ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF CURVDLINES.CO ELIZABETH – MISS L.E. MCGRATH

About the Author of Curvedlines.co Elizabeth – MISS L.E. MCGRATH 

Hey There,

Welcome and thank you for checking out my bio. My name is Elizabeth, and at the time of this writing, I have entered the start of a next new Exciting chapter of my life.

My life has not been all rainbows, lollipops, and kitten eyelashes. And contrary to popular belief it is not a bad thing either.

Why would I say that?

Because it makes me more appreciative of what I have, my experiences and deeper understanding about the world around me.

It also motivates me to try harder, and not give up or give in when I shouldn’t. It has also given me a deeper appreciation for the people in my life and clarity to really think about what I am working towards and what kind of legacy I am creating and want to leave behind.

My appreciation of life drives me to WORK harder and SMARTER.

eight years ago, I lost my small studio, an independent beauty business, I had to move back to southern California.

Then a year after I moved back I end up losing my rental house and lived in my car for what felt like a lifetime but, I am told it was only four months.

Sounds pretty awesome right!?

But I am glad that it happened because of that experience I came to a new purpose, new goals, more drive and deeper compassion for people, including myself.

What I didn’t expect from this longish, uncertain, sleep deprived experience was a more profound relationship and reliance on God.

God truly, truly, was not only my Father in heaven, and my personal Savoir but also my provider, protector and best friend. The only one I could truly count on and know his love and acceptance would never grow cold towards me.

He kept me sane, safe and hopeful. He truly provided and walked with me through each day. I guess you could say it was my wilderness experience.

I would wake up at 6 am and start making my plans for the day, but God also had his plans ready for me that day, so after a couple of months, the mornings became “Good morning Lord, what are we doing today?” 🙂

One day the Lord asked how I felt about going back to school? I thought, AGAIN!!!

I had already went earned an AA in visual communications, then after a few years, I apprenticed as a tattooist and then did a one-year certificate program for permanent makeup. I was burnt out on continually learning and trying to start a business just to have it all fail or only get me so far.

The Lord was kind and told me, that I would be learning, my whole life. And that if I went back to school for something I considered “REALISTIC” then I would be able to afford to go back to school for art and buy art supplies (which financial reasons always caused me to drop school).

That was an excellent motivator, so, I agreed promptly.

About two or so years later, while researching universities and getting my student loans out of default. I was accepted as an online undergraduate student at a Christian University majoring in leadership studies.

I chose leadership because it covered all my weak areas, the areas where I was failing in life. Plus I did not think I would weather well in taking strictly business classes.

Sounded Good to me. And even though going back to school has been very challenging and demanding,

I love, love, love it!!

I love learning, thinking, coming up with ideas, connecting dots, making art, writing stories, philosophical discussions, sharing and teaching.

I also enjoy studying business cases, history, government, communications, worldviews, community development, do-goodery, science and economics, so odd right?

Not really it’s part of my major. But I was surprised when I found out I enjoyed learning all these things.

It was like, hmm, who am I? Who am I becoming? Is this the person God created me to be?  

Awesome!!

The program has definitely changed my life for the better, and I feel more prepared in life. I have about another year and a half until I graduate after this writing. Then I plan to pursue an MBA-leadership, then hopefully a Doctorate in strategic leadership or communication.

The new information started changing me so much I began to wonder if the intensive critical and analytical thinking would destroy or hinder my creativity. I was always told creative people have different brains and we should not worry themselves with things outside of art or design.

SIDE NOTE: LOL now I know better, it is best to develop partnerships in order to succeed, however, I personally feel that it is imperative a basic understanding of, licensing, communications, marketing, business, and copyright laws in order to work better with your partnerships and protecting your interests.

How will this affect me?

Then one day, soon after this disturbing thought. I walked to the grocery store to buy groceries. I saw an empty produce box set next to the store entrance.

It had three holes for handles, and my imagination decided it would be an awesome toddler size robot, and began daydreaming about a story of about a robot that dresses up in cardboard boxes to mask its appearance and is able to get about town without much notice.

The little robot did this so it could observe humans and wanted to make friends but for fear of rejection stayed a distance. Until one day…

Well, let’s just say it was a remarkable little story, but to the outside world, the one MOST PEOPLE lives in, it looked like I was standing in front of the grocery store entrance staring at a box for about 10-15 min.

Yes, that’s me to a “T” to the outside world.

I have never worried about losing my creativity after that moment because I realized the knowledge was giving me more to glean from and helping me to create better ideas and stories.

The what I considered a more practical major, combined with my prior education, training, and experience was making me better at daydreaming and planning the step to turn conceptual ideas it into the tangible!!!  

I am glad I am me because most people would not be able to handle looking that odd in public, but it is me, and I know I am creating stories.

Plus I see the humor in the situation, so it doesn’t bother me, but it does seem to bother people closer to me who do not understand so just be aware of that too. It’s ok to do stuff like that (get caught up in the moment) with other creatives they usually enjoy it and will play along with you having fun then the next thing you know you making picture books or a short comedy.

When I was homeless, it was a very vulnerable time that helped me realized the depth and width of how it felt to feel wholly abandoned and the feeling of being entirely alone.

So, when my grandmother needed help, I became her live-in family member caregiver and have been so for almost five years. I do whatever is needed to be done. If she goes to the hospital then I spend as many nights in the hospital while she is there. If she is in an ambulance, I’m riding with her, doctor appointment and anything else she needs. I spend everyday with her and gladly so. I love my Grandmother.

Since her TAVR surgery, three years ago she has been doing so much better. It is incredible the difference a new heart valve can make, not only in saving a life but also improving a person’s quality of life. It is a blessing she is still with us. I love her so much. She is a blessing to me. Her wisdom makes me a better person.

IF I did not have God in my life, I do not know how I would have weathered being homeless even for short period of time, it can strip down your self-image, your mental and emotional wellbeing unlike anything else I have ever experienced and I have experienced my fair share of rejection.

If you find yourself ever in this situation view it more as something that is happening to you, and temporal do not view it as who you are. This is not who you are it is just a circumstance you are temporarily in and you will probably need a HAND UP to get out.

I never want my grandmother or anyone else close to me to die believing that they are unloved, unwanted or have been abandoned. Its a crappy feeling and is untrue, but it is a feeling we get as human beings just know it is NOT TRUE!!

it’s an experience that burns a mark forever in your mind. It is indeed a wake-up call.

After the humbling stage, the experience can either become a strength builder or mind splitting experiences depending on your mindset and what inside your toolbox of coping skills.

While homeless “God Provides,” became my daily reality. It still is and always will be. I continue to hold this truth and recently engraved in a what I call my God ring, the words “God Provides” Ps. 18:2 inside the gold band.

My ring is a constant reminder of God’s covenant promise. No matter how good or bad things may or may not get or if I have a moment of feeling alone, small, inadequate or not sure what is right or wrong (the grey area of life). I can look towards my ring finger and remember the only promise that will never be broken. The manifestation and outward expression of what is going on inside me.

So you now have somewhat of a view of where I have been (life-changing moment), and what I am doing now.

I have a vision, and even though it is getting clearer, It is still developing.

My intention and hope for creating this blog are to help you get unstuck, learning to learn, dreaming, creating, setting goals, developing soft skills and enjoying the goodness in life, the value of community and working in a productive team. In a nutshell, to be whole again.

However what is more important then what I think things should be is understanding what you think you need and start with what you think would be helpful to you. 🙂

Would you please share your ideas or desires of what would be beneficial to you below or what you would like to learn or how you want to grow into the best you.

IF YOU HAVE TIME – HERE IS A QUICK ILLUSTRATION OF HOW I SEE THE OLD VERSUS THE CONCEPT OF NEW STUCK

When I was growing up, and in elementary school, I was definitely an outside kid.

On a sweltering summer day, I stepped in some gun melting on the sidewalk. It was very gooey from the heat that I could not scrap it off the bottom of my shoe, not even when I dragged my feet against the street curb. It took using ice to freeze the gum and a butter knife to scrape the frozen gum off my shoe to remove it.

After that, I always avoided stepping on gum however one day I found instead was a quarter stuck on top of gooey gum.

Now at that age back then finding a quarter was exciting because a quarter was a lot of money to a 10-year-old. It was at least a giant gumball from the candy machine or a game of Donkey Kong before it became Mario Brothers at the arcade.

So I pulled the quarter off the gum making a colossal mess. I brought it home, froze the quarter to remove the gum and went to the arcade to play Galaga instead of Donkey Kong because the Big Kids (high school) had quarters stacked up for days (that how they use to hold their place in line).

Ok, so what does any of that have to do with right now?

Well, during my hard time my bag of coping skills, my education, work experience and passion didn’t prepare or sustain me. It didn’t help, much.

I stopped and took a good look around and realized the board game of my life changed and the problems and tools I needed either change or needed expanding. Since we (society) are moving from the industrial age deeper into the knowledge age. Our society is feeling the growing pains and it has displaced some people, a lot of people actually. Similar to how it did during the transition from the agricultural age to the Industrial Age.

So with that said things are not lost just different and actually more exciting once you have a clearer view of what it is and where you want to fit. For me, I have gone back to school in my 40’s, blogging and working towards learning how to license my artwork.

So keep heart it does get better, it actually makes it a little easier to pursue your dreams. However ,there is more information to learn.

So back to the gum analogy, we have a child who sees a quarter on the sidewalk and is willing to deal with a colossal mess (sticky, gooey gum everywhere) to gain a quarter to play a video game and hang out with the big kids.

Now as an adult imagine that same quarter is stuck on top of hot gooey gum, and you’re trying to get it unstuck, you believe you are making a colossal mess and you’re not accomplishing your goal.

After hours and hour or even months or years of trying to acquire this quarter, YOU still can’t get the item off the ground.

Why not?

I’ll get to that, first I want to share that when I realized that the quarter represents my life, my personhood and that I was stuck.

What I didn’t know was that the quarter actually had a long screw drilled through the middle of the coin that was fastened into the concrete.

I can see now that I stayed stuck because I only knew about half the problem. So I only used  half the tools needed to get unstuck.

I was doing the best I could but it just wasn’t working, my life was not thriving, I was barely surviving.

Basically, I was using some of the right tool but only fixing half the problem because I was not aware of the other problem. I didn’t see the screw, I didn’t know to look for extra obstacles, and I thought the color of the nail was part of the quarter.

I thought the life tools and education I had was enough but it was only the beginning of learning and developing. You should never stop learning and develop yourself and interests.

Now I am unstuck and moving forward. I have a clearer view of what I want to create something worth building. I also desire to help you become unstuck and moving forward, so you can daydream and build your dreams with wisdom and better tools too.