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She evacuated Hurricane Katrina while battling Bell’s palsy, then realized she was homeless in an instant and still had to keep moving. That is the kind of story that cuts through noise, because it is not just about a natural disaster, it is about what stress does to the body, what matters when you have minutes to decide, and how a life gets rebuilt from whatever you managed to carry out the door.

We sit down with Raquel, a Marine with a fierce fighting spirit and a deep compassion that was forged in hard places. We talk through the Katrina timeline, the chaos of packing when your brain is overloaded, and the preparedness basics that actually protect your future, like keeping vital documents in a fireproof waterproof container and having a true grab-and-go plan. From there, we connect the “outer storm” to the “inner storm,” including moral injury, trauma in the body, and why healing work cannot be postponed forever.

The conversation also goes straight into relationships and community. We unpack how technology, comfort, and isolation can quietly erode family connection, why forgiveness is freeing but does not erase boundaries, and how faith can guide you through breaking away from what is unhealthy. We also share what we are building together around radiant living and introduce Raquel’s book Katrina, My Own Inner Storm, A Moral Injury Journey along with her 40-day framework for growth and healing.

If this helped you think differently about resilience, disaster readiness, trauma healing, forgiveness, and rebuilding community, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it.

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