You've Got This - Becoming The Man You're Meant To Be
About the Podcast
This podcast is for men who know they’re meant for more.
More clarity.
More direction.
More from themselves.
Because from the outside, life might look “successful”—career, relationships, achievements—but something still feels off. You’re not broken… but you’re not fully aligned either. And you know it.
Hosted by Andy Nathan, this show explores what it really takes to live with integrity, purpose, and emotional strength.
Expect:
- Raw, honest conversations
- Stories of challenge, resilience, and transformation
- Practical tools for leading yourself and others
- And plenty of deep dives into masculine psychology (with a touch of nerdy passion)
We'll explore:
- Why so many men feel stuck, even when life “looks fine”
- What creates lasting change—not just temporary motivation
- How to stop sleepwalking through life and start living as The Architect
- How to raise your standards, take ownership, and lead with strength
Whether you're in the middle of a challenge or simply know you’re playing smaller than you should be—this podcast will meet you where you are and challenge you to become who you were meant to be.
About Andy
Andy Nathan is a writer, mentor, teacher and coach.
He didn’t get into this work in his twenties. It took hitting 40, feeling stuck in a draining career, struggling with relationships, and wondering why life felt so off-track.
And for years, therapy didn’t help. It felt surface-level or frustrating. Andy assumed maybe he just wasn’t “built” for this kind of work.
(Spoiler: he was. Just not the kind of work that was just talking and not rebuilding.)
After 25+ years in the corporate world, and over a decade in the wellbeing and transformation space, Andy now works with men ready to do the deeper work of identity shifts, emotional healing, self-mastery, and leadership. Andy also mentors coaches and facilitators and trains people to become coaches.
His coaching, group program (The Man Program), and men’s wilderness retreats help men slow down, reconnect, and take back the wheel—so they can stop drifting and start living with clarity, strength, and purpose.
This work isn’t just about change.
It’s about remembering who you are. And figuring that out!
Work With Andy
- 1:1 Coaching
- The Man (Group Program)
- Retreats & Events
- Corporate & Team Development (Online & In Nature)
🔗 andynathan.co.uk | themanprogram.co.uk
📧 andy@andynathan.co.uk
You've Got This - Becoming The Man You're Meant To Be
Why Strong Men Freeze
In this episode, Andy shares a raw and revealing personal story that exposes one of the biggest problems men face today: the emotional freeze response.
After opening up about a traumatic experience to someone close to him, Andy was met with three days of silence. When the reply finally came, it echoed something he’s heard from countless men:
“I overthought what to say… worried about getting it wrong… and avoided it.”
This episode breaks down why even strong, disciplined, high-performing men freeze emotionally — and how this freeze response is not fear, not weakness, but an uninitiated nervous system.
Andy explores:
- the difference between physical and emotional strength,
- why coaches and leaders often fail when emotion enters the room,
- the absence of male initiation in modern culture,
- and how three of the 9 Masks of Adam — The Independent One, The I’m Fine Mask, and The Perfectionist — collapse into silence when life gets real.
If you’ve ever frozen when someone needed you…
or someone froze when you needed them…
this episode will hit home.
Key Takeaways
- Freeze isn’t fear — it’s immobilisation.
It’s the nervous system shutting down because it has no map for emotional reality. - Physical strength doesn’t prepare men for emotional pain.
You can be trained to fight, but still collapse when faced with grief, conflict, or truth. - Initiation creates emotional adulthood.
And as Robert Bly said, men are initiated either by elders… or by life breaking them open. - The 9 Masks of Adam block emotional presence.
Especially The Independent One, The I’m Fine Mask, and The Perfectionist — all three collapse into freeze. - The boy hides. The man stays.
Freeze shows which one is running your nervous system.
Timestamps
00:00 — Why this episode matters now
01:22 — The story: sharing trauma and receiving silence
04:45 — “I overthought it and avoided it” — the male condition
06:02 — Freeze is immobilisation, not fear
07:50 — The trained fighter who collapses emotionally
09:10 — When coaches and leaders freeze — and why it breaks trust
11:30 — Business capability vs emotional capability
13:14 — Robert Bly on the two paths to initiation
15:00 — Why most men never got emotional initiation
16:42 — Freeze as the nervous system saying “I wasn’t built for this moment”
17:30 — The Independent One, The I’m Fine Mask & The Perfectionist
20:10 — Boy psychology vs man psychology
22:03 — Emotional adulthood requires initiation, not toughness
23:30 — The invitation: where have YOU frozen?
24:20 — Teaser: The 9 Masks of Adam live in January
Resources / Links
Series:
This episode is part of The 9 Masks Men Wear — short reflections on the survival identities men adopt, and what it takes to move beyond them.
🔥 RESOURCES & LINKS
👉 Join the waitlist for The 9 Masks Men Wear Live 9-Week Training
A 9-week journey to identify the mask running your life — and remove it so you can finally lead as the man you were meant to be.
Email: andy@andynathan.co.uk
Want to Drop the Masks?
The 9 Masks Men Wear begins in February 2026.
If you want to stop letting old survival strategies run your life and start leading from who you truly are, this is for you.
Connect with Andy
Instagram: @andyjnathan / @themanprogram
Website: andynathan.co.uk