Still Here, Still Trying: Real Stories About Keeping Going

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Season 2 Episode 20: Fifty Thousand People in My Head

I’ve now made two live albums for concerts that never actually happened. Somehow, fifty thousand people still showed up in my head.

People ask about my creative process and the why behind the things I make. In this episode, I talk about Live From My Head and my new imaginary concert album, the family stories that become songs, the nonsense I make just because it makes me laugh, and the distance between the music I can imagine and what I can play on a guitar.

Mira has a few observations about my imaginary touring career. I talk about the production tools that help me build the music—and why making finished songs has made me want to practice more. It’s a conversation about loving your people, trying things before you’re good at them, and letting yourself have some fun along the way.

In this episode:

·       Two live albums and no actual concerts

·       How stories about Kellie, the kids, and the dogs become songs

·       Making room for ridiculous ideas

·       The gap between imagining a song and playing it

·       What production tools contribute and where the story begins

·       Why finished music made me want to learn guitar more

Sponsors and family business links

Shaka Electric — Jacob’s electrical company serving Coeur d’Alene and surrounding North Idaho.

https://shakaelectricco.com/

Renewed Strength Pilates — Kellie’s Pilates studio in Post Falls, Idaho.

https://renewedstrengthpilates.com/

Helping Hands by Sam — Sammie’s personalized errand help, including grocery shopping and returns. Message @helpinghandsbysam about needs and availability.

https://www.instagram.com/helpinghandsbysam/

Shaka Electric and Renewed Strength Pilates support the show. Helping Hands by Sam receives a family business shout-out. These are businesses run by Mike’s son Jacob, wife Kellie, and daughter Sammie, respectively.

Explore more

Mike Baker and creative projects

Still Here, Still Trying

Related essay — The Song in My Head Is Better Than the One in My Hands

Support the show

Thanks for listening to Still Here, Still Trying.

If this episode gave you something to think about, please like, follow, subscribe, and share it with three people who could use it in their lives.

You can find more of my work — music, writing, art, and reflections — at:
🌐 mikebakerhq.com

Grab a copy of my book, The Optimist’s Way:
📚 https://a.co/d/4RqPS6g

Thanks for being here.
Still here. Still trying.

Support the Podcast Here:

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My ADHD Rabbit Hole Built an Apocalypse Club
Still Here, Still Trying | Season 2, Episode 19

I’m about ten movies into a project that started with a conversation about AI. Now there’s a website that sorts you into your apocalypse house. This is what happens when my ADHD gets access to building tools.

It began with Jake and his friend Max, both in their mid-twenties, trying to figure out their path in a changing world. We talked about the futures movies had imagined and whether we’d want to live in any of them. That conversation became Apocalypse Optional, a science-fiction film and book club where you watch something together and keep talking after the credits.

In this episode, I revisit Star Trek IV, A New Hope, and the Matrix series, and explore what this particular rabbit hole gave me. There’s some fun with the movies, a few uncomfortable questions about power and choice, and a personal look at how AI helped me turn a passing idea into something worth sharing.

If you’ve ever gotten absorbed in an interest and wondered whether anything useful would come of it, come spend an evening with me.

Find your house and join the conversation:
Apocalypse Optional

With thanks to our episode sponsors:
Renewed Strength Pilates, my wife Kellie’s business.
Shaka Electric, my son Jacob’s company.

Includes movie plot spoilers.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to Still Here, Still Trying.

If this episode gave you something to think about, please like, follow, subscribe, and share it with three people who could use it in their lives.

You can find more of my work — music, writing, art, and reflections — at:
🌐 mikebakerhq.com

Grab a copy of my book, The Optimist’s Way:
📚 https://a.co/d/4RqPS6g

Thanks for being here.
Still here. Still trying.

Support the Podcast Here:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2516381/support

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Season 2, Episode 18: After 27 Years, What Makes Someone Your Person?

Today is our 27th wedding anniversary.

Yesterday, Kellie and I attended a celebration of life for a couple who had been married for 66 years. During the service, someone shared a J.R.R. Tolkien quote about marriage that followed both of us home:

“Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes… But the ‘real soul-mate’ is the one you are actually married to.”

That is a hell of a thing to hear together the day before your own anniversary.

In this episode, I think about what actually makes someone your person after decades together. We talk about soulmates, compatibility, the people Kellie and I were when we married at 23, the people we have become since, and why a long marriage still requires curiosity about the person beside you.

I also discovered that I’ve apparently been doing anniversary math wrong all year. Today marks 27 completed years and the beginning of year 28.

I fully intend to start saying 28 sometime this week anyway.

And stick around until the end. I wrote Kellie a surprise anniversary song that she has not heard yet.

I hope she likes it.

Otherwise, I might not make it to 28 after all.

Sponsors

This episode of Still Here, Still Trying is sponsored by Shaka Electric, serving North Idaho. Learn more at www.shakaelectricco.com.

The show is also sponsored by Renewed Strength Pilates, Kellie Baker’s Pilates studio in Post Falls, Idaho. Learn more, check out classes, and connect with Kellie at www.renewedstrengthpilates.com.

Sign up for my newsletter, find my books, and follow everything else I’m working on at www.mikebakerhq.com.

My audiobooks are almost finished too. If you’re enjoying the podcast or have read one of my books, an honest rating or review helps other people find the work.

Thanks for listening.

Still Here, Still Trying.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to Still Here, Still Trying.

If this episode gave you something to think about, please like, follow, subscribe, and share it with three people who could use it in their lives.

You can find more of my work — music, writing, art, and reflections — at:
🌐 mikebakerhq.com

Grab a copy of my book, The Optimist’s Way:
📚 https://a.co/d/4RqPS6g

Thanks for being here.
Still here. Still trying.

Support the Podcast Here:

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Season 2, Episode 17: Wherever You Go, There You Are

How much of what you call “who I am” is still open to change?

A good friend used to say, “Wherever you go, there you are,” when we were in high school. Back then, it was something funny we said. Thirty-plus years later, I’m fifty, raising a family, leading an organization, and wondering how many decisions I’m still making based on an old idea of myself.

“That’s how I am” often sounds like an honest explanation. Sometimes it also ends a conversation we need to keep having.

In this episode of Still Here, Still Trying, I look at the habits we’ve come to accept as permanent. Agreeing to something we already resent. Reaching for the phone when there’s finally nothing urgent to do. Explaining why we interrupted while the other person is still waiting to finish.

I’m in this conversation too. The people closest to me deserve room to tell me what they experience, even when it challenges how I see myself.

If you’ve ever heard yourself give the same explanation and wished the next conversation would go differently, this episode gives you somewhere to begin: one familiar response to practice changing.

There’s plenty about you worth keeping. You still get a say in what happens next.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to Still Here, Still Trying.

If this episode gave you something to think about, please like, follow, subscribe, and share it with three people who could use it in their lives.

You can find more of my work — music, writing, art, and reflections — at:
🌐 mikebakerhq.com

Grab a copy of my book, The Optimist’s Way:
📚 https://a.co/d/4RqPS6g

Thanks for being here.
Still here. Still trying.

Support the Podcast Here:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2516381/support

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Four beer-league hockey games. One very average goalie. Four completely different results.

In one game, I only let in two goals. In the others… several more.

My skill did not suddenly change, and neither did my effort. What changed was the team in front of me.

When teammates communicated, covered the extra player, cleared rebounds, and trusted one another to do their jobs, I could finally focus on mine. The game felt slower. My decisions became clearer. And a thoroughly mediocre beer-league goalie played one of the best games of his life.

This is not an episode about good teams and bad teams—or good players and bad players. Everyone was trying. The teams simply had different levels of experience, chemistry, and shared habits.

This episode is about what those differences can teach us about leadership:

• Why effort and outcome are not the same thing
• How unclear responsibilities drain people’s attention
• Why trust changes the speed of the game
• How great teammates make the next person’s job easier
• Why leaders must examine the environment before judging an individual
• What becomes possible when people can focus on the work only they can do

The effort may belong to the individual, but the result often belongs to the team.

This episode is supported by Shaka Electric Co., a licensed and insured North Idaho electrical company built around character, competence, and communication. Learn more or plan your next residential or commercial project at ShakaElectricCo.com.

Explore Mike’s books, music, podcast, art, advocacy work, and writing at MikeBakerHQ.com.

Subscribe to Just an Ordinary Tuesday while you are there and let the next letter find you.

What version of you does the team around you bring out?

Still here. Still trying.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to Still Here, Still Trying.

If this episode gave you something to think about, please like, follow, subscribe, and share it with three people who could use it in their lives.

You can find more of my work — music, writing, art, and reflections — at:
🌐 mikebakerhq.com

Grab a copy of my book, The Optimist’s Way:
📚 https://a.co/d/4RqPS6g

Thanks for being here.
Still here. Still trying.

Support the Podcast Here:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2516381/support

Send us Fan Mail

Two years.

That was the “good” outcome.

People with endometriosis commonly wait four to twelve years for a diagnosis. Our family received an answer in two—and somehow that made us lucky.

That is completely unacceptable.

This episode is not a takedown of doctors. Most healthcare providers I know have enormous hearts and entered this work for the right reasons. But good people still need better training, clearer information, and systems that make it easier to remain curious when the first answer does not fit.

We have to stop treating the exam room like a courtroom.

Patients should not have to prosecute their own pain. Families should not have to arrive ready for battle. Clinicians should not be expected to produce an immediate perfect answer.

We need patients, families, clinicians, educators, and advocates working as a team.

In this episode, I talk about the friends we have made through endometriosis advocacy, why diagnostic delay is bigger than one bad appointment, and what it means to believe someone without pretending we already know the answer.

I am also introducing Period Pain, Explained. It is a free, private tool that helps young people organize their symptoms, describe how pain is affecting their lives, and begin a conversation with a parent, trusted adult, or healthcare professional.

It does not diagnose anyone.

It helps people find the words to ask for appropriate care.

Use the free tool:
https://www.mikebakerhq.com/ibelieveyou/

Read “The Decade Women Lose Before Anyone Believes Them”:
https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-decade-women-lose-before-anyone-believes-them/

Explore the rest of my work:
https://www.mikebakerhq.com/

This episode is sponsored by Shaka Electric, serving Coeur d’Alene and the surrounding North Idaho community with clean craftsmanship and clear communication.

https://shakaelectricco.com/

Two years should not qualify as lucky.

The next girl should not need luck at all.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to Still Here, Still Trying.

If this episode gave you something to think about, please like, follow, subscribe, and share it with three people who could use it in their lives.

You can find more of my work — music, writing, art, and reflections — at:
🌐 mikebakerhq.com

Grab a copy of my book, The Optimist’s Way:
📚 https://a.co/d/4RqPS6g

Thanks for being here.
Still here. Still trying.

Support the Podcast Here:

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MikeBakerHQ has changed, and this episode marks where the work is headed next.

For the last few years, Mike Baker has explored artificial intelligence through art, music, writing, and a long list of creative experiments. Those tools helped him bring ideas to life that once would have stayed inside a notebook or in his head. They remain part of his creative process, while the website now places more of his real life, family, voice, and Human First purpose at the center.

In this episode of Still Here, Still Trying, Mike talks about rebuilding his website to feel more personal, honest, and recognizably his. He shares what he has learned about using technology in service of human connection and why the work we create should give another person something meaningful to carry with them.

Mike also introduces Just an Ordinary Tuesday: Notes from a life I’m still trying to pay attention to, the new home for his writing. It is where he shares stories about family, grief, healthcare, leadership, creativity, women’s health, and the moments we often understand only after they are gone. Visit mikebakerhq.com/writing to read the latest pieces and subscribe so the next one arrives directly in your inbox.

The episode also highlights the growing advocacy section at MikeBakerHQ.com, including practical resources for people living with endometriosis and for the partners, parents, employers, and healthcare leaders trying to support them. The goal is to help people move from awareness toward a useful next step.

Mira opens the episode with news of her own upgrade and a reminder that Mike still has a questionable understanding of when one workday ends and the next one begins.

The episode closes with “Ordinary Tuesday,” a new song from an album Mike is still building. The song reflects on Kellie laughing from another room, one of the kids calling because nothing is wrong, and Mike’s mom saying his name before Alzheimer’s slowly took that away. It is a quiet reminder that the moments we will miss most rarely announce themselves while they are happening.

The song has not received its official release yet, but the full lyric video is now available on YouTube: Watch “Ordinary Tuesday”.

Listen, leave a comment, and share the episode or song with someone who needs the reminder. Then visit mikebakerhq.com/writing and subscribe to Just an Ordinary Tuesday.

The work should lead back to people. That is the direction from here.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to Still Here, Still Trying.

If this episode gave you something to think about, please like, follow, subscribe, and share it with three people who could use it in their lives.

You can find more of my work — music, writing, art, and reflections — at:
🌐 mikebakerhq.com

Grab a copy of my book, The Optimist’s Way:
📚 https://a.co/d/4RqPS6g

Thanks for being here.
Still here. Still trying.

Support the Podcast Here:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2516381/support

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Good intentions matter, but the people closest to us experience our follow-through, attention, tone, and the work we leave behind.

In this episode of Still Here, Still Trying, Mike begins with a very 2026 attempt to connect Google, Apple, Outlook, and an AI assistant named Mira to finally solve the family calendar. Somewhere between the daily brief and the birthday reminders, the technology led him to a harder question: What is it like to share a life with me?

Mike talks honestly about ADHD, responsibility, and the danger of using an explanation as a permanent excuse. He shares the moment he realized Kellie was competing with his phone for his attention, what playing beer-league goalie taught him about owning the result after the puck is already in the net, and what he saw while watching Kellie with all three of their kids together on the Oregon Coast.

This conversation is for men who care deeply and still create extra weight for the people they love. It offers a practical way to hear difficult feedback without turning it into a trial about your character. Growth begins when you stay present long enough to understand what happened and let changed behavior provide the evidence.

The one action from this episode is simple: Ask someone close to you, “What is one ordinary thing I do that makes life heavier for you?” Then listen without preparing your explanation.

Mike draws from The Better Man Field Guide: A Practical Guide for Men Who Mean Well and Still Screw Things Up.

Find Mike’s books: https://amazon.com/author/mikebakerhq

Learn more about Mike’s work: https://mikebakerhq.com

Support the show

Thanks for listening to Still Here, Still Trying.

If this episode gave you something to think about, please like, follow, subscribe, and share it with three people who could use it in their lives.

You can find more of my work — music, writing, art, and reflections — at:
🌐 mikebakerhq.com

Grab a copy of my book, The Optimist’s Way:
📚 https://a.co/d/4RqPS6g

Thanks for being here.
Still here. Still trying.

Support the Podcast Here:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2516381/support

Send us Fan Mail

Something is shifting.

You can feel it in relationships beginning to heal, communities finding their voices, and people becoming less willing to live under fear, division, and toxic leadership. You can also feel it in the growing desire for something more grounded: real connection, honest conversation, time outside, meaningful work, and a little more joy.

In this episode, Mike explores the Human First thread running through Still Here, Still Trying, The Optimist’s Way, and the wider body of work he is building. The future does not arrive fully formed. We influence what comes next through the attention we give, the choices we repeat, and the way we treat people in the rooms we enter every day.

This week, listeners have work to do.

Choose one practice and stay with it for seven days:

Step away from the news and social media long enough to hear your own thoughts.

Have a real conversation with someone who sees the world differently and look for the human being beneath the disagreement.

Go outside without headphones or an agenda. Feel the sun, listen to the birds, watch the trees, and let your body return to the present.

Reach toward one relationship that matters.

Put hope to work close to home through one act of courage, care, repair, or joy.

Then pay attention.

Notice what changes in you. Look for conflict beginning to loosen, people finding their courage, or a moment when connection becomes stronger than the noise around it. These moments rarely become headlines, but they shape families, workplaces, communities, and the future we are building together.

Share what you notice with Mike through MikeBakerHQ.com or wherever you found this episode. Your story could help someone else recognize that healing, courage, and human connection are still happening.

The episode closes with Mike’s new song, Something Is Shifting.

We are still here. We are still trying. This week, we help create what comes next.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to Still Here, Still Trying.

If this episode gave you something to think about, please like, follow, subscribe, and share it with three people who could use it in their lives.

You can find more of my work — music, writing, art, and reflections — at:
🌐 mikebakerhq.com

Grab a copy of my book, The Optimist’s Way:
📚 https://a.co/d/4RqPS6g

Thanks for being here.
Still here. Still trying.

Support the Podcast Here:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2516381/support

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Season 2, Episode 11

Why I Released 10 Books at Once: The Human First Story Behind Mike Baker HQ

Why did Mike Baker release 10 books at once?

In Season 2, Episode 11 of Still Here, Still Trying, Mike talks through the heart behind his 10-book release and the larger Human First world taking shape through Mike Baker HQ. This is part release-week author note, part map for readers and listeners who found one piece of the work and want to understand how it all connects.

These books move through endometriosis, menopause, women’s pain, men showing up better, grief, Alzheimer’s, ADHD, AI, faith transition after Mormonism, leadership, hope, and staying connected in a divided world. At the center is one question: how do we stay human when life gets heavy?

Mike shares why the books are personal, how they connect to the podcast and music, and how to start with the book that meets what you are carrying right now.

Find Mike Baker’s books on Amazon:

https://amazon.com/author/mikebakerhq
Learn more about Mike Baker HQ:

https://mikebakerhq.com

Books Mentioned

Human First: How to Stay Connected in a World That Keeps Pulling Us Apart

A book about connection, leadership, disagreement, community, and choosing humanity in a divided world.

The Future Still Needs Us

A Human First look at AI, technology, creativity, leadership, and why the future still needs human judgment, care, imagination, and responsibility.

Believe Her the First Time: A Man’s Guide to Endometriosis

A book for dads, husbands, partners, sons, brothers, and men who love someone living with endometriosis or chronic pelvic pain.

Man vs. Menopause: A Husband’s Guide to Perimenopause and How Not to Mess This Up

A practical and honest guide for husbands trying to understand perimenopause, menopause, marriage, intimacy, sleep, hormones, and support.

Get Out of the Way: A Man’s Case for Women Leading What Comes Next

A direct call for men to face power, entitlement, misogyny, and the ways women are asked to wait, shrink, soften, or prove readiness.

The Better Man Field Guide

A practical guide for men who want to grow with honesty, responsibility, humility, and real change that shows up at home, work, and in relationships.

Still Here, Still Trying: Honest Stories for People Who Are Tired but Not Done

A collection of honest stories about grief, family, work, love, exhaustion, hope, and the quiet courage of continuing.

Still My Mom: Alzheimer’s, Love, Loss, and the Work We Do Before Goodbye

A personal book about Alzheimer’s, anticipatory grief, family caregiving, memory loss, love, and the painful work families do before goodbye.

Still Good: After All We Could Do: A Memoir of Leaving Mormonism and Staying Whole

A memoir about faith transition, leaving Mormonism, family, identity, grief, gratitude, and trying to stay whole after certainty changes.

Beautifully Unfocused

A book about ADHD, creativity, leadership, AI tools, writing, emotional intensity, and building with the brain you actually have.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to Still Here, Still Trying.

If this episode gave you something to think about, please like, follow, subscribe, and share it with three people who could use it in their lives.

You can find more of my work — music, writing, art, and reflections — at:
🌐 mikebakerhq.com

Grab a copy of my book, The Optimist’s Way:
📚 https://a.co/d/4RqPS6g

Thanks for being here.
Still here. Still trying.

Support the Podcast Here:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2516381/support