An (im)perfect night with Gina Chick(s)

It actually was pretty perfect.

The Melbourne book launch for Gina Chick’s memoir, ‘We are the stars’.

Hosted by Hugh Van Cuylenburg, Founder of The Resilience Project and Co-host of The Imperfects Podcast, in his endearing, friendly style with generous helpings of genuine admiration for his previous, and personal favourite, podcast guest, followed by a book signing and meet and greet opportunity.

If you aren’t familiar with Gina, she was the winner of the inaugural ‘Alone Australia’ reality TV series, and the first female winner of an ‘Alone’ series anywhere in the world.

‘Alone’ is a gruelling survival show where 10 contestants are dropped into the wilderness with minimal equipment and 10 items they can choose. They stay there, fending for themselves, until they choose to ‘tap out’ and go home, or it’s revealed that they’re the last one standing. The winner receives a financial reward of anywhere from $250k to $1M depending on the season and country hosting the show.

Gina survived, even thrived, as she came into the experience as a rewilding facilitator that runs Wild Heart Women’s survival quests and retreats.

Her unconventional childhood leaning into the land, following her intuition, flowing with nature’s cycles, and befriending feathered, furry, scaly and slimy (actually all) creatures meant that when in the wilderness, she was at home rather than alone.

She won the show, and continues to win people’s hearts by flexing her feminine superpowers, dancing with all of life’s offerings, and being herself - unapologetically.

Totally wild, free and sexy!

She showed up last night, on a bitterly cold evening, barefoot.

She shared a story about how her sister used to tease her because her name was inside a Va(Gina)!

She eloquently and poetically talked about loss, death and grief, and the difference between pain and suffering. Something she knows intimately as it's been 11 years since her baby girl passed away from cancer aged 3.

Her story is extraordinary as she is not wallowing or wondering. She is diving in, embracing all of life, feeling every fibre, and giving it a giant squeeze. 

She's not running away from the hard times. She's telling us about them and, in doing so, dissolving our collective shame and sadness for the times we’ve done stupid things, f*cked up, felt exposed or been hurt.

She gives us permission to be different. To cry. To lose and let go.

For an hour we all sat captivated as she recounted stories, explained passages, and moved us with sneak peaks into the pages of her writing. 

It was touching, entertaining and a window into her unique and wild life.

When we thought it was all over, and she was told to wrap it up, she wrestled the microphone out of the stand, stood at the front of the stage. 

She invited us all to imagine we were under the stars, by the fire, and to sing with her.

She left us feeling like we are the stars.

If you want to feel like one too, just be you.

You might also like to pick up her book or listen to it on audible - she has a beautiful voice, or check out her interview on The Imperfects with Hugh. He said that it was the episode he and his co-hosts loved the most. It’s ah-mazing.

We saw Hugh leaving and told him we loved the evening. I asked him for a photo with us!

Gina was skeptical of my attempt at taking a 0.5 photo of us. She didn't think it would work, so grabbed my phone and took her own selfies! That's the one at the top. (Little did she know I had a lot of practice on my recent holiday ;-) )