not with hate. With courage, honesty, humility, and enough hope to keep showing up. Episode 50 closes with Mike’s song “Human First,” a fitting reminder that policy lands in real lives, leadership should serve something bigger than ego, and staying human still matters. Listen, share, and leave a comment: What kind of community do you want to help build?

Everybody’s Tired, But We’re Not Done

Everybody looks fine until you realize most people are surviving quietly. This week’s episode almost didn’t happen. I was tired, late, and running on fumes, which made me realize that might be the exact thing worth talking about. In this episode of Still Here, Still Trying, I talk about the kind of exhaustion people carry when life keeps asking more from them than they’ve had time to recover from. The kind of tired that doesn’t always look like falling apart. Sometimes it looks like showing up, answering the email, taking care of the people you love, leading through pressure, and laughing when you still have a little bit left. This one is for the quiet heroes. The people doing the real work without applause. The people who keep caring when cynicism would be easier. The people who are tired as hell, but still getting back up. We also talk a little playoff hockey, because Vegas and Colorado are about to beat the brakes off each other and somehow that feels spiritually connected to the whole episode. If you’re worn out, overwhelmed, or wondering whether you still have enough left to keep going, this episode is for you. You’re tired. You’re human. You’re not done. Still here. Still trying.