Inspirational Archives - Page 3 of 45 - Sonia Marsh

Why I’m Celebrating Peace Corps Week

March 5, 2015 by Sonia Marsh 1 Comment

As many of you know, I have a strong desire to serve in the Peace Corps. Things did not go as smoothly as I had hoped, but I am keeping my fingers crossed this time.

My interview finally took pace on February 27th, and lasted almost two hours. I answered all the questions to the best of my ability, and although I had prepared ahead of time, practicing with my RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer) friends, I found it quite intense.

I was mentally drained after my two-hour phone interview, and longed for a Yes/No answer. It did end on a positive note and I was told to continue learning more about the country of Lesotho, in South Africa.

Who says Twitter and social media is a waste of time?

After tweeting about #Lesotho, I made a connection with a woman who runs an NGO (Non-governmental organization) for children in Lesotho. She’s from Europe and kindly offered to answer any questions I may have about life in that beautiful “Mountain Kingdom.”

As this is Peace Corps week, I decided to share information about the organization, and in particular, some of the videos showcasing the influential people who work as counterparts with the Peace Corps volunteers in many parts of the world. Please take a look at the specific countries that may be of interest to you.

I was especially moved by some of the teachers in Morocco, and Thailand, and how they have impacted the lives of their students.

Peace Corps Week 2015: March 1-7

“Peace Corps Week commemorates President Kennedy’s establishment of the Peace Corps on March 1, 1961. During this annual event, the Peace Corps community celebrates all the ways that Peace Corps makes a difference at home and abroad and renews its commitment to service.

This year, Peace Corps invites current and returned Peace Corps Volunteers to get involved in Peace Corps Week 2015 by participating in our Video Challenge and/or participating in Peace Corps Festivals across the United States. These activities, designed to support Peace Corps’ Third Goal of sharing other cultures with Americans, kick off on January 1 and continue through the end of Peace Corps Week on March 7. Follow the links below to learn how you can participate in one or both of these exciting efforts.”

How will YOU celebrate Peace Corps Week?

http://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/returned/thirdgoal/pcweek/

26+ videos from PC volunteers around the world.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM0oh3lEA63Er0g0Gl1YR9N5nGk1Af-RV

Does it Take Guts to Leave a Marriage?

February 27, 2015 by Sonia Marsh 8 Comments

shutterstock_208049116 — I could not resist the blue/turquoise background on this photo. Just noticed a parasailer to the right of the arrow. Is that me flying?

I was talking to Donna, an author and a life coach, about ideas for my next blog post.

Donna knows my theme is “Gutsy Living” and she texted me,

“It takes guts to leave a marriage… Did u write on that?”

My answer is “No,” and although I agree there are many women who stay stuck in a marriage because it’s easier to do that, than to get unstuck, I still don’t view my own situation as gutsy.

Now what I’m planning for the rest of my life, I would call Gutsy, in the sense that I am not one of those women who likes to stay in my house, and certainly don’t thrive on the same routine. Besides, I no longer own a house, nor do I have a home to celebrate the holidays with my three sons. (That part I do regret.)

My life right now is a period of major transition. It has been quite liberating to rid myself of possessions, take charge of my own finances, get organized, and move forward with my next adventure.

Apart from my clothes, photos and files, all I own is the furniture below, and my small blue Kia Rio. Quite surprising that at age 57, I’m back to what I owned as a 25-year-old, and the strange thing is I now feel free to pack up and move to another country.

My only possessions are: the inspirational painting that led to my love of tropical islands, two antique chairs I embroidered with my mother in Denmark when I was fifteen years old, and my parents’ Chinese chest, which has followed me since 1983.

100_2914 — Red embroidered armchair. I have two of those, and my favorite Barton painting and frame

100_2915 — I inherited my parents’ Chinese chest and the paintings behind are the ones I painted. Always turquoise!

I applied and was rejected by the Peace Corps, but that didn’t stop me from changing my resume, and reapplying. I’m thrilled to announce that I finally had my 2-hour interview and shall keep you posted on what happens with that.

As a back-up, I decided to get a (TESOL) certificate, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, an intense 4-week course, supposedly with no breaks on weekends. The problem is I have at least six people whom I’d like to visit in the UK, including author Ian Mathie, and my French/British blogger friend Muriel Demarcus, who wrote a My Gutsy Story® published in the Anthologies, and other friends from my days studying in the UK.

So for me, the answer has been, and shall always remain, to keep busy with plans and projects, and to keep networking, as you never know what the future holds. When you’re open to change, there are so many possibilities.

Don’t focus on the “what if’s” of your divorce, but on the “what if’s of your life.”

Please share anything you wish to in the comments section below, especially if you have gone through a divorce, or a separation.

“Choosing One’s Battles Wisely”

February 24, 2015 by Sonia Marsh Leave a Comment

“Choosing One’s Battles Wisely”

“My Gutsy Story®” Donna L. Friess

“Choosing one’s battles” that’s good advice as it illustrates another way to live a gutsy life. It takes guts to hold back one’s emotions and not jump eagerly into a negative situation. I want to share a moment around our home which illustrates my point. My husband and I are caring for our grand dog Buddy while our youngest son and his family are skiing. Recently, I let Buddy and our three dogs out one last time before bed. For a moment all four dogs seemed to disappear into the inky darkness. Suddenly there was a noisy scuffle. I turned on the powerful outdoor light and saw that Buddy had caught a skunk; a very big black and white skunk! Quickly, realizing what he had caught, he released it, and in that instant it turned its huge and fluffy tail toward him and let loose! Horrified by what he had done and the stickiness of the odorific spray on his face, he rushed into the garage and frantically rubbed himself on his bedding in a vain attempt to rectify his condition. Tessie, his co-conspirator, did the same. Lacey and Zoe stood off to the side watching all the commotion, shaking their heads in wonder.

Shamed by their new smell, Buddy and Tessie lurked in the corners of the garage. I tended to them as best I could with a concoction of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. But the hour was late and the odor was seeping into my home. I bid them goodnight as they slinked into the shadows of the garage.

The next morning I went to let them out. Buddy shamefacedly hung his head, contrite over his foolishness. I had texted our son to share the late night excitement. His response was, “Buddy tangles with skunks about twice a month, he knows all about them, but never seems to learn!” So his surprised innocence was no longer working on me as I understood that it was the thrill of the confrontation that Buddy enjoyed.

Out in the big yard the next morning, he and Tessie went looking for more trouble hoping, I am sure, for a rematch with their worthy opponent. As I sat drinking my coffee, it occurred to me that sometimes humans do the same thing; engage in a conflict with an opponent, perhaps over the smallest thing, for the excitement of the exchange. It is true, the adrenaline flows, the heart pounds, and the muscles constrict and we’re ready for action. Only to find that later, when reason prevails, one feels foolish for the silliness of the altercation. Often the motivation is the thrill of the exchange, not the actually winning of the argument, and to make it worse, one never knows when they might get “skunked!”

I think it takes guts to take a hard look at one’s own interpersonal motivations and to hold back from the “thrill” of perhaps a dysfunctional argument. I love Jack Canfield’s formula. We can apply this to many situations. In fact, it can be empowering. It is EVENT + OUR RESPONSE = OUTCOME. We have the power to choose our response, which will affect the outcome. For now, the old saying, “One must choose one’s battles wisely” may apply here. I have to go, the thrill-seeker named Buddy is casing my yard for more excitement!

Donna L. Friess, Ph.D., author, psychologist and grief counselor has written a debut novel, The Unraveling of Shelby Forrest available at: www.amazon.com. She is an advocate for children’s rights, currently serving on a U.S. Justice Department Office for Victims of Crime Consortium. Her best selling, award-winning autobiography, Cry the Darkness, has been published in seven languages.

**Get your copy of Unraveling here.**

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Winner of the January 2015 “My Gutsy Story®”

February 12, 2015 by Sonia Marsh Leave a Comment

We had FOUR OUTSTANDING “My Gutsy Story®” authors. Thank you for submitting and for voting. These 4 authors are all WINNERS.

Winner of the January 2015 “My Gutsy Story®”

1st Place, with 59% of the votes, goes to Connie Fenty with her inspiring “My Gutsy Story®”entitled: “How I Learned to Let Go of Security.”

SONIA MARSH SAYS: I admire the way you were able to use the courage and resilience you received from your your boot camp experience, and apply it to tragedy in your life.

2nd Place, with 24% of the votes, goes to Kenn Ashcraft with his story entitled, “From Morbid Obesity to Taking Charge of My Life.”

SONIA MARSH SAYS: I look forward to reading about the next chapter of your life where you ride your bike and hold public seminars at every hospital. This will inspire others who are going through a difficult period and need a boost from someone who overcame his health issues.

3rd Place goes to Lola De Maci, “What Mom Taught Me About Life.”

SONIA MARSH SAYS: Lola, what a beautiful story of love and gratitude for the small things in life that bring us pleasure. Something to remember during this busy holiday season.

4th Place goes to Suzanne Chun with her story, “You Have to Take a Leap, and Another, and Another, Until You Get it Right.”

SONIA MARSH SAYS: What a transformation during your summer, and how you became “gutsy” and transformed yourself.

I shall post more about my travel plans, how I managed to get cheap accommodation in Greece, London and Madrid, and my life transitions in the upcoming weeks.

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Finding the Guts to Change

February 2, 2015 by Sonia Marsh 1 Comment

“Finding the Guts to Change”

“My Gutsy Story®”-Donna Friess

One of the truly gutsiest things I have ever done was become brave enough to give up my college teaching career after 45 years. Across the years, when I asked my colleagues if there was life outside the hallowed walls of my college, Cypress College, they thought I was kidding and laughed at me, but I wasn’t kidding. I knew my life worked. I adored the students and they adored me, but the 75 mile-a -day commute was getting to seem longer with each passing decade. One year, far past when I was eligible for retirement, I got up my courage during our summer vacation at Catalina. I promised myself that for sure in September I would turn in my retirement papers for the next year. Then one day I was on the swim float in Avalon harbor getting ready to dive when I noticed a little blonde six year-old boy standing next to me. I saw him gulp a huge breath of air. He was scared to dive in, to swim into shore. He squared his shoulders, took another big inhale. I could feel his fear. As I watched him tears sprang to my eyes. Suddenly I could see him ten or so years in the future, gulping air, squaring his shoulders as he plunged in to give his speech in my public speaking class. The tears streamed down my face and my stomach knotted. In that instant I knew that I could not give up my eager, scared-to-death students. By the time I got to shore I decided against retirement. Clearly I did not have the guts, I was not ready to leave the students.

More busy happy years passed in the classroom, but the drive got longer, and if I were truthful, I was getting tired. There were other things I wanted to do; more travel, maybe paint, write. I had taught so long that retirement pay would be significantly more than I was taking home as I qualified for longevity bonuses and more, still I did not have the guts for it.

Finally in the summer of 2009 my husband said, “I think you are missing the boat here. I think you should pay attention to you writing.” It was a flashpoint for me. I saw a way to reinvent myself. I felt excited as I thought, Maybe there is life outside of my classroom.

I was stuck in my good old way of living my life, and it was now time to get brave enough to reinvent myself. Perhaps an element of empowerment is having the ability to adapt to life, to reinvent oneself. Joan Rivers was a master at reinventing herself. Last year’s media coverage surrounding her death illustrated her genius. Imagine going from stand-up comedy, to late night host, to the Red Carpet , to Fashionista and more. At the time of her death she was working on a new show. Imagine she stayed in the spot light for decades because she kept evolving and changing.

So how do we get unstuck? The answer must be to live mindfully. These days I see how we are living our lives as our creative challenge. When I finally found the courage to change my ways I found a new way to live life, an exciting robust way. I have been out of the classroom for four years now, however, people have not quit laughing at me! When I say, “and I was so worried about a different kind of life…” They can’t stop laughing for they know that it is a big huge world filled with unlimited opportunity if we have the guts to grab hold and look at the wonder of it all.

We cannot not change. We age. Life moves forward. Albert Einstein liked to talk about how important imagination and creativity are. I like to think of my life as my canvas, and the way I am living it, as my creative endeavor. The world out there is just waiting for you. What more do you want to do? What more do you want to be? I’d love to hear about it. Right now, though I might be out on the trail with my three Golden Retrievers or at my desk writing my next novel.

Psychologist Donna L. Friess, Ph.D., is a life coaching, grief counselor, and author. She is an advocate for children’s rights, currently serving on a U.S. Justice Department Office for Victims of Crime Consortium. As a best selling author she has written seven books. With appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and others, her award winning autobiography Cry the Darkness has been published in seven languages. Donna’s debut novel The Unraveling of Shelby Forrest is now available at Amazon.com. www.drdonnafriess.com.

SONIA MARSH SAYS: Donna is the real “Gutsy” woman of today. She is a rocket on a mission, helping everyone she meets along her path. I’ve had the pleasure of participating in her coaching “women in transition,” as I went through my own divorce process. I don’t think I’ve ever met a more energetic and enthusiastic woman who is a role model for all of us. I’m reading her novel (see below,) and recommend it to my fellow writers and readers.