Say hello to today’s guest blogger, Sarah Stackhouse, as she shares her story of how she’s getting gutsy.

I have wanted to write guest post for Jess for a while. I loved her concept of getting gutsy and like her, found the same pin on Pinterest and fell in love with it.

I always believed that “gutsy” was a word reserved only for the daring and crazy things one could DO like skydiving, bungee jumping or backpacking solo in Asia. I pondered writing about my time studying abroad, running my first half marathon or chopping off all my hair.

They were all gutsy things I DID, and all things I could show photographic proof of having gone out of my comfort zone.

But the older I get, the more I realize that being gutsy isn’t so much an action as it is a state of mind. Sure, jumping out of a plane is gutsy and requires courage to do. But it is the mental prepping, planning and ultimate decision making that gets you to schedule the plane jump in the first place.

Getting gutsy is a pathway towards an action. Not the action itself.

Over the past year I did DO some gutsy things. I blind messaged professionals on LinkedIn for informational interviews. I ran my first half marathon. I rock scrambled along an 8 mile hike in Shenandoah National Park. I took a business trip to the UK where I ate dinner by myself every night for a week (talk about gutsy!). And most recently I chopped off all my hair.

And while all that may seem or even be gutsy, none of it would have been possible if I didn’t believe in myself first. If I wasn’t confident enough in my own abilities, I wouldn’t have even registered for a half marathon, let alone crossed a finish line after 13.1 miles. If I wasn’t confident enough in my utterly charming personality (just kidding), I wouldn’t have gone out on a limb to message professionals (who were essentially strangers) I wanted to talk to. If I didn’t think I was strong enough to hike eight miles up an elevation of 3,000 feet, I wouldn’t have driven down to Virginia to hike.

Being gutsy means being confident in yourself. More confident than you think you are at times. It means knowing your strengths and accepting your weaknesses. Gutsy is the courage to continue to go after your dream even if there is an internal voice that says you can’t. Gutsy is having enough self-awareness to know when something is negatively impacting your life and cutting it out .

Ultimately, it means you believe in yourself.  You believe enough to push yourself to achieve and see the things you want in life. Because if you don’t believe in yourself, you will never DO anything that is gutsy.

Sarah Stackhouse is a freelance writer and blogger still searching for her place in the world. You can follow her struggles and progress on her blog or follow her on Twitter.

How are YOU getting gutsy? Whether you realize it or not, you probably are getting gutsy in both large and small ways, every day. Want to share your story with others looking to make big moves towards a happier life? Just drop me a line. Your post could appear here on the blog as part of the “Get Gutsy” series.