Authenticity Episodes

Join us in Authentic AF. Visit https://www.skool.com/authenticaf/about Real Men Feel: Andy Grant on Men, Emotions, Suicide Prevention, Therapy, and Healing Host Andy Grant shares his guest appearance on How to Man Adventures with Mark Curtin and Josh Tumlin, discussing men and emotions through the lens of first-responder and law-enforcement culture, anxiety, trauma, therapy, and journaling. Andy recounts childhood experiences of parental divorce, an alcoholic and bipolar father, childhood sexual...

Find your tribe in Authentic AF. Visit https://www.skool.com/authenticaf/about From External Success to Inner Peace: Breathwork, Energy Healing, and Becoming a Peaceful Warrior with Rick Lybarger Host Andy Grant welcomes Rick Lybarger, founder of Wisdom Won, who describes how decades of external achievement as a financial planner masked inner disconnection until divorce, heavy drinking, and a Modern Mystery School Life Activation catalyzed change. Rick shares his background with childhood trauma...

Find your tribe in Authentic AF. Visit https://www.skool.com/authenticaf/about Guardians of Grit: Authentic Identity, Purpose, and Raising Strong, Kind Sons On Real Men Feel, host Andy Grant speaks with David Ask, founder of The Ask Experience and author of the upcoming book Guardians of Grit, about authentic identity, purpose, grit, and fatherhood. Ask argues identity is uncovered—not achieved—by clarifying values, convictions, virtues, strengths, and desired impact, rather than defining onesel...

Find your tribe in Authentic AF. Visit https://www.skool.com/authenticaf/aboutNothing Changes Until You Show Up: Redefining Masculinity Host Andy Grant interviews Daryl Dittmer on Real Men Feel about what it means for men to “show up” with honesty, discipline, integrity, and responsibility rather than performing through money, muscles, status, or possessions. Dittmer describes true masculinity as being a provider and protector while also allowing feelings and building loving relationships, shari...

Let's connect in Authentic AF: https://www.skool.com/authenticaf I Turn 60 Today: Growing Up Without Growing Old | Real Men Feel with Andy Grant Andy Grant, host of Real Men Feel, shares that he turns sixty today and reflects on never expecting to live past twenty. He notes he doesn’t feel much different from how he did at thirty and is in better shape now than when he graduated from university. Andy challenges the common belief that aging is inevitably “all downhill,” saying that may be true...

Turning 60 and Staying Connected: Celebrating Male Friendship Host Andy Grant records a road-trip documentary to Northern California with five high school friends celebrating turning 60, using intimate one-on-one interviews to explore adult male friendship amid “male loneliness” statistics (men with six or more close friends dropping from 55% to 27%, and 15% reporting zero close friends). His friends discuss the conscious effort required to maintain long-distance bonds, barriers like busyness, b...

Doug Fleener on Sobriety, Self-Trust, and the “What If” Rule: Pause, Question, Go On Real Men Feel, Andy Grant talks with Doug Fleener, author of Start with What If, about how asking better questions can spark practical change. Doug shares how addiction and bankrupting his family business led to a pivotal interruption—“What if today you just went today without drink or drug?”—launching nearly four decades of sobriety. They discuss why men often wait for “rock bottom,” how shame thrives in isolat...

Emotional Alchemy, Shame, and Healthy Masculinity Host Andy Grant welcomes back holistic life and relationship coach Markus Kasunich to discuss “emotional alchemy,” shame, and how men may self-emasculate in reaction to toxic masculinity. Markus defines emotional alchemy as a three-part process—emotional awareness (visceral sensing), emotional intelligence (real-time articulation), and processing through feeling—arguing the emotional body can clear old material efficiently. They explore how men c...

From Marine to Somatic Intimacy Guide: Andre Lazarus on Presence Over Performance Host Andy Grant interviews Andre Lazarus, a former US Marine turned somatic intimacy guide and surrogate partner therapist featured on the UK series Virgin Island. Andre describes serving in Afghanistan, leading others, and later being drawn into intimacy work after partners reflected its therapeutic impact, alongside unlearning rigid ideas of masculinity. He critiques the manosphere as often dangerous but notes it...

From Busy Brain to Loving Heart: Howard Steinberg on Trauma, Achievement, and Authentic Masculinity Host Andy Grant interviews Howard Steinberg, author of Confessions of a Problem Seeker, about how compulsive hyperthinking and achievement masked inherited trauma from being raised by Holocaust survivors, plus the fear and isolation shaped by a childhood type 1 diabetes diagnosis and a likely undiagnosed ADHD. Steinberg describes building an outwardly successful identity as an entrepreneur while l...

Men, Masks, and Meaning: Sean Hegarty on Being “Fine,” Identity, and Men Forge Forward Host Andy Grant talks with Sean Hegarty, founder of Men Forge Forward, about how many men hide stress behind the mask of being “fine,” shaped by pressure, responsibility, and fear of appearing weak. Drawing on years as a paramedic and healthcare manager, Sean describes seeing men buckle under hidden load—especially during COVID when support networks vanished—and shares his own “dark time” after being diagnosed...

Emotional Fitness: Redefining Strength Through Self-Love and Vulnerability Host Andy Grant welcomes Shaun Zetlin—master fitness trainer, motivational speaker, and author of Emotional Fitness—who defines “emotional fitness” as empowering yourself emotionally through exercise and releasing emotions stored in the body. Shaun shares how being born with club feet, being picked last, and a humiliating kickball incident where a camp counselor yelled, “What a loser,” led him to survive on shame and fuel...

Reinvention, Grief, and Identity After Corporate Life On Real Men Feel, host Andy Grant talks with reinvention coach Shelley McIntyre about why workplace change triggers resistance rooted in grief and fear of loss, explained through self-determination theory’s three needs: autonomy, competence, and connection. McIntyre distinguishes reinvention coaching from career coaching by focusing on identity questions—when high achievers feel they’ve “masked” themselves with competence, status, and titles,...

From Burnout to Boundaries: Clarity, Values, and Life Reboot Host Andy Grant interviews coach Loren Silverman, who helps overwhelmed high performers set healthier boundaries, clarify values, and rebuild steadier lives, including through his gamified 12-week “Life Reboot Nerd Edition” (a Dungeons & Dragons-style framework where clients “level up” real-life skills like boundaries and energy mastery). Silverman shares his own burnout and how the 2022 Ukraine invasion—impacting his Ukrainian dev tea...

Episode 400: The Invisible Scorecard Host Andy Grant marks Real Men Feel’s 400th episode and 10-year anniversary with returning guest Vanessa Cardenas, a relationship reset expert, to examine how men constantly measure themselves through an “invisible scorecard” of success, money, status, age, and relationship milestones. They discuss how comparison “pulls a man out of his life and puts him onto someone else’s timeline,” eroding confidence and intimacy, especially when men fill gaps with imagine...

Betrayal, Shame & Rebuilding Trust: The Therapy Brothers on Real Recovery On Real Men Feel, host Andy Grant talks with licensed clinicians Brannon Patrick and Tyler Patrick (the Therapy Brothers) about betrayal, shame, trust, and recovery after relationship rupture. They share what drew them into trauma, addiction, infidelity, and betrayal work, why men often seek help only after disclosure or rock bottom, and how fear of rejection and “unlovability” drives hiding, overperforming, and defensive...

Success, Intuition, and Purpose: Paul Davis on Unlocking Your Genius Host Andy Grant interviews business growth consultant and intuitive advisor Paul Davis about aligning business success with purpose, meaning, and self-care. Davis explains that financial turnarounds don’t last if the owner’s mindset, beliefs, and unresolved childhood trauma aren’t addressed, citing ACE scores and how fear, shame, and guilt can escalate depression and suicidal ideation. He shares his own lifelong suicidal though...

Rebuilding After Betrayal, Divorce, and the Dead Bedroom: Ralph Brewer on Men, Shame, and Support Host Andy Grant interviews men’s coach Ralph Brewer about rebuilding after infidelity, divorce, and relationship collapse. Ralph shares his own experience of being divorced within 60 days after his spouse’s infidelity and becoming a single father of three, including how he blamed himself for years and later learned he couldn’t control another person’s choices. He explains how therapy and connecting ...

The Hollow Man Syndrome: Redefining Success, Vulnerability, and the New Alpha Host Andy Grant interviews Kenyada Meadows, a Bank of America senior vice president and master certified executive coach, about “hollow man syndrome”—men who appear successful but feel empty and unfulfilled. Meadows explains the metaphor of a strong tree with decaying roots and describes how hollowing out can manifest as strained relationships, self-medicating, short tempers, or acting out. He contrasts traditional “al...

Men’s Health, Loneliness, and Real Masculinity Host Andy Grant opens by saying men need truth and connection, not shame or fake strength. After a guest postpones due to health news, Andy shares he has a colonoscopy scheduled and urges men to prioritize physical health: get annual checkups, know family history, ask doctors questions, and follow colorectal cancer screening guidance, noting rising deaths under 50 and citing Chadwick Boseman and James Van Der Beek. He then discusses an internatio...

Escaping the Success Trap: When Achievement Still Feels Empty Host Andy Grant discusses “the success trap,” where men achieve promotions, money, status, and accomplishments yet feel empty, disconnected, and numb. Citing a Forbes article, he explains the paradox that believing we’re successful can limit growth by creating fear of risking standing in others’ eyes, even when success lacks meaning. Drawing from his corporate experience and nearly 400 Real Men Feel episodes, he describes signs and ou...

Midlife Identity, Men Speaking Up, and Finding Fulfillment After 50 Andy Grant interviews UK-based Philip Briscoe, host of the Mid-life Men Podcast, about his midlife turning point at 50 after leaving a tech job where he felt undervalued and realizing he didn’t know who he was beyond work. Philip describes how stress and lack of fulfillment contributed to depression, anxiety, poor sleep, and lifestyle-related health issues including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and fatty liver,...

Real Men Feel: 10-Year Anniversary—From Blab to Authentic AF Andy Grant celebrates 10 years of Real Men Feel, which first went live on February 23, 2016 on Blab, and thanks co-founder Appio Hunter, past guests, and listeners for helping create a space where men can talk about the full range of emotions. The episode features audio from the very beginning of the first 2016 episode, a clip from episode 100 about two and a half years later reflecting on how the show grew from a planned monthly, 30-m...

Are You Being Real? In this episode of Real Men Feel, host Andy Grant addresses the skepticism surrounding authenticity, particularly among men. He explores how the term has been diluted and misused across contexts, reducing it to a mere buzzword. Andy revisits the core values of his show—authenticity, vulnerability, and compassion—while sharing personal experiences that illustrate the genuine meaning of being authentic. He emphasizes the importance of honesty, responsibility, and emotional o...