Hello April
Hello April 🌿
There's something gentle about arriving here.
Not rushed.
Not forced.
Not trying to prove anything.
Just present.
March felt like a quiet return…
back to writing,
back to reflecting,
back to me.
And this month?
I'm not chasing momentum.
I'm allowing alignment.
I'm choosing:
💕consistency over pressure
💕peace over performance
💕presence over perfection
Some things don't need to be announced.
They just need to be lived.
April, I'm ready…
not because everything is figured out,
but because I trust who I'm becoming.
✨ Your story was never wasted.
✨ Your voice. Your vision. Your victory.
|
| |
Thank You, March
March, you asked more of me than I expected.
Not in loud ways. Not in ways that could be easily explained. But in the quiet, steady ways that require presence, patience, and honesty. You were not a month that rushed. You were a month that lingered. A month that invited me to sit with where I am, instead of constantly reaching for what's next.
There were moments this month where I felt clear and grounded, and moments where I didn't. Moments where I moved forward, and moments where I stayed still longer than I thought I would. But I'm learning that both can exist in the same space. Progress doesn't always look like movement. Sometimes it looks like awareness.
March, you reminded me that healing is still happening, even when I can't measure it. That grief can be present without taking over. That my voice doesn't have to be loud to be consistent. And that showing up, day after day, even in small ways, is still something to honor.
You also gave me something I didn't overlook, you gave me rhythm. The discipline of writing. The quiet return to myself. The ability to sit down and put words to what I'm learning in real time. That matters more than I probably realized at the beginning of the month.
So as I prepare to move into April, I don't feel the need to rush past you. I want to acknowledge you. To thank you for what you revealed, what you held, and what you allowed me to see more clearly.
Thank you, March, for meeting me where I was—and for not asking me to be anywhere else.
|
| |
Creative Block - The Series
.png)
On January 17th of this year I set out to confront my creative block. I had not been writing in a long time. I decided to not only confront my creative block but to really get back to writing.
One of the things the process did was take me back to where it all started, which is my blog. I have been blogging since 2008 and I would write at night when my sons went to sleep. During that time I had a teenager and a toddler. Trust me, at night was the only time I could get my thoughts out.
Earlier this year, I started getting on here every night between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. I'd get on my blog and write or I'd write in Microsoft Word. Now, I don't always write or type and I've been telling my clients recently to use voice notes or dictation to assist with my blogging. That's really been helpful for me.
My Creative Block Series talks about crying when you need to, being patient with yourself, being honest with your support system and that there is value in at least trying. I hope that you enjoy this series and I look forward to your feedback.
Connect with LindarInsights.
And It's Ok | Evolving Takes Werk Podcast
Has anyone been stagnant? I'm amazed at how I've not completed the podcast. For the season, how I have not been writing or blogging. I have still been creative a little bit Canva and still creating content for clients. However, writing has been hard. Is it a writer’s block? I’ve also had to deal with onset of depression and some disappointing things happening in my life. I can only go so long with saying, “I’m ok.” When clearly I have not been, and you know what? That’s ok.
That's ok to be where you are and to feel how you feel. It's ok to reflect on that it's been rough lately but today is good. When you think about practicing gratitude and being present it’s important to be true to how you feel in that moment. Being thankful for what you have, being thankful for what is and is not. And practicing mindfulness, being present in that moment and saying you know what today was good a good day. For instance, right now, I am typing out my blog for this podcast. I’m grateful for creative energy right now. Learn to be fully present daily and in return be thankful that today isn't like it was yesterday or heck, like it was last night.
Sidenote, the last two nights have been rough. I’ve not felt like the best version of myself physically and it showed up looking like another stroke. I’m super thankful that it was not and I the opportunity to spend the night in the hospital where so many wonderful people cared for me. For the last 48 hours I had to sit in the space that said, ‘You know what Arlinda? It's OK that you don't feel well and it's OK that you've come to the emergency room. It doesn't make you less than anything to say you I'm not feeling well.
The experience that I had was amazing. I met so many nice people. I'm in the hospital taking tests, I'm giving out oils, I'm exchanging phone numbers and we are affirming young black women. Oh my God! They had such beautiful hair and nails. I'm both ill and encouraging, I don't know how that happened, but it did. Because I've suffered a stroke, I think it's important that whenever I feel signs that things are off with me, my thought is, “Oh no! I need to get some help.” That's what I did, and it all worked together for good for me and for the people that I encountered.
Listen to the rest on "And It's Ok" on Spotify
Originally posted on 12.12.2022
Infused By Arlinda McGlothin-McKinley
After a failed marriage Lindar enters into a situationship with a love interest from her past. He infuses and inspires Lindar to become a writer. Lindar has to learn many difficult lessons, including how to love herself. Once the relationship ends she goes on a quest of redemption to prove to the world and to herself that she is truly something special.
Stay Connected With Us
March Madness ~ It’s Rebuilding Time
If you love basketball then this is one of your favorite times of the year. March Madness. It all begins with teams waiting to see where they’re going. Once they know, then fans have to decide if they can make the trip or if they are going to grab some wings and head over to someone’s house because not watching is not an option. I can’t tell you who’s still playing or who’s favored to win but my heart belongs to some small college off Victory Parkway. Yeah, I know.
One of the most moving parts of the tournament for me is when a team loses. I even make sure I watch the highlight video at the end to see the reactions again. No, I don’t want teams to lose and no, I don’t find it entertaining. I find it relatable. That after all of the hard work the game was lost and the tournament is over.
These players work hard. They train hard. They invest so much time and energy for their team to be the best. They all want to win. Some of these players have been practicing since elementary school for this moment. Yet, even when the result doesn’t go the way the team expected, guess what? They are still a team.
As a basketball mom I’ve seen some ugly loses. There were some tears and some disagreements but the team was still a team.
Just like in ministry there will be trying times. But after the ugly loses, the tears and the disagreements you’re still a team. Even when you’re mad, you’re still a team. Even when you want to quit, you’re still a team. Just like any athletic team, ministry is hard work.
When a team loses a tournament they get back to getting better. They get back to lifting. They get back to running. They go watch film and they build more team chemistry. It’s a rebuilding time.
I remember when Alex played at Concord and he received this bulky piece of mail. Inside of it was a detailed manual on what he needed to do in order to get ready for the next season.
We have a manual too and guess what? You don’t even have to carry it around if you believe it to be bulky because there’s an app for that.
Let me put some Bible on it
Don’t get weary in well doing you’ll reap if you faint not. ~ Galatians 6:9
Forget what happened before. Keep pressing for the mark. ~ Philippians 3:13
And if it didn’t work out, it still works together. ~ Romans 8:28
Keep in mind that the enemy isn’t after you. He’s after what you’re called to do. He’s after your purpose, your assignment. Years ago Joyce Meyer had a sermon series called The Battlefield for the Mind. There is a battle for your mind but you have to protect your gates. Be mindful of what you listen to, of what you read and of what you watch. Make time for God so that you can hear from Him for yourself.
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8 NLT
Originally posted 3.31.2018
Writing for Peace, Not Performance
Writing looks different for me now.
There was a time when writing felt tied to output. Posting consistently. Finishing what I started. Making sure it made sense, looked right, and said something meaningful to others. There was an unspoken pressure to produce, to show up in a way that felt complete, polished, and ready to be received.
But life has a way of interrupting performance.
Illness slowed me down. Recovery changed my rhythm. Grief shifted what I had the capacity to carry. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, writing stopped being something I did to share and became something I needed to survive.
I didn’t always have the energy to organize my thoughts. Some days, I didn’t have the words at all. Other days, the words came but they came heavy. Unfiltered. Unstructured. Honest. And instead of pushing that away or trying to clean it up, I started allowing it.
That was the shift.
Writing recently hasn’t been for performance, it’s been for peace.
Peace in getting it out.
Peace in not holding everything in.
Peace in allowing my thoughts to exist without forcing them into perfection.
Some days writing looks like a full blog post. Other days it’s a sentence. A voice note. A few thoughts captured before they disappear. And I’ve learned that all of it counts.
Trying to force creativity in a season of healing only created more resistance. But when I allowed myself to write from where I actually am, the words began to meet me there.
I didn’t force clarity.
I allowed truth.
And truth doesn’t always come polished. Sometimes it comes in fragments. In pauses. In reflections that don’t tie themselves together right away. But even in that, there is value. Because the goal is no longer perfection, the goal is release.
Writing became a way for me to process what I’ve lived through. To sit with my thoughts instead of running from them. To make sense of emotions that didn’t always have language at first.
It also became a way for me to return to myself.
Not the version of me that felt pressure to perform, but the version of me that simply needed space to be. Space to feel. Space to create without expectation. Space to simply be.
And in that space, something unexpected happened.
My voice didn’t disappear, it became clearer.
My thoughts didn’t scatter, they began to connect.
My creativity didn’t leave, it just needed a different environment to grow.
Writing for peace allowed me to stay present with my grief and my creativity at the same time—without asking one to disappear so the other could exist.
That, for me, is what makes this season different.
I’m not writing to prove anything. I have nothing to prove.
I’m not writing to keep up. I'm going at my own pace.
I’m not writing to perform. Rather to simply get my thoughts out.
I’m writing to breathe.
And somehow, in choosing peace, I found my voice again.
Relaxing Music For Children - Be Calm and Focused (cute animals) | 3 Hours Extended Mix
This video is one of my favorite videos to use in the classroom. I've used it when students are completing quiet work, when students were coming back from lunch or when we were taking a moment to take a breath.
Perfectly Packaged Series
In January, I started writing about having a creative block. During that time I began to realize that I'm perfectly packaged. Perfectly packaged to me means that I'm a writer, I self-publish my books. I'm also an educator. I'm a mommy. I'm a Believer. I'm a daughter experiencing the first year without her father and I assist with caring for my mom. All of those things make me who I am.
During the pandemic and even afterwards I heard a lot of people talk about niching down and just focus on that one thing. As a self-publisher, I have assisted several authors with releasing their books. What I found was that niching down wasn't working for me in the way that I thought it would.
So a lot of my posts on social media were about self-publishing and about the books that I have written. I created www.lindarinsights.com & I also have a Google site. I was doing all of the things. However something was missing.
Through those experiences I began to realize that by niching down I was leaving out parts of me. Those parts of me are just as important or even more important than just sharing about one thing that I do. I think that helping people to bring their book to life is incredible. I also know that my life experiences are incredible too.
Below, I've included links to all of my blog posts in the perfectly package series. I hope that you enjoy reading each post. Know that you don't have to niche down. Your life experiences are designed to encompass the whole of who you are. You are creative and knowledgeable and I don't think you can set that aside just to niche down.
.png)
Perfectly Packaged - Leadership Without a Title
There was a time when I thought leadership came with a title. A position. A seat at the table where decisions were made and voices were heard. When those opportunities didn't pan out, I began to see leadership differently.
Being let go and overlooked for leadership roles has a way of making you question yourself, your skillset and your abilities. You start replaying conversations. You wonder what happened, did I say something wrong or do something wrong. You wonder if your voice carried weight or if it simply carried hope.
Over time, those experiences began to have a reoccurring theme. That theme was that I didn't speak the same language as those who had the power to promote me. At some point I realized that my gifts were only valuable to be used by others, my voice needed to be quiet. Ouch!
But life has a way of showing me what I could not see until I experienced it.
Leadership didn't show up in a title for me. It showed up in hospital rooms and rehabilitation centers. It showed up in the quiet determination to get up when my body didn't want to move. It showed up in grief when my family needed strength and presence. It showed up in motherhood, in faith, in the decision to keep writing even when my voice felt fragile. And boy did it feel fragile.
Leadership wasn't absent from my life.
It was simply happening in places that weren't being measured.
It was simply happening in places that weren't being measured.
In the hospital.
In rehabilitation.
In my sons' schools and athletic endeavors.
In rehabilitation.
In my sons' schools and athletic endeavors.
When you are navigating illness, recovery, and loss, there is no title attached to the resilience required to keep going. You just keep going. You do it for yourself and for your family. There is no promotion that recognizes the courage it takes to face uncertainty and still believe that better days exist ahead. Yet those moments require a kind of leadership that cannot be taught in a classroom or assigned in a meeting.
They require lived leadership.
I've come to understand that leadership is less about authority and more about stewardship. Stewardship of your voice. Stewardship of your story. Stewardship of the truth that emerges from the life you've lived.
And when you begin to see leadership that way, something shifts.
You stop waiting for permission to lead.
You stop begging for seats and constantly trying to jog the memories of others of what you brought to the table.
Honestly, sometimes you have to value who you are and remove yourself from the table. Even if it hurts.
You stop begging for seats and constantly trying to jog the memories of others of what you brought to the table.
Honestly, sometimes you have to value who you are and remove yourself from the table. Even if it hurts.
You stop shrinking the parts of yourself that carry wisdom simply because they didn't arrive through traditional pathways.
What I thought was a company to help others share their stories has slowly revealed something deeper. It revealed that my leadership was never dependent on a title. It was already present in the way I listen, the way I write, the way I encourage others to find language for their own lives.
Leadership without a title is quieter, but it is no less powerful.
It is the kind of leadership that grows from experience instead of position. It is the kind that creates space for others to see themselves more clearly. It is the kind that reminds people that their story matters long before anyone else validates it.
And that kind of leadership cannot be taken away, overlooked, disregarded or reassigned. It was cultivated both through life experiences and formal education. No longer will I allow my gift to be used at the expense of my voice not being heard.
Book Covers I Designed for My Books
During the pandemic, I spent time learning new skills that would support my self-publishing journey. One of those skills was learning how to design my own book covers using Canva.
Just Where I Am
This post was originally posted on 8/26/18
Where I am in my life is quite interesting. I have been a believer in God for years. I've been practicing mindfulness for a couple of years. This summer I began a keto eating lifestyle and I feel really good about that. I am entering in my 4th week of a self-care challenge and I am realizing a couple of things about myself.
One, is that I am not stressing over things that are not stressing over me. Well, what exactly does that mean Arlinda? I'm glad you asked. My energy is mine to have and mine to give out. If I give that energy out and it's disregarded or taken advantaged of, I'm now inclined to take my energy back and distance myself from what does not make me feel good about myself.
I had someone recently tell me that I need to let people know when their actions make me feel some kinda of way. I guess that's a good idea but that's not where I am. It's better for me to distance myself, process what happened and keep it moving. I'm just not here for having the same conversations over and over. How often have we heard, "If you can't change the people around you, change the people around you."? Change is necessary.
The second thing is this notion of "fitting in"? In my self-care challenge it has been magnified that I've constantly had my hand up yelling, "Look up at me! I can do this! I can do that! Pick me!" Whether it's in ministry, at work, in friendships or in potential relationships. I know my skill set, I'm quite aware of my resume, I know my worth and I know who God has called me to be. It's time out for trying to fit into social circles that don't edify me and uplift my gifts and talents. Plus I absolutely refuse to dumb down for anyone. Again, my resume.
So, if anyone notices a difference in how I operate, in how I am no longer concerned about whether or not you pick me, that I'm cool with being not so busy trying to please others, it's just where I am. I'm just taking care of myself.
Namaste
Infused by Arlinda McGlothin - McKinley
After a failed marriage Lindar enters into a situationship with a love interest from her past. He infuses and inspires Lindar to become a writer. Lindar has to learn many difficult lessons, including how to love herself. Once the relationship ends she goes on a quest of redemption to prove to the world and to herself that she is truly something special.
Stay Connected With Us
How I Use Mood Boards to Brand My 📚
Mood boards bring together the colors, fonts, imagery, and design elements that help shape the visual identity of a project—whether it’s a book or a company.
Thoughtful branding helps create consistency and allows your book’s message to be reflected visually before a reader even opens the first page.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
-
I really don't get into reality shows, especially competitions. But occassionaly I venture and watch BET Sunday's Best. Why? I love ...
-
Do our boys matter? In a time when African American boys are being incarcerated and murdered at alarming rates one pastor has bold...