FEATURED
A Friend to the End: A Story of Loss, Regret and Second Chances
Risa and I met on that first day of college. We were both one of the very few students left by our parents, shortly after the car was unpacked. Most…
FEATURED
Finding Joy and Purpose in Laos
I was born in Switzerland in 1980, a very sporty and temperamental little girl. During my teenage years, I first studied languages, then sociology and political science and eventually earned…
FEATURED
Digging Up Your Buried Dream at Any Age
I’ve known I was a writer since I was three. I was one of eight kids, and when you grow up in those great big families, you desperately want something…
Change Advocates
How I Learned Living With Less Stress Was a Choice.
I’ve always experienced a lot of stress. As a shy girl I hid behind my mother, blushed bright red when called on in class, and had many skin issues (triggered by stress). The transformative experience…
Against All Odds: The Triumph of Christine Carter Love
Marguerite Grace King was a domestic worker from the deep South who cleaned office buildings for a living. For many, this meager job was merely an income, but for me, the long corridors of the…
Amy Siskind—Wall Street to Political Activist
When I graduated from college, and during a long career on Wall St., I never would have guessed where my life would take me. I like to say I am in the third chapter of…
THE RESILIENT
Grateful Every Day
“If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” My life has been a story of highs and lows. What I’ve learned is that while you can’t control what happens, what you can…
Anxiety Would Not Defeat Me.
I absolutely believe we are more alike than we are different. We all have a story and your story may not be my story, but mine is just different in the details. It is through…
Turning Obstacles into Opportunities!
The Never-Ending Divorce My ex-husband was abusive shortly after we married in 1988. I never thought abuse happened to women like me; well educated, living on the upper East Side of New York City, married…
Submit A Story
We love to share stories about courage, strength, and determination. Please send a brief summary of your journey or someone you know to Rose@gritandsoul.net
UNCONVENTIONALS
From Rural American Girl to Art Impresario in Vietnam
As I grew up in rural Kansas, I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams the course that my life would take. My journey to becoming an art dealer living in Hanoi is an…
Career Transformation from Nurse to Goat Farmer!
I grew up in Oyster Bay, Long Island surrounded by animals. My dad brought home a lot of strays and we had a menagerie that included horses, dogs, cats, turtles and even an injured owl….
How a High School Dropout Became a Successful Educator
At 86 years old, I’m a widow, mother of four boys, one granddaughter that I raised as my own, and retired educator. I was born on July 31st, 1931 in Newport News, Virginia. My six…
CAREER SHAKERS
College and a New Career After 50
For years through my volunteer work, I knew I had a calling to work with people suffering from substance abuse and mental illness. Because of my life circumstances and responsibilities, it took a while to…
Chapter Two Starts at Age 50!
I recently found a drawing from when I was a lot younger. It showed me with a husband and two children. In the picture, I am holding a book that I had written. Just before…
The Bergdorf Goodman Guide to Animal Welfare
There is an old expression that says gifts sometimes come in strange packaging. I hadn’t thought about that quote in a while. But it came to me early one morning in the summer of 1999…
