Mike Baker HQ — Human First Mike Baker HQ
Subscribe
Podcast

Episode 34: The Freedom of Caring Less About the Wrong Things

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.

Mike Baker 31 January 2026  ·  2 min read
Podcast

Season 1 · Episode 34 · January 31, 2026 · 22 min

Watch on YouTube Listen on Spotify Apple Podcasts

Just an Ordinary Tuesday

New episodes and essays land in my Tuesday letter, along with the Resource Library. Free, and leaving is easy.

You’re in. Check your inbox to confirm.

Show notes

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.

Being right.

Keeping up.

Explaining yourself to people who were never going to understand you anyway.

This conversation isn’t about checking out or lowering the bar. It’s about growing up, paying attention, and realizing how much energy gets wasted managing perceptions, narratives, and expectations that don’t move anything forward.

Mike reflects on what changes when you stop auditioning for rooms you don’t need, stop replaying conversations that are already over, and stop carrying emotional weight that isn’t yours. What shows up instead is time, focus, and a quieter confidence that doesn’t need permission or applause.

This episode is honest, grounded, and a little relieving. It’s for anyone who feels stretched thin, tired of performing, or ready to live with more intention and less noise.

The episode closes with the song “Highway Ghosts,” a reminder that the past might ride along, but it doesn’t get to drive.

If you’re done explaining, done proving, or done running races you never signed up for, this one’s for you.

Still here.

Still trying.

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

I’ll send you the next one

My letter is called Just an Ordinary Tuesday. Essays mostly, and now and then a song, an episode, some artwork, or something from the advocacy work.

Joining is free, and it opens the Resource Library: twelve tools I built because we needed them.

You’re in. Check your inbox to confirm, and the next ordinary Tuesday will find you.

I aim for Tuesdays, twice a month or so, and I don’t always make it. Your address stays private, and leaving is always easy.

More episodes All episodes →
14 Oct 2026

My ADHD Rabbit Hole Built an Apocalypse Club

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.

5 Oct 2026

After 27 Years, What Makes Someone Your Person?

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.

23 Sep 2026

Wherever You Go, There You Are

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.