The Power of Positivity: Heather Robinson's Healing Journey and Ministry

Welcome to "The Beauty in You," where we inspire women through healing, self-love, and cultivating a positive mindset. In this episode, we're joined by the remarkable Heather Robinson: an author, speaker, personal relationship coach, and founder of "Anointed 2 Write."

Heather's story began after the loss of her mother, which led her to the healing power of storytelling. She opens up about her life’s hardships, including losing her parents young, facing infertility, and finding purpose in faith. Despite numerous struggles, Heather’s journey to self-publishing and guiding others in reclaiming their voices is nothing short of inspiring.

Don’t miss out on actionable insights, a free eBook on dealing with trauma, and information on upcoming writing and publishing courses.

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To work with Heathr Robinson:
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www.anointed2write.com 

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Take Back Your Life 1-on-1 Coaching — Life Coach - The ChiQuita Mack
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Chapters

• 6:19 Cancel contract after 3 years, free of charge
• 12:13 Surgery to preserve fertility, then preventative hysterectomy
• 19:56 Grieving is more than just loss
• 25:06 Overcoming negative self-talk, reclaiming personal power
• 33:46 Encouraging brainstorming for processing trauma and creativity

Transcript

Jacqueline G. [00:00:01]:
Welcome to the Beauty in you podcast, a safe place created for all women to come relax, get inspired, and be constantly reminded that they have not lost the ability to be who they once were. Join us as we dive into the true meaning of rediscovery through inspiring guests and topics such as healing, self love, and creating a positive mindset. So sit back, relax, and get comfortable as we dive into this week's episode. Here is your host, Chiquita Mack.

Chi Quita Mack [00:00:30]:
Hey, y'all. Welcome back to another welcome to another episode of the Beauty and you podcast. I am so excited for today. We're gonna go on a wonderful journey and you're going to learn so much. Our guest today is a self published author, speaker, personal relationship coach, and the driving force behind anointed to write. Her journey into the world of writing and self expression began as a personal quest to find her own voice, navigating the complexities of life and seeking healing. After the loss of her beloved mother, she discovered the power of putting pen to paper. Through her experience, she realized that our stories hold the potential to inspire, heal, and impact others.

Chi Quita Mack [00:01:12]:
Welcome to the beauty and you podcast, Heather Robinson. How are you? Good.

Heather Robinson [00:01:16]:
Thank you for having me.

Chi Quita Mack [00:01:18]:
Thank you for being here and being a part of my journey.

Heather Robinson [00:01:20]:
This is great.

Chi Quita Mack [00:01:22]:
Yes. I'm so excited to dive into your rediscovery journey. I have read a little bit about it, but I want you to really walk us through your journey and your experience.

Heather Robinson [00:01:35]:
Okay, so my journey actually goes back to the womb. I wasn't supposed to make it. So medically, I'm a walking medical miracle, as they called it. But I know now as an adult that I'm a living testimony. So in the womb, I wasn't supposed to make it. My parents went to one hospital. They told my mom she was going to miscarry. I was a twin, so they told her she was going to Miss Carrie, and she should probably think about terminating the pregnancy, because if I did survive that, there would be a lot of complications.

Heather Robinson [00:02:16]:
So they went to another hospital, got a second opinion. Here I am today. I lost my mother at the age of seven and my father at the age of 15. My dad died around thanksgiving, which is about two months shy of my 16th birthday.

Chi Quita Mack [00:02:32]:
Oh, my goodness.

Heather Robinson [00:02:33]:
That night on November 13 is when I actually penned my first poem. Now, in school, we did, you know, you had to do different writing, and I dibbled and dabbled a little bit and writing plays and, you know, scripts and stuff, but I never really took it seriously. And as I went through navigating this thing called life. Now, as a parentless child, I was never adopted, but I was under temporary guardianship is what they call it in Pennsylvania of my aunt, and that was my maternal aunt. So I stayed with her, finished out high school. That was a challenge because there were certain things that I did not because I wanted to, but because she never had a daughter, she had a son. So I did it for her, like going to the prom. That.

Heather Robinson [00:03:24]:
That wasn't my thing.

Chi Quita Mack [00:03:26]:
Gotcha. Okay.

Heather Robinson [00:03:28]:
Going on to college, I went to. My first major was psychology. I wanted to do child psychology at first, and then switch to wanting to do musicology, which is a merge of psychology and music therapy. Got out of that major, went into communications and theater, went into journalism. Then I looked at my time, and I said, okay, I want to be done school by May 2006. So I'm just going to go ahead and major in liberal arts and have my concentration and pan africana studies. Did that. Tried to do social work.

Heather Robinson [00:04:03]:
That didn't work out because you got to have six months of experience. Well, you can't get the experience if no one hires you. Moved on, fell into education. That was not the plan. Education was not my plan. It wound up being a very easy thing for me to do. And I realized that there was gifting, and there was an anointing of teaching on my life. So I went on and on and did that.

Heather Robinson [00:04:29]:
And in 2010, the Lord gave me anointed to write. I'm from Philadelphia. I thought that was whack. I said, that's not for me.

Chi Quita Mack [00:04:36]:
Wow.

Heather Robinson [00:04:37]:
I did nothing with it. I kept running from it. But everywhere I looked, I looked to my left, there was. I looked to my right, I look up, I look down, open my eyes, close my eyes, leave the house. In the house, all I saw was anointed the number two, right? In my opinion, who puts a number in their business name? That was my.

Chi Quita Mack [00:04:58]:
What is this? So I.

Heather Robinson [00:05:01]:
In 2012, I was in graduate school, and I was writing my first book, went through a divorce, and as I was going through and navigating that divorce, I finished that book. And then in 2015, I remarried. 2016, I found a traditional publisher. Let me say that again. A traditional publisher. So God gave me anointed to write in 2010. Six years later, in 2016, I found a traditional publisher. I did write a book, but I got it traditionally published.

Heather Robinson [00:05:40]:
So in 2017, I traditionally published my first book, a season of pressing a spiritual awakening. I traditionally published this, and everything was okay. But then 2019 2020 hit, and my publisher passed away. So that put me in a position where because of my contract. This way, I reach contracts. Read your contracts. Read your contracts, and make sure before you do business with someone, there is a contract because it protects both parties. This contract was a good one because what this contract said was, for three years, you're locked in with this publishing company.

Heather Robinson [00:06:19]:
If after three years, you no longer want to be locked in, you let them know. It can be email, a letter, however you did it, as long as you had a paper trail, and they would let you out of the contract free of charge if you didn't contact them. It just rolled over to another three year. So when he passed away, everything came back to me. So here I am in 2020. Now, this is ten years later. God gave me anointed to write in 2010, here we are ten years later in 2020, here we are in a pandemic. Here we are on lockdown.

Heather Robinson [00:06:54]:
Here I am trying to figure out what am I gonna do with this book. 2020 came and went, 2021 came, and I asked my girlfriend to check the domain. Anointed to write. Now, from 2010 to 2021, we're at eleven years. She checked in. It still was available. So they told me it was a guy thing and not a me thing, and it was ready to go. Like it's go season.

Chi Quita Mack [00:07:15]:
Yeah.

Heather Robinson [00:07:16]:
So on my birthday, January 26, 2021, I actually launched anointed to write. And in 2022, I went back and did a. I was able to keep the same cover because the person that did my cover is still living, and he gave me the permission to keep the COVID So now I am self published under anointed to write. There you go. But I also self published two more books at the same time. This is words of reflection. A 31 day. A 30 day devotional unto the Lord.

Heather Robinson [00:07:53]:
And that's just a devotional. I was giving out thoughts of the day, and I was texting to everyone in the phone, and then the Lord told me, turn it into a devotional. Again, not something that I wanted to do. I didn't want to write devotionals, but here we are. And then the third book, which, to wholeness, from brokenness, will ye be made whole. This book, I actually dove a little bit deeper into my journey of infertility, divorce, surgeries, losing two sisters, back to back, those sort of things which I didn't want to put out, but my husband actually encouraged me to put that book out. So here we are today. And after I did some pivoting, I am now an author.

Heather Robinson [00:08:37]:
I'm a speaker. I am a public relations liaison, education and Dei consultant. Consultant.

Chi Quita Mack [00:08:45]:
Yes.

Heather Robinson [00:08:46]:
And I help people to self publish by showing them how to get to 100% ownership. And I came up with an equation, and my equation is credibility plus visibility equals equitability. Okay, so here we are today.

Chi Quita Mack [00:09:03]:
Oh, my goodness. First of all, thank you for that. Thank you for sharing your journey. Thank you for putting it out there, and thank you for listening. It doesn't matter how long it took for you to follow what was already on your heart. And, you know, I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this. Thank you for doing it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:09:21]:
Thank you for doing it, because you are inspiring, empowering, and showing so many people that no matter what, they can do it too. That little voice does not go away.

Heather Robinson [00:09:32]:
No.

Chi Quita Mack [00:09:33]:
When you're meant to do something, it does not go away, no matter how many times you push it to the side because you don't wanna do it. And then you sit around saying, well, what's my purpose, lord? And he's like, I told you what your purpose was. You're not listening to me. So now this has to get a little extreme so you can listen to me and do what I need you to do, because you wasn't getting it before, so I'm gonna make you get it.

Heather Robinson [00:09:57]:
That's true.

Chi Quita Mack [00:09:58]:
You know, and I have some similarity there to that where it's like, I don't wanna do this. I'm afraid. Mine was fear. Mine was just operating in fear. I was afraid for my experiences of having other people, I guess, tell my story. I allowed other people to tell my story. I hid my voice for a long time. I was really quiet, you know? Kita, you so quiet.

Chi Quita Mack [00:10:22]:
Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know. Stuff I didn't like, I didn't really say, stuff I didn't agree with. I didn't want to stay. I didn't want to want to mess anything up. Going through depression, going through anxiety, going through some real stuff in my life. And even then, I allowed other people to tell my story. And the whole time it was like, you better speak up.

Chi Quita Mack [00:10:42]:
You better share your story, because your story can inspire somebody out there. There's somebody else that's going through depression, there's someone else that's going through anxiety, or someone else that is feeling just the way you feel. You better speak up. And now I can't stop talking. I can't stop talking. So I want to thank you for listening, listening to that. Even though you gave the timeline. I hear you, but you still did it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:11:05]:
Were you afraid to step out there and do it, or you didn't feel like it was on your heart to do it.

Heather Robinson [00:11:15]:
It probably was more rebellion.

Chi Quita Mack [00:11:16]:
Rebellion.

Heather Robinson [00:11:18]:
It probably was more rebellion, if I'm honest, because when you go through so much in life, from the wound on, it's a lot. You know? I found out in 2018, I had a sister that had breast cancer, and that same day, she found out she had breast cancer. I was calling her to tell her that I got the results from my genetic testing and that I carried the bRCA one gene, which is the gene she carried. So that was something. We both cut our hair because she had to cut her hair. So we did that together, and in 2021, we lost our eldest sister the Saturday after Mother's Day. And then June 30 of that same year, I had an open myomectomy, which is where they cut me from my navel down. So it had to do a vertical cut.

Heather Robinson [00:12:13]:
They take the uterus out, they cut all the fibroids out, they put the uterus back, and they sew you back up. All of the fibroids together because they took out 15 was the size of a newborn baby. So I had a c section, delivered these things that were the size of a newborn baby, but went home without a child, never had children. We desire children. Married nine years and never been pregnant. That surgery was to preserve the little bit of fertility I had left because I had low egg quality at the time, and I did not ovulate, and I was going through fertility treatments, did all that in 2021. 2022, lost my sister that had breast cancer to ovarian cancer, because BRCA one, one type of cancer, can come back in the form of another kind of cancer. So navigating that, and then fast forward to May 16 of this year to have a radical hysterectomy as a preventative surgery.

Heather Robinson [00:13:16]:
So in 2021, it was to preserve fertility. 2024, fertility is no more. But in 2023, I was perimenopausal, and the doctor said I had a 0.02% chance of conceiving anyway.

Chi Quita Mack [00:13:30]:
Wow.

Heather Robinson [00:13:31]:
So that journey has been something but a scripture that I stand on when we talk about what keeps you going and what keeps you motivated. Romans eight and 28 is what I stand on, and I hold on to it. I was telling my husband last night, I feel like a dog holding onto a bone. That's how hard I hold on to that scripture, because without holding on to that and believing that, I would have probably lost my mind. Yeah, I would have probably lost my mind, because here I am, 41, never been pregnant. We desire to have children and we're not going to have children the way that we expected to have children. And a lot of times we forget that we're not in charge. God is in charge.

Heather Robinson [00:14:18]:
And so we have what we want in our mind the way we want it, and God does it the way is best for us. Going back to romans eight and 28, for we know that all things, not some, not most, but all things work together for the good of those that love the Lord and are called according to his purposes. And so you have to believe that all of these things work together. Don't look good or don't feel good, but it's for my good. And so whatever it is that he's trying to do and that he's trying to build up in me and what he's trying to do is peel back these layers to prepare me for the ministry, for my husband and I, because he is about to be ordained as an elder. So that's a totally different dynamic altogether as an elder's wife. And I've learned through this process how to, how to navigate ministry because people are going to call you because they need you for whatever it is they need you for. And you have to know how to put what you're going through to decide and not let it spill over into what you're doing for them.

Heather Robinson [00:15:21]:
Because as leaders, we're not supposed to bleed on the people. So there's that portion of it, too.

Chi Quita Mack [00:15:29]:
My goodness. It's hard.

Heather Robinson [00:15:31]:
It's hard. But nobody said life was going to be easy.

Chi Quita Mack [00:15:35]:
There you go. But what would you say to someone who's trying to navigate like they're trying to navigate it all and it's just too much. What would you say to them?

Heather Robinson [00:15:48]:
Honestly, what I had to do was find my footing. You got to find your footing and you have to find it in your own way. No one can do it for you. No one can tell you how to do it, although people try to pretend like they can. Don't let anybody rush you through the process, because grief is grief. We all handle it differently. We all go through differently. Don't let anybody rush you through your grief.

Heather Robinson [00:16:10]:
Don't let anybody tell you just to get over it. You take the time that you need, you sit in it, but don't stay there because when you become comfortable or complacent in that space, you're going to be stuck and the world's passing you by and you're still going to be trying to figure out where and when did you get stuck. And that's a hard place to be because I got stuck and I had to sit in the when and the where. I got stuck in the blind game, real transparent moment, blaming everything on everybody else around me, but not taking ownership for my part in any of it. Once you start realizing that we don't go through what we go through for ourselves, we go through what we go through to help others get through to the other side, when you realize that you are being utilized as a vessel, it changes it. And so I always tell people, somebody has to be crucified for others to be delivered. And this is not a Jesus crucifixion by any stroke of the imagination, but someone has to be crucified for someone else to be delivered. And I just so happened in this season to be the one to be crucified for different people to be delivered.

Heather Robinson [00:17:17]:
Even when we talk about the fibroids that the surgery I had in 2021, July is fibroid awareness month. No one's talking about it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:17:26]:
Yeah, it's hush.

Heather Robinson [00:17:28]:
It's quiet. Because black and brown people were taught to suffer in silence, not just women, men included. See, we think that infertility just affects women. It doesn't. It affects men, too. Sometimes the man can be infertile. Me having the surgery I had affected my husband, too, because now we can't have children that look like us, that act like us, that remind us of each other. So that affects both parties.

Heather Robinson [00:17:54]:
It may affect us differently, but nevertheless, it affects him, too. And what we do as a society, we make it seem like abortion, miscarriage, the loss of a child. Infertility only affects the woman. And we put great emphasis on the woman. And we ignore the man's feelings because he's supposed to be emotionless.

Chi Quita Mack [00:18:14]:
Yeah.

Heather Robinson [00:18:15]:
And so when we talk about going through what you go through to help others, to get through to the other side, that's a part of it. For me, as a married woman, it's not just about you. You guys became one. So what impacts you impacts him and vice versa. So the woman that has to make this decision because she carries some type of cancer gene, this doesn't just affect her, it affects her spouse as well.

Chi Quita Mack [00:18:42]:
Yeah. Yeah. One thing you said about the. I'm going to talk about the grieving process, I'm going to wrap it back around to what you just said is that grieving process. I think it's so important to go through the process of grieving, but like you said, it's your own, like it is your own pace. And nobody can tell you when you're supposed to be over it. And I think that's important. And we grieve for a lot of different reasons.

Chi Quita Mack [00:19:09]:
Yes. For a loss, you know, a loss, everyone's grief. Someone passed. But we grieve for trauma, traumatic events. We go through the grieving process, relationships. We go through that grieving process. And so I do think it's very important to allow yourself to feel, to allow yourself to process, to allow yourself to go through that process all the way. And you don't always start with step one of the grieving process.

Chi Quita Mack [00:19:31]:
I think that's important to say, like, you don't have to start with number one. You know, you may start in the middle and then go to acceptance and then go back to denial and then go like we, it's real. It's really real. And so I think it's important that no matter what you go through that you just allow yourself to feel and.

Heather Robinson [00:19:51]:
Also understand that grief is not limited to the death of a person.

Chi Quita Mack [00:19:54]:
Yep.

Heather Robinson [00:19:56]:
It's the death of a dream, it's the death of a career, it's the death of a relationship. There's a lot of things that we grieve and we try to box it into just being the death of a loved one. And it's so much more than that. It's so much more to grief than that. And when you allow yourself to grieve and you block out those that want to rush you through the grieving process, because if you rush through it, you're not through it, you have to allow yourself to naturally go through it. My sister passed away in 2021, in 2022. I'm still grieving them.

Chi Quita Mack [00:20:30]:
Absolutely.

Heather Robinson [00:20:31]:
Now, a lot of stuff has happened to me kind of in between times, but as I'm navigating this, I still have to navigate that. So life is going to happen and there's going to be things that happen. It's going to be grief on type of grief, trauma on top of trauma, trials on top of trials, tests on top of tests. But you still have to navigate through because if you don't, you're not going to be okay. And if you're not okay for you, you're not okay for anybody.

Chi Quita Mack [00:21:00]:
Absolutely. And I think it's important to, I'm going to say get help if you need help. I think it's important to find the help. If you, if you find that, you know, you, you're not getting there. Communicate, one, communicate. Talk about it and get help. I'm a big advocate for mental health, but a big advocate for therapy and finding someone to talk to, if you can, because as a black woman, this is from my own experience. Whatever I was going through, I felt that I had to take it in because I'm the strong black woman, and I have to wear that and I have to keep it on my shoulders, and I'm supposed to just suck it up, but suffer in silence, essentially.

Chi Quita Mack [00:21:45]:
And so I'm a big advocate. Speak about it. Talk about it. Go through your process. We're human. At the end of the day, we are human. We're all going through something. We're all going through something.

Chi Quita Mack [00:21:55]:
I don't care who you are, you're going through something. And it's important to talk about that. Like, yes, I am going through something, but like you said, we're all going through things. But I know from my experience the Lord didn't put me through all of this for nothing. I'm here for a reason. I'm supposed to use it. I'm supposed to speak about it and use my voice and get on these stages and tell my story and inspire and let everyone know you're not alone and not alone in doing that. And so the power of your voice, which is what I didn't have before, and the power of communication.

Chi Quita Mack [00:22:27]:
One thing you spoke about with relationships is, you know, the woman's not the only one who suffers, you know, from miscarriage and infertility. The man does as well. And that just popped in my head, the word communication, because speaking from my husband's perspective, he won't talk about, like, he won't talk about the major things that I know that are affecting him. And the fact that you're like, you know, I know that it's bothering my husband that tells me that you guys communicate about the things that are happening, the big things that are happening in your life. And I think that's important, and I think that's powerful, especially just, period. Just in relationships, period. Communicating, not about just the things we need to talk about, like the bills and stuff like that, but actually communicating about the major things that make an impact on your relationship.

Heather Robinson [00:23:14]:
Yeah, communication is, man, that's. I mean, that's. That's key in a lot of things in life. It's key in a lot of things. Key in marriage, but it's also key in business. There's not much you can do in this life without having effective communication skills. Otherwise, things take a turn or you go down the path that you didn't necessarily have to or that was avoidable. Things take a longer time to come to fruition, if you will.

Heather Robinson [00:23:43]:
Because we. We take these terms and we try to avoid. I was silenced because I'm the youngest of nine. So imagine fighting for your voice, you know, older. Back in my day, the older siblings took up for the younger siblings, and it kind of turned into them speaking for you. Then everybody grows up and lives their respective lives, and you're stuck trying to figure out, I don't have a voice in, how do I get that thing back? And I remember when I was praying to God, and I was like, what is the purpose of anointing? To write? The tagline he gave me was giving a voice to those who feel silence. And that silence can come from pain, doubt, fear, loss. Your position in your family, whatever that is for you, that's what that is.

Heather Robinson [00:24:32]:
And he gave me something, the acronym RTT. And it's reclaiming your power, taking back your voice and telling your story. And I speak about that on the stage because that's what I actually had to navigate through, and I'm still navigating through, because I feel like it's an ongoing process, being able to understand that there's power in your voice when you tell your story. That's major, because a lot of us are like, don't nobody want to hear my sab story. Don't nobody want to hear my story. Don't nobody want to hear from me. And that's not true. That is.

Heather Robinson [00:25:06]:
Those are those words that you were saying to yourself. And when I wrote my first book and I came up with the actual cover, I came up with the COVID because I was combating those negative thoughts that I had about myself. Not so much what other people were saying about me, but what I was saying about myself. And if you can see, that is a picture of me pushing up against bricks, and the bricks have negative talk on it. Depression, doubt, fear, all those things. And that right there is where RTT came from. Because if I'm to reclaim my power and take back my voice, I have to first reclaim my power by not allowing the voices that are in myself and the things that I say to myself in private that are not uplifting and edifying, I have to allow those things to die. I have to let those things go.

Heather Robinson [00:26:04]:
Then I can utilize my voice to tell my story in such a way that inspires and empowers other people. But it starts with taking my power back. And a part of taking my power back is speaking life and not death. The Bible says there's life and death in the tongue, and you'll have what you say. So if I'm saying I'm depressed if I'm saying I'm not good enough, I'm not worthy, I'm not smart, I'm whatever negative word you can come up with, then that's what I'm going to start believing. And when you believe it, you start walking in it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:26:38]:
Yep.

Heather Robinson [00:26:39]:
And so that's why the COVID was so important for me when I specifically said, it's a picture of me pushing up against the wall. Take this picture and move it onto the bricks. And this is how I want the bricks. And this is what I want the bricks to say. And this is the way I want them placed. All of that. Because then on the back of the book, this is making it to the other side.

Chi Quita Mack [00:27:00]:
Right.

Heather Robinson [00:27:01]:
You see the sunset.

Chi Quita Mack [00:27:02]:
I see it, yes.

Heather Robinson [00:27:04]:
So you go from a dark place to light, and there's so much symbolism there. But I just. I really feel like grief is something that we have to be able to navigate through in order to take back our power. And then that's when you're able to find that voice that you lost. Because we were born with a voice. You just lost it along the way, and you can get it back, and everybody's valuable and your story is needed, because, again, we don't go through. We go through for ourselves, rather, to help others to get through to the other side. How can you help me get through to the other side if you don't share your story? Not your business.

Heather Robinson [00:27:42]:
Your story. Yeah, you don't have to tell your business to tell your story.

Chi Quita Mack [00:27:49]:
There's a big difference in that. And there's so much power in what you just said, too, because I had to change my mindset in order to get to where I am now. I love positive affirmations because I do feel like that changed my life. I was always quick to accept the negative, anything negative. I'm like, God, that must be true. I probably can't do that, or I would never be that. It just makes sense. And anything positive, like.

Chi Quita Mack [00:28:16]:
No, you're just saying that. You're just being nice. You're just anything positive, I would strip away. But when I start to embrace, and that was through therapy, actually, when my therapist was like, you, this negative self talk, you have to feed yourself positivity. You're feeding yourself everything negative, it's not going to change. You're not going to feel any different. I want you to try this. And I'm like, this is stupid.

Chi Quita Mack [00:28:39]:
I was like, this is so stupid. I'm literally. I started talking to myself in the mirror and I'm like, this is dumb. But I would say, I am beautiful, I am worthy, I am confident, because I didn't believe any of those things at all. And I would say them. I'm like, this is so dumb. Like, why am I saying I didn't get it? I didn't understand why I was saying this to myself. I don't know what happened.

Chi Quita Mack [00:29:02]:
I started to say it more and more with action, of course, with the actionable things she told me to do and started doing. And then I felt different. I moved different. All of a sudden, it's like, okay, I understand the power of my voice because at that point, I said, I love journaling. So I wrote down all these goals that I'm going to do, I'm going to do. I'm going to write this book, I'm going to do that, I'm going to do, wrote it all down. And I have did every single thing on that piece of paper. And everything I speak, I have done.

Chi Quita Mack [00:29:31]:
And so when everyone's like, well, what changed? I'm like, my mindset changed. The positivity, it changed. And I had to do the action behind all of it, not just say it, not just say, I feel confident, but actually do the work. So there is so much power in our void, like, what we feed ourselves matter, what we tell ourselves matter. Like, it makes such a big difference. Like, I poured into my kids now. Like, I poured into them. My daughter, she runs track.

Chi Quita Mack [00:30:02]:
Well, I'm like, what do you want last weekend? What do you want to run, mommy? I want to run a 105. All right, say you're going to run. You know, say it, speak it, believe it. She ran a 105. I'm like, see, because you have to speak it. So I just think it's just so much power in our voice and what we speak to ourselves and what we do for ourselves, we got to understand that. That negative self talk, I put a pause on that. We got to put a pause on that.

Chi Quita Mack [00:30:28]:
And when you start to do the work, I encourage you to do the work. Anyone out there to do the work to see where that comes from. For myself, it came from my childhood that I was always talked down to. I was always taught young, like, you ain't nothing. Not nothing, but you ain't it, you know? And that's where it comes from. And so as an adult, you still care. You carry that stuff. Like, you carry that stuff with you from your childhood all the way up to your adulthood.

Chi Quita Mack [00:30:52]:
And eventually, you're gonna have to do the work.

Heather Robinson [00:30:55]:
I always say childhood trauma that is not dealt with becomes adulthood trauma. And as an adult, trauma compounds over time. And so you have this childhood trauma and this adulthood trauma coupled together. When you go to therapy, they make you work back and then work forward. And so going backwards sometimes is really rough because it's making you deal in places that you have not touched for years. Why? Because it was not dealt with when you were a child, when it should have been dealt with. So it's like it gets worse before it gets better, so to speak. But it's very important to really delve into that.

Heather Robinson [00:31:38]:
I heard a story about a couple that was at a family's event, and their youngest daughter said, I want to go home. And it wasn't the same. I want to go home. As little kids say, they got a call that their deck was on fire. So little baby girl had discernment and was like, I want to go home. Because she felt something was off, but at a young age, couldn't articulate it. And as her parents were in the car writing home, listening to her discernment, which, kudos to that couple.

Chi Quita Mack [00:32:10]:
Yeah. For listening.

Heather Robinson [00:32:11]:
They got the call that that's what happened. So, another thing, when you're young, when you feel like no one believes what you say, you suffer in silence. As a kid, I. And then that turns into trauma, and then that unresolved trauma as a child spills over into adulthood. So. So many layers to this.

Chi Quita Mack [00:32:34]:
So many layers. We got to do the work. When you start that rediscovery and healing empowerment journey, I just believe the work is so important. Even though it's challenging, I'm saying it's easy. It's hard. It was very difficult. And to me, rediscovery is a continuous circle. Like, we're always learning ourselves and learning more about ourselves and digging into it and.

Chi Quita Mack [00:32:56]:
Wow, where'd that come from? You know, I thought I did with that. I didn't. So it's always continuous. But I encourage everyone to do the work, to do the work, because I do feel like it's necessary. And as many dreams as there is out there to accomplish, I still believe that we have to do the work before we can go. Yeah, we got to go backwards before we can start moving forward, because it's gonna come up. It's gonna come up some way, shape, or form. It's gonna come out of your body.

Chi Quita Mack [00:33:26]:
I really believe that you have. Like I said before, I'm just very. I'm very proud. I mean, you're probably okay, but I am really proud of you and your journey and just your willingness to share your story. You have so much wisdom there, and I just thank you for, you know, sharing that on this platform today.

Heather Robinson [00:33:46]:
Well, thank you so much for allowing me to share that. You know, I feel like a lot of people don't know how to go through the process of sorting through whatever is going on in your head. When you have a lot of trauma. There's a lot in your head at one time. And I always like to tell people, you know, we talk about brain dump, and that's really brainstorming. And if you can just write out all of your thoughts, that's the brainstorming brain dump, however you want to, terminology wise, say it. That's getting it all out on paper. Some of the best books have come out of people's brainstorming process.

Heather Robinson [00:34:24]:
And I actually have a free ebook on my website for those that actually go and subscribe to anointed, the number two right.com. this ebook gives you the five steps to take that book that's in you, down on the inside of you, from the incubator to the paper. So again, that's a freebie. Go on over to anointedto write.com and register. You get that free ebook.

Chi Quita Mack [00:34:52]:
Yes.

Heather Robinson [00:34:52]:
And it'll actually help you go through the process of writing your book so you don't have to hire someone to help you write it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:34:58]:
Do it. Look, she's giving it to y'all. And I'll make sure that that's linked as well in the show notes. Oh my goodness. You've been awesome. Can you tell anyone where they can find you on your socials?

Heather Robinson [00:35:10]:
So if you go to my Linktree, which is Linktree anointed to write LLC, all of my socials are there. It makes it so much easier than saying, this is this and this is that, because no one's going to remember that.

Chi Quita Mack [00:35:23]:
Gotcha. And I'll link that as well.

Heather Robinson [00:35:26]:
And everything that I have coming up is on my socials.

Chi Quita Mack [00:35:29]:
Yes. And you're busy, by the way.

Heather Robinson [00:35:33]:
I know. I have a write and learn. That's $197. It's 2 hours. We go through the process of writing your book. There is a speak and learn for people who are already speakers. But a lot of times people start off as speakers. They have a keynote or they have their signature talk written out.

Heather Robinson [00:35:54]:
But when they get on the stage, they get nervous. So we show you techniques that you can utilize to deal with your nerves. Avoid those filler words like, uh, like, you know what I'm saying? Because when you're on the stage, people are looking at you as the authority. And when you use filler words, it diminishes your authority. And because that's how we are wired as people, we won't hire you. We won't buy into your message because you're using those filler words and you're. It's like fumbling the ball.

Chi Quita Mack [00:36:31]:
Yeah.

Heather Robinson [00:36:32]:
You don't want to fumble the ball when you're in front of the audience. So we go over techniques to hone in on those skills. We help you enhance your communication and your public speaking skills. That's also 197. I do have a for Philadelphia County, Montgomery County, Chester county, and Delaware County. I am doing a coffee and collaboration that will be in Eagle View, Eagle View, Pennsylvania. The address is on the flyer, the flyers on all my socials. This is at Starbucks.

Heather Robinson [00:37:08]:
It is at 11:00 a.m. on the 20th of this month. That is the third Saturday. We are just coming together. There's some goodies that we'll be given that you guys don't know about and won't know about unless you show up. But the flyer is on my social, so there's that. And if you're looking for a way to go from someone who traditionally published like I did, to learning how to self publish, I'm your girl. Why? Because I went through the process.

Heather Robinson [00:37:35]:
And you, too, can have 100% ownership.

Chi Quita Mack [00:37:37]:
There you go. Thank you again, mama. And all right, guys, until next time.

Jacqueline G. [00:37:42]:
Thank you for joining us on this week's episode of the Beauty in you podcast. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe. Visit us@thechiquitamack.com or join us on instagram at thechiquitamack for your daily motivation and inspiration. Tell a friend to tell a friend. Until next time.