Jessica Buchanan: Survival Against Impossible Odds

<p>Mark speaks with Jessica Buchanan, a humanitarian worker and activist who was kidnapped and held hostage for 93 days in Somalia. Today, Jessica works to help women foster their authentic self-expression through the development of their own manifestos.<br><br></p> <p><strong>Today, Commander Divine speaks with Jessica Buchanan, a humanitarian worker and activist who was kidnapped and held hostage for 93 days in Somalia. Jessica miraculously survived to tell the tale in her memoir, </strong><strong><em>Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team VI. </em></strong><strong>In this episode, Jessica recounts her experience in captivity, how she coped and healed after survival, and how her kidnapping ultimately led her to a greater purpose.</strong><br><br><br></p> <p><strong>Key Takeaways:</strong><br><br></p> <ul> <li><strong>Finding strength in the unthinkable. </strong>As a teacher from Ohio, Jessica never thought such an extraordinary event could ever happen to her. But her experience taught her that not only was she not immune to having bad things happen to her, but she also learned she’s a whole lot tougher than she ever gave herself credit for. She says that she can now look back on her story as a reminder of her inner strength in moments of imposter syndrome.<br><br></li> <li><strong>Trust your gut.</strong> The night before her kidnapping, Jessica’s intuition was screaming at her not to travel to southern Somalia as she was instructed to do for work. In fact, she tried to cancel the work engagement twice, but was pressured by her colleague to go. The whole night before her kidnapping, she had nightmares that she was being kidnapped by pirates. She says her decision to go anyway was the biggest self-abandonment moment of her life. She has since vowed to always go with her gut, no matter what.<br><br></li> <li><strong>Finding humor in a hopeless place.</strong> Jessica says she relied on her “warped sense of humor” to keep her hopeful and strong over the course of