What would you do if you stopped waiting for fear to disappear?

In Episode 4 of the SMC Podcast, Daniel Fournier sits down with keynote speaker, mentor, and certified life and success coach “Gigi” Santos for a powerful conversation about fear, overthinking, self-trust, confidence, aligned decision-making, and courageous action.

Gigi’s message is direct:

Fear is lying to you. You already know what to do. Now act like it.

Drawing from her experiences in collegiate athletics, organizational leadership, speaking, coaching, and personal transformation, Gigi explains why confidence is often built after we take action—not before it.

Together, Daniel and Gigi explore how the mind can create stories around uncertainty, how external validation influences our decisions, and why waiting for perfect certainty can quietly delay the life we already know we want.

They also examine the three central questions of the SMC Podcast:

How are you Living on Purpose?
How are you strengthening your Union?
What are you doing to build a Legacy that lives Forward?

You will hear insights on:

• How to distinguish legitimate danger from fear of growth
• Why the mind creates worst-case scenarios
• The relationship between overthinking and external validation
• How taking action builds confidence and self-trust
• Gigi’s three-step process: awareness, decision, and action
• Why discomfort is a natural part of learning and transformation
• How daily habits shape the person you are becoming
• The relationship between self-trust and healthy relationships
• Why opportunities often arrive through people
• How to stop waiting for permission
• Why fear may remain even as your capacity to handle it grows
• What it means to build a legacy through courageous living

Website and resources:
https://linktr.ee/gigi_santos

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/letsgo_gigi

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@LetsGoGigi

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gigisantos

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/grethell.santos/

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@letsgo_gigi

Subscribe to SOUL Mission Conversations on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@SOULMissionTalks

The SMC Podcast features real conversations with real people about what it means to:

Live on Purpose.
Strengthen your Union.
Build a Legacy that lives Forward.

In Episode 3 of the SMC Podcast, Daniel Fournier sits down with Jessica Lasecki, known by her Air Force call sign "Cosmic". Jessica is a two-time rare cancer survivor, a lifelong martial artist, and a dedicated servant leader. In this incredibly powerful conversation, Jessica opens up about how confronting her own mortality fundamentally shifted her perspective on time, purpose, and the power of the words we speak into existence.

In this episode, we dive deep into:

• Jessica's early life starting Taekwondo at age 10 and stepping up to run her own martial arts school by the young age of 16.
• The crucial difference between simply surviving the chaos of life and building true, lasting resilience.
• Her grueling battle with two rare forms of cancer, which even required her to remain awake for treatment injections directly into her eye.
• The dangerous psychological trap of "lethal loyalty," and how staying in a toxic 10-year relationship ultimately led to self-abandonment before she fought to take her life back.
• The vital importance of men's mental health, the dangers of suppressing emotional pain, and the necessity of seeking professional therapy to heal past traumas.
• How she actively advocated for her fellow exhausted Air Force instructors by pitching and building the first-ever "Resiliency Room" at Goodfellow Air Force Base.
• Redefining her life's legacy after cancer treatments made having children unsafe, and choosing instead to leave a profound impact through her teaching, her upcoming book, and her daily interactions with others.

Jessica's story is a beautiful reminder that we all have the power to shape our reality, that taking care of your mental health is never selfish, and that the little things you do every single day truly matter.

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 for 24/7, free, and confidential emotional support. You can also chat online at 988lifeline.org.
• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a volunteer crisis counselor 24/7.
• Veterans Crisis Line: Dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255 to reach qualified responders from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
• SAMHSA National Helpline: Call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for treatment referral and information regarding mental health and substance use.

Most people answer “I’m good” before they have told the truth.

That is why Episode 2 of the SOUL Mission Conversations Podcast begins with Joshua Mach’s signature question:

How are you really doing?

In this episode, I sit down with Joshua Mach — Marine Corps veteran, husband, father, host of the JMach Podcast, and creator of the JMach Sandbox — for a raw and grounded conversation about mental health, fatherhood, military identity, purpose after service, and the responsibility of building community.

What I appreciated most about this conversation is that Joshua does not treat pain as the end of the story.

He is taking pain and turning it into service.

He is taking service and turning it into structure.

And he is taking structure and turning it into a place where veterans, first responders, families, and communities can come out of isolation and remember they are not alone.

We talked about:

• The question that can interrupt someone’s silence: “How are you really doing?”
• The pressure of being a father, husband, provider, and leader at home
• Why mental health support should not carry shame
• The transition from military service into civilian identity
• How complacency, alcohol, and isolation can quietly become destructive
• The need for substance-free, community-driven spaces for veterans and first responders
• The vision behind the JMach Sandbox
• What it means to build a legacy that actually helps people keep living

This episode is exactly why the SMC Podcast exists:

To have genuine conversations with people who are living on purpose, strengthening their union, and building a legacy that lives forward.

Joshua is doing that work in real time.

And this conversation is one I believe people need to hear.

Guest: Joshua Mach
Podcast: JMach Podcast / JMach Sandbox
Host: Daniel Fournier
Podcast: SOUL Mission Conversations Podcast

Content note: This episode includes discussion of mental health, depression, suicide prevention, substance use, therapy, family responsibility, and military transition. Please listen with care and seek appropriate support if needed.

#SMCPodcast #SOULMissionConversations #JMachPodcast #VeteranMentalHealth #MentalHealthAwareness #PurposeAfterService #Leadership #Fatherhood #Legacy

In this powerful episode of SMC Podcast: SOUL Mission Conversations, Daniel Fournier sits down with Justin Michael Reiller for a raw and honest Men’s Health Month conversation on trials, tribulations, and endurance.

Justin is a veteran, assistant director, actor, model, single father, Son of God, and a man deeply committed to faith, family, healing, and becoming better every day.

This conversation moves through some of the most difficult terrain a man can carry: the unexpected loss of a child, grief that never fully disappears, therapy, alcohol recovery, emotional regulation, single fatherhood, divorce, failed relationships, self-accountability, ego, faith, purpose, and learning how to keep moving forward when life feels overwhelming.

Justin speaks openly about the death of his firstborn daughter, the years-long healing journey that followed, the importance of therapy and support systems, and the truth that some wounds do not vanish — we learn how to carry them without letting them consume the soul.

Together, Daniel and Justin also discuss:

• Men’s mental health
• Grief and child loss
• Therapy and self-education
• Alcohol recovery and breaking toxic cycles
• Fatherhood and responsibility
• Faith, God, and purpose
• Ego, accountability, and apology
• Emotional language and learning how to identify what you feel
• Anxiety as energy that needs direction
• Brotherhood and the need for good men in a man’s life
• Why strength is not silent suffering
• How honest conversations can help men feel less alone

This episode is not polished performance. It is a real conversation between two men willing to speak honestly about what it means to suffer, heal, grow, and keep becoming.

If you are a man carrying grief, regret, shame, pressure, anxiety, addiction, emotional heaviness, or the weight of trying to be strong for everyone else — you are not alone.

Reach out. Talk to someone. Use your support system. Get help. Healing is not weakness. Healing is responsibility.

If you or someone you love is in emotional distress or crisis, call or text 988. Veterans can call 988 and press 1. For mental health or substance-use treatment referrals, call SAMHSA at 1-800-662-HELP.

Thank you for watching SMC Podcast: SOUL Mission Conversations.

Keep striving.
Keep enduring.
Keep living your SOUL Mission.