Sandra Younger lost her home, 12 neighbors and nearly her own life in a catastrophic wildfire. Her book about the disaster, “The Fire Outside My Window,” has been acclaimed as required reading for residents of wildfire country, adopted as a training text by top-level emergency professionals, and praised by reviewers as a “couldn’t put it down” page-turner.

After the fire, Sandra discovered that personal resilience is both a natural strength and a skill set we can build like a muscle. Combining her own experience with leading academic research, she developed The ComeBACK Formula™—a five-step system of powerful, common-sense practices proven to transform disaster into opportunity and loss into a legacy.

Now as the founder of ComeBACK Solutions Intl., Sandra shares her resilience-boosting message as an international speaker, workshop leader and media guest. She’s appeared on NBC’s Dateline, ABC, CBS, PBS, CBC, Fox, the CW, and more than 20 podcasts.

In this podcast:

• Even though her story is 15 years old, it’s more relevant than ever
• Wildfires & natural disasters are a part of life and how we can navigate the
• How she lost everything in one of the biggest wildfires in California
• She felt it was her sacred responsibility as a journalist to capture the story of the situation
• How everyone has such a different experience in traumatic situations
• The secret of resilience, “We get to choose our attitude, no matter what happens to us.”
• The quote that supported her journey, “The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances and choose one’s own way.” Viktor Frankl
• What we can do to speed and smooth our comeback journey’s after any disaster hits
• We can build a resilience muscle with simple practices
• The 5 steps in the ComeBACK Formula:
  • Come to a place of gratitude
  • Be patient with the pain – deep wounds do not heal overnight, believe you can come back
  • Accept help that’s offered to you and be tough enough to ask for it when you need it
  • Choose your response, a victim or a victor
  • Keep moving forward – gradually detach from the past, the old normal that can never come back, forgive yourself and the person responsible and embrace the future
• Emotional Resilience is a key piece in the community recovery plan

Inspired Round Q&A:

• Most Inspiring Book-
  • Everything Belongs, Richard Rohr – Franciscan Priest
• Favorite Song-
  • Viva La Vida, Coldplay
• Best Resource-
  • The Comeback Formula, she’s using it because she tries to take her own medicine every day
• Surprising Fact About Sandra-
  • She wrangles rattlesnakes
• Most Important Thing to Know About Sandra-
  • She loves a great comeback story even before the fire and her own story. She believes in people and their ability to overcome adversity. You are stronger than you know.

Interview Links:

• Book:
  • The Fire Outside My Window: A Survivor Tells the True Story of California’s Epic Cedar Fire
  • The ComeBACK Formula Guidebook
• Website:
  • www.SandraMillersYounger.com
• Facebook:
  • www.facebook.com/sandra.m.younger.5
• twitter:
  • twitter.com/syounger
• Instagram:
  • www.instagram.com/smyounger/
• Linkedin:
  • www.linkedin.com/in/sandrayounger/

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