Hello World!!!
This is Linnea, the woman behind this blog and NOW PODCASTER!! On Saturday 7/27/19, I woke up in the morning and decided to launch my Podcast!! IT’S SO EXCITING!! I’m genuinely happy about it!! I named my PODCAST Linnea Presents: Unpacking The Box. I chose this name because I don’t ever want to put into a box and I will be unpacking many topics! You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Anchor, Spotify, Google Podcasts and PocketCasts right now! It will be available on more platforms soon I hope! I’ve already done six episodes and they’re available now! You can also keep up with updates and episodes on my Podcast by following my Instagram page @ unpacking_the_box
Now, what is it all about?!! This is me in my most unapologetic form. It will be raw, real, uncut, explicit at times, informative, entertaining, and just fun! It will be a space, a comfortable space of course, and it’ll be like you and I are in the room together chopping it up like old friends. I will unpack topics on life, love, sex, relationships, men, women, empowering others, mental health, body image, politics, celebrity news, local news, a breakdown on some my BLOG POSTS and sooo much more!!!! NOTHING IS OFF LIMITS! I guess…it’s a extension of my Blog…BUT wayyy more fun lol!!! I will also have guests on from time to time to weigh in on topics, and interviews! I hope you will take this journey with me!!! I WELCOME ANY AND ALL FEEDBACK!! YOU CAN MESSAGE ME HERE, ON IG OR EMAIL ME at unpackingtheboxpodcast@gmail.com to tell me about ANY TOPICS YOU WANT ME TO DISCUSS, or ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE FOR ME, OR IF YOU JUST WANNA COMMENT ON THE SHOW IN GENERAL. Thank you if you support me in any way, shape or form! I appreciate it!! Share, and Tell a friend!
Always know that you can do ANYTHING you set your mind to do. Do what makes you happy and just go for it!! Life is too short!
Be well!!!!
Jamell Crouthers is a very talented poet, author, and podcaster. He’s the author of 11 books and counting. Jamell has a passion for writing about topics that nobody likes to speak on. Topics that are taboo, and topics that will provoke thoughts. He delves into societal issues in such a way, that I’ve never seen before. I met him through social media, and I’m a fan of his work. He’s one of the people who’ve inspired me to start my own Blog. Recently, Jamell gave me the opportunity to interview him.
As I step even deeper into my thirties, it’s becoming harder, and harder for me to befriend women. Not because I don’t want to befriend them. I love making new friends. But, it’s way more complicated than that. It’s because most of us women are just alike and we tend to bump heads for that reason alone. Most of us have trust issues. Most of us are stubborn. Some of us are mean. Some of us have the jealousy and envy trait. Some of us are extremely toxic by all accounts. Some of us are messy and like to keep drama going. Some of us have an overflow of negativity running within. Some of us have deeply rooted insecurities, that we’ve yet to address which can ruin, and challenge any relationship. But, do you know what boggles my mind, more than anything?! Some women don’t even know how to react to being complimented by another woman. Sometimes they’ll even accuse the woman of being a fraud. I think it’s sad. Sad because it’s so rare that we don’t even know how to process it. We don’t know how to process a freaking compliment!! It just makes me wonder why. Why are we like this? Why can’t we get along? Why do we treat each other like this? Why can’t women get along? I honestly don’t know why. I’ll probably never find out the answers to these questions. However, what I do know is, that I am a woman who chooses to, and will continue to inspire, encourage, uplift, motivate, and empower women. I will also compliment other women. I will be a woman who raises her daughter to do the same. I’ve already started planting the positive seeds in my daughter’s mind. She needs to understand and know that her light will never be dimmed just because she lit someone’s else’s. She will shine even brighter. A woman standing alone possesses GREAT power. But women standing amongst many women possess the GREATEST power. 
There is no greater love! SELF LOVE…It is truly the most amazing feeling, and the most amazing love that I have ever felt. It’s the best love that I have ever felt. It’s the most authentic love that I have ever experienced. It’s the truest form of love. A love that I never even knew existed. But, this love certainly did not come easy for me. I had to fight my way through. I went round for round which I lost many times. I had to have my heart ripped out, and handed back to me on several occasions. I had to be disrespected, lied to on countless occasions, degraded, cheated on, mistreated, and I had to endure verbal abuse. I had to cry until there were no more tears left to cry. I had to hit rock bottom. Rock bottom! Have you ever hit rock bottom before? Have you ever been, or felt so down in the dumps before, that all you could see was darkness at the end of the tunnel? Well, I have. There I was in a empty closet, the love of my life had just left me. My world seemed to be over because the relationship had consumed me. My life revolved around him. At least I thought he was the love of my life, though he wasn’t very nice to me. He mistreated me badly. But, I still wanted to be with him. How stupid of me right? I know now that he shouldn’t have been the love of my life, and I know now that he didn’t love me. That was no where near love. He made me feel like shit, and even pushed me down once. But back then, my self esteem, self confidence, and my self love was at an all time low. I mean, it was at the bottom of a rusty barrel somewhere. That particular relationship that I was in, was tumultuous, and was also a turning point for me. So, I finally got up, and out of the closet. I went to the bathroom, and looked in the mirror. I saw a image that I knew I never ever wanted to see again. A image of a broken woman, that’s been embedded into my head as a constant reminder, that I need to love myself, and I have to love myself. It’s a necessity in my life. I discovered Self Love after that. I felt so bad, and I knew that I never wanted to feel hurt like that again. I started to realize that it had to be something within me, something that kept attracting people who weren’t so good for me. I knew for certain that I had to do things differently, if I wanted different. “Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes”. That’s exactly what I did. I changed it up. I went from being sad, feeling defeated, to feeling mad! I was so angry with myself, and I couldn’t believe that I allowed someone to hurt me like that. Yes, I allowed it. I allowed it over, and over again. I didn’t know, or care to know my worth at that time. But, I would soon realize it after that. It took some time of course to build up my self esteem. Lots of time. But, I finally got to a great place in my life. Today, I can proudly say, and with assurance, that I love the shit out of myself! My self esteem, my self care, and my confidence, is now at an all time high! I’m so much stronger now, and better now. I will never allow anyone to treat me in a way, that I wouldn’t even treat myself. I will never allow anyone to disrespect me ever again because I will never disrespect myself. I know my worth, and I will never settle. I’m my biggest fan, and no I’m not cocky. There is a huge misconception when it comes to Self Love vs Cockiness. It’s totally different. Self Love is a necessity, it’s healthy, and it feels great. It will also help you when it comes to dealing with other people, and their treatment of you throughout life. Cockiness is just a facade that people hide behind, who in all actuality, don’t really love themselves in my humble opinion. They’re trying to fool themselves. A fake form of Self Love to just put it lightly. 