When Credentials Disappoint: What Hiring for Presence Taught Me

🌟Guest Andy Grant: Trusting Your Experience Through the Dark | A Conversation on Survival and Self-Honor

Send us a text [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/1824055/open_sms] 🎙️Listen Here or WATCH [https://youtu.be/NEWjpjn5vnA] Episode #13  ⚠️ Content Note This episode includes adult themes and an open, honest conversation about emotional health and crisis. Please listen with care and discretion. 📞 If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988—available 24/7 for immediate, confidential support. You are not alone, and help is always here. In this episode, I’m joined by Andy Grant—suicide prevention advocate, speaker, and host of the Real Men Feel podcast. Andy shares his personal journey with profound courage, reflecting on survival, emotional honesty, and what it means to stay connected to life through long-haul self-honor. This conversation is shared in real-life hope and as an example of empowerment beyond survival. We also honor that every journey is unique—and in no way seek to diminish the complexities each person’s story may carry. ❤️May it reach the hearts that need it most. For all things Andy Grant: https://theandygrant.com/

The Power of Preparation: How to Pause Without Falling Apart Episode #12

Send us a text [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/1824055/open_sms] 🎙️Still & Standing Solo Episode #12 What if the key to peace of mind wasn’t the pause—but the preparation before it? In this episode of Still & Standing™, Amy McCann offers a powerful reframe for anyone navigating emotionally demanding, high-responsibility roles—whether in caregiving, leadership, entrepreneurship, or life transitions. Drawing from The Power of Now, nervous system wisdom, and nature-based metaphors, Amy explores how stillness without preparation can feel more like collapse than calm—and how emotional and relational infrastructure can become your strongest source of stability. ✨ In this episode, you'll learn: * Why preparation is the missing piece in most stress management advice * How to leverage emotional fitness as infrastructure, not just reaction * The difference between pausing and preparation * How to build inner architecture that holds you in high-stakes seasons 🎯 This conversation is for: high performers, care partners juggling family life and work, and anyone who carries weight others may not see and refuses to burn out needlessly in the process. Thank you for listening!  Become an early listener and be the first to know about new episodes HERE [https://amymccann.mykajabi.com/authentic-initiative-project]

🌟Ande Lyons on Resilient Aging, Emotional Recovery, and Reinventing What’s Possible

Send us a text [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/1824055/open_sms] 🎙️🎧Episode #11 Featuring my first guest: Ande Lyons!   👀WATCH HERE  [https://youtu.be/R-YYrhoXbHY] Radiant entrepreneur and host of the Don’t Be Caged By Your Age podcast, Ande Lyons, joins Amy McCann for a deeply personal conversation about empowered aging, emotional healing, and bold reinvention in midlife and beyond. Ande opens up about harnessing emotional freedom, navigating family estrangement with grace, and finding spiritual steadiness through grief, healing, and new beginnings. Together, they explore: ✅ Why aging is not decline, but a powerful gateway to reinvention  ✅ How visibility and self-worth evolve in the second half of life  ✅ The rituals that keep Ande grounded in joy, confidence, and clarity  ✅ And the mantra that helps her walk with fear, not behind it If you’ve ever felt “over the hill,” unsure how to navigate your next chapter, or pressured by outdated narratives about aging, this episode is a soulful invitation to reclaim your voice, vision, and emotional vitality. 🎧 Tune in and subscribe for honest conversations on emotional fitness, legacy leadership, and rising into your next season with grace and grit.

A Return to Freedom Within: When the Freeze Response Isn’t a Mindset Problem

Send us a text [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/1824055/open_sms] 🌿 Still & Standing – Episode 10 🎙 A Return to Freedom Within: When the Freeze Response Isn’t a Mindset Problem What if the reason you're stuck isn’t a lack of discipline but a misunderstood freeze response? In this powerful episode, Amy invites you into the quiet, often unseen experience of emotional paralysis — the kind that mindset tools alone can’t touch. Drawing on her personal caregiving journey, the wisdom of actor/athlete/author Christopher Reeve, and the art of theatrical connection, she reveals why we can be fully functioning on the outside… while frozen on the inside. If you’ve ever felt numb, disconnected, or secretly exhausted from holding it all together, this conversation offers a breath of relief. ✨ It’s not about hacks or habits. It’s about harnessing inner harmony. 🎧 Tune in to explore: * Breaking down the barrier of brain freeze — why mindset adjustment isn’t always the problem or go-to solution, and a Superman perspective every human needs to hear * Breaking free of hiring healers and the "hero" label as you know it, to conquer the most severe type of paralysis or existential crisis * Breaking up with your unshakable resilience — for refined, unforgettable resonance within, and the kind of authentic freedom your soul might be yearning for

When Credentials Disappoint: What Hiring for Presence Taught Me

Send us a text [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/1824055/open_sms] 🎙 When Credentials Aren’t Enough and Longevity Loses Its Appeal Bonus Episode | Still & Standing Podcast Description: How do we avoid disappointment before it begins? In this short bonus episode, I explore two often-overlooked blind spots: assuming longevity equals success, and assuming credentials guarantee connection. Whether interviewing a long-married couple or hiring for care, it’s easy to lean on surface-level signals of trust based on years together or work experience. But what if presence matters more? I share a behind-the-scenes story from my experience hiring home health nurses and how bringing a beginner’s mind to the table helped me move beyond repeated disappointment to find not just competence, but high-quality, long-term care partners. This episode invites you to reconsider how you evaluate connection — and how curiosity may be the missing piece when credentials fall short and connection doesn’t follow. 🎧Early Listener Link [https://amymccann.mykajabi.com/authentic-initiative-project] 🧑‍🧑‍🧒 US Home Care Crisis Resource [https://www.forwardpathway.us/addressing-the-us-home-care-crisis-exploring-worker-cooperatives-as-a-potential-solution-for-caregiver-shortage]