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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Our Final Gutsy Move

February 9, 2015 by Sonia Marsh 2 Comments

“Our Gutsy Final Move”

“My Gutsy Story®” Barbara Hammond

Moving is daunting under any circumstances. I grew up moving, like gypsies, attending fourteen schools in twelve years, four of them in sixth grade.

When I married, my husband’s career involved moving regularly. With a young family it was stressful, but we managed ten moves in the first ten years.

We weren’t particularly savvy with money, but we made smart Real Estate investments over the years. Someone once told me, “Put your money in Real Estate. They’re not making any more land!” It was good advice.

We’ve lived up and down the northeast corridor of the U.S. for forty-six years. Being near the ocean was a priority.

In 1992 we moved to Philadelphia, which has felt like home to me since I first explored it in 1974. I’d never had such an emotional and compelling tug on my heart before. I literally felt I’d lived there in another life.

113_Catharine_St. — House in Philadelphia

My first trip to the Jersey Shore was also 1974. Oh, how the ocean grasped my soul and said, “Welcome home.” I think I knew then I would live there one day. My husband always felt it would be out of reach.

The new millennium proved lucky for us. The stars aligned and we found the perfect beach house for our family in Ocean City. I envisioned it being the family compound for the rest of our collective lives. That worked for about ten years.

Our two sons met their mates and set out on their own journeys. They still visited, but as their families grew their time became focused on the children’s needs and activities.

In the meantime we were maintaining two homes. I’m not complaining. I know this is a ‘First World Problem’, but it can be costly.

When it was a friends and family every weekend OC was worth it. With only the two of us, most of the time, it became less so.

At the very tip of New Jersey is the quaint, beautiful, town of Cape May nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware Bay.

We made day trips occasionally, especially in the fall when it’s less crowded and even more beautiful. We stayed in many charming B&B’s over the years and loved it.

In the fall of 2013 we spent a fun day in Cape May, walking down tree lined streets, strolling along the beach, and enjoying lunch at the Ugly Mug, a local restaurant that’s great for people watching.

As we headed out of town I said to my husband, “Why don’t we sell both houses and move to Cape May?”

Within seconds he said, “I like it! Let’s do it!”

And the adventure began!

We loved our home in Philadelphia. It was built in 1760. In a home that age there’s always something to fix. Historic charm doesn’t come cheap. We knew there’d be work ahead of us before we put it on the market.

We closed the shore house for the season and decided to wait until spring to put it up for sale. It needed work, too.

In the meantime we weeded out and donated things daily. We had lived in the city for twelve years, the longest ever in one place. It’s amazing what you accumulate over time.

We discovered wiring issues, and assorted other problems. It took time and money, but we had it ready for market by late April.

Our realtor in Philly was amazing. We sold in three days! Then we began the search for our forever home in Cape May. It was exciting!

We had driven around all areas and knew where we wanted to live. I spent hours on Real Estate websites searching.

We hired a great realtor to work with and as we toured homes I’d seen online we were often amazed. Photographs can be very deceiving. But, we weren’t deterred at all. I knew in my heart this was the right time and place for us, and the perfect house would find us.

We had seen so many homes and nothing seemed right. Finally we felt we’d found the one. We made an offer contingent on selling the OC house. Nothing went smoothly and the deal fell through.

As our closing date in the city neared we were working in earnest on the shore house. It looked so beautiful we wondered why we hadn’t made these improvements years before.

When we closed on the house in Philly we needed two storage spaces in Ocean City until we could sell there and make the final move. It was expensive and it was getting scary. I was concerned but never lost faith. My heart and gut knew the perfect home would appear. And it did!

I was checking my phone before I even got out of bed and saw a message from our Cape May realtor. She sent a photograph with one line…”Look what popped up overnight!”

I squealed, which woke my husband. I showed him the picture and he almost squealed, too! It was a Monet painting with an arbor over the gate and a picket fence all around, with a spectacular garden.

It found us!

We saw it immediately and began negotiating. The inside needed work, but the bones were great. It was a fresh canvas for us to paint our own dream home.+

The OC house sold the same week and we were on our way. We had to delay the closing in Cape May for a week, which meant putting our OC furnishings in storage. This made for the most expensive move we’d ever experienced.

We’ve put lots of work into the house and it is a labor of love. Many tell us how lucky we are, but I will tell you luck had nothing to do with it. We were focused, and never doubting. The entire process felt so right, no matter what obstacles got in our way.

Keep your eye on the prize and stay gutsy. You are the architect of your life!

BARBARA HAMMOND is an artist, author, blogger, who celebrates the journey that has been her life, so far. You can discover her work at:

Her Social Media Links:

Website: http://zeroto60andbeyond.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/zero.60.beyond

Twitter: @hammondartbiz

Her Books:

The Duffy Chronicles

While You Were Sleeping

Her Artist Website:

http://barbara-hammond.artistwebsites.com/

SONIA MARSH SAYS: So true, Barbara, we are the architects of our lives, and I can tell that you found your piece of treasure in Cape May, a place I have never visited, but now that you’re there, I may have to stop by.

PLEASE VOTE NOW for our January 2015 “My Gutsy Story®”

You have from now, until February 11th, to vote on the sidebar, (only one vote per person) and the winner will be announced on February 12th and will select a prize from our generous sponsors. VOTE IN YELLOW BOX ON RIGHT SIDEBAR

ATTENTION AUTHORS

Here is an article I wrote that has received many Tweets and Comments

I’m Not a Celebrity, So How Do I Sell My Books? Six Steps to Becoming a Successful Indie Publisher

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.

Cover_Front_Final — Click on cover to go to Amazon

**Get your copy of Unraveling here.**

Join Donna on Facebook here.
Check out Donna’s website: www.drdonnafriess.com
Join Donna on Twitter
Donna on LinkedIn

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE JANUARY 2015 “My Gutsy Story®”

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January 2015 Vote For Your Favorite “My Gutsy Story®”

January 28, 2015 by Sonia Marsh 4 Comments

PLEASE VOTE NOW for our January 2015 “My Gutsy Story®”

Our 1st “My Gutsy Story®” is from Kenn Aschcraft., “From Morbid Obesity to Taking Charge of my Life.”

Our 2nd “My Gutsy Story®” is from Suzanne Chun, “How to Take a Leap, and Another and Another, Until You Get it Right.”

Our 3rd “My Gutsy Story®” is from Lola De Maci, “What Mom Taught me About Life.”

Our 4th “My Gutsy Story®” is from Connie Fenty, “How I Learned to Let Go of Security,”

The “My Gutsy Story®”story submissions have been trickling in, so I am re-evaluating whether to take a break for the time being.

How I Learned to Let Go of Security

January 5, 2015 by Sonia Marsh 5 Comments

“My Gutsy Story®” Connie Fenty

Even now, 30 years later, I can recall the sharpening of my senses and how I responded to the growing fear of what I was about to do that night. Standing in the midst of the forest, my feet cushioned by winter softened leaves, I peered at the jungle gym of ropes in the branches of the trees far above me. This was the famous challenge course of the West Virginia Outward Bound School. Now it was my turn to climb up to the first of several obstacles requiring courage and agility. I knew on a rational level that I would be safely attached at each of the challenges to an overhead rope clipped into the harness I wore wrapped around my waist and legs. Even so, my body began to shake almost uncontrollably, fueled by the release of terror related adrenaline.

Each swinging bridge, cargo net, tight rope, and balance beam began at a firm supportive wooden platform. From those perches, I could stop trembling long enough to take comfort from my surroundings: newly leafing branches, a sunset forming in the distance, the odor of cool damp earthy forest air, the sounds of birds flying to roost, and the encouraging shout from the instructor below, “Just let go, Connie. L-e-e-t g-o-oh.” In spite of the empowering knowledge that I had successfully completed another aspect of the course, as I approached each new obstacle, debilitating fear returned. Repeatedly, I forced myself to leave my safe and secure base and step into the unknown.

On the last platform, I sat elated, exhausted, and feeling finished. “Just one more challenge, and I’ve got this,” so I thought. The spotter seated beside me drew a long sturdy rope toward the two of us and attached me to it, explaining, “Hold the rope, scoot to the edge, and then you’ll drop about 20 feet.” He promised that the rope would stop short of the ground and I would get to have the swing of my life as a reward. That’s when I looked down and froze to the platform.

After a while I said to my patient guide, “I’ll close my eyes and you can just push me off.” “No,” he replied, “it must be your decision to plunge.” Finally as night began to creep through the trees, I edged closer and closer to what felt like nothingness and eventually plummeted quickly down, down, down. The rush of air as I picked up speed in my free fall was exhilarating. My elongated scream pierced the darkening forest. As the slack of the rope wound out, the rope and I moved to and fro in a wide arc. It was the best swinging I had ever experienced. Slowing, I stepped onto ground level and unbuckled. I felt a satisfying sense of pride like that of a child when she has accomplished a new feat. I wanted to shout, “Look at what I did.” I didn’t understand until later how strongly I had internalized what had happened that night.

My Outward Bound experience was like a boot camp for teaching me to conjure up courage when future happenings threw me off course. To move forward from minor setbacks, like being transferred to a different teaching assignment than the one I had hoped for, I daringly leaped into the unknown. When faced with moving from a happy home to live in a different town, my mind told me that change of my choosing should not elicit fear, but still my heart raced as I left. Through continued practice of the lessons I learned on the ropes course, it was easier to let go of the security and safety of the known enabling me to step away from my living “perch” and embrace the choice to dwell elsewhere.

Later on, I would need even fiercer courage during my process of recovery from a major setback. My husband and I back then were just adjusting to our lives with young children and a new house when he was diagnosed with cancer. His battle was a short one. One month and he was gone. I found myself stuck on an ungrounded metaphorical “challenge course platform” named widowhood. Below and in front of me there lay an abyss as far as I could imagine. Calling me back from that ledge the “rope” that I held tightly was the knowledge that I had two young daughters who needed me. Sometimes, I could swear that the ghost of the voice I heard all those years before in the West Virginia woods was urging me to “let go-o-o-oh” once more. Instead, fear of what lay ahead kept me anchored to the past wishing someone would give me a push to catapult me forward.

And then, I am drawn into the present by graceful moments. While running to maintain my sanity, the autumn wind rains bright yellow leaves upon my head. A double rainbow appears in the sky one day while my daughters and I play together outside. We sniff the earth as we dug holes to plant daffodil bulbs so we can watch them appear in the spring. I remember to open my senses and take in the world around me. Consciously, I begin to connect to the calming powers of nature. Fear dissipates and I scoot to the edge of a new beginning. Trust propels me forward. After a while, I am welcomed to solid ground.

CONNIE FENTY has a Master’s degree in education and is a retired elementary school teacher living in Bucks County PA. She is the founder of Your Nature Connection Seminars, Common Ground Labyrinths, and co-founder of Sacred Steps Journeys.

Connie’s presentations feature themes of Healthy Living through Meditative Practices as well as Awakening Connection to Nature, Ancestors, and Spirituality. Whether facilitating a labyrinth walk; teaching yoga; providing a retreat in nature; or leading tours to sacred sites in Europe, her programs are full of experiential activities and inspiring content. She is in the process of writing a travel memoir. Check out her website: www.yournatureconnection.com

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.

2015 “My Gutsy Story®” has started, with the 1st VOTING of Kenn Ashcraft, Suzanne Chun and Lola De Maci, stories, as well as the Monday, January 2015 “My Gutsy Story®” stories. So you will be able to VOTE for your favorite of 7 stories on January 29th-February 11th, 2015, with the WINNER announced on February 12th.