RESILIENCE.

In 2017, we lost our home, nearly everything we owned, and our beloved black lab, Sam, in a devastating fire. The journey that followed taught us about resilience, healing, and finding hope again. Through hard work, therapy, and the support of an incredible community, we discovered that while tragedy can change your life, it doesn't have to define it. Stronger Than Fire was born from that journey.

Chapter 1 is a great place to start.

Yes and no. We've rebuilt our house (even though our builder walked off the job and stole a lot of money from us). We've replaced a lot of our things. Our day to day is no longer pained by the loss. However, what we went through has changed us forever. It's changed how we live, how we view the world, and the importance of experience, curiosity and relationships. We still manage PTSD and anxiety, but we're open about it because we know other people experience these things too, and it feels good to not be alone.

Absolutely. We've shared our story in hopes that it can help others. This post outlines things to do right away, and how friends can help. If you're looking for resources, we compiled everything here. If your friend or family member has specific questions, have them reach out to us via the contact form or in messages on our Instagram. We've actually met some folks who have become good friends this way.

So many things helped us after the fire: taking it a few minutes at a time at first, being kind to ourselves, sharing what we were going through, weekly therapy, the support of our friends, family and community. We put together this post to share more about what to expect and how people can help.

It doesn't matter what the trauma is—fire, flood, hurricane, tornado, loss, divorce, death— if you find yourself in a place of starting over, give yourself grace and take it one minute, one hour, one day at a time.