Ever feel like nobody truly sees you or hears you—like you’re speaking, but it’s not landing? In this episode, I’m sharing a personal story that cracked this experience wide open for me. If you’re neurodivergent, highly sensitive, or just someone who’s been labeled as “too much,” this is going to resonate deeply. We’ll explore what it actually means to feel unseen and unheard, why this is such a common experience (especially for women like us), and how to begin rewriting that story from the inside out.

🧠 Here’s what we cover:

[00:00] – Welcome & why this topic matters
[01:30] – A real-life moment with my husband that brought up deep feelings of being unheard
[04:15] – How I reacted (and what I used to do before I had the tools I do now)
[07:00] – The shame spiral that used to follow, and why I don’t go there anymore
[09:20] – Why neurodivergent women are often misunderstood and mislabeled
[11:40] – A poolside story with my dad’s wife that triggered old beliefs and shame
[14:30] – How hiding parts of ourselves contributes to feeling invisible
[16:50] – Why you have to see yourself before anyone else can
[18:40] – What it means to be your own ride or die
[20:00] – How to build connection, support, and belonging—on your terms
[22:10] – The two ways to work with me if you’re ready to finally feel seen and heard

💥 Ready to feel truly seen and heard in your life?

→ Book a 1:1 consult with me here: https://amandahess.ca
→ Join my membership and start your FREE week here: https://joinamanda.ca

You deserve to take up space. Let’s do this together. 💛

Do you ever find yourself holding back from feeling hope—because deep down, you're afraid of being disappointed, let down, or even embarrassed? You're not alone. In this episode, we explore how learning to build emotional capacity for hope is essential to living a life that feels meaningful, connected, and aligned with who you really are.

You'll learn why hope isn't just a feel-good emotion—it’s a vital ingredient for mental and emotional wellbeing. If you're sensitive, neurodivergent, or simply someone who’s been hurt before, hope can feel risky. But avoiding it? That leads to a life that gets smaller and less satisfying over time. This episode will show you a new way.

We’ll walk through a clear 3-step process for expanding your emotional capacity so that you can open yourself back up to dreaming, desiring, and pursuing the things that actually matter to you. You’ll leave with practical tools, journaling prompts, and a challenge to help you reconnect with possibility—on your own terms.

[0:00 - 3:00] – Why This Matters More Than Ever
A powerful reminder of what’s possible when you allow yourself to feel hope—and what’s at stake when you don’t.

[3:01 - 6:50] – Why Hope Feels Unsafe for So Many Women
Understand the hidden ways you’ve been taught to shut down your dreams and why hope can feel like a risk rather than a resource.

[6:51 - 10:00] – The “Realism” Trap & How It Shrinks Your Life
Explore how being “realistic” often becomes code for “settling”—and how to know if you’ve fallen into that trap.

[10:01 - 14:15] – What Happens When You Avoid Hope
Discover the quiet cost of choosing safety over possibility and how it shows up in your relationships, career, and self-worth.

[14:16 - 18:30] – The Behaviors That Numb Hope—and Why They Don’t Work
From resentment to numbing to self-sabotage, we unpack the habits that develop when you shut out hope—and how to shift them.

[18:31 - 22:00] – What Emotional Capacity Really Is (And Why You Need It)
Learn what it means to actually build your emotional capacity—not just tolerate more stress—and how this changes everything.

[22:01 - 27:00] – The 3-Step Framework for Building Capacity for Hope

Regulate your nervous system

Allow emotions (instead of avoiding them)

Shift your thought patterns with powerful questions
You'll get concrete tools and journaling prompts to start implementing today.

[27:01 - 29:00] – How Avoiding Pain Also Blocks Joy
Understand how protecting yourself from difficult emotions is also limiting your ability to feel joy, connection, and satisfaction.

[29:01 - End] – Your Next Step: Practice Hope, On Purpose
Take on a simple challenge to practice hopeful thinking in the next 24 hours—and learn how you can get deeper support, totally free, through the Love Yourself No Matter What Membership. Head to joinamanda.ca to try it out with no strings attached.

Let me know if you’d like this turned into a blog post, an email, or a caption too—I’ve got you.

In this episode, I thoughtfully explore the importance of making peace with our past selves as a key element of self-love and personal growth. Through my own personal experiences and insights, I share how embracing compassion toward past versions of ourselves, rather than judging or rejecting them, allows for genuine healing and deeper self-understanding. Recognizing our past selves as doing their best with the knowledge and resources they had at the time helps free us from lingering regret or shame. Ultimately, cultivating this understanding creates a more authentic, peaceful, and fulfilling life.