What if the reason you feel invisible… isn’t actually about other people?

In this episode, I’m sharing something that came up in a coaching session — and it hit deeper than I expected.

Because while most of us wouldn’t say “I feel irrelevant,” we feel it in subtle ways:

1. When someone doesn’t listen to us
2. When we don’t feel validated
3. When we feel overlooked in conversations
4. When our reactions feel bigger than the moment

And what I realized is this:

You only feel irrelevant when you treat yourself like you are.

In this episode, I break down how this shows up, why it triggers such strong emotional reactions, and how to take your power back — without needing anyone else to change.

1. Why “feeling invisible” is more common than you think
2. The hidden belief underneath emotional reactions
3. How quickly we internalize other people’s behavior
4. The difference between external validation and internal relevance
5. Why you don’t need permission to matter
6. How to stop fighting for relevance — and start owning it
7. The pattern that keeps repeating in relationships (and how to break it)
8. Why reactivity keeps you stuck — and curiosity moves you forward
9. How to get your needs met without escalating conflict

You are not relevant because other people validate you.

You are relevant because you decide you are.

When you stop outsourcing your worth and start leading yourself from that place — everything changes:

Your reactions.

Your relationships.

Your confidence.

If this episode resonated, I’d love to hear from you.

Send me a message on Instagram: @theamandahess

Or visit www.amandahess.ca to learn more about working together.

This episode is a little different.

It’s actually a practice I shared with my private clients this week while I’m in Hawaii — and I wanted to bring it here because it’s something you can use in real time when you feel anxious, overwhelmed, or stuck in your head.

This is about what I call planting yourself in the moment.

So many of us live in our thoughts — spinning, analyzing, anticipating — and it pulls us out of our bodies and away from ourselves.

This practice is a simple way to come back.

It helps you move out of your mind and into your body using your senses, your breath, and a few grounding thoughts that remind you: you’re safe, nothing has gone wrong, and you can be with yourself here.

The more you practice this, the easier it becomes to regulate your nervous system and support yourself through hard moments.

In This Episode We Talk About

• What it means to “plant yourself in the moment”

• How to use your senses to ground yourself anywhere

• A simple breathing pattern to calm your body

• The role of safety-based thoughts in nervous system regulation

• Why getting out of your head and into your body changes everything

• How to be present with yourself even when you’re experiencing discomfort

Key Takeaway

You can feel grounded and safe even in the middle of a difficult emotion.

When you learn to bring yourself back into the present moment — instead of getting lost in your thoughts — your nervous system settles, your body softens, and you reconnect with yourself.

Nothing has gone wrong.

This is just a feeling.

And you can be with yourself through it.

Ready to Go Deeper?

If this resonated and you want support applying this work in your own life, I’d love to help.

You can book a discovery call with me and we’ll talk about what’s going on for you and whether coaching together is a good fit.

Book here:

amandahess.ca/bookacall

In episode 302, I shared the first 10 lessons I’ve learned from living 50 years with a sensitive nervous system.

Today we’re continuing with the next 10.

These lessons are about something I think many sensitive women struggle with: emotional adulthood.

Many of us are technically adults, but we’re still letting the hurt version of us, the teenage version of us, or the people-pleasing version of us lead our lives. And when that happens, we end up exhausted, resentful, and disconnected from ourselves.

Learning emotional responsibility changes everything.

It means recognizing that your feelings are yours to care for. It means setting boundaries instead of quietly crossing them and then feeling resentful. It means advocating for yourself even when it’s uncomfortable.

These are lessons I learned the hard way — through relationships, mistakes, and a lot of personal growth. My hope is that by sharing them with you, you might learn them a little more gently.

If you’ve ever struggled with resentment, over-explaining yourself, feeling responsible for everyone else’s emotions, or performing in order to be accepted, this episode will help you see those patterns more clearly.

And once you see them, you can start choosing something different.

• Why other people are not responsible for your feelings

• How resentment often means you’re crossing your own boundaries

• Why over-explaining is usually fear of rejection

• Why advocating for yourself might make people uncomfortable — and why that’s okay

• How you can disappoint someone and still be a good person

• Why being “low maintenance” is often conditioning, not a personality trait

• The difference between being needed and being valued

• Why you don’t need to be relevant — you need to be important to yourself

• How to recognize when you’re performing instead of living

• Why you will almost never regret choosing yourself

Emotional adulthood begins the moment you stop trying to manage everyone else’s feelings and start taking responsibility for your own.

When you learn to set boundaries, validate yourself, and choose what actually matters to you, your life becomes more peaceful, more powerful, and far more fulfilling.

Choosing yourself isn’t selfish.

It’s how you stop leaking your energy everywhere and start building a life that actually feels good to live.

If you want support implementing this work in your own life, you can book a discovery call with me.

We’ll talk about what’s going on for you and whether coaching together would be a good fit.

Book here:

amandahess.ca/bookacall

I turned 50 this week.

And I’ll be honest — this birthday feels different.

There’s awareness.

There’s fear.

There’s grief.

And there’s a level of self-trust I would have begged for in my twenties.

In this episode, I’m starting a 5-part series sharing 50 things I know at 50 about being a sensitive woman in 2026 — not just how to survive, but how to thrive.

Today, I’m giving you the first 10.

These are the foundational lessons — the ones about your nervous system, your emotions, your responsibility, and your capacity.

Because if you don’t understand how you’re wired, you will misunderstand your entire life.

1. Why sensitivity is not a flaw (even if it’s been treated like one)
2. How your nervous system drives your reactions
3. Why emotions are messengers — not problems
4. The difference between regulation and suppression
5. Why other people are not responsible for your feelings
6. How to stop fucking yourself over
7. Why joy must be cultivated
8. How to move with fear instead of shrinking from it
9. Why friendship takes work (especially at midlife)
10. What loving yourself actually requires
11. Why focusing on what you want MORE of changes everything

Being a sensitive woman in 2026 is not about hardening yourself.

It’s about building emotional capacity.

It’s about regulating your nervous system instead of reacting from it.

It’s about becoming unwilling to betray yourself.

Turning 50 hasn’t made me less sensitive.

It’s made me more skilled.

And skill changes everything.

This is Part 1 of a 5-part birthday series:

50 Things I Know at 50 About Being a Sensitive Woman in 2026

Stay tuned for Part 2 next week.

If this episode resonated, I’d love to hear from you.

Send me a message on Instagram: @theamandahess

Or visit www.amandahess.ca to learn more about working together.

If you’ve been trying to “fix” yourself for years… this episode might change everything.

So much of the emotional wellness space is focused on one thing:

Getting rid of what’s wrong.

The anxiety.

The stress.

The overthinking.

The guilt.

The burnout.

The trauma.

And while support matters, here’s what’s missing:

You cannot build a thriving life by only trying to eliminate what hurts.

In this episode, I’m teaching a core concept I walk my private clients through — the emotional teeter-totter — and why balance, not eradication, is the real goal.

Because life is 50/50.

Your brain is wired to scan for danger.

And trying to remove every uncomfortable emotion will keep you stuck in survival mode.

Instead, we need to learn how to build the other side.

Joy.

Pleasure.

Excitement.

Belonging.

Desire.

Purpose.

When you intentionally build those, everything changes.

1. Why “fixing yourself” can actually make you feel worse
2. How self-help sometimes overemphasizes what’s broken
3. The 50/50 nature of emotional life (and why it’s normal)
4. How your primitive brain keeps you in survival mode
5. The emotional teeter-totter analogy that explains everything
6. Why eliminating stress isn’t the goal
7. How to build emotional capacity instead of avoidance
8. The difference between tolerating emotions and processing them
9. Why creating joy is a skill (not a luxury)
10. How doing hard, scary things on purpose builds empowerment
11. Why pleasure, excitement, and fulfillment are your responsibility

Your life won’t feel better because you finally eliminate anxiety.

It will feel better because you’ve learned how to:

1. Feel anxiety without collapsing
2. Create joy on purpose
3. Build balance instead of chasing perfection
4. Empower yourself emotionally

You don’t need to become stress-free.

You need to become emotionally stronger and more intentional about building what you want.

If this resonates and you want help applying this to your real life:

📍 Book a consultation: amandahess.ca/bookacall

You don’t have to keep running on the “fixing” treadmill.

Share it with someone who’s tired of trying to repair themselves.

And if this podcast supports you, leaving a review helps more women find this work.

Hey my beautiful friend… I can’t believe I’m saying this, but welcome to Episode 300.

When I started this podcast, I had no idea if anyone would listen… or if I’d even keep going. But here we are — and today I want to revisit the most important message I’ve ever shared:

Loving yourself no matter what is the key to everything.

Because self-love isn’t about bubble baths or positive affirmations.

It’s about learning how to be safe with yourself.

It’s about learning how to support yourself when you’re struggling… how to regulate your nervous system… how to stop spiraling into shame… and how to stop living your life trying to earn love from everyone else.

In this episode, I’m walking you through where the message of Love Yourself No Matter What came from, why it matters so deeply, how it actually works, and how to begin implementing it in your real life — even if you feel like you’ve tried everything.

This is the foundation of emotional healing, confidence, boundaries, and true inner peace.

And if you’ve been feeling stuck, anxious, lonely, reactive, exhausted, or like something is “wrong” with you…

This episode is for you.

1. Why self-love is still deeply misunderstood
2. The difference between being loving vs. being permissive
3. Why so many people feel anxious, lonely, and emotionally exhausted
4. How perfectionism and pressure keep you stuck
5. My personal rock bottom — and what I was told about myself
6. How nervous system sensitivity can be mistaken for “something wrong with you”
7. Why learning to love yourself creates emotional safety
8. The “abused puppy” metaphor that explains healing perfectly
9. How self-love helps you stop procrastinating, people pleasing, and spiraling
10. Why your life becomes unrecognizable when you stop abandoning yourself
11. How to start practicing loving yourself daily (even when you don’t feel lovable)

If you want support implementing this work in your life, I’d love to talk with you.

📍 Book a call here: amandahess.ca/bookacall

If this podcast has supported you, I would be so grateful if you left a review — it helps more women find this work and start healing too.

Show notes coming soon