From Meltdown to Mastery: The Secret Life of Your Mental Firefighters | NowShift August 08, 2025

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Ever caught yourself doing something impulsive — eating that extra slice of cake, binge-watching for hours, buying something you didn’t need — and wondered, “Why did I just do that?”

In this episode of Antifragilient OS – NowShift Daily Transmissions, Dr. Abhimanyou Raathore (Clinical Psychologist & Functional Medicine Practitioner) continues the journey through your Internal Family System, focusing on the “firefighters” — the parts of you that leap into action when emotions get overwhelming.

Unlike the future-focused managers, firefighters have one mission:

Immediate relief. At any cost.

They’ll soothe, distract, or numb you — sometimes with harmless comforts, sometimes with risky behaviors. But these reactive protectors aren’t villains. When unburdened from fear, they bring spontaneity, adventure, and balance to your life.

Through vivid examples, candid personal stories, and reflective exercises, you’ll:

• Spot your own firefighter patterns
• Understand their protective intentions
• Learn how to redirect their energy into healthier, life-enhancing actions

Dr. Raathore even shares his own firefighter journey — from emotional eating in the past to the mindful self-soothing strategies he uses today.

🎧 Listen now to transform your relationship with your most reactive parts — and be ready for tomorrow’s episode, where we explore the exiles that both managers and firefighters work so hard to protect.

A podcast by Dr. Abhimanyou Raathore
Thank you for tuning in.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today is August 8th 2025.
My name is Dr Abhimanyu Rathoreand I'm the founder of the
Anti-Fragilient Operating System, the anti-fragilient
transmission for the day is.
Yesterday we talked about yourspecific kind of parts, called

(00:22):
the managers, who have themantra of never again will I be
caught off guard.
So they are proactive in nature, and we also talked about how
they are future oriented and howthey are looking at planning,

(00:43):
controlling, striving, all ofthat.
We also saw how they behavewhen they are burdened and we
also saw how they could behavewhen they are unburdened.
Today we are moving on and Ialso gave you some specific
exercises to understand andappreciate them more because
they value that most.
To understand and appreciatethem more because they value

(01:04):
that most and, in fact, all yourparts value being appreciated,
seen, known a lot.
Let's move on to the next part,which is the firefighters.
Now, firefighters are alsoprotective parts and they
operate a little differently,and these are the parts which

(01:27):
actually explain a lot aboutyour behavior, all those parts
which feel so, or all thosetimes when you feel so reactive.
You feel, oh my God, what did Ido?
Why did I do this?
Oh shit, oh hell.
Why the hell did I choose this.
That is because that time youare blended and you are being

(01:50):
driven by the firefighters,because the mantra that the
firefighters have is I needrelief and I need it right now.
I need it now.
So, because these firefightersare just like the actual
firefighters, you know, becausethey are called in when

(02:10):
something catches fire.
So the moment something catchesfire, these parts rush in with
immediate relief when they smellsmoke and what is smoke in this
case?
Intense, intense feelings.
So anytime there areoverwhelming, intense feelings,
they attempt to provide reliefwith any number of soothing,
numbing or distractingstrategies.

(02:32):
They can be impulsive,compulsive and addictive and, if
they go to extreme, may havedangerous consequences too.
Now, not surprisingly, you know, they can be really polarized
with the managers, who theycould view as working against

(02:54):
them.
Okay, because, remember,managers are looking at the
future Okay, proactively solvingthings, and these guys are like
I don't care.
A looking at the future Okay,proactively solving things, and
these guys are like I don't carea damn about the future, I want
this thing solved now.
I'm painting.
Now I'm exhausted, now I amburdened, now I'm overwhelmed.

(03:16):
Now, that's firefighterstalking.
However, you know there's aplace for the unburdened
firefighters talking.
However, you know there's aplace for the unburdened
firefighters too.
You know, though, thefirefighters get a bad rep.
You know these are the partsthat can be spontaneous,

(03:36):
fun-loving, adventurous andoffer a welcome relief from the
distress, so they can offer youthat relief from the distress
when your exile is really needed.
They can also be the parts thatare the heroic and the selfless
ones.
They can also offer the balanceto the managers, because

(04:01):
managers are all about work andno play, and you know, everyone
needs a little pleasure in life,and firefighters are the ones
who know how to get it, so theycan let their hair down.
Really spontaneous, fun, all ofthat stuff.
Right, that's what happens whenyou help these firefighter
parts of yours get unburdened.

(04:25):
Okay, so who can do that?
You can do that, and you can dothat by beginning to recognize
them.
So, like yesterday, let's do anexercise.
Okay, I'll ask you a fewquestions that will help you
connect with your firefighters alittle better.

(04:45):
First question Ready.
So the first question is how doyou shift gears from work to
relaxation?
Think about that.
Your second question what doyou do to distract, soothe or
numb yourself when you'retriggered or upset?

(05:08):
Now, these could be some ofyour firefighters, by the way,
right?
So Some of your firefighters,by the way, right?
So what I do is, you know, Isometimes go and connect with my
with my sugar gliders.

(05:28):
You know I like to spend timewith my pets, whether it's my
Shih Tzu girls or my sugarglider babies.
That's, that's what reallyhelps me soothe myself.
That's when I know myfirefighters are involved there.
Or I would go ahead and have myself-made, since, besides being

(05:52):
a clinical psychologist and afunctional medicine practitioner
and a load of other things notshowing off, just sharing, I'm
also a culinary nutrition expert.
So I just go ahead and thenhave my own healthy chocolate.
I really like chocolate.
So, yeah, that's what helps mefeel nice at that time.

(06:13):
So, or rather, helps myfirefighters feel nice at that
time.
So, figure it out, what is itfor you?
And now let's move on to thenext question.
Next question is are there anyfun, relaxing or soothing
activities that you're curiousto try?

(06:34):
What else are you curious totry?
That you're curious to try?
What else are you curious totry?
Like, one of the activitiesthat I've not done so far that
I'm really curious to try, whichsounds adventurous, is
skydiving.
I would love to do that.
Now I don't know if you'veheard of skydiving Ready for the

(06:54):
last question.
The last question for the day isdo you have any firefighter
activities that could becomeaddictive or compulsive?
Like I remember when I wasabout 117 kilos of weight, which

(07:17):
now seems like ages ago.
I'm now about 78 kgs or 78kilos of weight.
That time I had this bingeeating emotional binge eating
that I used to do and that wasaddictive.
I used to have sometimes even,you know, four deep dishes, so

(07:40):
not four deep dishes, but fourdeep dish Chicago pizzas in one
day alone.
And that was, you know, while Iwas seeing patients and stuff
like that.
So I used to sleep just aboutfour hours and then I used to do
that.
So, yeah, that was the kind ofaddictive stuff that I used to
go through that time.
So, yeah, that was the kind ofaddictive stuff that I used to
go through that time.
So, once you've gone throughthis exercise, now take a moment

(08:08):
to extend some gratitude towardthe parts who are providing
some relief from striving andstress, that's your firefighters
.
I'll see you tomorrow, andtomorrow we do a deeper dive
into exiles.
Do let us know how thesesessions are going for you and

(08:36):
share it with somebody who youthink could really benefit from
truly understanding what hasbeen running their life and not
giving some cliched kind ofrelief by saying breathe,
everybody goes through this, orsome bullshit like that.
I'll see you tomorrow, takecare.

(08:59):
Bye.