5 star review for Naked Determination, 41 Stories About Overcoming Fear by Gisela Hausmann– This is not a “self help” book. It is a reminder of how to rediscover the lessons you’ve already learned. Read how Hausmann faced her fears and how you can discover your own inner strength, and through self trust, determination and planning you can make your dreams come true. Husmann is an ordinary woman has accomplished extraordinary things when faced with the need and desire to change her life. So can you!

 

Naked Determination—the title of this book exemplifies Hausmanns spirit.  So many of us wish, dream and consider doing things that never come to fruition, but Gisela Hausmann was born with a sense of adventure and a feisty determination that has carried her through life.  She nourished those gifts, learned to not hesitate, to grasp the moment, to form alliances with people who would support her goals; devise a plan and sacrifice material things so she could fulfill her dreams.  She learned to ask; not just to discover what she didn’t know, but to open doors for further opportunities to use what she did know. 

When her husband died unexpectedly her world as she knew it disappeared too, and she had to “reinvent herself” to provide for her family; then again when the disasterous financial downturn in the US hit in 2008 she lost the source of income that she’d struggled so hard to achieve. Both times she grieved, and floundered in fear and depression for a time. Them she did what she knew she had to do.  She pulled herself up by her bootstraps and once again “reinvented” herself, she relearned the lessons of her youth, she assessed her skills and marched forward to conquer her fears, because she knew she couldn’t fail; she had no choice  And she succeeded.

( I’ve seen similar traits in my husband, who throughout our married life focused on his dream and made it come true, never accepting defeat, always finding a way over, through or around any obstacle to get to it.  Hausmann was born and raised in Austria, and interestingly, while my husband was born in Canada, his ancestry is Austrian (German)/Polish(Russian)—so I have to wonder if their dogged determination comes from some shared ancestral DNA!)

Gisela Hausmann and her father shared a special bond; I loved that when she was a young child they took long motor trips, leaving early in the morning while the rest of the household  was sleeping and they visited castles and museums and historical sites.  He understood her sense of adventure and didn’t discourage it, but instead fed it when he showed her a brochure listing a trip to Russia that he knew she would love. She couldn’t take it on her own because she was a very young woman and the journey was long and possibly dangerous. In what became typical Hausmann style she didn’t give up but hounded her grandmother to go with her until the woman relented, and shared what turned out to be a wonderful experience for both of them.

I chuckled when she took on the neighbourhood bully in defense of her younger brother and felt happy to note that the two siblings formed an alliance that stayed with them until he died an untimely death.  She is a boxing fan, and I’m sure the seed of that interest may have been planted there!

Husmann is so honest and forthright in her depiction of her life, her exotic travels, revelations of intimate details; affairs, lovers, how she met her husband who was the real life fulfillment of the man she had envisioned in an advertising job two years earlier—right down to being an Austrian who wore cowboy boots!  There is no exhibitionism here.  She tells it like it is and explains the lessons that she learned, the joy that she felt, sad acknowledgements of dreams gone awry.  Each story leaves the reader with a seed of thought; how they too can make their life bolder, broader and realise greater satisfaction.

Truly, not all of us will travel like she has, we won`t work in the movie industry or make comercials, we won`t have affairs with men who are bigger than life, and we hope we won`t have our lives shattered by the loss of a loved one or lose our careers to forces beyond our control and have to start all over again.  However this wonderful little book proves to all of us that it is within the human spirit to rise above overwhelming difficulties and succeed.  It also shows us that we can spread our wings and fly, making our own life more dynamic and our dreams come true if we want them bad enough to apply the lessons the author has shared.  How sad if we chose to live a lesser dream!

Don`t miss this impressive read.  See what Gisela Husmann has accomplished in her life and discover that she is very human, just like you are, so reaching your own dreams is very possible.  You just need to trust that you can do it, find the strength within yourself and pursue your goals with Naked Determination.

You can purchase Naked Determination on Amazon

 

five stars to Freedom Road. T.M. Souders does it again!

I read Waiting On Hope  by T.M. Souders and I was totally captivated by it, so I looked forward to reading  her new book, Freedom Road.  Souders is a wonderful story teller and I was hooked from the first paragraph.  What kind of a father lops his child’s finger off?

From that first paragraph I was drawn into the world of eighteen year old Sam (Samantha) Becker.  Her dysfunctional family (an alcoholic mother and a tyrannical father) has left deep scars and Sam has built a wall around herself, keeping everybody at a distance emotionally. The one thing she has held dear; the one thing that has comforted her through grief, loneliness, confusion and anger is her guitar. Playing it has given her solace, carried her away from her tumultuous world and fostered a dream of a new future.

She carry’s that dream deep in heart, until there is an incident in which her father lops her finger off–her fret finger.  She is angry and disconsolate  as she contemplates what this loss means to her.

Sam learns who her friends are, she learns how calculating her father is, she reconnects with her mother, she finds support from Tad Mitchell, a twelve year old boy who hero-worships her and Laird Brian, who is interested in connecting with the person who hides behind the wall. Both these new friends encourage her to take control of her life and support her as she struggles.

Sam is a courageous, determined young woman who learns many things about herself, her life and her dysfunctional family as she fights to find her place in life.

This is a story that tugged at my heart.  I felt for Sam, laughed with her, cried with her,  felt her anger, her uncertainty, her determination and the stirrings of love for both Tad and Laird. The characters were well rounded, the plot had enough twists and turns to hold my attention and there was  a sense of realism about the entire book.

This is a wonderful story for anyone from 14 to 95.  I highly recommend it!

You can purchase this book on Amazon in both ebook and print format