UNLOADED

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes nothing around you has completely changed yet. But somehow, you know the sun is coming up. In this episode of UNLOADED , Michael shares a memory from his Army days during a field training exercise. After being assigned the 2 a.m. security watch on an unexpectedly freezing night without the proper cold-weather gear, there was only one thing he wanted to see: The sun. Hour...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes the weight doesn't disappear gradually. Sometimes something moves. After several weeks of difficult conversations on UNLOADED, Michael finally finds himself able to say something different: “I'm in a pretty good place.” In this episode, Michael and Shannon explore what happens on the other side of the difficult seasons they've spent so much time discussing...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when the voice in your head finally stops talking? Most of us know that voice. It analyzes. Questions. Replays conversations. Predicts what might happen next. Gets angry. Defends us. Scares us. And sometimes it simply refuses to shut the hell up. In this episode of UNLOADED , Michael and Shannon pick up a question left hanging from their previous conversation: Is it a...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when you've carried something long enough that fighting it becomes heavier than the thing itself? In this episode of UNLOADED , Michael reflects on several difficult weeks and the process of finally reaching a place of genuine acceptance. Not pretending everything is okay. Not excusing what happened. Not avoiding the anger, frustration, fear, sadness, or sense of...

Send us Fan Mail Life can feel heavy. Stress. Pressure. Responsibilities. Fear. The constant noise inside our own heads. But how much of that weight comes from what's actually happening—and how much comes from the way our minds interpret it? In this episode of UNLOADED , Michael and Shannon step back from the idea of “the weight we carry” and ask a more uncomfortable question: Are we sometime...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of UNLOADED , Michael walks into the studio after one of the most difficult weeks he's had in a long time—and admits that, for the first time, he seriously considered not recording at all. Without discussing the private circumstances behind the week, Michael and Shannon explore what happens internally when thoughts begin to overwhelm us, emotions start feeding...

Send us Fan Mail Some days are heavier than others. In this episode of UNLOADED , Michael and Shannon explore what it means to protect your peace when relationships, responsibilities, negativity, and the everyday weight of life begin pulling against it. Michael opens up about recognizing imbalance in relationships—when giving and taking no longer feel mutual—and why protecting yourself doesn'...

Send us Fan Mail In Part Two of this deeply personal conversation, Michael and Shannon pick up exactly where they left off: Can we put something painful away and simply leave it there forever? Michael shares another piece of his own story—the father who left when he was two years old and waited until the end of his life to try to reconnect. Shannon reflects on his work with Vietnam veterans who ca...

Send us Fan Mail In this deeply personal episode of UNLOADED , Michael and Shannon step into a conversation neither of them planned. After the first birthday since the loss of his mother, Michael talks openly about what it feels like when grief unexpectedly finds its way back into everyday life—a Facebook reminder, a family post, a quiet moment staring at a screen, and the realization that someone...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is dedicated to the memory of Chase—a husband, father, veteran, and friend whose life continues to remind us why reaching out matters.  What does it really mean to have someone's six? In this deeply personal episode of UNLOADED , Michael and Shannon explore the hidden weight so many people carry—the need for approval, the fear of rejection, and the belief that ou...

Send us Fan Mail  Sometimes the heaviest weight we carry isn't our own.  Have you ever walked away from a conversation feeling emotionally exhausted—even though the problem wasn't yours? In this episode of UNLOADED , Michael and Shannon explore how emotions and energy move between people. They discuss the challenge of carrying other people's burdens, recognizing when emotions become...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes healing doesn't come from finding the perfect answer. Sometimes it comes from learning that you don't have to carry every burden that crosses your path. In this deeply personal continuation of their previous conversation, Michael and Shannon reflect on what it means to stay present through life's most difficult moments without allowing those moments to con...

Send us Fan Mail What if the weight you're carrying was never yours to begin with? In one of the most personal episodes of UNLOADED , Michael opens up about a difficult leadership decision that consumed him for days. Faced with competing responsibilities, loyalty, accountability, and the desire to do the right thing, he wrestles with a question many of us eventually face: When does helping ot...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of UNLOADED , Michael and Shannon dive into the lifelong process of growth, learning, and becoming comfortable with failure. What starts as a conversation about building a custom timekeeping app quickly turns into a deeper discussion about self-development, overcoming limitations, and the courage it takes to keep learning new things—even when you're not sure y...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when therapy works? In this candid and deeply personal episode of UNLOADED , Michael and Shannon pull back the curtain on their unique relationship as a former therapist and client-turned podcast co-hosts. What begins as a conversation about rest and burnout quickly evolves into a discussion about healing, growth, and what happens when years of therapy begin to transf...

Send us Fan Mail Why is asking for help so hard? In this honest and sometimes uncomfortable conversation, Michael and Shannon explore one of the most common struggles people face: the fear of asking for help. For Michael, the roots of that struggle trace all the way back to a defining childhood moment that shaped his belief that no one was coming to save him. Together, they unpack how pride, indep...

Send us Fan Mail Relationships can be some of the greatest gifts in our lives—and some of our greatest challenges. In this episode of UNLOADED , Michael and Shannon explore the difficult reality of strained relationships, emotional triggers, and the tough decisions that arise when a connection no longer feels healthy. Through personal stories and honest reflection, they discuss the tension between...

Send us Fan Mail Anger can become a place we live without even realizing it. In this episode of UNLOADED, Michael and Shannon have an honest conversation about emotional triggers, unresolved anger, old wounds, and the lifelong process of learning to respond rather than react. From recognizing familiar emotions and carrying weight from the past to understanding fear, frustration, emotional overload...

Send us Fan Mail Pressure has a way of building slowly — responsibilities, expectations, deadlines, relationships, work, family, and the constant feeling that there’s always one more thing to carry. In this episode of UNLOADED, Michael and Shannon talk about the weight created by modern life, the pressure we place on ourselves, and how easy it is to lose ourselves trying to perform for everyone el...

Send us Fan Mail Parenting changes everything — not just your responsibilities, but your identity, your fears, your relationships, and the emotional weight you carry every day. In this episode of UNLOADED , Michael and Shannon have an honest conversation about fatherhood, raising children in today’s world, generational influence, letting go of control, and the difficult balance between protecting...

Send us Fan Mail After returning from the Big Island, Michael and Shannon reflect on emotional overload, leadership pressure, burnout, and the importance of stepping back long enough to recognize when life has quietly pulled you off center. This conversation explores the weight we carry without realizing it, how stress slowly accumulates beneath the surface, and what happens when we finally allow...

Send us Fan Mail A Two-Part Series | UNLOADED Podcast What happens when you willingly step out of an aircraft at 10,000 feet… and instead of fear, you find peace? In this powerful two-part episode of UNLOADED , Michael shares the deeply personal journey that led him to Hawai‘i’s Big Island and ultimately to the open door of a plane above the Pacific Ocean. Part I dives into the internal weight tha...

Send us Fan Mail What drives a man to leave everything familiar behind and fly across the ocean searching for something he can’t fully explain? In this two-part episode of UNLOADED , Michael opens up about his journey to Hawai‘i’s Big Island—not just the physical trip, but the internal one that led him there. What started as a destination became something far deeper: reflection, surrender, clarity...

Send us Fan Mail “I’m fine” is one of the most common things we say… even when it’s not true. In this episode, Michael and Shannon talk about what’s really behind those two words — the habit of pushing things down, avoiding the conversation, and convincing ourselves that everything is under control. But what we don’t deal with doesn’t go away. It shows up in our tone.  In our patience.  In our rel...

Send us Fan Mail Most people don’t avoid hard conversations because they don’t care. They avoid them because they do. In this episode, Michael and Shannon talk about why we avoid the conversations we know we need to have — fear of conflict, fear of being misunderstood, and the risk of damaging relationships. But avoiding the conversation doesn’t remove the problem. It just delays it… and often mak...