# MikeBakerHQ
> Author of the Human First books, CEO of Heritage Health, and EndoDad. Essays, music, a podcast, and endometriosis advocacy from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context.
Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`).

## Pages
- [About](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/about.md) - MikeBakerHQ About I am fifty years old, and I understand my life a lot less neatly than I did at thirty. In 1999 I joined AmeriCorps and got placed inside a community health center. I did not know what an FQHC was. I certainly did not think I would spend most of my adult life inside one. But I like…
- [Advocacy](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/advocacy.md) - ENDODAD · ADVOCACY Believe her. Then do something useful. Endometriosis. Perimenopause. Menopause. Different seasons, same story: a woman describing what is happening in her own body and hoping somebody takes her seriously. Any of them can turn an ordinary day, a relationship, an appointment, or an…
- [AI Creative Disclosure](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/ai-creative-disclosure.md) - The AI But Human Manifesto The Tools Are New. The Voice Is Still Mine. Where I stand on making art with AI, written plainly, so nobody has to guess. I use AI. In some of my art. In some of my music production. In parts of how I organize and edit my writing. I’m not going to pretend otherwise, and I…
- [Archive](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/archive.md) - ← Writing The Archive Everything since 2024 — the books, the songs, the podcast notes, the ordinary Tuesdays. Sixty-some posts, in order, nothing deleted. 2026 Jul 14, 2026Human First Something Is Shifting, and I Want to Help It Grow I have been hearing people from very different parts of my life d…
- [Art & Music](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/art-and-music.md) - When a story won’t sit still Some things won’t stay on a page. They need a melody, or a face, or a canvas on a wall. Same work as the books — different way in. Mike Baker Music Music Albums, EPs, and singles — written the same way the books are, then handed to a melody instead of a page. Streaming…
- [Infinite Canvas AI](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/art.md) - Infinite Canvas AI is where I make the visual work. Most of it is portraits of women who spent years being told nothing was wrong. It comes out of the endometriosis advocacy at home, and it is trying to say one thing: I hear you, and you deserve better. The work is grouped into collections — No Per…
- [Beyond the Shadows](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/beyond-the-shadows.md) - Beyond the Shadows, the first Mike Baker album. Twenty tracks about struggle, discovery, and the choice to keep going.
- [The Human First series](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/books-index.md)
- [Contact](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/contact.md) - Say Hello Book stuff, podcast stuff, press, speaking, or just to say a book helped. I read all of it myself. Email mikebakerhq@gmail.com → Or write it here Your name * Email * What’s this about?Just saying helloA book or an essaySpeakingPodcastPressWedding officiantThe Grant LabSomething else Your…
- [Custom Projects](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/custom-projects.md) - Custom Projects Custom Infinite Canvas AI art, made from your story instead of mine. Custom art sounds simple at first. It rarely is. Most of what I make under Infinite Canvas AI starts as somebody’s real story — a person, a loss, a fight, a milestone — turned into a portrait or a piece that holds…
- [Live From My Head](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/live-from-my-head.md) - ← Mike Baker Music Album Live From My Head Album · 14 tracks · 2026 · by Mike Baker Fourteen songs from the part of my brain that never stops talking. Listen on SoundCloudEvery song, streaming * Spotify * Apple Music The story Live From My Head is a live album. Kind of. It’s the show I’ve played a…
- [Music](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/music.md) - ← Art & Music Mike Baker Music Every song starts the same way the books do — with a true story I couldn’t stop thinking about. Some of them just wouldn’t stay on the page. Albums & EPs Full streaming page → Beyond the Shadows The first album. Twenty tracks about struggle, discovery, and the choice…
- [Podcast](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast.md) - The Podcast A show about staying human Honest conversation about grief, creativity, leadership, family, faith, ADHD, art, and advocacy — for people who are still here and still trying. Spotify YouTube Listen to the latest Recent episodes Jul 29, 2026 Everyone I Met Told Me About Someone They Loved…
- [Press](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/press.md) - Press Fifteen years on the record. Coverage, interviews, and public writing going back to 2010 — from a community clinic called Dirne to Heritage Health, from local op-eds to a national advocacy award. 01 · Featured credibility Heritage Health CEO Biomyheritagehealth.org Women’s Health in Primary C…
- [Resources](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/resources.md) - ← EndoDad Resources Plain-language starting points on endometriosis, perimenopause and menopause, and chronic pain — and what to do when a doctor doesn’t believe you. Not medical advice. A place to start, and real organizations to go to next. Start here · free · no sign-up I Believe You A private g…
- [Speaking](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/speaking.md) - Speaking CEO by day. Storyteller always. I have spent twenty-seven years doing work that gives me plenty to talk about. I started in community health in 1999 as an AmeriCorps member. I moved into leadership early, and for the last seventeen years I have served as chief executive of Heritage Health,…
- [Standing on the Edge](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/standing-on-the-edge.md) - ← Mike Baker Music EP Standing on the Edge EP · 5 tracks · 2026 · by Mike Baker One night. Five songs. A whole lifetime in fifteen minutes. Listen on SoundCloudEvery song, streaming * Read the essay behind it * Spotify * Apple Music A note before you read: this album follows one night of doubt and…
- [Streaming](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/streaming.md) - SoundCloud · @mike-baker-162751807 Every Song, Streaming Every song I’ve released, growing all the time, playing right here. Follow on SoundCloud → Every song starts the same way the books do — with a true story I couldn’t stop thinking about. Beyond the Shadows was the first one I let out, back wh…
- [Welcome](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/welcome.md) - Welcome Hi there, and thank you for signing up. I built this place to share the things I keep returning to: family, healthcare, leadership, creativity, and the question underneath all of it. How do we stay useful to people while becoming more fully ourselves? Some weeks I’ll send you something I wr…
- [Women's Health](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/womens-health.md) - ENDODAD · ADVOCACY · WOMEN’S HEALTH Believe her at every age. Women spend far too much of their lives translating what is happening in their bodies into language other people will take seriously. The symptoms change. The pattern often does not. Pain gets normalized. Exhaustion becomes stress. Brain…

## Posts
- [The first question to ask in a flare](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/endometriosis/the-first-question-to-ask-in-a-flare.md) - And why the plan has to be made on a good day.
- [My ADHD Rabbit Hole Built an Apocalypse Club](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/my-adhd-rabbit-hole-built-an-apocalypse-club.md) - A conversation about AI with Jake and his friend Max turned into Apocalypse Optional, a sci-fi film and book club with a quiz that sorts you into your apocalypse house. Season 2, Episode 19 of Still Here, Still Trying.
- [Better Women’s Health Training for Every FQHC: Let’s Build It Together](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/better-womens-health-training-for-every-fqhc.md) - A practical framework for women’s health training in community health centers, and an invitation to FQHCs to help refine and pilot it.
- [Believe Her the First Time: Why Community Health Centers Should Lead in Women’s Health](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/why-community-health-centers-should-lead-in-womens-health.md) - Why I’m asking every federally qualified health center to get better at women’s health, from period pain to menopause, and how we can build that together.
- [Nobody Told Him Either](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/nobody-told-him-either.md) - Twenty-seven years into marriage, I’m still learning what Kellie needs from me. A letter for the man who knows very little about perimenopause and menopause, with a free guide to help him begin.
- [What to ask when they say "let's wait and see"](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/endometriosis/what-to-ask-when-they-say-lets-wait-and-see.md) - A rule changed in March. Most clinics haven't caught up.
- [The Rooms That Hold Us](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-rooms-that-hold-us.md) - Yesterday was our twenty-seventh anniversary. Kellie has lived with every version of me so far, and she stayed close enough to tell me the truth about all of them.
- [After 27 Years, What Makes Someone Your Person?](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/after-27-years-what-makes-someone-your-person.md) - Kellie and I heard a Tolkien line about marriage at a celebration of life the day before our 27th anniversary. What actually makes someone your person after decades together? Season 2, Episode 18 of Still Here, Still Trying.
- [The Future of Health Care Needs Us in the Same Room](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-future-of-health-care-needs-us-in-the-same-room.md) - My Coeur d'Alene Press column after the Panhandle Health District forum: why every community meeting turns back into the 2020 fight, why I support PHD, and why North Idaho health care only works if we stay in the same room.
- [No Margin, No Mission](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/no-margin-no-mission.md) - "No margin, no mission" gets said so often in nonprofit healthcare that we have mostly stopped asking what anybody means by it. I understand why it sticks, and I want to defend it before I complain about it. Payroll is real. The bills come due. Caring about the work does not make any of those oblig…
- [What Work Gets to Ask of Us](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/what-work-gets-to-ask-of-us.md) - A family reunion in Phoenix, work commitments that overlapped, and the in-laws I never got to hug. On deciding together whose plans move, with a free two-page worksheet to help.
- [An Ordinary Thursday](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/an-ordinary-thursday.md) - Up all night talking with Jake, a nap I’ll never live down, and Jon Bellion with a full orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. Just an ordinary Thursday I’ll never forget.
- [Endometriosis Care Where There Is No Gynecologist](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/endometriosis/rural-access.md) - Idaho has lost more than a third of its OB-GYNs since 2022. Gynecologic care is falling to family medicine. And in March 2026 ACOG moved endometriosis diagnosis into primary care. Nobody has joined those three facts. A rural health center CEO does.
- [What Employers Should Know About Endometriosis](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/endometriosis/employers.md) - One in ten women of working age has endometriosis, and the best global data says each one loses close to eleven hours of work a week, mostly while sitting at her desk. A CEO who employs hundreds of women, and who is married to one with the disease, on what an employer can actually do.
- [Why Endometriosis Takes Years To Diagnose](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/endometriosis/diagnostic-delay.md) - The numbers behind endometriosis diagnostic delay, cited by organization and date: four to twelve years from the WHO, ten years in a 2026 French cohort, nine years four months and rising in the UK, and the 2011 finding that the delay sits in primary care. And why it is finally changing.
- [The Rule Changed in March. Most Clinics Have Not.](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/endometriosis/acog-2026-diagnosis-guidance.md) - In March, ACOG said a doctor no longer has to confirm endometriosis surgically before treating it. That moves the work into primary care, in a state short on specialists. A health center CEO and endo dad on what the change actually asks of a clinic.
- [My Teenage Daughter Has Painful Periods. What Fathers Should Know.](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/endometriosis/teenage-daughter.md) - Painful periods are common in teenagers. Periods that keep her out of school are not a phase. A father of a daughter with endometriosis on what to watch for, what to say, and what changed in 2026 that gives you a real way to push for answers.
- [What To Do At Your Wife's Endometriosis Appointment](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/endometriosis/at-the-appointment.md) - Every guide tells men to be supportive. None of them tell you what to do in the exam room. Here is the job, step by step: the timeline, what to write down, the one question to ask when you are told to wait and see, and the rule about not speaking for her.
- [How to Support Your Wife With Endometriosis (From a Husband Who Got It Wrong)](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/endometriosis/support-your-wife.md) - A husband's honest guide to supporting a wife with endometriosis: what to say, what to stop doing, and how to help without handing her another job. Written by a man who got most of it wrong first.
- [A Father's Guide to Endometriosis](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/endometriosis/fathers-guide.md) - What a father needs to know about endometriosis when his daughter or his wife is the one in pain: what the disease is, why it takes years to name, what belief looks like in practice, and where to start today. From the dad who wrote the book with that subtitle.
- [Wherever You Go, There You Are](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/wherever-you-go-there-you-are.md) - A high school friend used to say it as a joke. At fifty, it became a question: wherever I go, I’m going to be there, so how much say do I still have in what it’s like when I arrive? Season 2, Episode 17 of Still Here, Still Trying.
- [The Bill Nobody Sees](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-bill-nobody-sees.md) - Before you get disappointed that she canceled, remember that she wanted to go too. On endometriosis, and the costs that never show up on a bill.
- [The Team in Front of You](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-team-in-front-of-you.md) - Good leadership means noticing how much work people do just to make their own work possible. A Sunday in the goalie crease, four beer-league games, and what changed when I trusted the team in front of me.
- [Missing Someone Who Is Still Here](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/missing-someone-who-is-still-here.md) - If your mom is still alive and you miss her, I wish you didn’t have to be so careful about saying that. For the families living through the Alzheimer’s years, and the feelings we struggle to say out loud.
- [The Long Middle: Why We Need to Get Better at Staying](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-long-middle-why-we-need-to-get-better-at-staying.md) - There is often a remarkable amount of care concentrated around the moment when a life changes. Then time passes, and the person at the center of it is still living with it.
- [The People You Sort of Know](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-people-you-sort-of-know.md) - I have been traveling quite a bit lately, and coming home has made me notice something about home that I had never given much thought. There are the obvious parts, of course. Kellie, the kids, the dogs acting like I have been gone for six years instead of a few days, my own bed, and the familiar me…
- [I Still Reach for My Mom](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/i-still-reach-for-my-mom.md) - There are still moments when something happens and my first instinct is to tell my mom.
- [AI Is Making Us Better at Working Alone. I’m Not Sure We Understand What That Changes.](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/ai-working-alone.md) - AI is making individuals more capable — and quietly changing how much we rely on each other at work. What leaders should watch as the tools spread.
- [What to Say When Your Wife Is in Pain and You Can’t Fix It](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/what-to-say-when-your-wife-is-in-pain-and-you-cant-fix-it.md) - For a long time I thought being a good husband meant being the person who could make things better. Then I found myself loving people through pain I could not solve.
- [What to Do When She’s Having an Endometriosis Flare](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/endometriosis-flare-what-to-do.md) - Your partner is having an endometriosis flare. Here’s what helps, what to have ready, what to avoid, and how to recognize when she needs medical care.
- [We Got Lucky. That Is the Problem: Endometriosis, Diagnosis Delays, and Advocacy](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/we-got-lucky-that-is-the-problem-endometriosis-diagnosis-delays-and-advocacy.md) - Two years. That was the “good” outcome.
- [The Decade Women Lose Before Anyone Believes Them](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-decade-women-lose-before-anyone-believes-them.md) - Samantha got her answer in two years because her mom happened to connect the dots. The next girl should not need that kind of luck to be believed.
- [Who the Hell Are We Under All Those Lights?](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/who-the-hell-are-we-under-all-those-lights.md) - A night in Vegas with Benson Boone, thousands of phone flashlights, and the woman who has shared nearly twenty-seven years of my life.
- [The Work Should Lead Back to People](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-work-should-lead-back-to-people.md) - I rebuilt the site this week so people meet the person before they meet the machinery. Why the writing is now called Just an Ordinary Tuesday, and what my mom taught me about the days nobody circles.
- [How Many Years Does It Take to Get an Endometriosis Diagnosis?](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/how-many-years-does-it-take-to-get-an-endometriosis-diagnosis.md) - My daughter’s endometriosis diagnosis took two years. The average is four to twelve. We got lucky, and luck should not be a diagnostic pathway.
- [One-Thirty in the Morning](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/one-thirty-in-the-morning.md) - ADHD, artificial intelligence, and the quiet hours when everything in my head finally has somewhere to go.
- [She Left, and I Kept Following the Story](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/she-left-and-i-kept-following-the-story.md) - I started with a woman in a red dress and a feeling I could not explain. Following her through three images taught me something about how I create.
- [The Work Should Lead Back to People](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-work-should-lead-back-to-people-episode.md) - The Work Should Lead Back to People 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.
- [The Game Doesn’t Go On If the Goalie Doesn’t Show Up](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-game-doesnt-go-on-if-the-goalie-doesnt-show-up.md) - What becoming a beer league goalie at midlife taught me about pressure, blame, showing up, and letting go.
- [The Better Man Field Guide](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/books/the-better-man-field-guide.md) - A blunt, funny, practical guide to becoming easier to trust, easier to love, and safer to tell the truth to.
- [You Deserve More Than This](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/books/you-deserve-more-than-this.md) - Recognizing patterns, telling apology from accountability, protecting safety, and building a life that does not require you to disappear.
- [This Book Won't Fix Your Life](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/books/this-book-wont-fix-your-life.md) - Short chapters for overwhelming days, spiraling thoughts, and suspicious hope. It won't fix your life. It might make today easier.
- [Human First](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/books/human-first.md) - Staying connected across family, leadership, healthcare, work, and disagreement, when everything is pulling the other way.
- [Still Here, Still Trying](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/books/still-here-still-trying.md) - For people carrying more than they say, and still trying to love, lead, heal, repair, and stay soft.
- [The Optimist's Way](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/books/the-optimists-way.md) - Hope with its eyes open. Practising optimism in hard seasons without denying the pain or the work still ahead.
- [Beautifully Unfocused](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/books/beautifully-unfocused.md) - ADHD, leadership, creativity, and building a life that works with a loud brain instead of against it.
- [The Future Still Needs Us](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/books/the-future-still-needs-us.md) - AI is still a human choice. A hopeful, clear-eyed argument about power, care, truth, and what we build next.
- [Still My Mom](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/books/still-my-mom.md) - Alzheimer's, love, loss, and the work we do before goodbye. Written from inside it, not about it.
- [Man vs. Menopause](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/books/man-vs-menopause.md) - A husband's field guide to hot flashes, hormones, sex, sleep, and staying married through the weirdest part.
- [Still Good](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/books/still-good.md) - Leaving the church changed what I believed. It did not take my family, my conscience, or the goodness I carried with me.
- [Get Out of the Way](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/books/get-out-of-the-way.md) - Women do not need more praise from men who still keep the budget, the final decision, the protection, and the credit.
- [Believe Her The First Time](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/endometriosis/believe-her-the-first-time.md) - The argument behind the book: why belief, not expertise, is the first thing a woman with endometriosis needs from the people around her, why it takes nine years to get it from medicine, and what it costs when the people who love her make her prove it too. Chapter one is free.
- [Where All of This Was Leading](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/where-all-of-this-was-leading.md) - Two photographs of my family taken sixteen years apart, and everything that happened in between them that I could never have planned for.
- [Everyone I Met Told Me About Someone They Loved](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/everyone-i-met-told-me-about-someone-they-loved.md) - A week in Washington in rooms full of people who believe American healthcare can be worthy of the people it serves. Everyone there had a story.
- [Women Should Not Have to Lose a Decade Before We Believe Them](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/women-should-not-have-to-lose-a-decade-before-we-believe-them.md) - I went to the conference as a health center CEO, and as a husband and father who watched two women I love lose years waiting to be believed.
- [What Is It Like to Live With You?](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/what-is-it-like-to-live-with-you-mike-baker.md) - 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
- [Something is Shifting](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/something-is-shifting.md) - 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.
- [Something Is Shifting, and I Want to Help It Grow](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/something-is-shifting-and-i-want-to-help-it-grow-join-me.md) - People from very different parts of my life keep describing the same feeling. They share no politics or faith, and I want to help it grow anyway.
- [Get Out of the Way](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/get-out-of-the-way-essay.md) - A man's case for women leading what comes next. It starts with my mom, a nurse whose work asked for her mind, her patience and her whole strength.
- [The Human Voice in AI Work](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-human-voice-in-ai-work.md) - By Mike Baker People ask about AI all the time now. They ask artists. They ask writers. They ask musicians. They ask podcasters.
- [Who Is Mike Baker of MikeBakerHQ?](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/who-is-mike-baker-of-mikebakerhq.md) - Author, speaker, podcast host, songwriter, AI-assisted artist, EndoDad advocate, and CEO of a community health center in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
- [What Needs to Move for Women’s Leadership?](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/what-needs-to-move-for-womens-leadership.md) - Women do not need permission to lead. Men need to stop standing in the doorway. On authority, credit, protection, belief, and real resources.
- [Why I Released 10 Books: Mike Baker HQ Human First Story](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/why-i-released-10-books-at-once.md) - 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 thr
- [Still Good: A Book About Leaving Mormonism and Staying Whole](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/still-good-a-book-about-leaving-mormonism-and-staying-whole.md) - Leaving a faith that shaped your life changes your language, your family, your memories. This is about leaving Mormonism and staying whole anyway.
- [The Better Man Field Guide: A Book for Men Who Want to Grow](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-better-man-field-guide-a-book-for-men-who-want-to-grow.md) - A lot of men mean well and still leave damage behind. This one is for the ones who want to know what to do when the pressure actually shows.
- [Get Out of the Way: A Book for Men Who Say They Support Women](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/get-out-of-the-way-a-book-for-men-who-say-they-support-women.md) - A lot of men say they support women. Fewer men notice how often they still take up the room. That is why I wrote Get Out of the Way .
- [The Future Still Needs Us: AI and the Human Future](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-future-still-needs-us-ai-and-the-human-future.md) - I am not anti-AI. I use it every day. This is about what kind of people we become while it is here, and the responsibility we still carry for that.
- [Still Here, Still Trying: A Book for People Who Are Tired but Not](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/still-here-still-trying-a-book-for-people-who-are-tired-but-not.md) - Not a book with a plan. A place to breathe for a minute, written for people carrying more than they say out loud and still showing up daily.
- [Human First: A Book for Staying Connected in a Divided World](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/human-first-a-book-for-staying-connected-in-a-divided-world.md) - Human First sits at the center of my work, because everything I write circles back to one question: how do we stay human when the world pulls us apart?
- [Man vs. Menopause: A Husband’s Guide to Perimenopause](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/man-vs-menopause-a-husbands-guide-to-perimenopause.md) - A lot of men get blindsided by perimenopause because nobody handed them a map. This is the map, and a warning against taking any of it personally.
- [Believe Her the First Time: A Book for Families Who Love Someone](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/believe-her-the-first-time-a-book-for-families-who-love-someone.md) - Endometriosis is personal in my family. My wife and my daughter have both lived with it, and this book is for the families standing next to them.
- [Beautifully Unfocused: A Book for People Whose Brains Never Stop](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/beautifully-unfocused-a-book-for-people-whose-brains-never-stop.md) - ADHD usually gets described by what it disrupts. I wrote this for the adults who spent years believing they were lazy, scattered, or simply too much.
- [Still My Mom: A Book for Families Facing Alzheimer’s](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/still-my-mom-a-book-for-families-facing-alzheimers.md) - Alzheimer’s changes more than memory. It changes the rhythm of a family — conversations, holidays, roles, and the way love has to keep adapting.
- [Start Here: A Guide to Mike Baker’s Books](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/start-here-a-guide-to-mike-bakers-books.md) - A lot of books in a short time, and yes, I know how that sounds. Here is where to start, depending on what you happen to be carrying right now.
- [Before You Ask for Custom Art, Know What You’re Really Asking For](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/before-you-ask-for-custom-art-know-what-youre-really-asking-for.md) - What to work out before you commission a piece: what it is really for, what you are asking someone to make, and what makes the answer good.
- [Make Time to Think: Leadership Lessons From a Week With Military Strategists](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/make-time-to-think-leadership-lessons-from-a-week-with-military-strategists.md) - This week on Still Here, Still Trying, Mike records a quick road episode from his hotel room in Carlisle, Pennsylvania while attending the U.
- [When the House Gets Full, Then Quiet Again](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/when-the-house-gets-full-then-quiet-again.md) - This week on Still Here, Still Trying, Mike talks about the kind of week that makes life feel full, beautiful, hard, and a little too fast. After a few episodes focused on the upcoming Human First books, this one brings the question home.
- [Nine Books, One Question: Are We Still Human?](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/nine-books-one-question-are-we-still-human.md) - 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?
- [What Are We Doing With the Life We Still Have?](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/what-are-we-doing-with-the-life-we-still-have.md) - Memorial Day, a hockey net, a sore body convinced it had one more save left, and the ordinary joy most of us manage to miss almost entirely.
- [What Are We Doing With the Life We Still Have?](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/what-are-we-doing-with-the-life-we-still-have-episode.md) - 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.
- [The Middle Has to Move](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-middle-has-to-move.md) - Fifty episodes in. On public ugliness, women's health, and the work of staying human when the middle is the hardest place left to keep standing.
- [The Middle Has To Move](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-middle-has-to-move-episode.md) - 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.
- [Don’t Lose Your Smile](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/dont-lose-your-smile.md) - Some songs start with a plan. This one started with a phone call, and it is the first song I have ever made completely from scratch, by hand.
- [Everybody’s Tired, But We’re Not Done](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/everybodys-tired-but-were-not-done.md) - Everybody looks fine until you realize most people are surviving quietly. This week’s episode almost didn’t happen.
- [Human First: Believe Her the First Time](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/human-first-believe-her-the-first-time.md) - 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: B
- [Beautifully Unfocused: How to Love Someone With ADHD](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/beautifully-unfocused-how-to-love-someone-with-adhd.md) - Episode 48 | Season 2, Episode 4 Beautifully Unfocused: How to Love Someone With ADHD If you love someone with ADHD, there’s a good chance you’ve misunderstood them at least once. And if you have ADHD, there’s a good chance you’ve spent a lot of your life feeling misunderstood before anyone ever ask
- [Build Your Life, But Don’t Lose Your Soul](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/build-your-life-but-dont-lose-your-soul.md) - Everybody loves the message: build your life, chase the dream, start the thing, stop waiting. I do too.
- [The Real Cost of Always Being Right](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-real-cost-of-always-being-right.md) - The Real Cost of Always Being Right What if the thing you’re most certain about is quietly costing you the people you care about? In this episode of Still Here, Still Trying, I get into something that’s been bothering me more and more.
- [What Could We Build If We Got Serious About the Future?](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/what-could-we-build-if-we-got-serious-about-the-future.md) - We are wasting too much of what makes us human. The future gets better when we stop feeding division, stop fearing every tool, and start building with purpose.
- [I Almost Quit… Because Everything Feels Broken Right Now](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/i-almost-quit-because-everything-feels-broken-right-now.md) - I almost quit paying attention to all of this. Not life.
- [Still Here, Still Trying: Why Season 2 Starts Now](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/still-here-still-trying-why-you-might-have-missed-something-las.md) - Season 2 of Still Here, Still Trying starts now. If this is the first you are hearing of it, you are coming in at a genuinely good moment.
- [Episode 44: What People Need Most Right Now](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/what-people-need-most-right-now.md) - Episode 44: What People Need Most Right Now The world feels loud right now. People are stressed, tired, overloaded, and trying to function while carrying more than they are saying out loud.
- [Which Future Are We Building?](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/which-future-are-we-building.md) - The future gets shaped by what we build, what we fund, what we normalize, and whether we choose fear or shared humanity. You can feel it already.
- [Standing on the Edge](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/standing-on-the-edge-essay.md) - One night, five songs, and a whole lifetime in fifteen minutes. Just the hot tub, the stars, and this EP playing straight through with no phone.
- [Episode 43: It Wasn’t Normal](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/it-wasnt-normal.md) - Episode 43 — It Wasn’t Normal I went to the Endo Summit thinking I’d learn more about endometriosis. What I didn’t expect was to walk out of there thinking about something way bigger.
- [What Happens When Everyone Finally Shows Up](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/what-happens-when-everyone-finally-shows-up.md) - Writing this from the Endometriosis Summit with Kellie beside me, still taking in conversations that stick and stories that refuse to leave.
- [Episode 42: The Pressure to Be Okay](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-pressure-to-be-okay-episode.md) - Episode 42: The Pressure to Be Okay What happens when you’re the one everyone depends on… but you don’t feel okay yourself? In this episode of Still Here, Still Trying, Mike Baker gets honest about something millions of people are feeling right now but rarely say out loud.
- [The Pressure to Be Okay](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-pressure-to-be-okay.md) - Someone asks how you are doing and you hand back the version that keeps things moving. Doing good. Busy, but good. On the habit of being fine.
- [The Quiet Sabotage: Passive-Aggressive and Avoidant Patterns](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-quiet-sabotage-passive-aggressive-and-avoidant-patterns.md) - The Quiet Sabotage: Passive-Aggressive and Avoidant Patterns Podcast Description Earlier this year, Mike Baker began a series inside Still Here, Still Trying exploring the personality patterns that shape relationships, leadership, and the environments we live and work in. The first conversation in t
- [The AI But Human Manifesto](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-ai-but-human-manifesto.md) - Why the Tools Changed But the Voice Is Still Mine Mike Baker There’s a lot of noise right now about artificial intelligence and art.
- [Episode 39: Guarding Your Mind](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/guarding-your-mind.md) - Episode 39: Guarding Your Mind Everything around us seems designed to pull our attention into chaos. Open your phone and the loudest voices rise to the top.
- [Episode 38: We’re Going to Be Okay](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/were-going-to-be-okay.md) - Episode 38: We’re Going to Be Okay Everything feels loud right now. Scroll for five minutes and you’d think the whole thing is unraveling.
- [Episode 37: The Difference Between Peace and Avoidance](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-difference-between-peace-and-avoidance.md) - Episode 37: The Difference Between Peace and Avoidance A lot of us have learned how to get quiet. We’ve pulled back, muted the noise, stepped away from things that felt too loud or too heavy.
- [Episode 36: What Nobody Mentions About Stability](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/what-nobody-mentions-about-stability.md) - Episode 36: What Nobody Mentions About Stability We spend a lot of time learning how to survive chaos. We don’t spend nearly enough time learning how to live once things finally calm down.
- [Episode 35: Things I’d Stop Teaching If I Was Being Honest](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/things-id-stop-teaching-if-i-was-being-honest.md) - Episode 35: Things I’d Stop Teaching If I Was Being Honest There’s a lot of advice we keep repeating because it sounds wise, responsible, or motivating. Some of it worked once.
- [Episode 34: The Freedom of Caring Less About the Wrong Things](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-freedom-of-caring-less-about-the-wrong-things.md) - Episode 34: The Freedom of Caring Less About the Wrong Things In this episode, Mike talks about the quiet shift that happens when you stop caring so much about things that never actually made life better. Approval.
- [Episode 33: Are We Better Than This?](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/are-we-better-than-this.md) - A year into this chapter, the tone feels louder, sharper, and more centered on ego than responsibility. This episode isn’t about politics as a debate.
- [Episode 32: Who You Become in the Middle](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/who-you-become-in-the-middle.md) - Episode 32. Who You Become in the Middle This episode was recorded after a full week of perspective.
- [Episode 30: Beautifully Unfocused](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/beautifully-unfocused-episode.md) - Beautifully Unfocused This episode moves differently. Mike Baker walks through his new album Beautifully Unfocused one song at a time, using music to explain what living with ADHD actually feels like from the inside.
- [After the Show: From Shedding to Motion](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/after-the-show-from-shedding-to-motion.md) - The show is over and the walls are quiet again. This piece lives in the space between, between the Year of the Snake and the coming Year of the Horse.
- [Episode 29: Christmas, Still Here (A Short Reset for the Week Before Christmas)](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/christmas-still-here-a-short-reset-for-the-week-before-christmas.md) - Episode 29: Christmas, Still Here (A Short Reset for the Week Before Christmas) The week before Christmas hits hard for a lot of people. The calendar fills up, patience gets thin, and emotions show up in ways that don’t always make sense until you’re in it.
- [Episode 28: A Goalie’s Letter to Santa](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/a-goalies-letter-to-santa.md) - Episode Title: A Goalie’s Letter to Santa Beer league goalies live in a different headspace. Warmups start and you’re already in your head.
- [Episode 27: Let Something Be Easy Today](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/let-something-be-easy-today.md) - Let Something Be Easy Today This episode lands right before Christmas, right in the middle of a packed calendar, a messy sleep schedule, and two big nights at The Art Spirit Gallery for No Permission Needed. Mike talks about: Heading into Friday night ArtWalk and a community night with friends, endo
- [God Complex: Narcissism in Life and Leadership](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/god-complex-narcissism-in-life-and-leadership.md) - God Complex: Narcissism in Life and Leadership This episode kicks off a new five-part series on personality patterns we face at home, at work, and inside every messy human system. We start with one of the most confusing and emotionally draining patterns out there: narcissistic behavior.
- [Episode 24: Live Now](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/live-now.md) - In this episode, Mike slows everything down and talks about what it means to actually show up in the moment you’re living. It starts with a hand-painted mirror he found in Palm Springs.
- [Looking Back With Clear Eyes- A Special Episode](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/looking-back-with-clear-eyes-a-special-episode.md) - This week’s episode is a steady, honest look back at everything that happened around the art show opening. Mike walks through the reactions, the confusion, the support, and the noise that hit before anyone even saw the work.
- [Episode 23:  Someone Out There Needs Your Story](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/someone-out-there-needs-your-story.md) - In Episode 23, Mike Baker reminds us that our stories matter more than we realize. This episode dives into the quiet impact of truth — how the things we survive, share, and speak out loud can become lifelines for someone else.
- [My Art Show Went Viral and People Lost It](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/my-art-show-went-viral-and-people-lost-it.md) - My art show went live and the reaction blew up fast. The gallery posted the announcement and the comment sections turned into a storm.
- [Episode 22: No Permission Needed](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/no-permission-needed.md) - Description: This episode opens the door to my new art show, No Permission Needed, running at The Art Spirit Gallery in downtown Coeur d’Alene. These portraits grew out of real stories — women who’ve carried pain, power, and resilience in silence for far too long.
- [Bonus Episode: Veterans Day 2025 -  Scars in the Light](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/bonus-episode-veterans-day-2025-scars-in-the-light.md) - Veterans Day – Scars in the Light In this special Veterans Day mini episode, Mike reflects on the people who’ve shaped his understanding of service and strength — his dad, both grandfathers, his father-in-law, cousin Bubba, teammates from hockey, and the veterans who serve today at Heritage Health.
- [Episode 21: The Things That Keep Me Sane](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-things-that-keep-me-sane.md) - 🎙️ Still Here, Still Trying – Episode 21: “The Things That Keep Me Sane” What keeps you grounded when the world won’t slow down? For me — it’s motion, creation, rhythm, and the people who still give a damn.
- [Life Across the Sea (with Cameron Baker)](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/life-across-the-sea-with-cameron-baker.md) - Episode Title: Life Across the Sea (with Cameron Baker) Description:In the first-ever interview on Still Here, Still Trying, Mike sits down with his middle son, Cameron Baker, who’s been living and working in New Zealand. Together they talk about what it means to start over in a new country — the pu
- [Episode 20: “The Art of Staying Huma](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-art-of-staying-huma.md) - Episode 20: “The Art of Staying Human” Hosted by Mike Baker The noise is everywhere — headlines, outrage, algorithms feeding the chaos. But underneath all that, there’s still something worth protecting.
- [Episode 19 — The Middle Still Matters](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/episode-19-the-middle-still-matters.md) - Episode 19 — The Middle Still Matters Somewhere along the way, noise replaced nuance. Everything became a side to choose, a take to post, a reaction to perform.
- [The Power of an Image](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-power-of-an-image.md) - Millions filled the streets under one banner. Not for chaos, not for attention, but for truth. A note about the image I made and called Resist.
- [Human First: The Middle Still Matters](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/human-first-the-middle-still-matters.md) - October 18, 2025 | General | Liberty in the Static, by Mike Baker A Note Before You Read This reflection was written with care, not judgment.
- [The Cost of Looking Away](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-cost-of-looking-away.md) - Written with care rather than anger. I sit in the middle, I am not interested in taking sides, and I still think looking away costs us something.
- [Episode 18 – Seeing Differently: Art Beyond Vision](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/seeing-differently-art-beyond-vision-episode.md) - What if art wasn’t about what we see—but what we help others see? In this episode, Mike reflects on how empathy opened the door to his creative life.
- [Seeing Differently: Art Beyond Vision](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/seeing-differently-art-beyond-vision.md) - Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. On Degas, perception, and the moment someone feels something they did not expect to feel.
- [Human First](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/human-first-essay.md) - Kellie and I went to St. Thomas for our twenty-sixth anniversary. I thought we were going for rest. What I found was considerably deeper than that.
- [Episode 16 – You’ve Been Becoming This Whole Time](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/youve-been-becoming-this-whole-time.md) - Episode 16 – You’ve Been Becoming This Whole Time In this episode of Still Here, Still Trying, Mike Baker leans into one of the quiet truths from his book The Optimist’s Way™: that we’ve been becoming all along, even when it feels like we’re stuck or falling behind. Mike begins by reading the full p
- [Episode 17: Human First](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/human-first-episode.md) - After a week on the islands celebrating 26 years of marriage, Mike Baker returns home sunburned, grateful, and changed. In this deeply personal episode, he reflects on the quiet moments that inspired his new album Human First — a project born out of compassion, faith, and the belief that kindness st
- [Episode 15 – The Quiet Victories](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-quiet-victories.md) - Episode 15 – The Quiet Victories When you’re not thriving, but you’re still showing up. In this episode, I talk about optimism — not the shiny kind, but the kind that survives.
- [Episode 14 – The Light Still Comes Back](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-light-still-comes-back.md) - 🎙️ Episode 14 – The Light Still Comes Back Podcast: Still Here, Still Trying Host: Mike Baker Closing song: “Apologies to the Future” From the book: The Optimist’s Way™ This episode lands a little late. And maybe that’s exactly right.
- [Episode 13 – Say Yes: The Wild, Risky, Beautiful Things](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/say-yes-the-wild-risky-beautiful-things.md) - Episode 13 – Say Yes: The Wild, Risky, Beautiful Things Lucky number 13. Most podcasts don’t even make it this far, but here we are — still here, still trying.
- [Episode 12: Even Heroes Feel It](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/even-heroes-feel-it.md) - In this episode, Mike reflects on anxiety, the start of school, the Ted Lasso panic attack scene, and a brand-new piece of AI art he created called Even Heroes Feel It. This image is part of a larger series he’s building for a women’s health project later this fall — a collection of powerful visual
- [Episode 11 – The Beer League Goalie Manifesto](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-beer-league-goalie-manifesto-episode.md) - Episode 11 – The Beer League Goalie Manifesto Fall hockey is back, and so is the chaos of beer league. The sticks are taped, the skates are sharp (for about ten minutes), and the cooler in the locker room is waiting like it’s the Stanley Cup.
- [The Beer League Goalie Manifesto](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/writing/the-beer-league-goalie-manifesto.md) - Notes from the weirdest position in hockey. Fresh tape, skates sharp for about ten minutes, and a locker room cooler waiting like a holy grail.
- [Episode 10 – The Optimist’s Guide to Everyday Disasters](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-optimists-guide-to-everyday-disasters.md) - 🎙️ Still Here, Still Trying Episode 10 – The Optimist’s Guide to Everyday Disasters Description: Life’s curveballs don’t always come as big tragedies. Most of the time, they show up as everyday disasters: the pizza dough you tried to microwave, the Zoom call you dozed off in, the Silly Putty that l
- [🎙 Still Here, Still Trying — A Spoken Word Special](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/still-here-still-trying-a-spoken-word-special.md) - 🎙 Still Here, Still Trying — A Spoken Word Special This is different. No guest.
- [Episode 9 – The Myth of Getting Over It](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-myth-of-getting-over-it.md) - Episode 9 – The Myth of Getting Over It Some things you don’t “get over.
- [Episode 8 – The Quiet Work No One Sees](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/the-quiet-work-no-one-sees.md) - 🎙️ Episode 8 – The Quiet Work No One Sees Still Here, Still Trying This one’s for the things nobody claps for. The invisible labor.
- [Episode 7: When the Story Changes](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/when-the-story-changes.md) - 🎙️ Episode 7 – When the Story Changes Sometimes life shifts in a way that’s hard to explain. The plan made sense.

## Optional
- [RSS Feed](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/podcast/rss/)
- [Sitemap](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/sitemap.xml)
- [Full content of pages and posts](https://www.mikebakerhq.com/llms-full.txt)