How Would You Rise from the Ashes?: A Story about Destruction & Renewal
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:00:02 Welcome to Heart Glow CEO®, where high achievers evolve into purpose-driven powerhouses. I'm Kc Rossi, your Integrative Leadership Coach. Join us to break free from people pleasing and burnout, exploring mindset, embodiment, and soul alignment. Discover expert insights, success stories, and actionable tips for wholistic wealth on your terms. This is where transformation meets the modern female leader. Let's go!
How would you rise from the ashes? This is a story about destruction and renewal. It's been a month since I last sat down behind this mic, and not because I ran out of things to say, but because I wanted to fully immerse myself in an experience, one that changed me.
I've just returned from Hawaii, where I stood on brand new Earth, land that didn't exist just seven years ago. I walked across vast fields of hardened lava, jagged and unforgiving, stretching endlessly to meet the deep blue of the Pacific. I breathed in air thick with salt and earth under a sky where the sun seemed brighter and the rain more cleansing.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:01:26 Honestly, it's the most vibrant place I've been, and I've traveled a lot. Hawaii didn't just give me a change of scenery, it gave me a reset. Today, I want to share one of the most powerful lessons I witnessed firsthand. A story of resilience, transformation, and what it truly means to rise from the ashes.
The 2018 Kilauea eruption - lives changed overnight on May 18th, 2018. The Earth cracked open and molten rock poured forth, one of the strongest eruptions in recent history. It reshaped the landscape in an instant. We were able to witness this, but there was one couple who had firsthand experience of this devastation. They lost their home, their farm, two cars, and all of their possessions; a life that they had built together for 15 years.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:02:57 Can you imagine waking up one day and realizing that the very ground beneath you no longer exists? I can't even imagine.
Their land is what's known as Kipuka, a rare island of untouched space surrounded by lava on all sides. And when I say their land, it's their current place now because their original home was completely devastated. They ended up purchasing one of their neighbor's places who actually had to get heli-vacced out of there because there wasn't enough time to flee when the eruption was happening. So they ended up buying this, this neighbor's land. And that's where we stayed in this Airbnb that we rented and learned about this. Eight separate farms remained in this pocket of the Kipuka and that Kipuka is that untouched land. So lava is all around them. It's like this little capsule that is exactly the way that it was. It's completely untouched, but everything around them is black. It is such a symbol of resilience, a testament to how life finds a way, even in the face of complete devastation.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:04:15 To me, it's almost like karma at its finest. It's literally like everything around this little pocket was meant to completely transform. But what was in this capsule remained exactly the same.
Survival isn't the same thing as thriving. This couple had to start over, rebuilding from nothing. For two years, they had uncertainty and had to become nomads. With their home and belongings gone, they became wanderers. They moved from place to place, house sitting, staying with friends, pet sitting, waiting for the next step to become clear.
And then 2020 global pandemic happened. They found a way forward, not by choice, but more of a default and limited choices. So this was really a continued road of rebuilding and trying to create something new.
Have you ever felt like you were in a waiting season, when everything familiar has been stripped away, and you weren't sure what was coming next? I know I have. And this experience, listening to their story gave me this opportunity to pause and reflect on when I had to rise from the ashes.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:05:33 And I invite you to take that time to do this for yourself as well, because I think there's some powerful moments, especially when we suppress information to cope and move on. And like I work with my clients, we really go through this journey of exploration of what it's like to survive, to cope, and to thrive and the various stages and the various mechanisms, if you will, in each one of those categories.
It's not enough to just cope. It may feel like it because it's a step up from survival, but I know if you're listening to this and I know I'm on a journey of transformation, and that includes thriving. Tapping into joy, living my best life. And maybe you can relate as well.
So like I mentioned, this couple lost everything. Then they were able to purchase this neighbor's home that was really barely spared because all of the windows melted from the intense heat of the lava. The lava gets like between 2000 and 2400 degrees, and the lava came right up, like maybe 15ft away from this structure.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:06:46 So it melted out all the windows. This couple restored what remained and built a sanctuary not just for themselves, but also for travelers like us who came to witness the beauty and the rebirth. It was pretty interesting.
You could tell it was difficult for them to even recount the story. They had printed a little sheet of information in the welcome book. But I was so curious and they were so, loving and open. They brought us fresh coconuts that they picked off their farm. They had a basket of fruits like avocados and papaya and things that they had picked dehydrated bananas from their current farm. So they were really welcoming and I think it could have just stopped there. But I was so curious. And I think maybe because I'm a coach by nature, I really wanted to ask the big questions to them, and they were open to sharing. And I wanted to know, you know, what it was like to go through this. And the thing that I was most curious about is how long it took them emotionally to rebuild from this devastation.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:07:56 And I think the question caught them off guard, but they were really tuned in and tapped in, and they were very honest and said, we're still processing. And you would think after seven years because this May, just a couple months from this recording, will be their seventh anniversary of the complete devastation from that May 18, 2018 event. And so you would think that people who lived off the land and he was a bodyworker that, you know, was very tuned in and they were both very just, natural and pure in the way that they're living off the land and, living in a kind of pure and simple way that in my mind I was thinking like, not that they would, quote-unquote, “be over it”, but we can never know what they go through, what people go through that have experienced loss in such a large scale. So it was very sobering for me to hear that they're still processing. I could feel the pain. I could feel their, struggle still, that someone can come here and it's like a little tourist stop. And I could feel that this is not just like butterflies and roses right now, but that this is their life that they continue to process.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:09:19 And in a way, I felt a little bit trapped because the journey to Pohoiki, which is their road to reach their home, you have to drive for nearly like 30-40 minutes over rough and uneven terrain. The original road was swallowed by the lava, so the path, which used to just be like seven minutes to the closest town in Pahoa, is rugged. It's slow, it's unpredictable. You need a four-wheel drive. ten miles an hour feels fast. When you're bouncing over volcanic rock. It's uncomfortable. It's jarring. It forces you to slow down and be present. And so for us, it was like, oh, cool. This is like such a neat Airbnb experience. And when we arrived, the view is breathtaking. There are miles of solidified lava. The undeniable evidence of destruction is also there, and so I can't even imagine having to live there and still bump-a-dee-boop over this lava to even get to civilization. So to me, it felt like it could be very trapping it.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:10:28 I thought about, you know, when people say, oh, you know, like when you live on one of the Hawaiian Islands, you get island fever and you want to go to the mainland. And I was like, oh my gosh, if that's true, what, is he here? Were you really kind of trapped in this, little teeny pocket, this Kipuka? You really have to change your mindset for this to feel like, I don't know in my mind and my assumption to feel like home, to feel free. And it's funny because I took a video of us driving along this road and panned to the home that we were staying, and it doesn't look like much without this story. You could easily not give it a moment of attention because it just looks like black and vastness and some blue ocean over here and then like a house. But until you peel back the layers, you don't get the full scope of the story.
I love symbolism and in the Hawaiian culture, Pelehonuamea, otherwise known as Pele, is the goddess of volcanoes.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:11:37 She is both creator and destroyer. Fierce. Untamed. Unpredictable. So in March, my bestie Sher and I stood at the edge of Kilauea, feeling a strange unease. And just two hours later, she erupted again. This is nature's way of reminding us nothing is permanent and transformation is rarely gentle. It's it's like incredible. My mind was really blown. I kept getting this lesson over and over again of creation and destruction. And devastation and renewal and yin and yang and black and white, like all the polar opposites, kept coming into play. Sher and I have been to Hawaii 13 times together, very blessed to to have enjoyed it. And I really feel at home there. And we visited volcano many times, but this last time was different. We were both edgy and couldn't wait to head back up to the north part of the island. You could feel the angst, you know that uneasy feeling of tremble before a blow. We both felt that and we were gone almost a month, and this was the first time in all of our travels that we felt this kind of uneasiness that we really couldn't put our finger on.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:12:59 So here's the Heart Glow moment. The lessons from the lava:
1. Loss isn't the end. It's an invitation to begin again. When the lava came, it wiped out years of work, memories, and effort. But it also created something new - fertile ground, fresh possibilities, and a reset. My question to you, dear friend. Where in your life have you mistaken an ending for a failure? When really it was an opening for something greater? Take a moment to ponder that. Take a nice deep breath into that.
2. Second, resilience means trusting the unknown. This couple didn't have a plan when they lost everything. It's not what they raised their hand for. They had faith that a path would appear. Maybe if it didn't feel like that when it first happened, they still proceeded on. What if your greatest challenge right now is an invitation to trust the unfolding? Let those words and that possibility just sink into your soma. What if your greatest challenge right now is an invitation to trust the unfolding?
3. Number three the hardest roads often lead to the most beautiful destinations.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:14:34 Have you experienced that in your life? I know I have. We didn't sign up for easy, right? We're in this human body to experience something. I know for myself, my biggest goal is self-actualization. That doesn't come from smooth sailings. And I know that. I get it, I feel it. I feel the truth in karma, and a lot of our experiences often are bumpy, just like that road to Pohoiki. It's a perfect metaphor for getting to something incredible often requires discomfort. Where in your life do you need to embrace the rough terrain, trusting that something breathtaking is on the other side?
Do you often play it safe? I know I have in my life I've been like, you know what? I just want to coast for a minute. And sometimes that coasting can last a little longer than we initially thought, because we get in this groove, and then sometimes you will feel that you're stuck. Can you relate? But, I firmly believe that we always have choice and we are never stuck.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:15:45 It oftentimes creates this feeling or this timeline that we are. But if you can really embrace the truth that you control your mind, it's not the other way around and that just some momentum can bust through that stuckness.
So the closing reflection that I really want to leave you with is this past month has been a reset for me. I stepped away from constantly doing and allowed myself to just be, to absorb, to feel, to reflect. I didn't drive, I didn't go on social, I didn't wear makeup, I didn't create content every day. And this was really interesting because typically I'm all over social media. And in the past, any time I've traveled, I'm posting every single day in the moment, in the moment. I'm also when I'm in the moment thinking how I can capture the moment for my audience. And I didn't do that all month, and it was really a little bit different. In the beginning, I was like, am I missing out? And then there was this idea of like, actually, no, I am fully absorbed and not missing a thing. And who am I doing this for and why am I posting? So it was a really interesting opportunity for me.
Kc Rossi, PCC 00:17:06 It was a great reminder to pause, to immerse myself fully in an experience without the pressure of producing or performing. And Hawaii gave me that. It gave me stillness, space, and deep transformation. And I hope that I brought you a taste of that in this episode.
So I'll leave you with this. If you could hit reset right now. Where would you begin? If everything you knew was erased overnight, what would you choose to rebuild? This is a big question. I hope you marinate on it. If you're a kinesthetic learner, journal on it. If you're auditory, use your phone app and record these answers so you can capture it.
Because transformation is always happening. The question is how will you rise from the ashes?
Thanks so much for listening, my friends. Share this with someone you know to keep the inspiration flowing. And until next week, breathe, joy.
