Karolina Gutowski-

2013 was the first year back in Germany. I had stayed in South Africa for 1.5 years and loved it so much! Back in Germany, I had to make a living and looked for a job as a social worker. I was facing the “safe job desease”, a very well known phenomenon in the country I grew up in. While being busy working and paying bills, I (nearly) forgot what I really wanted from life. At the end of 2013, my publisher Gerry’s and my paths accidentally crossed in Amsterdam. And so, suddenly, there was a new plan – to write a book about the things that truly matter to me. And to subsequently become a life coach and speaker.

Between 2014 and 2016 I worked double shifts working on the manuscript and my regular job. I took a break and walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain for four weeks in June 2014 where I met my soulmate. I left my partner at the time to marry my husband in Idaho. Back in Germany, I quit my job and the two of us travelled Europe in our motorhome for nine months. On 11th May 2016, our car got broken into and the laptop with my manuscript on it got stolen (no, I didn’t have a backup). In June, we found a house in Andalusia where I resumed my writing.

It is August 2017 now. We have a cat, I have a part-time job teaching German and English in our village, and I am learning Spanish – which after Polish, German and English will be my fourth language. My book was published 11th of September 2017.

https://dieschwellezurfreiheit.wordpress.com/

Listen another #12minconvo

Credits:
Musical Background: ‘TAKE THE CHANCE’ by Nicolai Heidlas