Mental Firepower Monday: July 14, 2025

Welcome back to your Mental Firepower Monday check-in...because your brain deserves backup too.

This week, Erin reflects on last Thursday’s episode with retired LEO and Marine Corps vet Brian Gillespie, whose story made one thing crystal clear: getting sober was just step one. The real transformation began when he finally said the thing he swore he’d never say out loud.

This episode is your reminder that trauma recovery, post-traumatic growth, and even burnout prevention all start with one thing. Honesty.

MENTAL FIREPOWER:

Journal one thing you haven’t said out loud.
 It doesn’t need to be pretty. You don’t need to keep it. You just need to say it somewhere.

Whether you’re managing first responder stress, invisible wounds, or just too many shifts in a row, this simple tool can help get the weight out of your head and onto the page.

If the truth feels too sharp to face, start with a mind dump:
Just write the first thoughts that come. No order. No filters.
Your emotional resilience doesn’t have to begin with therapy. It begins with honesty.

LAST WEEK’S TOOL:

• Write down the one thing you’ve never told anyone.
• Burn it if you need to. But give it air.

WHO THIS IS FOR:

• First responders carrying unspoken trauma
• Veterans working through PTSD or MST
• Spouses trying to support without losing themselves
• Anyone finally tired of hiding behind “fine”

QUICK ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• Erin Maccabee Coaching is officially live, supporting responders and their partners. Learn more at https://erinmaccabee.com/
• New episode drops Thursday: Death by a Thousand Shifts
• Rate, review, and share this show with a friend, your crew, or your spouse

FOLLOW FOR WEEKLY MENTAL RESETS

New episodes every Monday + Thursday on all major platforms, including YouTube.

Because survival’s not the goal anymore. Growth is.

Music from #Uppbeat

https://uppbeat.io/t/needmospace/chill-power

License code: QUUZB4TP7STKMLJN

Transcript

Mental Firepower Monday 7/14/25

Erin Maccabee: ~Hello. Good morning friends. It's Monday again, so I just wanna check in with you today to find out how we're doing.~[00:00:00] 

Erin Maccabee: good morning friends. It's Monday again. So. As I promised last week, today we are checking in for your mental Fire Power Monday. Check-in 'cause this is a reminder that your brain deserves backup too. So how are we doing? It's been a few weeks since the show launched and it's summertime and I imagine there's a ton going on in your life.

So these tools that we hand out every week are something just to kind of get you to reset. last week on the Flashpoint podcast, we sat down with my. Buddy Brian Gillespie. a retired law enforcement officer and Marine Corp Vet, and he's truly walking proof that post-traumatic growth is real.

And I know Brian's wrapping up his visit ~with Boulder Crest Foundation~ with Boulder Crest. So hopefully we'll get to hear from him soon and find out how that went. But he did remind us that his getting [00:01:00] sober was only step one and the deeper healing. That started the day that he told the truth and that truth was something that he had actually planned to take to the grave.

I think the kicker for all of this was he didn't tell it to be a hero or to get accolades. He told it to finally stop hiding from himself, which is sometimes the most important thing. And the thing we need to do more than anything is. Uncover that thing that we're pretending not to know and let it get some air.

So in doing that, he gave others permission to do the same. And that goes for you. and the mental firepower. For last week, was to journal one thing that you have not said out loud. And there's no rules. It doesn't have to be neat.

It doesn't have to be tidy. We definitely don't have to share it with anybody. It's just something that needs to take an exit from your brain. Even if it's just a minute. Give yourself that space.

Because we know that no one [00:02:00] can heal by stuffing this stuff. You cannot hold it in. You heal by exposing it to that air. And if you need to, like I said before, just burn the page,

but give yourself the dignity of honesty because that's where growth starts.

I know I use the term mind dumping, and if you don't know what that is, this could be something else that you do. If you don't feel like you are ready to expose that one thing to air, but you just need to get things off your chest. mind dumping is really about simply writing down ~the things,~ the first thoughts that come to your mind, the things that are taking up the space there.

even that can be healing. All of this is where the growth starts. Brian reminded us that you don't have to have it all together to get better. You just need to tell the truth.

We will see you on Thursday. We have a episode coming out called Death by a Thousand Shifts. I know it sounds exciting, it's just [00:03:00] me, but you know, I'm gonna have some really cool tools coming up for you, and then we have really great experts coming on here in the next few weeks, so please stay tuned.

Remember to give this show a review. We can't do this without you. Rate it, review it, share it with your peers, share it with your friends, and share it with your spouse. an addition, Erin Maccabee Coaching is officially live and an action, and I'm seeing clients working with partners, working with spouses on how to cultivate their relationship and grow. A lot of exciting things happening, so please stay tuned grab this Monday by the mindset and make it a strong day.

Friends. We'll see you soon.