Three Sips to Shots Fired - What Happens Before the Sirens
Most podcasts about tragedy focus on what happened.
This podcast asks a different question:
What happened before?
Hosted by Lori Baxley, Three Sips to Shots Fired: What Happens Before the Sirens explores the moments, decisions, behaviors, warning signs, routines, and human factors that shape our lives long before crisis arrives.
Drawing from Lori’s experience as a former police officer, probation officer, criminologist, educator, and survivor of a violent home invasion, each episode examines the often-overlooked space between ordinary life and extraordinary events.
Through conversations with survivors, experts, investigators, advocates, military leaders, first responders, authors, and everyday people whose lives were forever changed in a single moment, the podcast seeks to answer one central question:
How can we live more intentionally before the sirens?
At the heart of the show is the STARS Framework:
⭐ Scenarios — What can happen here?
⭐ Triggers — What feels slightly off?
⭐ Action — What will you do about it?
⭐ Routines — What habits protect what matters most?
⭐ Stoicism — Can you remain calm when life isn't?
This is not a podcast about fear.
It is a podcast about awareness.
About preparation.
About resilience.
About learning from lived experience.
And about making small decisions today that may change everything tomorrow.
Whether the topic is personal safety, crime prevention, addiction, domestic violence, resilience, parenting, leadership, faith, mental toughness, or recovery, every episode explores what happens before crisis—and what we can learn from it.
Because sometimes the distance between three sips and shots fired is much shorter than we think.
Host Bio
Lori Baxley
Lori Baxley is the host of Three Sips to Shots Fired: What Happens Before the Sirens, a podcast dedicated to exploring the decisions, warning signs, habits, and human behaviors that shape outcomes before crisis occurs.
Lori's professional background spans more than two decades in criminal justice, higher education, and public safety. She holds a degree in Criminology, completed advanced studies in forensic psychology and gang behavior, served as a police officer and probation officer, and spent years teaching and mentoring others in higher education.
Her perspective, however, extends far beyond the classroom and the criminal justice system.
In December 2019, Lori survived a violent home invasion that left her fighting for her life. She endured catastrophic injuries, multiple surgeries, life support, temporary dialysis, and ultimately the loss of her right leg below the knee. Her survival journey transformed not only how she viewed safety and preparedness, but how she viewed life itself.
Today, Lori uses her experience, education, and hard-earned perspective to help others think differently about awareness, resilience, preparedness, and personal responsibility.
She is the creator of the STARS Framework:
Scenarios. Triggers. Action. Routines. Stoicism.
A practical approach to navigating uncertainty, recognizing warning signs, making better decisions, and responding effectively when life becomes difficult.
Through her podcast, speaking, writing, and advocacy, Lori encourages others to move through the world with greater awareness—not fear; preparation—not paranoia; and resilience—not helplessness.
Her mission is simple:
To help people think more intentionally about what happens before the sirens.
Three Sips to Shots Fired - What Happens Before the Sirens
STARS Foundation Series | Part 7: Closing Reflection — What Happens Before the Sirens?
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What happens before the sirens?
That simple question became the foundation for everything you've heard throughout this series.
The STARS Framework for Vigilant Living was not created to predict the future.
It was not created to eliminate uncertainty.
And it was never intended to make people fearful of the world around them.
Instead, it was created to help us move through life more intentionally.
More aware.
More prepared.
More resilient.
Throughout this Foundation Series, we've explored five questions:
⭐ Scenarios — What can happen here?
⭐ Triggers — What feels slightly off?
⭐ Action — What will you do about it?
⭐ Routines — What habits keep you safe?
⭐ Stoicism — Can you stay calm when everything isn't?
Simple questions.
But not always easy questions.
Questions that invite us to pause.
To think differently.
To pay attention.
To consider the role that awareness, preparation, habits, decision-making, and resilience play in our lives long before a crisis ever arrives.
In this closing reflection, Lori Baxley looks back on the STARS Framework and the experiences that inspired it—from a career in criminal justice to surviving a violent home invasion and the long road of recovery that followed.
Most importantly, she reflects on why the goal of Vigilant Living is not fear.
It is wisdom.
Because uncertainty is part of being human.
We don't get to avoid hardship.
We don't get immunity from loss, disappointment, betrayal, tragedy, or adversity.
But we can choose how we prepare.
We can choose how we respond.
And we can choose how we move forward.
The goal is not to live in fear of what might happen.
The goal is to live fully while being prepared for the reality that life is uncertain.
The STARS Framework is simply an invitation to ask better questions before the sirens arrive.
About the STARS Framework
The STARS Framework is built around five questions designed to help us navigate uncertainty before crisis arrives:
⭐ Scenarios — What can happen here?
⭐ Triggers — What feels slightly off?
⭐ Action — What will you do about it?
⭐ Routines — What habits keep you safe?
⭐ Stoicism — Can you stay calm when everything isn't?
Together, these five questions create a practical framework for Vigilant Living.
About the Host
Lori Baxley is the host of Three Sips to Shots Fired: What Happens Before the Sirens.
A survivor of a violent home invasion, former police officer, probation officer, criminal justice professional, educator, and advocate for vigilant living, Lori developed the STARS Framework to help individuals think more intentionally about preparedness, awareness, and resilience in everyday life.
Her mission is simple:
To encourage thoughtful conversations about what happens before crisis arrives—and how awareness, preparation, and intentional action can help us navigate uncertainty more wisely.
STARS Foundation Series
Part 1: Origin Story of the STARS Framework
Part 2: Scenarios — What Can Happen Here?
Part 3: Triggers — What Feels Slightly Off?
Part 4: Action — What Will You Do About It?
Part 5: Routines — What Habits Keep You Safe?
Part 6: Stoicism — Can You Stay Calm When Everything Isn't?
Part 7: Closing Reflection
Continue the Conversation
The STARS Foundation Series introduces the framework.
Future episodes of Three Sips to Shots Fired explore these concepts through conversations with experts, practitioners, survivors, and individuals whose experiences bring the framework to life.
Because understanding the questions is only the beginning.
The real journey is learning how to apply them.
Subscribe for future episodes and conversations exploring what happens before the sirens.
#STARSFramework #VigilantLiving #Preparedness #SituationalAwareness #Resilience #ThreeSipsToShotsFired #WhatHappensBeforeTheSirens #PersonalGrowth #LifeLessons #Stoicism
Hi again, I'm Lori Baxley, your host. Welcome to part seven, a closing reflection in this series about the STARS framework. So here we are. Five questions. Simple questions, but maybe not easy questions. Questions that invite us to slow down, pay attention, think differently, live more intentionally. Questions that ask us to become a little more aware, a little more prepared, a little more grounded, not fearful, grounded. Because if there's one thing I hope you take away from today, it's this. The goal of stars is not to make you afraid of life. It's to help you move through life more wisely, more intentionally, more prepared for uncertainty. Because uncertainty is a part of being human. We don't get to avoid hard things. We don't get immunity from grief or fear, loss, or betrayal, addiction, or hardship. Life eventually visits all of us. But how we move through it, that matters. You know, for years through the criminal justice system and studying human behavior and through personal experience, through hardship, through healing, I kept returning to the same question. What happens before the sirens? Because sirens usually come after something. After the moment, after the decision, after the crisis, after the warning signs. And while we cannot control everything, we do have influence. We can notice more, prepare more, respond differently, stay steadier. We can become more intentional about how we move through the world. And honestly, that feels hopeful to me. Because growth is possible. Healing is possible. Wisdom is possible. Even after hard things, especially after hard things. So before we go, I want to leave you with something practical. This week I'd invite you to sit quietly for a few minutes, maybe with a coffee, maybe on a walk, maybe in prayer, maybe just in silence, and ask yourself these five questions. Not perfectly, just honestly. Scenarios. What can happen here? Where in your life would wisdom ask you to think ahead? Your relationships, your health, your finances, your peace, your family? What deserves more thoughtful preparation? Triggers. What feels slightly off? What have you noticed but maybe explained away? What keeps nudging at your attention? What deserves curiosity instead of avoidance? Action. What will you do about it? What conversation needs to happen? What boundary needs to be set? What next step have you been postponing? What truth already deserves your courage? Routines. What habits keep you safe? What routines strengthen your peace? Your resilience? Your relationships? And what small change starting today might help steady your life? Stoicism. Can you stay calm when everything isn't? What grounds you? What brings you back to center? What helps you stay steady when life feels uncertain? And where might you need a little more grace for yourself right now? Because maybe, just maybe, the strongest people are not the people who never struggle. Maybe they're the people who stay aware, who stay teachable, who stay grounded, who keep showing up, who keep choosing wisdom. And even when life feels uncertain, if nobody has reminded you lately, you are stronger than you think. Healing takes time. Growth takes practice. Steadiness takes intention. But little by little, those quiet choices matter more than we know. Thank you for spending this time with me. I truly hope something in this conversation stays with you. Maybe a question, maybe a reflection, maybe a moment of courage, maybe simply permission to pay attention to what your life has been quietly trying to tell you. Until next time, stay aware, stay grounded, stay steady. Because seconds don't ask permission, and what happens before the sirens matters most. I'm Lori Baxley, host of Three Simpsons to Shots Fired Podcast.