This or Something Better

When the Sonoma Complex fire came to Elisa Stancil Levines California doorstep in 2017, her world changed overnight. The devastating fire torched thousands of acres, but for Elisa, a world-class decorative artist, it was her reaction that night that cracked her wide open. A loving wife, mother, and grandmother, Elisa thought she had reckoned with her early childhood trauma. But when she fled the midnight firestorm without alerting a single neighbor, she had to ask herself: Who does that?In This or Something Better,Elisa revisits herpast and the one force in which she has always found true kinship: the wild river. Nature, her lifelong ally, gave solace . Throughteen pregnancy, her babys stillbirth, and a mystical near-death experience at eighteen, nature shaped her character, and it later informed her wildly successful career. But was there an unintended consequence?The fresh trauma of the firestormsparked a quest: what treasure awaited if Elisa learned to trust humannature? Vivid, poetic, and intimate, This or Something Betterreveals how true healing of deep wounds happens one exquisite layer at a timeand invites us each to consider and embrace our own path toward wholeness and authenticity.