Santa Barbara–Based Author Mary Firestone on Her New Book, ‘Trusting the Dawn’

Local author Mary Firestone’s new book, Trusting the Dawn: How to Choose Freedom and Joy After Trauma, focuses on her journey healing from the trauma she endured following the December 2017 Thomas Fire and subsequent Montecito mudslides that destroyed more than 450 structures, killing 23 people. Firestone, who was four months pregnant, lived directly in the path of the debris flow and was separated from her husband and 3-year-old son, trapped alone in the wreckage of her bathroom for five hours. Despite her dire circumstances, and her uncertainty about the survival of her family, she describes feeling a connection with a powerful, calming, protective force, which later inspired her to set out on her own path of healing. Her book is divided into two parts: The first chronicles her story of survival, and the second acts as a sort of handbook for healing methods, with descriptions and quick tips for newcomers. 

We sat down with Firestone to discuss her inspiration and goals for this book.

When did you decide to start writing Trusting the Dawn? The mudslide happened in January 2018, and in the spring of 2019, I was flying back from my college reunion, where I’d been telling the story a lot. On the flight home, it just came to me: I have my master’s degree in clinical psychology. I understood that I had been going through PTSD and had a lot of symptoms, like panic attacks, nightmares, and anxiety. But I was also having all of these positive experiences that I wouldn’t have had without the contraction of trauma and going deeper into my healing. This is more than just PTSD. If I can write something and share with other people that are in the aftermath of trauma, that they don’t have to be “eternally cursed” with this label of PTSD, but there’s a way through healing to a brighter, more dynamic, connected life, then I wanna do it.