Sonia Marsh - Gutsy Living

Launching my new website tomorrow

June 23, 2011 by Sonia Marsh

What a day!

I am LATE in writing my Thursday post.

Today I wrote my first post on my new Gutsy Living WordPress blog and Kirsten Wright, who has been developing my custom website showed up at my house to launch my new site this morning.

So why isn’t it up and running as planned?

Blame my web-hosting company. Yes, after Kirsten was on the phone with some kind man from India for about one hour, the final outcome was, “It will take about 24 hours to fix the problem.”

So there you have it.

If all goes according to plan, please come back tomorrow. I am very excited about launching my new Gutsy Living site.

Here’s a quick peek at the theme on my FaceBook page which I hope you “Like.”

Thanks for understanding.
See you tomorrow.

Photo credit Comland-Design

Which do you fear most? Success or failure?

June 20, 2011 by Sonia Marsh

We’ve all heard about the fear of failure and the fear of success, this is not a new topic, however, what about outside pressures?

If you’re a writer hoping to become a published author, or you’d like to start your own business, you’ve probably been through the following scenario. You share your plans with others, then feel like a failure when things take longer than expected while you’re in the process of accomplishing your goals.

I’m here to say, “Don’t.” “Don’t allow pressure from anyone, especially parents, close friends, a spouse or even your kids make you feel like a failure because you’re still in the process of following your dreams.”

You will always find those who say, “That will never work,” followed by “I told you so,” when things aren’t proceeding as planned, but that’s exactly when you need to step up to the challenge and keep going. Please don’t allow negative comments to influence your desire to follow through with your goals.

I listened to the video above where Dr. Regina Dugan, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), speaks about how fear of failure can limit success. DARPA is the agency that gave us the GPS and the Internet, as well as other now-everyday technologies. Dr. Dugan says they encourage their researchers to fail because you cannot have a big success without failures, and you cannot fear failure in order to have a big success. (Dr. Dugan talks about failure, success and risk taking at the 3:20 mark.)

You can find more in this article by Russell Bishop, “Is the Fear of Failure Holding you Back.”

Here’s to your success from me.

I hope you’ll keep pushing through all the challenges to succeed with your dreams and not allow other voices, not even your own, to stop you.

Here’s my life list, what’s yours?

June 16, 2011 by Sonia Marsh

10 items on Sonia’s life list

Starting today, we are sharing 10 items on our life list, which according to Karen Walrond is all about creating our own adventure. How do we do that? By “Injecting cool stuff as well as the more mundane stuff,” Karen says. The idea came from Mighty Girl who was sponsored by Intel and Verizon to make her life list. Check her list out on her blog if you want ideas. (I wonder how we could get ours sponsored?) just a thought.

I listened to Karen Walrond speak at the WDS conference in Portland, a few days ago. Her topic was something that we can all relate to: “The Beauty of Different.” I became enthusiastic about what she said that people want to “fit in,” yet they love people who are different. I never thought of that before, but it’s so true.

As a photographer, Karen loves to capture people’s faces and in her video below, you’ll understand what she means when she says, “The reason we love different so much is that we find it beautiful.” Talk about different, Karen is a former engineer and a current yet (non-practicing attorney) a photographer, author and was born in Trinidad and Tobago, yet grew up in Houston. She states all her life she was trying to fit in until she discovered that people actually love different.

10 things on Sonia’s life list

1). Take a Spanish immersion class. Live with a family in Panama for three months to become fluent.
2). Host a party with friends to share and discuss the 10 most important things on your life list.
3). Join a bike club that is non-competitive and friendly.
4). Teach English abroad through CELTA program.
5). Write a second book about, Being Gutsy over 50.
6). Make presentations on Gutsy Living in the U.S and abroad.
7). Visit Australia with the goal of perhaps living there for a while.
8). Volunteer in Kenya or Tanzania with children.
9). Build a community of baby-boomer adventure-seekers who share an enthusiasm for life.
10). Explore new places and keep learning and growing.

Please share your life list if you want to participate. If you don’t have one, you can still participate by commenting. This post will be up until Monday June 20th, so you have time. Remember you’ll have 100 items on your own list, so these don’t have to be the most important.

Just think about what you’d like to do, however big or small. Doesn’t matter.

My Gutsy local TV interview without preparation

June 13, 2011 by Sonia Marsh

Sonia Marsh on The Write Now Show

Back in April, I wrote a post about my first local TV interview. Several of you asked me if I was going to post it, and after a slight delay, and some editing, here it is if you’d like to see it. Now I realize I need media training and preparation. (I had no idea of the questions I would be asked ahead of time.)

Sonia Marsh on “The Write Now” show, Laguna Woods, California, April 2011

Now talking about videos, Marla Miller, (author, blogger at Marketing the Muse, RN, Query letter expert and coach) started a wonderful concept for women over 45 called, “Women over 45 speak.” She is asking women over 45 to submit a video and a bio to her about “anything you want for 3 minutes. You can promote:

yourself
your business
your cause
even your grandkids if you want.

What I love about Marla, is her Gutsy attitude about women and aging. She says society expects women as they age to disappear, to go quietly, or to chase the anti-aging cream. You can listen to her video on this topic and learn more about submitting your own three-minute video.

Remember the post about: “Are you stuck in a rut, make a life list?” where I suggested you make a life list? Well Rob-bear, and others thought it would be a good idea if we shared for example, ten items on our life list, and I think that’s a brilliant idea.
I hope you share 10 items on your Life List on Thursday June 16th, so we can compare. I shall share mine.

Are you ready to make a 3-minute video? What would you like to talk about?

Are you stuck in a rut? Make a life list

June 9, 2011 by Sonia Marsh

I’ve been stuck in a rut, going to bed around 9 and waking up at 5. After my cup of coffee, I jump in the car and head to the gym. There I ride the reclining bike followed by the same weight training routine I started 28 years ago. Even my dinners fall into a set routine: grilled chicken, turkey and fish, week after week.

Photo credit Candy TX

My life has pretty much become one boring routine, and I don’t do boring well. That’s when I get the urge to take a trip abroad and experience a new culture; but like most people, I can’t afford that. So I have to change something in my daily life but what? Start hiking? Visit new places in my local area? Sign up for a yoga class?

I feel like I spend my life in a cubicle (kitchen) in front of my computer screen for eight hours a day, including weekends. I need to rediscover joy and passion and make daily life “Gutsy.”

Last weekend something changed within me. I almost canceled my trip to Portland, and that would have been a disaster. You see I was scared of being one of the few middle-aged people to attend the World Domination Summit. (No this has nothing to do with politics or religion.) I soon found out that we were 500 people of all ages and all professions who believe you should make your passion your life. It’s about taking risks and quitting your cubicle job, if you’re fed up with it, and doing something that’s important and meaningful to you.

I was surrounded by inspiring people who have taken risks to pursue their dreams. For example, Judi Ettenberg, decided to save her money and quit her attorney job in New York, to travel the world. She is now a writer and you can follow her journey on her blog Legal Nomads.

Sonia (me) and Maggy

I made new friends.

Maggy from London who is fearless, and Brenda from Michigan, who has recently become fearless.

Maggy loves African music and plans on living there soon. As a mother and a wife, Brenda told me she’s been afraid to try new things. Her new motto is to say, “yes,” right away, and so she went sky-diving for the first time at the conference.

When Karen Walrond, a former engineer and a current (though non-practicing) attorney, spoke about “Adventure occurs when you embrace possibility,” and that not all of us can travel whenever we want to, this resonated with me. Karen talked about the importance of writing down your own life list.

So what is a life list?

A life list is not a bucket list. It must contain about 100 things and in addition to the awesome things you want to do, it must also contain some of the mundane.

For example:

Take a gentle yoga class
Take a ride in a hot air balloon
Make your own ice-cream
Learn how to paint
Start a blog
Start hiking.
Start a gourmet dinner club with friends

I realized that I can make changes which may not seem big, but they make a difference in how I feel.

If you feel like your life has temporarily stalled, and you’d like to jump start it, here are ten more tips on how to get out of being stuck in a rut.

Do you like the idea of a life list? Please share some things you want to change in your daily life.