My Gutsy Story Archives - Page 44 of 46 - Sonia Marsh

Winner of the first “My Gutsy Story” contest is…

December 15, 2011 by Sonia Marsh

Jill Fales (1st Place)

Congratulations to Jill Fales who received the most votes with her “My Gutsy Story” about taking her kids on the Great American field trip, an educational road trip across the U.S. Jill writes a weekly column in the Newport Beach Independent called Mom’s Voice and with her large fan base, Jill received 74 votes in total, which amounted to 40% of the total.

Rhonda Hayes (2nd Place)

Congratulations to Rhonda Hayes. Rhonda’s “My Gutsy Story” was the first one submitted for the contest, and Rhonda’s story was so moving and inspiring to all of us. She received 59 votes. or 32% of the total. Rhonda is writing a memoir, so for all you readers interested in memoirs, please check out her website.

Karen van der Zee (3rd Place)

Congratulations to Karen van der Zee for her humorous “My Gutsy Story” about her wedding in Kenya. Karen has published numerous romance novels and is now focusing on her travel stories from around the world. She writes a blog called, “Life in the Expat Lane” which is packed with vignettes from her life all over the place, and now lives in Moldova. Don’t know where Moldova is? Find out on her blog.

Nikki Ah Wong (Honorable mention) came in 4th, and has an inspiring “My Gutsy Story” about adventure in mid-life. Check out her new book, “Housesitting in Australia.” I just downloaded it and find it fascinating that housesitting can be an alternative to renting, if planned correctly.

Lauri Kubuitsile (Honorable mention) came in 5th. Lauri wrote an amazing “My Gutsy Story” of courage and how she ended up taking charge of her own life at sixteen. Lauri is an award winning author from Botswana. You can find out more about her on her blog: Thoughts from Botswana.

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Thank you to these 5 amazing “My Gutsy Story” writers.

This month, since the holidays are coming up, I have decided that there are TWO WINNERS:

1). Jill Fales

2). Rhonda Hayes

Jill gets to pick the prize from our sponsors first, and I shall let you know what she selected on Monday, December 19th’s post.

Rhonda gets to select her prize after Jill, and I shall let you know too, on Monday December 19th.

Please continue submitting your “My Gutsy Story” for December.

We keep adding new sponsors all the time:

1). Angela Ackerman has kindly offered two choices: a first chapter critique or a blog consultation (offer my expertise of the blog layout, content, etc and offer advice on tweaking it to improve, draw in visitors, increase visibility, etc). Winner can choose which would benefit them more. Angela and Becca have put together the most helpful blog for writers called The Bookshelf Muse. Check out their emotional thesaurus, weather thesaurus and so much more to help writers.

2). Peet’s Ccffee and Tea, gift card and basket. I am a huge fan of Peet’s coffee, as some of you may know from my previous posts. If you are a writer, you probably drink coffee or tea and all my local Peet’s, see me every day. Details of their prize will come later.

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If you wish to submit your own “My Gutsy Story” please check out guidelines here.

Our sponsors are listed here.

Also our December 2011 contest started with Muriel Demarcus story on Monday December 5th. You can read her wonderful, “My Gutsy Story.”

Richard Potter wrote our second December story on December 12th. You can read his inspiring “My Gutsy Story.”

The December votes start on January 1st until January 11th, with results for December contest winner announced on January 12th, 2012.

“My Gutsy Story” by Richard Potter

December 12, 2011 by Sonia Marsh

A few years ago I volunteered to serve at a faith-based arts camp for Polish youth. Rafal, the camp director, met me at the Warsaw airport. As we drove to the camp, I asked what he had lined up for me to do for the week.

“We have six or eight campers who want to learn guitar,” he said. “So I thought you could lead an acoustic guitar workshop.”

Gitara akustyczna warsztat. WTF? I’ve played guitar for 35 years, but I’m no teacher. I can’t even remember how I learned! Did I really sign up for this? What was I thinking?

The next morning I walked through the campground to the gazebo where the workshop would shortly begin. Large rocks poked through a thin layer of soil, on which a carpet of pine needles had been laid by the branches waving overhead. The rising sun promised to chase away the slight chill in the air. Near the gazebo a sculpted lion’s head emerged from the ground, mouth wide open in a silent roar of triumph over the grave. It reminded me of Aslan, the lion-Christ-figure from CS Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia; I took comfort in the image and stepped timidly into the role of teacher. They don’t really need me here, I thought. But maybe I need to be here. Maybe this is what it means to “live by faith.”

The next morning Rafal encouraged all camp volunteers to tell our stories to our students. What role did faith play in the journey? My story does not make me proud. I grew up in a nice family that attended church every week. Dad taught Sunday school and volunteered with my Scout troop. Mom was the church organist and taught piano. I took piano for a few years, then played cello in the school orchestra.

At 14 I traded cello for guitar. Next I traded church and Scouts for rock and roll. I picked up smoking, then drinking, then marijuana, then cocaine. Like Pinocchio, I was living it up on Pleasure Island — and turning into a total ass.

One night an LSD trip went bad. I asked a friend to drive me home. He stroked the puppy in his lap as he drove. Suddenly my friend morphed into the Devil, and I became the puppy. Terrified, I opened the door to escape; but it was too late. Demons held me down.

In reality, I had jumped out of the car. My friend somehow delivered me to a hospital where I resisted restraint. My parents arrived as the LSD was wearing off. When they led Mom to my bedside, I couldn’t understand what she was doing in hell. My mom would never be in hell, I thought. But here she was, holding my hand. Had I been given a second chance?

The fractured leg and shattered shoulder blade would heal much sooner than my broken spirit. A Lutheran counselor said that my story reminded him of the prodigal son in the Bible. For the first time I considered the possibility that a Bible story had been written with me in mind. It was the first of many steps on the road to recovery.

The students were quiet as I finished my story. We turned our attention to guitars. At the end of the session, Natalia and Karolina asked if I would help them after lunch. Natalia was fascinated with classic rock and roll: the Doors, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd. I wondered, how can I teach songs like that to beginners?

Back at my cabin, I found the Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” on my mp3 player. The girls were waiting when I returned to the gazebo. I showed Natalia where to place her fingers; Karolina followed suit. When they began to get the hang of it, I asked if they’d like to try Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water.” Oh, YES! They spent an hour practicing the songs.

“Omigosh!” Natalia squealed suddenly, bouncing up and down on the wooden bench. “I play Doors! I play Deep Purple!”

Yes, I nodded to myself. I know the feeling very well.

The arts camp ended with an outdoor celebration. By the light of a bonfire I said good-bye to new friends, taking pictures, collecting email addresses, and making false promises to stay in touch. There was a tap on my shoulder.

“Someone would like to say something to you,” said Rafal. Natalia peaked out from behind.

“Thank you so much for teaching me songs I love, and for sharing your story,” she began. “I have a friend in Warsaw…” She paused and turned to Rafal. “This is so hard!” Tears welled as she continued. “My friend smokes marijuana. Every time I visit she asks me if I want to try. She gives me pressure. I had decided that next time I am with her, I will try it. Then you told your story. Thank you for sharing your story with us. Now I have decided not to try the marijuana. I promise you I will not do drugs.”

“Be strong,” I said. “Keep God in your heart.” We hugged, and off she went to join her friends, long brown hair bouncing in rhythm with her flowered peasant skirt.

“You see Richard,” said Rafal, “even in your fifties you can make a difference.”

“Thanks, Rafal,” I said with a grin. “I’m 46.”

Richard Potter with Rafal

As a musician I play by ear, and this often comes in handy, like when I taught Natalia and Karolina the Doors and Deep Purple. In life I catch myself playing by fear. I’m afraid to take risks, afraid that people will run away if I let them discover the real me. I pray for the fears to go away, but that prayer goes unanswered. In Poland I learned that courage is not the absence of fear; it is the presence of faith. When I live by that truth, the outcomes are absolutely amazing.

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Richard M. Potter is a freelance writer, musician, and consultant to nonprofit organizations. His writing has appeared in Leader To Leader, Children’s Voice, Advancing Philanthropy, and other publications. As a grantwriter he has secured millions of dollars to support various charitable causes, including a $5 million grant from the WK Kellogg Foundation to fund internship stipends for future nonprofit professionals. Richard blogs on purpose at www.richardmpotter.com. He and his wife of 22 years are the parents of two wonderful teenaged children. They reside in Kansas City, Missouri.

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Thank you Richard for submitting this positive and inspiring story about how in helping others, you also overcame your own fears. This is the first “My Gutsy Story” written by a man, and I hope this will be the start to many more. I hope you visit Richard Potter’s website and learn more about him and his writing. If you love memoirs, I know you’ll enjoy Shirley Sholwater, and her amazing blog 100 memoirs. Without her, I may not have discovered Richard, and he may not have submitted his “My Gutsy Story.”

(Please leave your comments below for Richard to answer. He will be over I’m sure.)

Sonia Marsh

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You have until Wednesday December 13th at 11:59p.m. to VOTE for your Favorite November “My Gutsy Story”

Winner of November Contest will be announced on December 14th. We shall let you know what prize was selected and ask for a photo. Hope you come back to see.

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HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN “My Gutsy Story”
To submit your own, “My Gutsy Story” you can find all the information, and our sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story” contest page. (NEW VIDEO) Submission guidelines here.

“My Gutsy Story” by Muriel Demarcus

December 5, 2011 by Sonia Marsh

My Gutsy Story

By background, I am an Engineer. I used to be able drive trains and my specialty was Signalling (you know, the stuff that always fails on the railways). I have walked down the tracks while new trains were being tested (scary) and opened new metro lines in Paris. I have also investigated train accidents and tried to re-calculate speed profiles using complicated modeling tools to understand what had gone wrong. I am French-born, and it is fair to say that until recently I was a pure French product: I had been to the right schools and universities, and was pretty much brought up to climb the corporate ladder. Oh, and I could barely speak English -let alone write it, because German was my first foreign language (don’t ask, it is a French thing).

But, in 2004, I had to go out of my comfort zone: to cut a long story short, my husband was offered a job in London. Basically, I had two options: change husband, or change job. I chose the latter, which meant that I had to drop my much-loved job (an important part of my identity!) and find something else, in London this time. My industry works a lot by word of mouth and I eventually managed to find something else, less interesting of course, but somehow I felt that I couldn’t be too picky, given that my English was so basic…

Soon enough, I felt that I was wasting my time and my talents. I felt trapped. As a woman with a French accent, I wasn’t being taken seriously at all. I have lost count of the “Do I know you from somewhere?” comments. My notes were constantly edited to make them “Oxbridge-compliant” (I am used to working in bullet points, but it wasn’t doing the trick over here!). So, after a while, I decided to start my own business in parallel. It was about the development and management of commercial properties, mainly to maintain and store boats –I just saw an opportunity and grabbed it when I bought some cheap land close to the coast.

Eventually, my business started to make more money than my day job. It was time to change my priorities. My boring but comfortable job was holding me back. I didn’t like it any more. Still, finding the strength to resign was more difficult than I thought: most people wait patiently for a nice redundancy package, but that was not my mindset, and I knew that the extra-time spend on my business would bring me new clients anyway. After months of procrastination, I finally resigned and left. Most of my colleagues didn’t understand why I didn’t wait to get some more money.

What I love about my business is that it gives me the time and flexibility to take care of my family and explore other side of my personality, such as writing.

I started my blog (www.FrenchYummyMummy.com) as a new year’s resolution. It became addictive. After a few weeks I had more than 4,000 hits a month. I couldn’t believe that my thoughts and worries could be of any interest. I was clearly wrong.

It felt good.

I am now writing as much as I can, with a view -who knows?- to publish a book one day. It is all about explaining how it feels to be French amongst the British. But more importantly, I feel more like myself. I am finally designing my life around what matters to me. I know it is better late than never. But, after years of always doing what was expected from me, I am slowly starting to become what I want to be. Oh, and I am learning to drive boats now!

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Muriel Demarcus is a self-proclaimed French Yummy Mummy living in London. She started working in Paris in the Railways industry and never imagined that she would have to move abroad.
At 32 years, she discovered that life outside of France was possible and even enjoyable when all the family had to move to London due to her husband’s new job. It was 7 years ago and since then she doesn’t feel French any more and isn’t British yet.

Muriel and her two lovely daughters

Her two daughters have now started to correct her bad English accent, which she hates. In 2011, she decided to start a blog and hasn’t looked back since. She can be found at www.FrenchYummyMummy.com or @FrenchYumMummy on Twitter.

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Our First Story for the December “My Gutsy Story” Contest

Thank you Muriel. What a great story about getting out of your comfort zone and adapting to a new life in the U.K. Not only that, but you started your own company, taught yourself English, and started your successful blog French Yummy Mummy. I love reading books about Americans, Australians and British women who moved to France. One I enjoyed in particular is called, “What French Women Know,” by Debra Ollivier. So now finally, Muriel Demarcus will write a book about the reverse: A French woman living in the U.K. It is all about explaining how it feels to be French amongst the British.

(Please leave your comments below for Muriel to answer. She will be over I’m sure.)

Sonia Marsh

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VOTE for your Favorite November “My Gutsy Story”

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Vote for Your Favorite “My Gutsy Story”

December 1, 2011 by Sonia Marsh

From December 1st until December 13th midnight, PST, you can vote for your favorite November 2011, “My Gutsy Story.”

To VOTE, please go to the poll on the sidebar of any of the 5 “My Gutsy Story,” submissions, (not on the homepage.)

Here are the 5 stories. Only ONE vote per person.

1). Rhonda Hayes

2). Karen van Der Zee

3). Lauri Kubuitsile

4). Jill Fales

5). Nikki Ah Wong

The winner will be announced on December 14th.

Good Luck to all of you. Your stories are amazing and inspiring.

Above Photo credit

“My Gutsy Story” by Nikki Ah Wong

November 28, 2011 by Sonia Marsh

Two bags and a yellow motorbike

At 49 years old, I was a manager in a non-profit organisation with a great salary, a company car, a phone and laptop. At 50, I became sort of motorbike riding gypsy, with no regular income. I spent the whole year travelling, exploring and living on an average of $100 a week.

It was a magical year.

I have always loved travelling and started at an early age. When I was three years old, my parents left England for New Zealand, the land of clean, green pastures, rugged hills, and described in my childhood as the quarter acre, pavlova paradise. I feel exceedingly fortunate to have grown up there.

I took holidays to Fiji, Singapore and England in my late teens. I got married in Samoa, and lived there for a year, sometimes staying in homes with no glass in the windows, no flushing toilet and a shower that was a hose attached to a tree branch.

Even when I had five sons, we managed a trip to Disneyland with a weekend In Hawaii and another week in Samoa.

I loved being a mother but my marriage was always hard work.

Finally, just before I turned fifty, and the second to youngest turned 18, I finally realised my marriage would never be any better and moved out into a flat of my own. I left my husband the house and children so he could continue his home based business. He repaid me by taking the youngest, who was almost 12, to Australia.

I love New Zealand and it surprised me to see so many of my friends and family move to Australia. I thought it was just a bigger New Zealand, with koalas, kangaroos, giant spiders and poisonous snakes.

I wanted to be closer to my youngest, so I decided to follow.

Before I could set a date to leave, an alcoholic I met online began to cause trouble for me. He called the police to report me missing and then sent hate letters to my employer. Soon after, I was made redundant from my well-paid job.

It seemed like the ideal time to go to Australia.

Luckily, I had also met a wonderful Australian man while online dating. He was my physical and moral support as I left New Zealand to follow my son.

I applied for a live in role at a health retreat but it was only two days before my flight that I received a call saying I could stay with them while they processed my application. The retreat was not what I expected and the job I applied for never materialised, but is set me up as an adventurer. Once I had made the leap, I decided to continue.

After the generous gift of a motorbike from my friend, I began to travel thousands of miles on my own up and down the east coast and mid-western highways. I took up scuba diving again after a thirty year hiatus and began hunting for geocaches*[1] in remote and diverse spots.

Nikki and her motorbike

To solve the problem of a place to live, I began to house sit. I moved into my first suburban home with one small bike bag and a backpack and began a new life. I stayed in 15 homes in one year. A dilapidated bungalow in the city, a recently constructed urban ghetto development, a Midwest country town, and several up market homes in inner city Brisbane, including one in a multi-million dollar gated community.

In between, I travelled and explored. I spent a night in a luxury High Rise overlooking the city and many more nights in a pub rooms that were no better than the back of a stock truck. I even slept in a friend’s car.

It has been a wild and adventurous ride and the adventure isn’t over yet.

I have plans to head to Greece, South America and Malta, the land of my birth. I want to visit Spain, Turkey and as many European countries as possible.

I expect to accompany my friend as he sails from New Zealand to Australia and one day I might try International Housesitting.

I have adopted the quote from the movie called Mr Magorium’s Emporium and now refer to myself as a wonder aficionado. While some people find the years when their children are grown are difficult, I love my new life.

I have written a book about my marvellous year and hope my story inspires others to take a chance on a dream and try something radically new, especially in their later years.

There is a whole wide wonderful world still waiting to be explored.

[1] Geocaching is explained in more detail in my book “Housesitting in Australia – Big Adventures on a Tiny Budget”.

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Biography – Nikki Ah Wong

Author of “Housesitting in Australia –Big Adventures on a Tiny Budget”.

Mr Magorium said it best. I am a wonder aficionado. I love life and adventure.

I am a life coach, mentor, house sitter, writer and lifelong learner. I am also a grandmother and the mother of six wonderful sons. I have been exploring the East Coast of Australia on my motorbike.

I am almost ready to release my new book called “Housesitting in Australia – Big Adventure on a Tiny Budget”. It is a story of my transformation from stay at home mother, to a motorbike-riding adventurer. I am very happy and I want to share that happiness with others.

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Thanks Nikki for this Gutsy change in your life and for sharing your adventures in Housesitting and traveling around Australia. I can think of several people who would love to start a new life, away from the “conventional” life, and this might inspire them.

Sonia

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To submit your own, “My Gutsy Story” you can find all the information, and our sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story” contest page. (NEW VIDEO)

REMEMBER TO VOTE:

Our first poll starts December 1st-December 14th to vote for your favorite “My Gutsy Story” of the month.

Thank you to those who have already submitted your “My Gutsy Story” to Gutsy Living. We are saving them for future posts and have five sponsors for November. We shall be getting more exciting sponsors in the future.

Please leave your comments and questions for Nikki Ah Wong below, and please share her” My Gutsy Story” with others who need some motivation and inspiration.